Stuck in RAM

[sparklemotion]

Hey guys,
I've posted here before under a different name, but it's been so long, I can't remember my password!

Anyway, I have a serious problem with my system. It seems like the RAM won't "clear" on shutdown. I know I am in need of a bad reimaging, but I don't know if it's going to help my problem.

Whenever I encode DVD video, I am not able to erase the MPV files. They are locked. Well, I can restart in safe mode, and I am able to delete them. But here's the weird thing, when I restart my PC, I get the POST code for RAM error (one long beep). If I let it sit for a while or unplug and then press the power on button like 5 times, the memory clears and I am able to boot up. Recently this started happening after playing half life 2. I know it uses a lot of RAM but I don't know why the RAM's not clearing.

I've tested my RAM, and it seems to be all good.

Is this my mobo, my ram, or my PC? I've got no idea. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Cheers,
sparklemotion

<EDIT>
Uggh it woulda helped if I posted my specs:

Abit NF7-S Mobo
1 GB Mushkin PC3500 Level 1 RAM
Barton 2500+ chip
2x 36.7 WD Raptors in RAID 0
</EDIT>

 

[Nothinman]

Memory isn't backed by anything, cutting the power always clears it. And the BIOS memory test isn't doing any more than a quick test to make sure all the memory is addressable, even if there was still data in the memory (like there could be from a warm reboot) it wouldn't matter.

As for your problem, I don't really know. It could be a screwy or under powered power supply or even a dirty/intermitten connection to your memory.

 

[NewBlackDak]

Could be timings too tight, could be too much oc, could be motherboard dying, could be the PSU dying, could be poorly seated parts, or could be the ram dying.

How did you "test" your ram?
Boot to a cd with memtest86, and let it run 3 times.
Remove one stick, and test them both one at a time.
If one fails, and the other doesn't then you probably found your problem.
If neither fails then it's probably a compatibility problem with running dual channel in your mobo.
If both fail try the ram in another machine, or different ram in yours.

With odd problems you just have to rule out the parts one at a time.

 

[Blazer]

could be something running in the background,your sig doesnt indicate what OS you are using,have you used the configuration utility

 

[drag]

the memory thing and the dvd thing are probably unrelated...

The memory issue is something to do with your hardware and probably doesn't have much to do with the OS. I'd check for BIOS updates....


(The OS may be triggering the bug in the hardware with something like using more memory then you've used before or something to do with power management or something to do with the IDE chipset and your dvd player or something very freaky like that, but it would ultimantly be a hardware bug... That's what I feel is most likely, although I'd check for new drivers for your motherboard since sometimes they incorporate work arounds for flaky hardware and turn off ACPI/APM power management support in the BIOS just to make sure)