Multiple Windows errors (thanks, Malke!)

A public thank-you to Malke for posting about

www.memtest.org

I had been having random Windows crashes with various BSoD messages
like BAD POOL HEADER and PAGE FAULT IN UNPAGED AREA and IRQ NOT LESS
OR EQUAL. The explanations I googled all talked about recently added
hardware or software, bad drivers, etc. Since I had eliminated those
possibilities, I just racked it up to Windows flakiness.

But ...

It turns out my RAM was actually bad. As soon as I downloaded and ran
the freeware memory tester from the above site, it told me which
addresses and which bits were bad. I called the manufacturer and they
shipped me new RAM right away, and after installing it I used the
same utility to confirm that it's good.

So for anyone who has seemingly random Windows crashes and program
crashes, try testing your RAM. (It's best to plan this in advance,
because the memory test has to be burned as a bootable image.)

Again -- thanks, Malke!

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"If there's one thing I know, it's men. I ought to: it's
been my life work." -- Marie Dressler, in /Dinner at Eight/

Stan Brown wrote:

> A public thank-you to Malke for posting about
>
> www.memtest.org
>
> I had been having random Windows crashes with various BSoD messages
> like BAD POOL HEADER and PAGE FAULT IN UNPAGED AREA and IRQ NOT LESS
> OR EQUAL. The explanations I googled all talked about recently added
> hardware or software, bad drivers, etc. Since I had eliminated those
> possibilities, I just racked it up to Windows flakiness.
>
> But ...
>
> It turns out my RAM was actually bad. As soon as I downloaded and ran
> the freeware memory tester from the above site, it told me which
> addresses and which bits were bad. I called the manufacturer and they
> shipped me new RAM right away, and after installing it I used the
> same utility to confirm that it's good.
>
> So for anyone who has seemingly random Windows crashes and program
> crashes, try testing your RAM. (It's best to plan this in advance,
> because the memory test has to be burned as a bootable image.)
>
> Again -- thanks, Malke!
>

Well thank *you*, Stan! You made my day. I'm glad you got the problem
solved.

Take care,

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User