First custom-built - Memtest failure, BSOD - help!

[BklynBlazer]

Gosh, I hope this is the right forum, there certainly are a few.

I just assembled my first custom computer, based mostly on the mid-range system guide. Specs are:

Corsair CMPSU-650TX
Samsung 1 TB Spinpoint 7200 RPM
Intel Core i5 Processor i5-2500K
Geforce GTX 560 TI
Corsair XMS3 8 GB 1333 MHz PC3
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3 LGA 1155

Things ran just fine for a week, no crashes or anything, even after several-hour gaming sessions. This week I started getting the occasional BSOD, and all of my games have crashed multiple times without the computer crashing.

I tried using memtest on a USB drive. It boots fine, but when it runs I get 99-100% errors, no matter which slots I place the RAM. Clearly I'm doing the test wrong, because I don't think I'd be able to boot with that many errors.

Other things to note:

I believe I have the latest BIOS, using @BIOS.
I had the RAM in the wrong color slots for the first couple of weeks.
This has only occured while gaming.
I checked the RAM settings in BIOS, and they seemed accurate (9-9-9-24 or whatever, 1.5v)
No other major problems to report, except Windows Update has failed to install updates multiple times and I still haven't managed to install Windows 7 SP1.
I've checked the cables, and things seem ok to my untrained eye (and power is connected to the GPU).

Any ideas would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[rolli59]

I do not think that you are running memtest wrong, errors calls for RMA of the ram.

 

[maverick knight]

It sounds like theres a component that fails at loads or at lot of stress. I asume that you have 2 4Gb RAM. If thats the case then try booting and play your games normally with one RAM for several hours or untill you get the error. Repeat with the second stick. One of them should give you the problem if is the RAM. One RAM stick should be fine on any slot. Reffer to your board instructions. Also make sure you have the latest drivers for all your hardware. Bulding your own system means that you have to troubleshoot your own issues so having spare parts is really convenient (and fun if you like computers).

Does this happens with any game or a specific game?

 

[dokk2]

Run memtest on your ram sticks singly, as in one at a time you do not have to run the whole test just until you start to get errors then do the next stick, gigabyte ram is almost,,, always 1 and 2,plus 3 and 4 ,most others are 1 and 3, 2 and 4, Asus comes to mind here....

 

[maverick knight]

Yep, Asus is 1 and 3, 2 and 4. It also has MemOK! which is really good.

 

[BklynBlazer]

I do not think that you are running memtest wrong, errors calls for RMA of the ram.

Really? I just assumed it was impossible to have almost 100% errors and still run the computer for most of the time.

It sounds like theres a component that fails at loads or at lot of stress. I asume that you have 2 4Gb RAM. If thats the case then try booting and play your games normally with one RAM for several hours or untill you get the error. Repeat with the second stick. One of them should give you the problem if is the RAM. One RAM stick should be fine on any slot. Reffer to your board instructions. Also make sure you have the latest drivers for all your hardware. Bulding your own system means that you have to troubleshoot your own issues so having spare parts is really convenient (and fun if you like computers).

Does this happens with any game or a specific game?

All games. Thanks, I'll try actually gaming with one stick.

The most relevant drivers for these crashes are GPU, BIOS...could you list the others?

 

[maverick knight]

try with another GPU. Maybe it fails on heavy load.

 

[BklynBlazer]

Could someone confirm or deny whether getting 99%+ errors on each stick could be a memory problem rather than memtest or other problem? How could I go about troubleshooting this?

Also, should I try increasing RAM voltage to 1.65? The website says 1.5 but that it was tested at 1.65.

 

[jaquith]

Yep, DRAM Voltage -> 1.65v {closet value per BIOS menu}. e.g. http://www.corsair.com/cmx8gx3m2a1333c9.html

 

[BklynBlazer]

Wohhh, so one of my sticks racked up about 10000 errors in a few minutes, and the other has 0. Do I return the faulty stick immediately or is there something I can try to do to it?

 

[jaquith]

RMA them both and get a new Matched Set. If you swap DIMM positions and the DIMM Slot is the root cause then it's a bad MOBO.

 

[BklynBlazer]

Will there definitely be problems if I send back only one, or is it just recommended that I send both? I would like to keep one to perform other computer maintenence while it's gone...

 

[jaquith]

The matched Sets are tested together - this is the gotcha.