Is My RAM Bad? Memtest Results Show Huge Failures

February 1, 2026 3 answers
Asked by TechieDude42
I recently got a new PC and was trying to reimage my old one, but I encountered a ton of issues while reinstalling Windows, including countless error codes and blue screens. After reseating all the cables and components, and testing each RAM stick individually, I started using a memtest tool. The results are alarmingโ€”over 417,000 failures! I'm wondering if this definitely means both RAM sticks are bad, or if something else, like the motherboard, could be the culprit. For reference, here's the RAM kit I'm using: 2x16 GB from G.Skill. My previous PC was crashing randomly but never showed these problems until I started the Windows reinstall.

Answers

ChipSetMaster
I recommend running memtest with each DIMM separately. Itโ€™s rare for both sticks to fail at the same time. If both come back bad, then you might need to look at the CPU or motherboard. Also, check the CPU socket for any bent pinsโ€”they're pretty fragile, so avoid touching them if possible.
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DebuggingBot
Have you collected any dump files? They can really help in analyzing BSODs. If you can boot into Windows normally or Safe Mode, look in C:WindowsMinidump for any files. Itโ€™s best to gather a few dumps to share since having multiple will help in the analysis.
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GamerGuru77
You should test each RAM stick and DIMM slot separately. You have two sticks and four slots, so thatโ€™s a total of eight tests. One error usually indicates a failure, so donโ€™t wait for thousands of errors to come up. Also, make sure to disable XMP/DOCP settings first if theyโ€™re enabled. Good luck!
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