# Memtest errors - newb questions, please help



## Timmaigh!

So i got string of random bsods or shutdowns without bsod at all (7 alltogether) over past 2 days. This was not the first time, in fact i have been having this for 2 or 3 years, but its completely random, it seems to happen in bursts...like it happened now few times, now it might not happen for another week, month or 3 months. Over time i connected these events in my head to issues with my OC (Which i toned down over Christmas and since then until now no BSOD) or borked Windows installation (the updater broke itself and cant update whatsoever, the only solution i see is windows reinstall, but since otherwise things work, i could not force myself to do it yet...just turned Win update off, lol).

Anyway, these BSODs dont happen during gaming or heavy work (3ds max modeling, octane rendering, photoshop), but i had them while browsing web, watching youtube, Netflix, HBO go via chrome....yesterday it happened while i watched stream of NHL game. The minidumps claim the culprit to be hal.dll or pshed.dll, both apparently hardware related, from description. The BSOD claims the WHEA uncorrectable error.

So, for the first time ever, i decided to do Memtest....and uh-oh, i got 15 errors within first 12 tests. I turned it off then, cause it was late in night, did not finish the test 13 and thus not even one complete pass, but i guess there was no need, as it was obvious enough something is not right.

I have 64 GB of Corsair Vengeance 3000 RAM, 8x8 sticks. Its actually 2 separate 32GB kits. I did turn off the CPU oc for the test yesterday, loaded optimized defaults - but then re-enabled XMP at least. 
Right now, doing another test, this time with XMP off as well.. on test 13, 91 percent in, 1:25 hours in...and still got error, although this time only one - on test 5, so far, rather than 15. I mean, i had 15 or 16 of them at around 45 minute Mark yesterday.

So what does this mean? I suppose even one error is one too many and if i got it with XMP off, i probably have faulty stick or sticks. Why the difference in error count though? Could it be that XMP exacerbate the issue? Or is it just random variance and i may get more errors on second pass or do another run on the same settings? What should i do now? Dont really feel like testing each stick separately , have actual work to do.

one last thing, all the errors yesterday were on CPU 26, bar 3 of them, which were CPU 0. Today, the single error so far, is CPU 26 again. What does that mean, could it be faulty CPU core, rather than RAM?

Thanks in advance for your insights.


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## Timmaigh!

Addendum: so i finished pass 1 with that single error, but got 11 more errors no first 3 tests of pass 2 right away.... this time on CPU 2. this i suppose explains my question regarding variance. so it seems testing the sticks separately is unavoidable. crap.

EDIT: now error count increased to 59 on test 4.

EDIT 2: So i took half of the RAM and tried to boot with only the other half, to memtest it, but could not even boot! The computer turned on, but the keyboard wont flash nor will display turn on. Is this normal? Is it more likely computer being confused from previous memtest USB booting and this was the result, or did i just find my bad RAM? if the latter, would this mean all 4 sticks are bad?

i took them out and put in other quartet instead. Managed to boot and now memtesting.


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## MNMadman

You have eight 8GB sticks of RAM. In a lot of cases, just running four sticks requires more voltage than what it's rated for. That means that it may require even more voltage for eight sticks to work correctly.

I would try 1.375v or even 1.4v for the RAM voltage as a first step (when running with XMP). If you're running at Auto (likely 2133MHz at 1.2v), try 1.225v to 1.25v. More adjustments might be required though.

What's the rest of your system?


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## Timmaigh!

MNMadman said:


> You have eight 8GB sticks of RAM. In a lot of cases, just running four sticks requires more voltage than what it's rated for. That means that it may require even more voltage for eight sticks to work correctly.
> 
> I would try 1.375v or even 1.4v for the RAM voltage as a first step (when running with XMP). If you're running at Auto (likely 2133MHz at 1.2v), try 1.225v to 1.25v. More adjustments might be required though.
> 
> What's the rest of your system?


gigabyte x299 aorus 7 rev 1.0, 7940x, 3090 + 2080Ti, samsung 950 pro, 960 evo, 850 evo, some intel SSD, wd black 2tb, wd gold 6TB, wd green 2tb, seasonic prime 1300W.


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## Hiikeri

Not only dimm sticks, maybe memory controller also need a little voltage increase.

8 Ram modules are xtremely hard load to memory controller.


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## Timmaigh!

Thats too many possibilities, given how long the test takes. 4 hours in, just finished third pass with 4 sticks, no errors so far. Say it will pass all 4 passes ok, seems quite probable. Now i have 4 other sticks, which might be faulty, one or all 4, or the issue might be with lack of juice for RAM or IMC.... and then i am testing with XMP off, which is another variable. Might as well take a week off to test all the possible scenarios.

i am almost inclined, if the test will end up ok, and there wont be any more bsods, to stick to just this 32GB of ram, optimized defaults and call it a day. At this point the machine is not the newest and fastest anyway, except the 3090, so no point in chasing every last MHz and whatnot, just need stability and reliability now.


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## MNMadman

Timmaigh! said:


> Thats too many possibilities, given how long the test takes. 4 hours in, just finished third pass with 4 sticks, no errors so far. Say it will pass all 4 passes ok, seems quite probable. Now i have 4 other sticks, which might be faulty, one or all 4, or the issue might be with lack of juice for RAM or IMC.... and then i am testing with XMP off, which is another variable. Might as well take a week off to test all the possible scenarios.
> 
> i am almost inclined, if the test will end up ok, and there wont be any more bsods, to stick to just this 32GB of ram, optimized defaults and call it a day. At this point the machine is not the newest and fastest anyway, except the 3090, so no point in chasing every last MHz and whatnot, just need stability and reliability now.


Or, you could put all eight in, enable XMP, adjust the RAM voltage to 1.4v, adjust the VCCIO and VCCSA to 1.2v, and test.

If it fails, then abandon all hope and go with your scenario. lol


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## Blameless

Test the sticks individually with XMP enabled (say 10-20mV less than on the label), but with a mild undervolt, in tests 6-8 (the rest of the tests mostly just waste time). Assuming at least one DIMM passes, any DIMM that produces errors in the four loops it will allow with newer versions of Memtest86 is probably defective.


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