- Mar 26, 2016
- 3
- 0
- 1,510
TL;DR
I'm having issues with my RAM, but can't figure out if it's the motherboard's memory controller or the actual RAM sticks itself.
-But hey Jonathan, wouldn't Memtest be able to answer that for you?
-I'm glad you asked, because the results from Memtest have been both confusing AND inconsistent
Discovering that something's wrong
After upgrading to Win10 (from 8.2) I noticed that the available RAM in Windows was 8 GB, not the 16 GB I had. In BIOS it also showed up as 8 GB, so I feared that something was afoot. I also started getting random blue screens (something about WHEA Uncorrectable error). So I booted from BIOS into Memtest 5.1 and the results showed errors, but not in a consistent way that I thought.
Test setup
Both sticks A & B were tested individually in each of the four slots in the motherboard, for a minimum of 8 full passes on Memtest 5.1. After that, they were tested as a pair in with swapped places after 8 passes.
Test results
1st observation: test only fails in slot 1 and 3. Must be one of the motherboard's memory controllers, right?
2nd observation: if it's the memory controller, why isn't stick B failing in slot 1 and 3? Maybe it's the RAM stick?
3rd observation: if it's RAM stick A that's the problem, why isn't it failing in slots 2 and 4?
4th observation: why do both sticks pass the tests when run together?
5th observation: why the hell is stick A at the end error free for 18 whole passes in Slot 1, where it was failing before?
Here's my setup:
ASUS Maximus Ranger VII (Z97 chipset)
i7-4790k @ stock speed
16 (2x8) GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 2400 MhZ
I'm having issues with my RAM, but can't figure out if it's the motherboard's memory controller or the actual RAM sticks itself.
-But hey Jonathan, wouldn't Memtest be able to answer that for you?
-I'm glad you asked, because the results from Memtest have been both confusing AND inconsistent
Discovering that something's wrong
After upgrading to Win10 (from 8.2) I noticed that the available RAM in Windows was 8 GB, not the 16 GB I had. In BIOS it also showed up as 8 GB, so I feared that something was afoot. I also started getting random blue screens (something about WHEA Uncorrectable error). So I booted from BIOS into Memtest 5.1 and the results showed errors, but not in a consistent way that I thought.
Test setup
Both sticks A & B were tested individually in each of the four slots in the motherboard, for a minimum of 8 full passes on Memtest 5.1. After that, they were tested as a pair in with swapped places after 8 passes.
Test results
1st observation: test only fails in slot 1 and 3. Must be one of the motherboard's memory controllers, right?
2nd observation: if it's the memory controller, why isn't stick B failing in slot 1 and 3? Maybe it's the RAM stick?
3rd observation: if it's RAM stick A that's the problem, why isn't it failing in slots 2 and 4?
4th observation: why do both sticks pass the tests when run together?
5th observation: why the hell is stick A at the end error free for 18 whole passes in Slot 1, where it was failing before?
Here's my setup:
ASUS Maximus Ranger VII (Z97 chipset)
i7-4790k @ stock speed
16 (2x8) GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 2400 MhZ
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram