computer randomly shutting off

[excalibur3]

I have a dell that I installed 2 gigs of memory in a few months ago. Every 2-3 weeks the computer will randomly/abruptly shut off and then turn back on to give a blue screen of death. I recorded some of what it said this last time:
L_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
bla, bla, bla
STOP 0x0000000A (0xFFBE0000, 0x0000000, 0x804F408F)
bla bla.

The dell is a pentium 4 that was bought a year ago. It was about a $600 computer at the time so that gives you an idea of its components. The memory is PQI Turbo dual channel ram. It has a lifetime warranty. How can I tell if it is the memory or something else? What is the next step? It seems to be doing it at really random times. It isn't when it is working really hard or anything like that.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Do a search in these forums for simular problems and try this MS guide. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;818501

 

[excalibur3]

Thanks for the reply. but I am not familiar at all with how to debug things. Is there a guide I can use or maybe even a program that will do it automatically? I tried searching the forum but I couldn't find anything too meaningful.

 

[ch33zw1z]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314063/en-us

it's vague, but sounds like a hardware program. try using memtest to test your memory out, also a program line Prime95 to test important components.

btw, that "bla bla" under the stop error you listed may be a xxx.sys file you need for problem determination.

 

[Markbnj]

You have a hardware or driver fault. Since it is so intermittent, and you added ram, I am inclined to agree with the poster who recommended running memtest. One reason why it is intermittent is that programs may only be hitting the affected area of ram infrequently. Memtest will cover the whole 2 gigs. If you run it for a few hours and don't see any errors you can probably rule out memory and start to think in terms of add-in cards or driver incompatibilities.

Also, next time it happens try to write down some of the "blah blah" . It will tell us what software module the fault occured in (usually).

 

[excalibur3]

I ran memtest and it gave me like 28,000 errors so I think that might be it... My question is that if there are truly these many errors why don't i see it more often than I do? Is it just that a block is faulty and it just continually write and reads from it?

 

[corkyg]

My question is that if there are truly these many errors why don't i see it more often than I do? Is it just that a block is faulty and it just continually write and reads from it?

Most likely because with 2 GB of memory, the bad areas are only impacted occasionally.

I would suggest removing one of the 1 GB DIMM sticks, and running Memtest on each separately. All those bad places may be one one stick, and that would make replacement easier. And, if that is the case, you should be able to run with greater stability on the one good DIMM.

 

[AstroGuardian]

Memtest has many sets of tests thats why is shows so many errors. If memtest says that the memory is faulty then it IS faulty. I have done it many times and it never makes mistakes.
Replace your memory modules. You can even try to see which module is faulty and replace it. But i think that your memory is prety old and if you replace it with a same module but different review, it will be troublesome with dual channel usage.