random RAM errors

[H4ck3r]

Hello, recently, I have noticed occasional micro-stutters, so naturally I have started looking into the cause of this. Sure enough, quick MemTest spilled out errors. To find out which stick (I have 4x8GB) was faulty, I removed all but one and run MemTest86+. After testing all 4 sticks, 2 of which reported errors, I booted into Windows with the other pair and ran another memtest, just to be sure. And everything seemed to be fine, but next day I started to have once again micro-stutters etc. so I ran memtest again and this time also with errors quickly after launching the test. I have spent several hours trying different combinations, but it seems to me, there is no pattern to this behavior. For example, I have put one pair in slots 2 and 4, run memtest, 400% and no errors, rebooted, run again, still fine, put this pair into slot 1,2 and immediately errors, put it back into 3,4, run test, also errors... I am starting to get a bad feeling that this will be cpu/mbd issue which would really suck. On the other hand, even if this was cpu/mbd issue, I don't get how sometimes the test passes even after multiple runs and sometimes it's not even able to get past few percents. Also, I have run MemTest86+ again, stick by stick and this time 3 passed w/o errors. So, any ideas what to do next?

 

Memory: 2 x Corsair Vengeance 2400MHz 8GB C14 (CMK16X4M2A2400C14)

MBD: GA-Z170-Gaming K3

CPU: 6700K

[191x7]

Test the ram on a different motherboard and/or with a different CPU. Or test on the same, but with more voltage.

[H4ck3r]

6 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Test the ram on a different motherboard and/or with a different CPU. Or test on the same, but with more voltage.

Problem is, I don't have spare PC/mbd and most friends have DDR3, but I'll try to find someone and report back. Thanks 

[porina]

Putting aside the micro-stutter for now, the ram is an interesting one. Does it run at 2400 out of the box or do you have to turn on XMP? If you have to use XMP, turn it off, presuming it runs then at 2133. Is there still a problem then? The bit that is interesting is it seems to come and go, and I wonder if that is a symptom of something else. If you have bad ram, I'd expect more crashes or other weird behaviour than just stutter.

[H4ck3r]

25 minutes ago, porina said:

Putting aside the micro-stutter for now, the ram is an interesting one. Does it run at 2400 out of the box or do you have to turn on XMP? If you have to use XMP, turn it off, presuming it runs then at 2133. Is there still a problem then? The bit that is interesting is it seems to come and go, and I wonder if that is a symptom of something else. If you have bad ram, I'd expect more crashes or other weird behaviour than just stutter.

2400 is XMP, disabling XMP and running at 2133, still errors. Also, forgot to mention, the other symptom might be that some apps that are minimized for longer period of time and I maximize them again, I get a white window and it takes some time for the app to "restore"

[porina]

7 minutes ago, H4ck3r said:

2400 is XMP, disabling XMP and running at 2133, still errors. Also, forgot to mention, the other symptom might be that some apps that are minimized for longer period of time and I maximize them again, I get a white window and it takes some time for the app to "restore"

Could you try a different mem tester? If you have a spare USB stick to install it on, try memtest86. This boots into its own thing. The test you linked earlier runs in Windows, and I have to wonder if there is some problem with Windows itself or a driver leading to a false positive there.

https://www.memtest86.com/

 

As a lower priority, run a check of your OS storage drive. That failing could give weird behaviour too. It wouldn't explain your ram problems though.

[H4ck3r]

3 minutes ago, porina said:

Could you try a different mem tester? If you have a spare USB stick to install it on, try memtest86. This boots into its own thing. The test you linked earlier runs in Windows, and I have to wonder if there is some problem with Windows itself or a driver leading to a false positive there.

https://www.memtest86.com/

 

As a lower priority, run a check of your OS storage drive. That failing could give weird behaviour too. It wouldn't explain your ram problems though.

Already did that, though in memtest86, there seems to be a lot less errors. Anyway, it still behaves weirdly. As said, I tested every stick individually one day and 2 did not pass, other day all passed fine except one, so I have tested that very same one again, didn't even touched it and it passed.

[porina]

Ok, still I wonder with that many errors why you don't have more severe problems in Windows. And still no idea why it happens sometimes, not other times.

 

At this point it is hard to diagnose further without having other known good parts to swap out. One more thing you can try is just to reseat the CPU in the socket in case there is a bad connection in there somewhere. You've probably moved the ram enough to not need to move that again.

 

What else is in the system? Full list might give another clue.

[H4ck3r]

46 minutes ago, porina said:

Ok, still I wonder with that many errors why you don't have more severe problems in Windows. And still no idea why it happens sometimes, not other times...

Here is hwinfo report, if you're looking for something specific. Other then that I have the mentioned GA-Z170-Gaming K3, 6700K, GTX1080, SilverStone 850W 80 Plus Platinum, for system 970 EVO 500GB, 1TB WD Green, 1TB 860 EVO, 2 TB WD Black, Grid+, Cooler Master RGB controller. 

pc.HTM

[porina]

It was just to see if anything else might trigger any memories of potential problems. Think I'm about out of ideas other than the re-seat CPU mentioned earlier. Check the CPU contacts for anything unusual.

[Mathieu9836]

Do you have anything updated recently, this could be windows having issue with old BIOS, Chipset drivers, etc etc.

[H4ck3r]

So, I have managed to test my RAM in friends PC and found out that one stick is in fact faulty. Now that I know which one it is, I put back the two sticks that I know are fine and so far everything seems to be fine, memtest86 passed, also the other windows app memtest passed. I'm gonna keep an eye on this, probably do some test tomorrow. 

It still seems a bit weird to me, since I've tested different pairs even and still had issues, but hey, maybe after all this I went a bit mad and mixed one stick for another, or maybe I didn't seat one stick properly after this many swaps... 

I just hope that none of system files got corrupted, since it wasn't very long ago that I had the update from 1803 to 1903. Skype continues to give me the white screen from time to time, so I'll try to reinstall to check if that helps.

Anyway, I'll report back if something new comes up. Thank you everyone for help.

[191x7]

11 hours ago, H4ck3r said:

I just hope that none of system files got corrupted, since it wasn't very long ago that I had the update from 1803 to 1903. Skype continues to give me the white screen from time to time, so I'll try to reinstall to check if that helps.

You could try this to check your system files

 

[H4ck3r]

46 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

You could try this to check your system files

 

Thank you! That was exactly what I was looking for. Ran the script and in the last System file check, there were corrupted files, thankfully it also managed to repair them.

Great script!

[191x7]

7 minutes ago, H4ck3r said:

Thank you! That was exactly what I was looking for. Ran the script and in the last System file check, there were corrupted files, thankfully it also managed to repair them.

Great script!

I'd recommend rebooting the system and re-running it just to confirm everything was fixed the first run.

[H4ck3r]

51 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

I'd recommend rebooting the system and re-running it just to confirm everything was fixed the first run.

Second run after reboot went fine, w/o any errors.

[191x7]

2 hours ago, H4ck3r said:

Second run after reboot went fine, w/o any errors.

Glad I was of help.