Interpreting Results for my Mac

[jklinephd]

My Late 2009 iMac has been having odd intermittent problems that have me confused. Random crashes, some kernel panics, lockups, etc. After system installs and HD checks I still have not figured it out.

OK, I am running Memtest 4.3.5 on my 2009 iMac and its about 4 hours into the test and I am trying to figure out what I am seeing. I am doing the Default test.

First, how many times does it go through the 10 tests before its done?

Second, do I have to run all the tests to get good data?

Attached is the picture of the screen at 4 hours and 21 minutes:

As you can see it has over 65000 errors and an error confidence value of 104. So what does this mean? Does this mean one of my memory modules is bad? I currently have 4 modules installed (I think 2 4gb and 2 2gb).

Also the machine is fairly hot, I am uncomfortable letting it run over 8 hours doing this. I understand that this is a sunday night, so I may not get a response, but i think I am going to quit it out at 6 - 8 hours or so. How long does the testing usually take on a Dual Core Machine like this?

Thanks

[David (PassMark)]

As you can see it has over 65000 errors and an error confidence value of 104. So what does this mean?

Getting 1 or 2 RAM errors is bad. Getting >65,000 is fairly catastrophic. Once you have a few errors, there is really no point running the test any longer. The doesn't make much difference if the RAM is bad, or very bad.

It is pretty much 100% sure there is a hardware fault. Very likely it is a RAM fault. But there is also a smaller chance it is motherboard or CPU (or overheating caused by dust, lack of cooling, etc).

[jklinephd]

Thanks David for your fast response. I guess there is no way to see which RAM module is problematic? I upgraded my RAM in Late 2011 with some 4gb modules from Crucial. I have 4 slots, and left the old 2gb modules in and put in the 4gb modules. I would like to think that I'd be better off removing the old modules, and retesting the machine, with the 2011 modules and see if they are the culprit.

I am not exactly certain how long the problems have been happening, because they were very intermittent at first, but it started in 2012, probably late 2012.

Memory changes are not that bad with this machine, but I want to minimize my hassle. I might just buy 2 4gb modules and replace all 4 to save time, but I don't want to waste money.

Any suggestionions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[David (PassMark)]

I would test the 2x2GB and 2x4GB separately to try and narrow down the problem.

If there were errors with both the 2GB set and the 4GB set, then it might not be a RAM issue. It might be the slot or the CPU instead.

[jklinephd]

Thanks for your helpful responses.

off to remove RAM.

[jklinephd]

Well the Crucial Ram is toast, with 40000+ errors by Test 4. The original 2x2gb modules have no errors.

So I am guessing its the Crucial Memory, which sucks.

Well the machine will run on 4gb, with what my wife does.

Thanks again!