I need alittle PC help...

[wiarumas]

Lately Ive been receieving error messages consistently. It isnt a major problem, they just seem to pop up when I'm closing down programs or when I'm attempting to play some games. It says "Memory referenced at 0000800x8 cannot be read" or something very similar to that. Its pretty consistent as in it happens everytime i close down aim, when i try to play a certain game, etc. I'm pretty sure that i might have bad memory? What steps should I take to make sure thats the problem OR test to see what stick it is (maybe both) so i don't have to spend unnecessasry money on new ones?

[Brent]

Take one stick out use it for awhile and see if the error goes away.

Trial and error basically. If you still get the error with that one stick then put the other stick back in and use that one.

I am willing to bet it is your motherboard not your ram.

I had that same error happen to me and I had to replace my motherboard.

[wiarumas]

eh.. that sucks. how do you think i could test to see if its the motherboard?

[PureVenom]

I am willing to bet it is bad memory if this just started happening with no real changes to your computer.

That error also occurs when you run out of memory though. Namely, you are using all of your physical memory and have filled up your swap file. If you are using something NT based (2000, XP), check the task manager when it happens and see what the memory usage says. If you are using everything up, then you just need more memory.

I think this is probably the least likely scenario though. It is probably either the stick or the MB like brent said.

[Brent]

Quote: Originally Posted by wiarumas eh.. that sucks. how do you think i could test to see if its the motherboard?

Put another motherboard in there lol

Test the ram first.. if its not the ram then the only other thing I think it could be would be the mb.

Find a friend that has a good peice of ram and try that out.... but I bet it is your mb

[wiarumas]

Quote: Originally Posted by Smurfin I am willing to bet it is bad memory if this just started happening with no real changes to your computer. That error also occurs when you run out of memory though. Namely, you are using all of your physical memory and have filled up your swap file. If you are using something NT based (2000, XP), check the task manager when it happens and see what the memory usage says. If you are using everything up, then you just need more memory. I think this is probably the least likely scenario though. It is probably either the stick or the MB like brent said.

i have a gig of memory and i get the error when im doing nothing and i close AIM.. lol

im gonna proceed in testing the memory tonight after classes and before monday night football lol. if im not on for a long ass time its because i static shocked my pc or spilled beer in it .

[SpectorV]

those can be caused by many things... i get them with my overclock to high. As brent said do that to the memory adn see if that fixes it. If not go to www.extremeoverclocking.com and download prim95 and run it on test 2 for X hours (as long as you can) if there is an error on the machine it will fine it since it tests high memory and really stick it to it... 100% load on the machien so let it run while you are there and perhaps overnight since you wont be using it.

It is going to stress the cpu and push its heat to the max, if its prime stable for 12 hours or more.... the system is very stable.

If it goes to an error after only a bit.... something is up. You can then run Memtest86 to test the ram, it will tell you with if the memory is a problem.

[wiarumas]

ok i switched the memories and put them in the other's slot and im not getting the message anymore? hmm... i also blew on it a bit and got some dust off.. maybe that was the problem?

[Thomas91169]

hey what will that prim95 do to a stock pc, im thinking about trying it out on my dell to see if everythings still copasetic.

[MarkuzLS1]

Prime95 and similiar programs (I like superPi) just do some heavy duty number crunching on your machine. They know how the answers are supposed to turn out and then they run the numbers (prime95 calculates prime numbers, superPi calculates digits of Pi). If the answers don't come out right, the computer has a problem. Most people use them to test the stability of their overclocks. There's a program out there called MemTest that runs from it's own bootable floppy that will stress test your memory, if you think it's faulty.

Problems like your having can be caused by software problems, too. Make sure you've run all your anti-spyware tools (or even think about reloading windows...).