RAM memory test
Have you ever been working on your computer and it suddenly starts to behave strangely e.g. displays blue screens, freezes randomly or restarts without any reason? If so,maybe these symptoms are caused by defective RAM memory. But, before performing any repair to your computer,first you have to be sure that the problem is in the RAM.
What are the reasons for bad memory?
1.Overheating. The heat is one of the reasons why we may have a faulty RAM.It can be produced either by some of the components located near the RAM memory or by the RAM itself.That’s why I recommend you to use memory heat spreaders. They can be also a good protection against mechanical damage. Another reason for overheating may be the overclocking, so be careful when playing with voltages.
2.Physical damage. It may be caused by improper placement of memory in the slot, as well as by bending or dropping to the floor.
3.Electrostatic shock. Static electricity is one of the possible reasons for the failure of memory. It’s recommended to
touch your computer’s case,every time before you touch the memory sticks. Thus avoid Electro static discharge (ESD). An electric shock or poor power supplies can seriously damage your RAM memory.
4.Sometimes a bad memory stick just leaves the factory and can end up in your machine.
Common symptoms of bad memory.
Your computer freezes suddenly and the only way to get it back to normal working is the restart. This could be also an issue with the operating system. You can easily determine if this is a problem with the memory, by checking to see if you can still move the mouse on the screen, when the freeze occurs.
The mouse cursor would be still movable if the freezes are caused by problems with the software.
Blue Screen Errors during normal operation of the system e.g. surfing in the Internet, working with documents or chatting with friends.
Blue Screen Errors during Software installations or installation of Windows XP or Windows 2000. These symptoms almost always lead to problems in the memory.
Freezes or crashes during intensive work with the system e.g. playing 3D games, watching movies with high resolution or working with powerful graphic editors like Photoshop.
You are unable to restart your system because it doesn’t boot normally and the only result is black screen and continuous beeps. That makes testing the memory with diagnostic software impossible.
In case you notice one of these signs, the best you can do before replacing the RAM with another stick is to make sure, that such a replacement is indeed necessary. It can be done by running any of the programs listed below.
There are quite a few methods to test faulty RAMs , but I will discuss only the best and most used ones.
Memtest is one of the most popular programs for testing of RAM memory. It comes in three different ways. First is a bootable ISO, second is a bootable binary and third is an installable package for creating a bootable floppy. The program has the ability to detect all current CPUs and chipsets like SiS, VIA, nVidia, Intel. Another interesting option provided by the authors is displaying of some useful settings for the most popular chipsets. The current version of memtest86+ will display the FSB & Memory frequency, PAT status, memory timings, ECC status and the number of memory channels.
To use Memtest86+, download the bootable ISO CD version and burn it to a CD using a CD-burning program ( like Nero or Easy CD Creator ) or download the floppy version, then unzip it and run the executable to create a bootable floppy disk. You have also the opportunity to create a bootable USB key.
When restart your computer with either the CD or floppy disk in the drive, it will boot from that disk and the test of the RAM will begin automatically. System information will be shown on the left side of the screen and on the right you will see a progress bar showing the status of the process. However,I think more important is the bottom side of the screen where you can see information about the errors, of course if there are any detected.
DocMemory Diagnostic is another PC Memory diagnostic tool designed to capture all possible memory failures in PC. The software is a user friendly and is distributed completely for free. The only thing you need in order to download the program is online registration on the author’s site.
When you download the software and start the installation program it will automatically create a self-booting diagnostic diskette. Simply insert this diskette into the floppy and reboot your PC to begin testing your system memory.This program supports all type of memory such as EDO, Fast Page Mode, SDRAM, DDR and Rambus DIMM and SODIM.
Another option for RAM testing is Windows Memory Diagnostic, which is offered by Microsoft. You can test all types of RAM that run on x86-based systems with the Intel (Pentium or Celeron ) or AMD ( K6, Athlon,or Duron) microprocessors. To use Windows Memory Diagnostic, your computer must have either a 3.5-inch floppy drive or CD-ROM drive.
Download the Windows Memory Diagnostic executable file, mtinst.exe and start it. Now you have 2 options. First is to create startup floppy disk, the second is to save a bootable CD image to your hard disk and then burn it to a CD using CD burning program like Nero or Easy CD Creator. When you are ready, restart your computer and boot from the disk on which you installed Windows Memory Diagnostic (either the floppy or CD-ROM drive). After loading, a memory test begins and continues to run , unless you pause or exit Windows Memory Diagnostic.
Note: Windows Memory Diagnostic is limited to testing only the first 4 gigabytes (GB) of RAM. If you have more than 4 GB of RAM, the remaining RAM after the first 4 GB will not be tested by Windows Memory Diagnostic. In such case leave only first 4gb RAM in the system, test it, then swap it with the remaining RAM and repeat the test.
What to do if you have bad RAM?
First you have to determine which one is causing the problem.
If the test software has encountered errors in the RAM, you can try to move the RAM stick to another slot on your motherboard, as there is a possibility that the problem could be a bad contact between the slot and the RAM. Test the RAM stick in each slot. In case you have multiple memory stick on your system, remove all except one stick and just repeat the above procedure for each of them.
If neither of the above methods resolve the problem, it may be other than bad memory. Try to test your RAMs on another working system, accepting the same type of RAM, bacause it is also possible your problem to be in the motherboard.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:35
[...] pc-level.com created an interesting post today on RAM memory testHere’s a short outlineHave you ever been working on your computer and it suddenly starts to behave strangely e.g. displays blue screens, freezes randomly or restarts without any reason? If so,maybe these symptoms are caused by defective RAM memory. But, before performing any repair to your computer,first you have to be sure that the problem is in the RAM. What are the reasons for bad memory? 1.Overheating. The heat is one of the reasons why we may have a faulty RAM.It can be produced either by some of the comp [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 6:07
Interesting.
Sounds like what I was thinking when I was trying to get a disk formatted on an older XP machine.
Thanks for posting.