Is my RAM causing all these problems or could it be something else???

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DCV

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My specs:
G.skill Ares 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1866MHz (F3-1866C9D-8GAB)
Asus Maximus VII Hero
i7-4790K
Samsung 840 EVO SSD
EVGA Supernova 1000 G2


I don't know what's causing this so i'll mention all the issues i've had till now.

1. FIRST DAY:
I built a custom PC for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I installed everything very carefully and then double checked to be sure. I pressed the start button and the PC turned on for a couple of seconds and then turned off. I waited, and then it did the same thing again and again(it went on a loop). I turned it off for a few minutes and then turned it back on. I DIDN'T hear a beep at all but everything worked.
I went into BIOS changed the boot priority and installed Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro x64(i don't think it's the Windows version causing the problem but i'm just throwing it in). I then started to install various programs, games etc.


2. BLUE SCREENS:
Everything was working just fine, i spent about 50 hours gaming on this PC during the past week and just yesterday i got my first blue screen while gaming(DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). I thought the problem was the nVidia driver which i installed 5 hours before the BSOD, so i used system restore to restore everything to the state my PC was the day before. After that, i started getting frequent MEMORY_MANAGEMENT BSODs(usually within an hour after restarting).


3. WINDOWS INSTALLATION:
I did a virus scan, i made sure all my drivers were up to date(apart from the nVidia driver), and i also used a registry cleaner. Nothing helped. My PC would give me a blue screen every 40 minutes no matter what i was using it for. Since i hadn't installed too many programs i decided to format my SSD and perform a clean install. Now the Windows installer stops at 58% and i get this message: "Windows cannot install the required files. Error Code: 0x80070005."


4. MEMORY TEST:
I read many posts which considered faulty RAM to be the source of the problem and suggested to run memtest86+. I let the test run for an hour. Result: more than ONE MILLION errors. I know that this is waaaay bad, but just because it's so bad could it be something else? Like a faulty motherboard or maybe even the CPU? If the test shows so many errors how could i even use my PC during the past week?


I have no idea on what to do so i'm relying on you guys to help me find out what's causing all this. I want to make sure that i'm replacing the correct components. It would be very annoying to go through the trouble of replacing my RAM just to get the same results... ALL SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME!!

P.S. How do i use bold letters, italics or other format options? I can't find anything on the "Create a new thread" page and the preview is also not working. It would make this thread way more easy to read.
 
Solution
J
yep, replace the bad stick. When the code for a driver gets copied over the bad section of memory the binary for the code gets changed and when windows needs to execute the code it is incorrect and caused the bugchecks. You may have further issues but you have to fix the hardware first.
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DCV

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I didn't try Italics but bold certainly worked! Thanks!

Now i'll just hope to find an answer to my other "slightly" more serious problem :p
 
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BadAsAl

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Did you test each stick of RAM independently? If not, do that and if you get errors on 1 of the sticks, then that might be your issue. If you get errors on both then either you got really unlucky and got 2 bad sticks or something fried them, or it is something else. I would guess that errors on both sticks is something else entirely.
 
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johnbl

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reset your BIOS to defaults, make sure you don't have any memory overclocking and check your memory timings.
update your BIOS: very often the updates will correct various memory timings settings and voltages.
retest memory with memtest86

your memory timing should be: 9-10-9 2N
please note the 2 N as it is the most likely cause for a failure. The 2 N indicates that this ram will take 2 clock cycles to setup its command instructions
many BIOS settings will default to 1 N or 1 T (one clock cycle) Make sure you set your BIOS memory setting to 2 clock cycles or the memory chip will try to lock in its values before the electronics had completed writing the bits to the memory. (ie 1 might be read as 0 ) in that case your memory failures will depend on the prevous value that was written to the memory
 
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DCV

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First of all, i ran the test on each stick individually(same slot) and only the first one had hundreds of thousands of errors(starting from the very first second). The other one was perfect during the first 3 passes. I stopped the test there to check the BIOS for the settings you told me.

The RAM settings were automatically set to 11-11-11-28 (1600 MHz) but i didn't see an N or a T anywhere. The DRAM command rate was set to 1 though, so maybe that's what you are talking about. If that's what you meant, do you suggest to change only that or change all the values to have it operate at 9-10-9-28 with a DRAM command rate of 2 ?? Should i increase the frequency to 1866MHz as well?
 
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johnbl

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yes it is the DRAM command rate that should be set to 2 for your memory. Try it and you should be able to set the other delays to make your RAM faster.



 
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DCV

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I did everything you said and retested each stick. Same results. The first one displays thousands of errors from the very first second and the other one seems to be perfect(no errors after 6 passes). What now? Is the first one fried?
 
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johnbl

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if you tried them in the same slot then one stick is bad and should be replaced



 
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DCV

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Yes, i tried both of them in the same slot. So that stick is responsible for all the problems i mentioned in the OP? All those issues due to that faulty stick? I just want to make sure that i won't have to return anything else during the next weeks..



 
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johnbl

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yep, replace the bad stick. When the code for a driver gets copied over the bad section of memory the binary for the code gets changed and when windows needs to execute the code it is incorrect and caused the bugchecks. You may have further issues but you have to fix the hardware first.
 
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Solution
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DCV

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Makes sense. I used the working stick to install Windows and everything seems to be OK. I'll return the faulty stick ASAP. Thanks for helping!
 
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