Memtest results not consistent?

[sati]

Hi

Last weekend I've got 2 times a BSODs in Windows with MEMORY_MANAGEMENT stop code (I had previous BSODs that indicated bad HDD & GPU back in June but I thought I fixed the issues so now I'm faced with memory :/ ). So I went and run Memtest on Sunday, yesterday and now I'm running it today.

And I'm getting inconsistent/random (??) results. I have 4 Goodram DDR3 8GB each, so a total of 32GB, each same model/type, no OC, no XMP, didn't touch anything in BIOS settings (default voltage etc). 2 are from 2013, 2 were bought later ~2017 or 2018 if this matters. Each test at the moment is made with all 4 sticks, will also check each one separately and in dual setup.

I've used Memtest86 v.4.3.7 from partedmagic iso (version from 2019-05) and Memtest86 V10.6 (downloaded from here https://www.memtest86.com/download.htm ).

So on Sunday: I've used firstly the v.4.3.7, got 3 passes without errors. After that I've booted into the partedmagic linux, was using it for 2 hours without problems (my dad was watching some sport stream that I can't run on any other device at my home, that's why I had to stop the test during 3rd pass). After that I went and booted the MemTest86 V10.6 and it did 2 full passes (was getting late so I had to stop it) and also had zero errors. That was on Sunday.

Yesterday I went and booted the MemTest86 V10.6 first and:
- 1st run stopped after ~1.5h at 2nd pass cause it reached 10000 errors (5869 errors on Test5, 2632 on Test4)
- 2nd run stopped after ~30min at 1st pass as it reached 10000 errors (6290 errors on Test7, 1334 errors on Test4, 1131 errors on Test5)
So I've booted again the v.4.3.7 one:
- 1st pass got me ~54000 errors
- 2nd pass finished after ~10h at ~55000 total errors (so the 2nd pass had roughly ~1000 errors)
(from Total values it was almost 52k errors only on Test7, Error Confidence Value: 140)
(again was getting late so I had to stop it - the PC is next to my bed so I can't really run in overnight :P)

Now I'm running it again on V10.6 at the moment and:
- 1st run, 1st pass = no errors,
- 1st run, 2nd pass = currently at Test7 and also no errors (yesterday it would most likely already ended with 10k total errors)


My question is - is this "normal" situation that Memtests results aren't consistent? Sunday zero errors, yesterday "full error day", today again no errors?

Based only on the Monday runs it clearly shows that the memory is broken but how can I be sure which separate memory is faulty if I can't get consistent results? Or maybe I'm doing something wrong? (aside from not running the full 4 passes on "non error" days).

[David (PassMark)]

I have 4 Goodram DDR3

Somewhat ironic name.

this "normal" situation that Memtests results aren't consistent?

Having some small variations between runs isn't uncommon.
Having such a big variation isn't so common however. Maybe something in the environment changed (e.g. temperature or EMI or humidity levels or mains power supply).

Is it worth spending hours and hours testing DDR3 RAM? You can buy two new quality 8GB sticks for $25.
(so around $8 a stick 2nd hand)

[Jito463]

sati: Putting aside the inconsistency for a moment, have you tried simply reseating the RAM into the slot? In my experience, sometimes dust or a bit of moisture gets down in between the contacts, and pulling the sticks out (preferably blowing the slots out at the same time) then reseating them will often fix issues. Maybe try that before spending money on parts that you may not need.

[sati]

Hi

Thanks.

Is it worth spending hours and hours testing DDR3 RAM?

The main reason is that GoodRAM (well yeah, kind of ironic name, but it was working without issues for like 9 years ) gives a lifetime warranty on theirs sticks so if I'll be sure the RAM is broken maybe they could exchange them for free for me (the shipping shouldn't cost that much since I live in the same country)..

Even buying is an ok option but with such differences in results (I did 2 more runs, and also zero errors on both, I don't mind running those test tbh) is there any guarantee that it's actually the RAM that's funky and not for example the MOBO (itself or the memory slots)? And if I'll get new ones I still might get BSODs... While sending warranty ones will get returned cause "those RAM sticks are ok". If it matters my mobo is Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H, cpu is i7-4790 (I always forget when I bought this PC, 2013 or 2014, so it's actually from 2014 not 2013 like I wrote in the 1st post).

So I managed to burrow a PC with DDR3 from a friend and I'll try swapping RAM and test if on a different PC my RAM will throw errors / I will get errors on different RAM on my PC..

@Jito463 : I did such thing back in June, I will try to do it again.

[David (PassMark)]

is there any guarantee that it's actually the RAM that's funky and not for example the MOBO (itself or the memory slots)?

No. But often it is possible to have a guess. RAM errors are often just from a small address range and/or a small number of bits in error. And they occur with various different CPU cores.
CPU or motherboard failures are often give more random errors (random bits and random addresses), or just crash the machine, or occur just on one CPU core.
But this is just a generalization, and isn't always true.