Memory was failing MemTest... and now it's not? WTH?!

[Tak]

Ok, so the situation is basically this. I've got 4 sticks of the Crucial DDR2-1066 crap, model blahblah1065, that people seem to have failing all over the place. As I understand it this stuff was replaced, model blahblah106A. I originally bought a 2GB kit last May and just purchased another 2GB kit last month. The originaly kit was working fine so I never research anything to see the posts about them until I started blue screening and getting errors in Windows. So onto using MemTest.

Test 1: 4 sticks All slots Errors within seconds.

Test 2: 2 new sticks Slots 2 and 4 No errors.
Test 3: 2 new sticks Slots 1 and 3 No errors.

Test 4: 2 old sticks Slots 1 and 3 Errors within seconds.
Test 5: 2 old sticks Slots 2 and 4 Errors within seconds.

Ok, old stuff RMA'd back to crucial which I still haven't received the replacements yet after about 2 weeks.

Fast forward to this morning after the past week of more blue screens and Windows errors. Get a bug in me and decide to run more MemTests with just the two new sticks in different configurations.

Test 6: 2 new sticks Slots 1 and 3 Errors within seconds.

Test 7: New stick A Slot 1 No errors.
Test 8: New stick A Slot 2 No errors.
Test 9: New stick A Slot 3 No errors.
Test 10: New stick A Slot 4 No errors.

Test 11: New stick B Slot 1 No errors.
Test 12: New stick B Slot 2 No errors.
Test 13: New stick B Slot 3 No errors.
Test 14: New stick B Slot 4 No errors.

Test 15: 2 new sticks Slots 2 and 4 No errors.

So I don't know what to do know or what the problem is. The RAM is manually set to stock timing, 5-5-5-15, in the BIOS and stock voltage, 2.2v. There is no OC'ing to the system at all. The only thing I could think of is if heat is causing the issues. Ambient temperature goes up to about 85F in my house and I've got all low speed fans running so maybe there is not enough airflow in the case to proper dissipate the heat from the RAM. Attached is fan layout and airflow. The circle is a side case fan and the arrow on top of it shows the intake for my 8800GTS. Is this a heat issue maybe caused by such high ambient heat and lack of air flow due to low speed fans? Or just crappy RAM?

What could be causing this inconsistency with MemTest? I think I'm going to RMA this set of RAM as well back to Crucial and in the future not even consider them when upgrading. Which is a shame because for a long time I'd heard good things about their memory line.

[xtkxhom3r]

i used to get random errors like that with ocz memory so this is what i did to fix it

the ram was rated at 2.1-2.3 so i lowered it to 1.9

the rams speed was 1200 but i couldnt run that speed with only 1.9 v so i ran it at 1000 and its been 100% stable ever since

what i think is that the ram doesnt like the higher voltage for some reason

it worked for me hopefully it will work for you too give it a try

[Blkout]

I don't trust MemTest regardless of what the general population believes. I've seen it find no errors with memory that was most certainly bad.

[Tak]

Well, I certainly don't like the idea of buying 1066 RAM and having to underclock it just to run stable. I guess I'll be dealing with Crucial's RMA process again.

[Automiketic]

are these ballistix. if they are then the reverse is more likely. ballistix seem to love a lot of volts but get real hot. keeping them cool is key. i have the same case as you. what i did was take the fan filter off the bottom and zip tie it to the bottom three 5"bays on the inside (closet to the ram not the front of the case.) and set it to blow in. helps keep everything cool and you can still put a fan on the bottom just no filter. good luck!