I recently had a problem with my PC at home. Sometimes it works okay, but there are some times wherein my PC crashes while I am playing online games. I thought that it was a software problem so I decided to reformat my PC after backing everything up.

However, it didn't really help as my computer still crashed without warning. This prompted me to check everything:

- Latest drivers? Check.

- Video card? (Is the fan running? Is it overheating?) Check.

- Motherboard? (Latest BIOS version?) Check.

- Latest updates for OS? Check.

- RAM? Check.

Hmmm. RAM? Honestly, how would know if your RAM is in tip-top shape or the exact opposite?

Sure the RAM may look okay outside, but this might be one of the major reasons why PCs crash all of a sudden or fail to boot-up. After X hours, I was able to find a software designed to diagnose your RAM and find out if it's the one causing all the problems.

It's called Memtest, a stand-alone memory diagnostic tool designed by Chris Brady.

Similar to hard drives, RAM sticks may also suffer from "bad sectors." And, as soon as the computer reads the bad sector, it would cause the computer to malfunction (and even crash).

I have obtained a definition of the Memtest86 from the wikipedia website. According to the entry, Memtest86 is defined as: "a piece of software designed to stress-test an x86-compatible computer's random access memory for errors."

The wikipedia entry continues on by describing the memtest:

It is designed to run from a bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM, or from a suitable bootloader, without an operating system being present. Memtest86's tests are sufficiently harsh that it can find otherwise unrecognized problems on machines that appear to work normally. With many chipsets, Memtest86 allows counting of failures even in error-correcting ECC DRAM.

In short, using this tool will help determine if your RAM is the main cause of your PC problem. However, just because you find out that your RAM has a problem does not immediately mean that you have a defective RAM stick.

According to Chris Brady, and I quote directly from his memtest86 website (Obtained from www.memtest86.com website):

Please be aware that not all errors reported by Memtest86 are due to bad memory. The test implicitly tests the CPU, L1 and L2 caches as well as the motherboard. It is impossible for the test to determine what causes the failure to occur. However, most failures will be due to a problem with memory module. When it is not, the only option is to replace parts until the failure is corrected.

Once a memory error has been detected, determining the failing SIMM/DIMM module is not a clear cut procedure. With the large number of motherboard vendors and possible combinations of memory slots it would be difficult if not impossible to assemble complete information about how a particular error would map to a failing memory module. However, there are steps that may be taken to determine the failing module. Here are four techniques that you may wish to use:

1) Removing modules
This is simplest method for isolating a failing modules, but may only be employed when one or more modules can be removed from the system. By selectively removing modules from the system and then running the test you will be able to find the bad modules. Be sure to note exactly which modules are in the system when the test passes and when the test fails.

2) Rotating modules
When none of the modules can be removed then you may wish to rotate modules to find the failing one. This technique can only be used if there are three or more modules in the system. Change the location of two modules at a time. For example put the module from slot 1 into slot 2 and put the module from slot 2 in slot 1. Run the test and if either the failing bit or address changes then you know that the failing module is one of the ones just moved. By using several combinations of module movement you should be able to determine which module is failing.

3) Replacing modules
If you are unable to use either of the previous techniques then you are left to selective replacement of modules to find the failure.

4) Avoiding allocation
The printing mode for BadRAM patterns is intended to construct boot time parameters for a Linux kernel that is compiled with BadRAM support. This work-around makes it possible for Linux to reliably run with defective RAM. For more information on BadRAM support for Linux, sail to http://home.zonnet.nl/vanrein/badram

Sometimes memory errors show up due to component incompatibility. A memory module may work fine in one system and not in another. This is not uncommon and is a source of confusion. In these situations the components are not necessarily bad but have marginal conditions that when combined with other components will cause errors.

Should you wish to download this software (and know more about it), users can check out the memtest86 website. Here are the links:

Memtest86 website: http://www.memtest86.com

Memtest86+ website: http://www.memtest.org/

Hopefully, this program will help you solve your hardware problems.

Good luck readers and tell me if this software works for you.

(Well, it did for me. And after getting my RAMs replaced, my computer is working like a charm).