Memtest86 failing address

Question

I've been having some problems with my laptop recently. At first it started running slower until it started to just completely shut down without any error or warning. So, I started using diagnosis tools to try and find the problem. When I tested my RAM using Memtest86, I got this error:

screenshot

Is it a serious problem? What should I do?

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 27 '13 at 01:34

The error Memtest86+ shows signals that a bit was flipped by the memory when testing it, i.e., Memtest86+ set it to 1 and it was 0 when it read the value (or vice versa).

Problems with RAM are always serious, since flipping a bit in memory can cause pretty much everything to happen. The normal outcome is system instability, but with a little bad luck, you could also store a system critical file (or any other file that is important to you) in this part of the memory, modify it and overwrite the original file.

If you're overclocking the RAM, stop doing that. Take the modules out of the slots and re-seat them to be sure they're not loose. Run the test again and, if it fails once more, replace the defective RAM module.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 27 '13 at 01:32

1

First, try re-running to make sure it consistently fails (it probably will, given enough time). Then replace the memory modules (hopefully they are a removeable part on your laptop).

answered Mar 27 '13 at 01:32

Michael Kohne

4,077

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 27 '13 at 05:26

You use DDR3-2957MHz with Timings 9-9-9-24. You overclocked the RAM too MUCH! Change this in the BIOS/UEFI and go back to DDR3-1333MHz or 1600MHz if your RAM is able to handle DDR 1600MHz.

Now run memtest86+ again. If you still get error, test each RAM module its own (remove the other modules from the laptop) until you found the damaged RAM and replace it with a new one.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 14 '14 at 10:13

I have a similar problem, memtest in my case reports a size o 7879M against the 8192M I expected and the fault happens at the address 8406.02M. I have random application crashes in Ubuntu, but the system does not crash usually.

I simply set the in the kernel boot parameter the value: mem=7500M and this solved the problem of random crashes.

To be precise I have set it in the file /etc/default/grub the variable

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="mem=7500M"

and later issued a sudo update-grub.

Memtest86 failing address

4 Answers4