Strange RAM failure

Towermax

Senior member
Mar 19, 2006
448
0
71
I have 8GB of Transcend DDR2-800 ECC unbuffered RAM in my home server running WHS 2011. When I first installed it a couple years ago, I ran Memtest 86+ for 24 hours twice to check it out and it passed just fine (tested in both ECC and non-ECC modes). It's been running ever since on the same Asus M4A785-M motherboard with ECC basic mode enabled.

Recently, I started getting unexplained server reboots and freezes. After some troubleshooting, I discovered that one of the DIMMs is bad. What's interesting is that when I run it all by itself, the bad DIMM passes Memtest with no problem. But paired with another DIMM it fails immediately or almost immediately.

The interesting part is that the ram hasn't been touched since I installed it--the box has never been opened. No overclocking and RAM is running at stock settings. And it's not a RAM slot problem, I've tried it in various slots, and did my recent testing in another system with the identical motherboard.

So, what are possible causes of this kind of failure? Just bad luck, or something else?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
It can happen. Voltage fluctuations from the board or the PSU can damage things over time too.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,592
13,807
126
www.anyf.ca
I had a stick of ram die hard in a live system once. I came to my computer and it was off. I thought it was odd since I had left it on. so I turn it on, and it would not post. After lot of aggrevation I realized one of the 4 sticks was dead. What sucks is this was a brand new machine but they rejected the RMA so I'm down that one stick now. 12GB is good enough I guess. :p