Computer Instability

[Deftscythe]

So I built a new system a couple weeks ago and it had been running great up until a few days ago when I got a memory_management bsod. After rebooting I checked system properties and found the ram listed as "6.0GB(3.99 usable)." I have a 3x2gb ram. I decided to test the ram itself by removing the stick in the third slot and rebooting. System properties then read as just 4.0gb, nothing about "usable" ram. To try to confirm that the third stick was bad, I took the second stick out and put the third in it's place. After that reboot, system properties listed 4gb installed, 1.99 usable.

Now normally, I would just write this up as a bad stick and send it back to newegg, but I've also gotten some other bsod errors like ntfs.sys and system service exception which are apparently related to driver issues.

So, my question is, could the ram issues be caused by software as opposed to hardware, or is it just a coincidence that I had these driver issues at the same time as a stick failed?

[Bockage]

Two reasons I can think of off the top of my head that the total ram is less then the usable might be:
1. You're using a 32 bit OS (only a 64 bit OS is able to use more then 4 gigs of ram)
2. The board doesn't support that much ram.

If you're worried your ram is bad you can check it with memtest86x. A pass or two will let you know if your ram is alright.

[Deftscythe]

Definitely not those things. The 3.99 usable thing is a new development. I have 64bit 7 home premium and after I built the computer the system properties displayed the 6gb normally until just recently.

[Cheerios]

Two reasons I can think of off the top of my head that the total ram is less then the usable might be:
1. You're using a 32 bit OS (only a 64 bit OS is able to use more then 4 gigs of ram)
2. The board doesn't support that much ram.

If you're worried your ram is bad you can check it with memtest86x. A pass or two will let you know if your ram is alright.

Seconded for using memtest86 to test the ram. Even though you can run it all night, you can usually see errors within the first 3 passes. A bad stick of ram can practically throw every error code in the book at you, so bad drivers might not even be the culprit.

The part that seems odd to me is

After that reboot, system properties listed 4gb installed, 1.99 usable.

I can't provide a reason for windows recognizing 4gb of ram, yet only using 2. Even if a stick is bad, I'm pretty sure Windows would still try to use it even if it meant shitting the bed. Someone chime in on this

[sruon]

The part that seems odd to me is I can't provide a reason for windows recognizing 4gb of ram, yet only using 2. Even if a stick is bad, I'm pretty sure Windows would still try to use it even if it meant shitting the bed. Someone chime in on this

I had this happen when I first installed my new computer, I don't know exactly why but reseating multiple times the DIMM fixed it eventually.

[Franzer]

I had this happen when I first installed my new computer, I don't know exactly why but reseating multiple times the DIMM fixed it eventually.

This is a good idea, but make sure you take each stick out. Even try moving them to different slots instead of back in the original one.

[GSDragoon]

A while ago I had asome ram go bad at work. Windows was throwing all kinda of errors and the virus scan was claiming tons of false positives. I rebooted and disabled fast boot/post from the BIOS. When it booted up next, it found bad memory locations and disabled them (since it did a more extensive scan during post). I had 2 gigs but windows only showed like 1.2. I'll 3rd/4th a full mem86 test and let it run for a while.

[Cooleko]

are you using an EVGA board? if so there are very detailed guides into fixing this problem on their forums

[Deftscythe]

Well, I determined that one stick is definitely dead. However, despite having removed it I'm still getting BSODs, specifically ACP_Index_Mismatch and System_Service_Exception. Not really finding anything useful from google. I've tried checking for driver updates in device manager and found nothing and tried checking for windows updates as well. Kind of at a loss here.