Memtest86 showing 100k+ errors. What does this mean?

CxRizzle

Distinguished
May 24, 2013
76
0
18,630
Recently I've been experiencing random BSODs. Such as when my computer is idle or when I start up a game. They aren't consistent, they're very random. My computer is virus free, I reinstalled my OS not that long ago and all drivers got a clean install as well. I looked around online and people suggested to run a Memtest to see if maybe my RAM is the problem. I started the test about 15 minutes ago and it's on pass 1 out of 4 and it's showing 150,000 errors. Still climbing as the test is progressing. So what does this mean? I'm no professional but 150k errors cannot be good. Is my RAM bad? I've had it for quite some time now but only recently am I getting problems.
 
Are you testing all modules at the same time or are you testing modules installed individually? Testing with more than one module installed more often than not generates false errors. Try removing all but one module, making sure it's in the slot for single module operation as outlined in the motherboard manual and retest. IF you still get errors, remove it and move on to the next module.
 

CxRizzle

Distinguished
May 24, 2013
76
0
18,630
I'm currently testing all of them. My RAM sticks are a nightmare to remove because my heatsink blocks them. So I have to remove it every time. Must I test each ram stick in every individual slot? Or can I test all 4 in one of them?
 

CxRizzle

Distinguished
May 24, 2013
76
0
18,630
Update:

The first pass finished and discovered 160k+ errors. I quit out of Memtest, went into the BIOS and noticed that my RAM timings that I previously set manually, were all reset back to an incorrect default (9-9-9-24). I updated my BIOS to the newest version and manually set my timings back to 9-10-9-27, then adjusted the voltage and frequency according to my RAMs specifications. Could the incorrect timings have caused BSOD's and the grotesque amount of errors?