RAM or something else?

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Nathan Sempsrott

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Sep 20, 2013
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I have a curious situation that I haven't been able to figure out, or find any info on. Granted I didn't look a large amount, but I prefer to use a well known or trusted source.

Anyways, I have a system that I built in early September. I'll leave out the stuff that (I think) is irrelevant to my problem. System has fx-8350, ASUS M5A97 R2.0, and 8GB (2 4GB sticks) of Crucial Ballistix Sport RAM. When I first built it I would get blue screens when under heavy load due to my powersupply being weak power wise (bad planning for upgrades) but those stopped when I replaced it. The problem I began having however is that I would get system freezes at random points. These are my findings so far.

Times its crashed in windows most are either right after boot while at login screen, or while watching a youtube video. When it wasn't crashing as badly as it is now, I managed to play minecraft and crysis both on max settings for 45 minutes each no problem, which to me rules out gpu, but also makes me wonder why. I would assume that this also rules out CPU, but not entirely sure since its an 8 core and I only ran things that are not 8 core. However before the problem became a large problem, I could play BF3 for hours. Still only 6 cores from what I understand, but still more. I don't know if it will run now, as I didn't try and I can barely and rarely get into windows now. If I run memtest it almost always crashes and reboots, either on test 3 or at 14% of the pass. There have been two situations in which I have been able to get it through a pass. One is immediately after removing the ram and placing it back in the same slot. I've only done this once, so I don't know if it would work again. The other situation is by running memtest with one core. That one can be reproduced time after time with no variation.

Crucial has said that they are going to replace the RAM under warranty, but I'm worried that it could be a more complex or deeply rooted problem, such as something is wrong with the motherboard connectors or connections, or something is wacky in the CPU. I don't currently have any extra ram to test with, but I may shortly as I have a friend who has tons of components laying around and said he'd see if he has any.

Thanks in advance for any replies, answers, or advice. If you want any more information, ask and I'll do the best I can to provide.
 
Solution
JonnyWhite89
TBH it sounds like it could be the RAM but both sticks going at the same time is rare unless there was a power spike or excess heat something that cooked both. The Ideal would be to test different RAM in you PC and to test that RAM in a different PC then you would get your answer.
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Both had same result of crashing memtest and windows. Forgot to mention that in my post. I've tried both sticks together and individually, and switched them. Tried on stick in a different slot just to see if it would matter, but didn't seem to make a difference. Should be noted that I only did the 1 core test with one stick and in a different slot. Did all cores on both sticks.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Not sure if you mean RAM or CPU. RAM was never overclocked, but I one point I noticed the clock was at 1333 instead of 1600 for some reason so I raised it back up and left it there until I started having problems, and then I tried it both normally clocked and underclocked. CPU has went back and forth between stock clock and overclock. I removed the overclock when things got worse to see if that would help stabilize it some, but it didn't make a noticeable difference.
 
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JonnyWhite89

JonnyWhite89

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OK RAM doesn't like to be under clocked or under volted. If it has dropped like that it may be that the MB has defaulted incorrectly. I would recommend resetting the BIOS.

I believe this board has a CMOS jumper to do this.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Well after underclocking it didn't work I went back in and made sure that the clock and voltage were set manually to the right values. Even if the voltage was low it should have been fine as my particular brand of ram is designed to run at either 1.35 or 1.5 v
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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I'm the type of person to say "well that shouldn't be the problem so I won't do it," but that's caused me to spend lots of time on unnecessary problems in the past, so I went ahead and reset the bios. Defaulted to 1600 mhz and 1.5 v. Typing this while I'm doing it. First stick failed, somewhere around 10%. Probably 14% since that seems to be one of the major failing points. Letting it test again, and its made it to 16 so far. I'll go ahead and post this now and add further results later just for the sake of adding information asap.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Well in the typical finicky nature of computer components, it hasn't crashed yet, and is currently at 2 and a half passes, without any errors. Before I head to bed for the night I'll probably restart it again just to see if it will crash again, then either let that stick run overnight or switch sticks, and then check and switch or restart before work tomorrow. But right now it seems fine for whatever reason.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Well the stick so far has went through 3 passes and an additional 67%. I rebooted, and the next time the test started it failed very quickly. Now twice its done that. I don't quite understand why it rarely can go through pass after pass no problem, but on a reboot it can't make it through 5 tests. Its done it four times now. To me it rules out anything else because I'd think if it was a motherboard, cpu, or slot issue it would crash either every time or randomly. Then again I'm grasping at straws. Anyways I'm gonna swap sticks and see how the other one fairs overnight. Should be about 7.5 hours. In the time I typed this it crashed 7 times, but is now going strong again. Thanks for the responses so far, anything and everything helps.
 
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JonnyWhite89

JonnyWhite89

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TBH it sounds like it could be the RAM but both sticks going at the same time is rare unless there was a power spike or excess heat something that cooked both. The Ideal would be to test different RAM in you PC and to test that RAM in a different PC then you would get your answer.
 
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JonnyWhite89

JonnyWhite89

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TBH it sounds like it could be the RAM but both sticks going at the same time is rare unless there was a power spike or excess heat something that cooked both. The Ideal would be to test different RAM in you PC and to test that RAM in a different PC then you would get your answer.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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I remember thinking that there was something that happened right when it started getting a lot worse, but I can't seem to remember now... Anyways the other stick has been going for 9.5 hours now and made it through 8 passes, even after failing so many times so quickly. I would try different RAM or mobo except that this is the only DDR3 mobo and RAM I have, and my tech friend is from different times so he's only got DDR that I could borrow. I might try to ask around to see who would be willing to let me run tests. I did read that a lot of chips were needing to be replaced from a certain manufacturer, and a lot of those chips were on Crucial sticks, so I shouldn't be too surprised. Also, if its been close to 24 hours since I talked to them and I still haven't gotten the email they said they'd send me with the return information, do you think I should contact them again and ask about it? Checked the transcript and my email was typed right, and its not in my spam folder so idk if it just takes forever or something went wrong.
 
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pyromanicadeluxe

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Definitely contact them, when I RMA'ed I called them and explained the issue, they put in the order on the spot. It does not hurt to check, especially since you are 100% out of commission for computing.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Well I'm not 100% out, since I ended up upgrading all of the components I carried over from my old rig, so its still intact. Certainly hurts to lose 6 cores though. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that normally takes a couple days so I wouldn't waste time trying to explain the situation to a rep. I'm fairly confident its the RAM that is the problem because now testing both sticks has went on for two passes, and I don't think if it was something else it would be able to make it that far after crashing almost immediately other times. Thanks for the help though guys. When I get the replacements I'll post an update mostly for the sake of being able to either mark this thread as solved, or continue the troubleshooting. Thanks again.
 
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Nathan Sempsrott

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Almost forgot to come back and update this. I got the replacement sticks six days ago, and I haven't had a problem yet! Stress tested everything, no problems. Back to working as expected. Thanks again for the help guys. Just glad it only cost me the six bucks shipping, not much more for replacements :)
 
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