* Ken Moffat <zarniwhoop@ntlworld.com> writes:

  > On Thu, 20 Oct 2005, Steve Youngs wrote:
  >> 
  >> RAM.  But I've run memtest86 (version 3.2) over the RAM and no errors
  >> were found.

  >  Steve,

  > this is almost certainly a hardware problem.  I'm not saying that the
  > RAM is actually defective, it could be that the motherboard doesn't
  > reliably support that much memory, or even a weak powersupply.

  > I prefer to use memtest86+ for recent hardware, but I'm sure
  > memtest86 can find errors if you give it long enough (on a 1.8GHz
  > athlon64 with a mere 2GB of memory, several hours were needed -
  > the memory was good, but the mobo couldn't drive that much at
  > full speed).

I gave memtest86+ a shot, and after about 18 hours it came up with...

  Test:            8
  Pass:            7
  Failing Address: 00008072bf0 - 128.1MB
  Good:            00000000
  Bad:             00000100
  Err-Bits:        00000100
  Count:           1

  >  3GB sounds an awful lot for an athlon - 2x1GB and 2x512MB, I suppose. 

3x1GB

  >  Of course, if it's a PSU problem related to excessive power to memory + 
  > disk(s) + graphics card, memtest86 is unlikely to trigger it.

And to track _that_ down I'll have to play "mix'n'match" with the
hardware.  Something that I can't do right now (financially, and,
time). :-(

Sounds like I'm just going to have to put up with it for the time
being.

Thanks anyway, Ken.

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