How do I TEST my memory

[Bloody Bill]

AMD AM3+ 6100FX Zambezi 3.3 GHz Black Edition Unlocked Six Core CPU
ASUS Sabertooth 990-FX Rev. 1 Motherboard with Bios 1604
G-Skill Ares F3-1866C9-4GAB Memory Chips in Slots 2 and 4
Frequency of the memory is 933 MHz and timings are 9-10-9-28 @ 1.5 Volts
One Gigabyte GV-R6850C-1GD AMD Radeon HD6850 Graphics Card
Windows 7 64Bit Operating System

Some of my problems:

I occasionally get BSOD as the computer boots windows, if I reboot it almost always finishes booting into windows. Most of the time I am getting errors while using Internet Explorer which crash the computer and causes a memory dump and reboot. Most of these dumps make reference to Memory in one form or another. The referenced BC Code is 1A on most.

I have not done any over clocking of my memory nor of my video card at this time. I have manually set my bios settings for my memory to the factory speeds and timings. That is 1866 and 9-10-9-28 and that is all I have set in the UEIF Bios settings.

I find it hard to believe that my memory is bad as I can play games such as Battlefield 3 on the highest settings on servers with 30-60 players for hours with no problems. I would think that I used all of my memory at times when the action is heavy and my computer never falters. I go out of the game start surfing the internet and then it will lock up and then start dumping the memory to a file. I do not understand the dump files, yet I looked up some up the codes and they refer to Memory Allocation Errors or such things as a certain part of the.. " referenced memory could not be read."

Now for my question:

What is the proper way to test my memory for errors with MEMTEST86+? Do I leave the settings as is in the Bios or do I set them to default which sets the speed at 1600 and changes the timings. Also, what test in the program should I run to assure that my memory chips are good. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Note: I have downloaded MEMTEST 86+ Version 4.02 and installed it to a USB Drive.

I am new to building a computer and to over clocking. I do have years of working with computers but I am not advanced in tech knowledge.

Thank you for any assistance you can give me.

Bloody Bill

[Tradesman]

Best to test 1 stick at a time in the primary slot and the DRAMs stock timings....as to your problems, with AMD you often need a pinch more voltage to the DRAM at higher freqs and also a bit more to the MC (Memory Controller). Might raise DRAM voltage + 0.05 and CPU/NB voltage + 0.06

[Bloody Bill]

Thanks for your prompt reply Tradesman. I will up the voltages as you have4 suggested and then test each stick individualy.

I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again,

Bloody Bill

[Tradesman]

Sounds like a plan, will be signing off soon for the evening have a virus to clean up and a couple upgrades on another rig....will check in in the AM (prob about 5, then in the field a good part of the day. Will check in as time permits

[Bloody Bill]

Tradesman: Tested and it failed!

AMD AM3+ 6100FX Zambezi 3.3 GHz Black Edition Unlocked Six Core CPU
ASUS Sabertooth 990-FX Rev. 1 Motherboard with Bios 1604
G-Skill Ares F3-1866C9-4GAB Memory Chips in Slots 2 and 4
Frequency of the memory is 933 MHz and timings are 9-10-9-28 @ 1.5 Volts
One Gigabyte GV-R6850C-1GD AMD Radeon HD-6850 Graphics Card
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit Operating System

Tradesman:

Sorry for not relying to you sooner. I messed around until I corrupted Windows and had to reinstall Windows and all programs and files. My stupidity, I refused to believe I had bad memory sticks as I had just recieved one stick as a replacement for one that went bad. Had I stopped when I first had problems and did a logical step by step test of memory and the other components I would have saved myself many days of misery.

However, I being the stubborn ******* I am I plowed into setting , sftware updates driver conflicts until it all went down the toilet. Then and only then did I stop long enough to test my memory and low and behold I had one stick that failed the Windows test and then failed the MemTest 86 Version 4.02 test. Hard tough lessen for me to learn.

Question: As I have had one stick replaced by GSKILL and It just might be the bad stick, Should I ask for both sticks to be replaced. I have the impression that both sticks should be a matched set. If so is it possible that GSKILL would send two matched sticks to me and then let me send in these two? I hate to be down with no computer at all for two or three weeks.

My Computer is running great with just the one good 4MB Stick in and I have no problems. I have just read that both sticks realy should be of the same lot or something. If not I will be happy to get the bad one replaced. I just got a bad one and I am still happy with GSKILL and have no complaints with their previous service when they replaced the first one.

Any adive you can give me will be appreciated.

Bloody Bill

[Tradesman]

It is always best to have a full set, believe they may send replacements if you provide a deposit and then you return the current sticks after the new ones arrive, will want to contact rma@gskillusa,com for particulars

[Bloody Bill]

Off to get an RMA!

Thanks Tradesman, your help was very much appreciated.

Bloody Bill

[Tradesman]

No problem, keep us updated!