The joy of Blue Screens

[kengr]

I've been getting the BSOD far too often since uped the RAM on this computer to 4 gig. Since I had to go with used RAM it's not a *huge* surprise that one of the DIMMs has an interrmittent error.

I should have known better when the system cared about which DIMMs were installed where. And since the errors usually had similar address when they reported one, I had strong suspicions as to which one it was.

I hadn't wanted to be without the system for long enough to run a *through* memory test.

But today I got up from a nap to be welcomed by the BSOD. Ok, that was it.

I opened it up and tried each of the DIMMs as the *only* one in the system. That was one of the suspicious things when I'd upgraded. The sysytem had been upset with having one of them as the first DIMM.

Unfortunately, it accepted each of them this time.

So put back all but the one I thought was the bad one. At least I had 3 gig of RAMM even if it was running single channel instead of dual channel.

The system had a BSOD a couple hours later. *sigh*

At least I'd discovered that the one I thought was bad would work in a box fayanora had spotted out by the dumpster one day. I'd held on to it for the XP key sticker on it. But since it'd accepopt the DIMM, thatt meant I could use *it* to run the memory test.

So when things went belly up again, I just grumbled and swapped the DIMMs. It's been running quite a bit longer now, so hopefully I've got the right one.

I'll stick a spare CD drive in it and make a bootable CD to run the memory test. Then I can let it run for a few days.



Actually the box I'll be using for the test isn't that bad. Only 2 DIMM slots, so it probably maxes out at 2 gig. Still be useful for some things. And it doesn't have any SATA controllers. And only has a few drive bays. But it's 2.5 GHz. And has several card slots.

So I may keep it around as a test box.

Anyway, It'll be next month before I can pick up the RAM. It'll be after Orycon, and hopefully I'll have enough left over from what I've set aside for Orycon to get from that.

Anyway, that means a trip to Free Geek. If I'm lucky, I'll find a pair of matched DIMMs. I'll also take this MicronPC laptop someone gave me. If I can find a power supply for it, I'll be able to see how much RAM it has, and what kind of CPU. If it's better than the #3 laptop I have I might keep it and get rid of that one. Then again the #3 has a docking station with some nice features.

Oh well. I'll worry about it when I get a chance to test it.

note: the #3 laptop is currently designated as a sacrificial system. Won't have anything important on it but it can run a browser and Open office. So it's suitable for dragging to someplace to wite or the like.

The #1 laptop was a gift from a friend after one of the HDs died in a way that didn't allow accessing either of them. I fortunately have a friend who could replace it and get it running *and* was willing to let me make payment.

Alas, it's an HP Envy 3D. And thus runs *hot*. They need a major league cooling pad which I can't afford yet.

The #2 laoptop is quite usable so it's ytthe go-to if I need a laptop for something other than writing/browsing.