[Help] Need to indentify possible bad RAM

[ad88]

There's a few issues that are coming to my attention since I put my new rig together. First off I will list my hardware components:

Intel SandyBridge 2500k - Stock
Asus Sabertooth P67 (Rev 3.0)
EVGA GTX 570 - Stock
G.Skill 12800CL9D 8GB - Paired with G.Skill 12800CL9T 4GB - Stock
Antec 650 Watts

Fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

The first problem I noticed was my monitor would not turn back on after the PC would go into sleep mode. With some research I found on other forums that a lot of people fixed their problem after replacing a bad stick of RAM.

Second, for example when installing, scanning for viruses, defragmenting, if I try to browse the internet, play solitaire... , or anything that is beyond the process my PC slows down drastically where at some times windows explorer crashed...

I wiped my drive formatted and re-installed my copy of windows. Problems persisted.

I updated my bios to the latest version possible, I did this through ASUS AI Suite II. Problems persisted.

I ran mdsched (memory diagnostic scan) in dos, no problems appear...

I ran disk error checking and selected both options (1. Auto fix file system errors 2. Scan for an attempt recovery of bad sectors). It took over an hour to complete seeing there were plenty of problems and bad sectors. Problem still persists.

Is this in reality a memory problem, or can this be motherboard or cpu related??? Is there anything I can do to more to verify if my sticks of RAM are all good? Can there be a compatibility issue between the 2 sets of ram?

 

[rolli59]

I ran disk error checking and selected both options (1. Auto fix file system errors 2. Scan for an attempt recovery of bad sectors). It took over an hour to complete seeing there were plenty of problems and bad sectors. Problem still persists.

Did you have bad sectors? If that was the case did you replace the drive? A drive with bad sectors is not going to fix it self only get worse and could be the source for your problems.

 

[ad88]

Did you have bad sectors? If that was the case did you replace the drive? A drive with bad sectors is not going to fix it self only get worse and could be the source for your problems.

Yes there were bad sectors, but while running check disk the bad sectors and errors were fixed or so it said. Now what I understand from what your saying is my HDD is finished?

This can't be the cause for the monitor not turning back on after sleep mode. However the slow drastic drop in performance while multi-tasking while scanning for viruses for example, I would see how the HDD could be the source of the problem. None the less I need to know how to further more test my RAM to see if one stick may be damaged or corrupt, anyone have a suggested to how i can check this out?

 

[Snipergod87]

To check your ram download Memtest86+ burn the .ISO file to a cd, (or use the USB version) and boot to the CD or USB device and let it do 1-2 passes

 

[ad88]

I've heard of memtest86, but is it worth saying that it will do a better job than mdsched if there is a bad stick of RAM currently installed?

 

[davcon]

Yes Snipergod87 is correct Memtest86+ is the best imo.
I had a bad module and mdsched didn't detect anything wrong.
Ran Memtest86+ and the bad stick was found within seconds.
Run the test one stick at a time.
That will identify/isolate the bad module.
If you find nothing wrong it will be improper dram voltage.
You have two different kits and it's important to find a proper dram voltage for both to run stable together.
You'll have to experiment in bios until you find the proper voltage.