BSOD / Ram Solution

damiendublin

Over the last few months my computer has been crashing with the blue screen of death. 90% of the time, the message either says 'IRQL_not_less_or_equal' or 'page_fault_in_not_paged_area'.

I normally get this during start up. It can happen anytime from power on to 5-10 minutes after I start using Windows. I do eventually get to a state where I can use my computer, but sometimes it can involve a 30-40 minute cycle of powering on - BSOD - restart.

A few days ago, I noticed that I got the BSOD as the BIOS was checking the RAM immediately after powering on. As a test, I removed one of the two sticks of RAM, and since I''ve done that, it hasn't crashed anymore.

Can someone offer an explanation of this. Does this suggest that that RAM stick is simply damaged or is there a more serious underlying problem? If I replace that RAM stick with a new one, is the problem likely to return? (I don't want to buy more RAM if there is an underlying issue)

Thanks.

yoyo

damiendublin wrote: »

Over the last few months my computer has been crashing with the blue screen of death. 90% of the time, the message either says 'IRQL_not_less_or_equal' or 'page_fault_in_not_paged_area'.

I normally get this during start up. It can happen anytime from power on to 5-10 minutes after I start using Windows. I do eventually get to a state where I can use my computer, but sometimes it can involve a 30-40 minute cycle of powering on - BSOD - restart.

A few days ago, I noticed that I got the BSOD as the BIOS was checking the RAM immediately after powering on. As a test, I removed one of the two sticks of RAM, and since I''ve done that, it hasn't crashed anymore.

Can someone offer an explanation of this. Does this suggest that that RAM stick is simply damaged or is there a more serious underlying problem? If I replace that RAM stick with a new one, is the problem likely to return? (I don't want to buy more RAM if there is an underlying issue)

Thanks.

You should use Memtest86+ to test each module individually (even though you probably know the faulty module no harm in doing so). Whichever stick fails is the culprit. If its under warranty return it, if not you can get a new stick and it should be fine provided its not doa. Just make sure to get the correct type to replace it with, and you have taken note of any memory bank size limitations your motherbard may have (some don't take modules over 2gb for e.g so check this)

Nick