Does memory go bad from use?

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I have two dual processor systems, and for the last three months have been running 2 Seti@home Clients on both 24/7 (using 95-100% of both CPU's constantly).

After two years (for one) and four years (for the other) of trouble free service (rendering at 2x100% cpu now and then without problem), now both are starting to "freeze" up running NT 4.0 SP5. The screen just freezes, no pointer movement, no response to keyboard, etc. The systems are completely different in terms of hardware, and though I've never heard of anyone "burning out" either RAM or CPU's through use, it seems odd that both have started misbehaving at the same time. I'm just wondering if 3 months of 100% use without a break could "burn out" a component since this is the only common thing between the two???

So what is the life expectancy of RAM? Does it die with a humanly-possible amount of use?
 
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I've never head of them burning out either, assuming they are running within spec and have adaquate cooling. This may sound silly, but what about dust collecting on the components, esp. the RAM, clock generator, power supply, etc. Along with this, any new construction nearby that could cause extra dust? I know that can cause some big problems from heat buildup. Perhaps some new software/update that's common to both...? Some (unknown) problem with your power? Just a few ideas....

Mike
 
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Thanks for the reassurance...
Cleaned both, but there wasn't an unreasonable amount of dust. Neither is overclocked. One is a dual PPro 200, the other a dual PII 450.

Power might be an issue. They share a new APC Back-UPS 650, so I will definately try that. Maybe it worked for two weeks and then took a dive and is supplying bad power now.

The only common software installed (in the last 6 months) is Seti@home(not always running during the latest crashes) and Netscape 6 Final (which was uninstalled via the control panel with no errors, but which is the most likely culprit since I uninstalled because it would not launch correctly.)

I do tend to believe it is hardware though because NT 4 has always bluescreened rather than freezing when software errors occur, plus one of the computers seems to be getting worse (during the last crash the top portion of the screen went white, while the bottom retained the 'frozen' picture. I also got some white and ghost "boxes" within the frozen image on the crash before, so based on this I ordered a new video card...) The video cards are both different of course, so, I have no real idea. Really strange that both develop somewhat similar problems within the same week.

--trying to find a thread between a coincidence...
 
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Good luck! I'd be interested to know the resolution, particularly if it's the UPS. I've been considering the one you mention or a similar model....

Mike
 
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Well, it looks like it was just a coincidence that both computers started crashing at the same time.

On the dual PII 450:

It wasn't the APC - same problem plugged directly into a surge strip.

It wasn't the powersupply - replaced it with an Enermax 400W

It wasn't the video card - replaced the #9 with a 3DLabs

It wasn't the Hard Drive (the SCSI light was on and remained on when it crashed sometimes, so I thought might be) - replaced the Seagate with a Quantum.

Then I was really mad, because each of the above things let it run well for 24-36 hours straight, and then it would start crashing again, and getting worse (e.g. run for 24, crash once, run for 6, crash once, then crash on bootup....)

So I was unscientific and tried three things which didn't make any sense:
-I loosened a MB mounting screw located between the onboard SCSI controller and the AGP slot
-I changed a IDE66 cable back to an old standard IDE cable (I had put in the correct cable about a month before the crashing problem appeared)
-I removed both processors and put them back in their slots.

So far so good 3 days later. I have no idea what the real problem was, but the last three somehow solved it :)
 
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Ha! Sounds like me trying to get my latest motherboard working. Spent several days swapping and reloading everything. Then I realized it was finally running correctly...no idea what fixed it. Good luck and thanks for the update.

Mike