Memory Management BSOD

Hey guys,
I need some help. I have been having random "MEMORY MANAGEMENT BSODs" and I'm not sure why. The only reason that it could possibly be is that I just refreshed my Windows Vista installation, reformatted. After that I got all my drivers that I needed on my Alienware support CD. Its jsut so strange. It could be between a series of days I'll have the BSOD or within hours I'll have them. Help is Greatly appreciated.

My specs are:
Alienware m9750
Windows Vista Ultimate
Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX - SLI Enabled
Intel(R0 Core(TM) 2CPU T7600 @2.33GHz 2.32 GHz
RAM 2047
17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Stealth Black

 

Sounds like a RAM problem. Run Vista's Memory Diagnostic Tool and see if it comes up with anything.

 

I have tried that before and it says there are problems, but I have to call Customer Support.... Is there a way I can fix this without calling them?

 

Not really, usually RAM problems can only be fixed by replacing the RAM itself. You can of course do this yourself, but I doubt Alienware is gonna fork over the money to replace your RAM without you sending it in. So pretty much, you have to call them up and will probably have to send the comp in to get ur RAM replaced.

 

So you are saying I goofed up my RAM by re-installing Windows?

 

I doubt it. I'm not even sure it's possible to blame yourself if you haven't physically handled the RAM.

 

Hmmmmm... I am rather stumped on this situation. There has to be some way other than calling a Techy...

 

Have you tried running memtest86+? It would be good to have two programs confirming the same result.

 

I couldnt get memtest86 to work.... Grrr... Tried booting from iso then tried burning to a disk.

 

I'm nearly 100% confident it is RAM errors. You don't have to physically touch or change any hardware components for them to sometimes stop working. Also honestly most companies put pretty cheap quality RAM into components (maybe Alienware goes out and buys the good stuff, but just putting it out there). I don't understand why you don't just call up Alienware Tech Support, you never know they may even send you another RAM chip without you having to send in your lappy.

As for memtest86, it's usually pretty simple to work. Download the iso, burn the iso (make sure your not burning it as data, but as an image copy). And then boot from the cd.

Also like Baserk suggested, to isolate if it is only one RAM chip you could try removing one, and then running memtest86 or Vista's Memory Diagnostic and see if any errors come up. Then try the other chip and repeat. See which one has or errors, or maybe both have errors. If only one RAM card has the problem, you could try just sending that one RAM chip into Alienware instead of your entire computer (talk to tech support before sending anything).

Hope the advice gets your issue resolved.

 

Its worth your time to figure out whether or not its a memory issue. Get memtest86+ working, or just use the vista diagnostic tool found on the CD.

 

Ok, I got memtest86+ to work. I let it go over night because it was taking a long time at 11%. So I wake up this morning and it is still on 11%. I think it was either stuck or froze. Now I forget what it was called, but at the bottom left I saw this: 0:99999999 I'm not sure what the heck happened...

 

Try running it again or reburning it just to make sure its not your cd disk thats the problem. If it still freezes, could be a sign of a serious RAM problem or even motherboard problem (check each RAM stick individually be swapping one out one at a time to see if that changes anything in Memtest or Vista Memory Diagnostic). Again, I recommend calling up Alienware Tech Support. I seriously doubt theres anything you can do on your end to fix the issue unless you want to go out and buy replacement hardware with your own money.

 

Well, I havent had a BSOD since ive tried this stuff. It just seems like everything has gone wrong since I've re-installed Windows. Its kinda slower. Things tend to quit working more easily. I dont know. I may try to reformat again to see if maybe I just had a bad format, but who knows.