Is my RAM causeing my computer to crash?

[goober]

I have 1.5Gb of DDR 400 PC3200 and when i go to play a game (BF2, CSS, Quake 4, Doom 3) my memory usage go up to 95%+ and when it hits 98% the computer crashes, but Windows keeps saying it is a Device Driver issue, i have restored my computer to get rid of unused drivers, and it is still crashing, it did it before and after the restore. What is my problem?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

How big is your pagefile, what slots are the ram in? 3 512mb sticks?

 

[goober]

How big is your pagefile, what slots are the ram in? 3 512mb sticks?

Page is 2.25 and i have a 1gig stick and a 512 stick, they are in slots 1 and 2

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I would stagger the ram is slots 1 and 3, make sure the speeds are correct (in BIOS).

 

[goober]

i cant, i only have 2 slots, the other 2 slots are for ddr2 533... i know i need to update, but i dont have 90 dollars to do so

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

I gotta say, thats not normal, but I will agree that if you check the bios, it is either A: Something is wrong with the ram. B: Drivers, reinstall games, and Windoze worst case.

 

[goober]

I gotta say, thats not normal, but I will agree that if you check the bios, it is either A: Something is wrong with the ram. B: Drivers, reinstall games, and Windoze worst case.

I know its not Software because i have done all of the above, so it has to be my RAM, I think when my Power Supply Short Circuited about a month back my RAM was the only thing i didnt have to replace...I guess i was wrong... and i ran MEMTEST off of the Ubuntu CD and i had 10 failing addresses

 

[keakar]

how can you expect good help if you dont tell us the whole story? a shorted PSU and saying you changed everything is a lot different than a new problem on an unchanged working system.

 

[goober]

About 2 months ago, I had a PSU short out on me and i had to replace my mobo, processor, GPU, HDD, and a cd drive, my RAM was still working at the time so i figured that it should be good for a while longer before i had to replace it, and all of my problems started last week. I would be in a game and the game would either freeze or the sound would screw up and the computer would restart. It kept telling me that it was a device driver problem, so I unistalled all of my drivers and reinstalled all new drivers to see if it would fix the problem. the problem pursisted so i reformated and reinstalled windows xp. everything installed fine, i installed all of my drivers from the manufactuers website and everything was still good, but after the first time i went and played bf2 with my new G15 i noticed that my RAM was instantly going to 93% usage and i thought it was odd but maybe normal since im running everything on max quality. but it slowly climbed to 98% and idled there for a while then all of a sudden everything started lagging and the computer crapped out and restarted. When the computer came back online, microsoft said it recovered from a serious error so i sent the report and it said it was a device driver!!! I dont use 3rd party device drivers, ive used old and new drivers and it keeps crashing. I am noticing just by having Firefox open and typing all of this my RAM is at 50% and still climbing. Is there something wrong with my memory or and i just loosing my computer all over again and should i just sell it and buy a whole new computer?

 

[keakar]

well i think your right about the memory being bad, it sounds like some of the chips crapped out on you so it maxed out because thats all it could find.

take note on boot up if it reads the full amount of ram.

to test your ram go here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=20251

and get #9 on the list (s&m) and run a test on your memory, it will tell you where you stand.

it may only be one bad stick so you may only have to put out $45 for a new one.

 

[TheShadowFL]

well i think your right about the memory being bad, it sounds like some of the chips crapped out on you so it maxed out because thats all it could find.

take note on boot up if it reads the full amount of ram.

to test your ram go here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=20251

and get #9 on the list (s&m) and run a test on your memory, it will tell you where you stand.

it may only be one bad stick so you may only have to put out $45 for a new one.

If you run memtest from a boot disk, like you're supposed to, you should also run it on just one stick of ram at a time.
Memtest has become more or less an industry standard in ram testing. I've never known it to report ram as bad if its not. SO, if you're getting even one error during a Memtest, just replace the ram.

However, being from the old school where ram was several dollars per megabyte, I would try what I've been doing for 20+ years.

I wash any ram that exhibits errors. If you're afraid to use soap and water, as I do, then wash it in pure alcohol. Denatured Alcohol is best. Scrub it thoroughly, using an old toothbrush, to clean out any dirt from between the little legs on the individual ram chips.
Make sure it's thoroughly DRY before putting it back into the PC.
If the chips are covered by a heat sink, just clean the edge connector.

I've recovered countless ram sticks and even a few Video Cards by just washing the dirt off of them.

Good Luck,
The Shadow

 

[ex_reven]

Doesnt having three sticks mean your not running dual channel?