Sniffing bad RAM

http://blogs.msdn.com/carmencr/archive/2004/08/03/207161.aspx

Wonder if this may explain the random crashes, at least partially.

 

From what I've read at Corsair, statistically speaking, a 256Mb machine
running 24 hours a day should see a memory error about once a month.
The primary source of memory errors is electrical disturbances due
things like cosmic rays.

Jim S.

 

We sprang for 2GB of registered parity checking memory and run at a lower
speed than it was designed for. Still get random crashes.

I have seen bad power supplies and poor cooling cause a lot of random stuff.
On one machine, just moving a case fan from one location to the other
changed reliability considerably. Suspect bad cooling when a user says that
it ran fine all morning but seems to crash in the afternoon. Running
without a UPS is a sure invitation to random problems.

Even so, most windows machines will rarely show uptimes approaching a week.
I'm talking about systems that run 24/7 of course, not the ones that rest
at night.

 

Even so, most windows machines will rarely show uptimes approaching a week.

Really ? The 2 Dell machines I have at work run 24/7 on WinXP and I
reboot them maybe once a month...

I agree with the bad cooling though. Just putting a $15 fan near the
machines to blow away the "hot" exhaust helps a lot.

 

Location of where fans are inside a CPU make a huge difference too.
Where they are put, when a CPU comes from the factory, may not necesserily
be the best place for a fan to be.
You will somtimes get little eddy currents inside of hot air that can't get
out.
Which in turn causes compenents to get hotter.

Richard

 

I'm talking about the system case fans.