Hey all, about 2 weeks ago I was playing World of Warcraft and it crashed with a memory error (can't remember if it was Memory could not be read or written) and then my computer immeditely rebooted with a bad bios checksum error screen.
My motherboard was an Asus K8N and when I called them I was told it was probably a memory error (I had 2 512 Crucial memory sticks both reporting errors). So I ordered a new 1gb stick of Corsair XMS ram. It arrived, I hooked it up and still had the same problem. I also ran Memtest on it and it found errors as well. I called again and second guy I talked to said the first guy was completly wrong and that it was the bios chip that was bad. He said if the bios is bad it'll show the memory bad even if it isn't, since the bios tells the memory what to read and write. They sent me a new bios chip which didn't work what so ever (still not sure if they even sent me the RIGHT bios chip). They sent me another bios chip, this one actually worked but I still recieved bad bios checksum errors. Now they want me to send in the whole board to be replaced. I decided enough was enough and ordered a brand new Abit motherboard which arrived today.
So I hook it up (with the brand new Corsair XMS ram installed) and everything is going smoothly. I get on WoW and about 15 minutes in it crashes once again with the memory error. I run a Memtest and sure enough there was errors. I take out that stick and put in 1 of the 512 sticks and it reports errors after about 2 minutes. I take that one out and swap it with the other 512 stick and about 25 min in it starts reporting errors as well.
Now I'm completly dumbfounded. 2 memory sticks going bad at once as well as a brand new 1gb stick? I have no clue what the deal is anymore. I will be RMA'ing the 1gb stick tomorrow but I'm wondering if my PSU is bad or something and ruining the memory when I install it. But if that was the case wouldn't other parts being going bad as well (like the cpu, vid card etc)? I would hate for it to be the PSU and recieve another memory stick only to have it go bad as well.
Also I thought maybe it was a virus (because I couldn't get housecall.trendmicro.com to load) so I decided to just reformat. The install and what not went smoothly but after it was finished and tried to load Windows my computer just rebooted. After it rebooted and started to load Windows again it rebooted once again so I just shut off the computer and haven't turned it back on since.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated as I'm at a complete loss right now. Is it possible that I've just hit a streak of incredibly bad luck and 3 memory sticks really are just bad?
Oh and also I own the Antec Sonata case which comes with an Antec TruePower 380w PSU which is a pretty quality PSU, so it's not some random generic PSU.
My full system specs just incase:
Athlon 64 3000+
Radeon 9700 Pro
1gb Corsair XMS memory
Hitachi 120gb Sata HD
SB Audigy 2 soundcard
Abit NF8-V2 mobo
My motherboard was an Asus K8N and when I called them I was told it was probably a memory error (I had 2 512 Crucial memory sticks both reporting errors). So I ordered a new 1gb stick of Corsair XMS ram. It arrived, I hooked it up and still had the same problem. I also ran Memtest on it and it found errors as well. I called again and second guy I talked to said the first guy was completly wrong and that it was the bios chip that was bad. He said if the bios is bad it'll show the memory bad even if it isn't, since the bios tells the memory what to read and write. They sent me a new bios chip which didn't work what so ever (still not sure if they even sent me the RIGHT bios chip). They sent me another bios chip, this one actually worked but I still recieved bad bios checksum errors. Now they want me to send in the whole board to be replaced. I decided enough was enough and ordered a brand new Abit motherboard which arrived today.
So I hook it up (with the brand new Corsair XMS ram installed) and everything is going smoothly. I get on WoW and about 15 minutes in it crashes once again with the memory error. I run a Memtest and sure enough there was errors. I take out that stick and put in 1 of the 512 sticks and it reports errors after about 2 minutes. I take that one out and swap it with the other 512 stick and about 25 min in it starts reporting errors as well.
Now I'm completly dumbfounded. 2 memory sticks going bad at once as well as a brand new 1gb stick? I have no clue what the deal is anymore. I will be RMA'ing the 1gb stick tomorrow but I'm wondering if my PSU is bad or something and ruining the memory when I install it. But if that was the case wouldn't other parts being going bad as well (like the cpu, vid card etc)? I would hate for it to be the PSU and recieve another memory stick only to have it go bad as well.
Also I thought maybe it was a virus (because I couldn't get housecall.trendmicro.com to load) so I decided to just reformat. The install and what not went smoothly but after it was finished and tried to load Windows my computer just rebooted. After it rebooted and started to load Windows again it rebooted once again so I just shut off the computer and haven't turned it back on since.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated as I'm at a complete loss right now. Is it possible that I've just hit a streak of incredibly bad luck and 3 memory sticks really are just bad?
Oh and also I own the Antec Sonata case which comes with an Antec TruePower 380w PSU which is a pretty quality PSU, so it's not some random generic PSU.
My full system specs just incase:
Athlon 64 3000+
Radeon 9700 Pro
1gb Corsair XMS memory
Hitachi 120gb Sata HD
SB Audigy 2 soundcard
Abit NF8-V2 mobo