Posted by Roberto Divia on 11/10/05 09:39

AnthonyR wrote:
> I've been repairing computers since I built my for 8088 PC back in 1992
> before the 286 Intel CPU.
> When you have a bad memory chip it won't effect the PC until something
> actually accesses that memory address.
> So many times people can run a PC just fine for years with bad memory
> modules and only have occasional blue screen of death errors when they have
> multiple programs open and access certain part of the memory not normally
> used.
> :)
>
> When diagnosis memory issues (very difficult in most cases) memory intensive
> programs need to be run for days sometimes that
> read and write to every single address in the memory module over and over.
> (Heat issues effect them also).

I agree 100% with Anthony. Not only, specific tests exists for errors that
occur only when writing in certain patterns. IEEE puplished several of them.
You can write to a memory chip the same pattern over and over without
problems until you change of pattern and... *BANG*!

Windows has a very conservative approach with memory. If this is not needed,
it is not used. Linux works the other way around: it uses as much memory as
possible, in case this is needed. With Linux it is much easier to spot and
to suffer from memory problems. I had several experiences with memory
failure working with Linux.

Ciao,
--
Roberto Divia` Love at first sight is one of the greatest
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