Help diagnose this problem (potentially bad ram)

[CBerger]

Ok so here is the post. I've had issues on and off for a while with an IRQL crash to blue screen. In the past I've asssumed something overheating so i cleaned the computer of dust and made sure the fans were clean and went on my way.

Recently It's been acting up again and even cleaning it out isn't working. I've also gotten a PFN_LIST_CORRUPT error when crashing to the blue screen.

I think it's finally taken it's last breath. Yesterday I could boot the system past the first two screens (bios screens I think) but It would not load up XP. No beep sounds, no crashes, it would display the first screens fine and then just sit on a black screen when windows should be loading.

I looked this up and found it might be some bad RAM so I've tried reseating and moving around the sticks and now it will just stop on the first screen (again I think this is the bios screen) and won't even get to where xp should be loading.

The RAM itself is all Kingston value ram but 2 of the sticks are old and the other 2 are older. I've tried all combinations with the pairs alone, together, in different slots and everytime now it's just booting to the bios screen and stopping.

In the past even just letting it sit for a little while the system would work fine.

Recommend what I should do please, the computer in my sig is what I have now except for the update of a 9800 GT and a same but new hard drive. I'm considering just buying a new processor, motherboard and memory to have an updated system that I won't have to worry about. Thank you for the help

 

[GoodNews101]

0x4E: PFN_LIST_CORRUPT is possibly the single strongest error code indicating corrupted memory. I speak from experience having had this error code myself and corrupted memory.

If you have corrupted memory no amount of switching around the RAM sticks will help. It can't be fixed, only replaced. Kingston makes great memory and I would be very suprised if they did not exchange your bad RAM for new RAM free of charge.

Have you ever run Memtest before? It is free, perfectly safe, and the good thing is engages almost immediately after boot-up. This is the address: Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool (if it doesn't work it is easy to find; if it takes you to any site that requires you to pay -- dont!; this is free). Some advice I give people running the test:

Let it run for a LONG time. The rule is a minimum of 7 Passes; the more Passes after 7 so much the better. There are 8 individual tests per Pass. Many people will start this test before going to bed and check it the next day.

If you have errors you have corrupted memory and it needs to be replaced.

Also, with errors you need to run this test per stick of RAM. Take out one and run the test. Then take that one out and put the other in and run the test. If you start getting errors before 7 Passes you know that stick is corrupted and you don't need to run the test any further on that stick.