RAM issue (Memtest86 screenshots)

the_syco

Whilst playing games such as ARMA3, etc, I usually get "ARAM3 is using up too much memory" Windows warnings, and after a few of them, it usually crashes the game. The odd thing is, the memory usage would be below the 6GB mark, of the total 8GB. This wouldn't happen every game, but enough to be annoying.

So, I ran Memtest86, and on one core, it ran okay and completed. On all cores, it'd crash at the below;



So I ran it again, same settings, and got a similar one;



Anyone have any idea?

Baked.noodle

I think your CPU is running a little hot considering Memtest86 reports 50°C and 52°C without CPU intensive workload. Higher temps could cause instability, and considering the fact you are getting crashes with all four cores running it might be time to re-seat the CPU cooler. I could be wrong as I have an old CPU myself but for a modern i5 I would have imagined it to run a bit cooler. Maybe cleaning out dust that has built up could make a difference.

I don't know what is causing your PC to crash but according to the screen shots you posted Memtest86 hasn't reported memory errors in the screen shots provided. If you get errors in Memtest86 you should check each stick on it's own to find the bad stick, or rule out having a bad stick. I would also check each RAM slot on the board using a good stick of RAM.

There are quite a few people in this thread on the Microsoft community forum that seem to have a similar issue with Win 8.1 and virtual memory.

Cuddlesworth

Arm3 is a 32bit game. If it hits 4 gigss of ram it will crash. Its also buggy as hell.

I don't suppose you alt tab a lot while playing?

http://www.reddit.com/r/arma/comments/2ma8l0/arma_3_memory_leak_it_happens_if_you_alttab_a_lot/

the_syco

Aye, I'll check reseating it at the weekend. Running W7.

Baked.noodle wrote: »

I don't know what is causing your PC to crash but according to the screen shots you posted Memtest86 hasn't reported memory errors in the screen shots provided. If you get errors in Memtest86 you should check each stick on it's own to find the bad stick, or rule out having a bad stick. I would also check each RAM slot on the board using a good stick of RAM.

Although no errors, the system locks up for the above screenshots. Shall try it again with one stick at a time, to see how it goes.

Baked.noodle

One thing I didn't think of is the voltage, if you are overclocking. On my Gigabyte board if you bump up the multiplier and leave the other settings to auto the CPU gets way too much voltage and becomes hot and unstable. Haven't used an i processor so I don't know if this is relevant. Good luck with the surgery.

the_syco

Never OC'ed this system.

Got around to doing one stick at a time. Grand, no errors. Tried both DIMMs in different slots, same error. Have opened a ticket with Corsair, and wonder if they have any idea.

I do alt-tab sometimes, but even if I don't, it'll still happen.

Also, the program doesn't produce an error; the system locks out.

Cuddlesworth

the_syco wrote: »

Never OC'ed this system.

Got around to doing one stick at a time. Grand, no errors. Tried both DIMMs in different slots, same error. Have opened a ticket with Corsair, and wonder if they have any idea.

I do alt-tab sometimes, but even if I don't, it'll still happen.

Also, the program doesn't produce an error; the system locks out.

I stand by what I said. You have a memory leak with the game. Its incredibly unlikely to be a hardware fault and very likely to be a OS/software/driver issue. Which means you should start working through them. But like I said before, Arma3 is a very very buggy game. You could try delete the memory allocator .dll that the game uses.

Memtest crashing on test 7 would appear to be a multicore bug. If you run 4.2 I'm sure it will run through.

the_syco

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Memtest crashing on test 7 would appear to be a multicore bug. If you run 4.2 I'm sure it will run through.

Cool. I'll try that. The response from Corsair is that it may be "caused by incompatible IC chips", and to update the BIOS, and try again. Shall try running memtest 4.20 to see if the same problem happens, as well as deleting that file.

Cuddlesworth

the_syco wrote: »

Cool. I'll try that. The response from Corsair is that it may be "caused by incompatible IC chips", and to update the BIOS, and try again. Shall try running memtest 4.20 to see if the same problem happens, as well as deleting that file.

No problem. I wouldn't bother with 4.20, the fact that you could test the sticks individually to success means they are fine. Corsair are probably right about the bios, you should look into updating it regardless.

the_syco

Aye. Shall update from BIOS from version F4 to F8

Interesting, but it seems my CPU doesn't get full support until F6? Unless I've read that wrongly? Have a i5-4670K

the_syco

After BIOS update, Memtest86+ 4.20 say my i5 as an i7, but ran through okay. 5.01 still hung the PC at the usual place. Renamed ARMA\Dll to Dll.old and made a new Dll folder to see how it runs.

Cuddlesworth

the_syco wrote: »

Interesting, but it seems my CPU doesn't get full support until F6? Unless I've read that wrongly? Have a i5-4670K

That would appear to be the case.

the_syco

Right, after BIOS update, renaming the Dll folder to Dll.old so it wouldn't see it, and not alt-tabbing at all, still got the memory error, but don't know by how much it was gone through, as, well, I didn't want to alt-tab. Was able to play for a bit afterwards, and the game didn't crash.

Going to liaise with Corsair, and see if they'll replace the RAM, as I'd want this to be fixed before GTA V pops out on the PC (in 3019 :pac:)

Cuddlesworth

What's your windows pagefile set to? I don't suppose you followed a SSD optimisation guide at some stage that told you to turn it off?

It should be set to twice the size of your ram

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ie/windows/change-virtual-memory-size#1TC=windows-7

the_syco

Virtual Memory is set at 0MB (I remember this curing some other HDD space problem that I was having at the time).

Seems ARMA3 is currently sitting on one of the "normal" HDD's, though. May move it back onto the SSD to see if it cures the issue (as I think this is only a recent issue).

Cuddlesworth

the_syco wrote: »

Virtual Memory is set at 0MB (I remember this curing some other HDD space problem that I was having at the time).

Seems ARMA3 is currently sitting on one of the "normal" HDD's, though. May move it back onto the SSD to see if it cures the issue (as I think this is only a recent issue).

You need to create the pagefile again. This will also "cure" your problem.

the_syco

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

You need to create the pagefile again. This will also "cure" your problem.

Made a 2-8GB pagefile, shall see how it plays out. Would prefer not to have to send the RAM back, as it'd mean gaming downtime.

unkel

the_syco wrote: »

Would prefer not to have to send the RAM back, as it'd mean gaming downtime.

There's nothing wrong with your RAM, why do you keep thinking there is?

the_syco

unkel wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with your RAM, why do you keep thinking there is?

Ah, did memtest, during memtest I the machine froze, and when I told this to the memory company, they said it was likely to be caused by "caused by incompatible IC chips" (and said I could send them back to Corsair if they continue to be a problem), thus thought it was problem with my RAM. However, from talking to Cuddlesworth, it seems ARMA3 is the problem, and after following his recommended steps it seems to have solved the issue.

unkel

My bad, I missed that. Very strange it froze during memtest while memtest didn't show any errors and had been running for a few minutes. I'd RMA the memory so.

Cuddlesworth

unkel wrote: »

My bad, I missed that. Very strange it froze during memtest while memtest didn't show any errors and had been running for a few minutes. I'd RMA the memory so.

Its a known bug with the 5.1 version of memtest. It took me 2 seconds to find multiple threads talking about it. Memory errors are rarely consistent to that degree. Thats why you run multiple tests over hours.

In this case, Arma 3 has to have a pagefile. Otherwise it doesn't seem to de-allocate physical memory address space.