Do I have bad RAM?

UbuFool

New Member
I got a computer from a Computer Fair for £20 (yeah I know, you get what you pay for), and whenever I tried to install operating systems on it, the installers threw up errors and I ended up with problems, until I got Vista Home Basic working.

At first I thought it was a problem with the DVD drive I installed (the one that came with the computer was dead), but it had worked fine in the computer I had it in before. I checked it was all plugged in properly and tried to install Ubuntu, only for that to go all weird on me too, crashing with different errors and defaulting to live disk mode, which wouldn't let me do anything.

However, I just booted it back to the HD, and Vista gave me an error too, something about how the Windows environment had crashed, and that then caused everyone to go to Windows Classic mode and back again for a few seconds.

It then hit me... Maybe the problem is bad RAM?

What do you think? The computer is an eMachines 2240, it has 512MB RAM, 2.66GHz Celeron D, and a 40GB HD.
 
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Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
Do you have a memtest disc or failing that some extra RAM you can swap in to test it with? That would be the easiest way to find out.
 

UbuFool

New Member
No memtest disc or spare RAM I'm afraid... I could pull the RAM out of another PC, but I'll have to check if it'll be compatible first.
 

fastdude

Active Member
bad luck

Despite many youtube videos and "gospel truth" vista guides, (and this is just my opinion), but Vista, even home basic, will not run on a system with 512 Meg of RAM :L It's just too.... bloated.;) but don't take my word for it, and try to get urself some nice new shiny Random Access memory :D
 

UbuFool

New Member
It seems to run fine though, a little laggy but it works. Yeah, I reckon I should have a gig of RAM on there anyway, especially since it's so cheap. Where do you recommend I should get RAM from online?
 

Zatharus

VIP Member
No memtest disc or spare RAM I'm afraid... I could pull the RAM out of another PC, but I'll have to check if it'll be compatible first.

Good idea. Provided it is compatible, the other unit's modules will come in handy.

Would you give us more details on the initial errors you had during the OS installs?

Have tried or been able to run any of the Ubuntu live disks? Do those boot and/or give you any errors?
 

Zatharus

VIP Member
It seems to run fine though, a little laggy but it works. Yeah, I reckon I should have a gig of RAM on there anyway, especially since it's so cheap. Where do you recommend I should get RAM from online?

Where are you located? If you are in the US, Newegg.com is one of the best.
 

UbuFool

New Member
Good idea. Provided it is compatible, the other unit's modules will come in handy.

Would you give us more details on the initial errors you had during the OS installs?

Have tried or been able to run any of the Ubuntu live disks? Do those boot and/or give you any errors?

The Ubuntu disk I used (which I just installed on another PC with no problems) gave me different errors every time I tried to use it. At first, it all looked like it was working fine, until the installer box suddenly disappeared from the screen at the partition stage and a box came up saying it had encountered an "unrecoverable error" and that it would reboot into a desktop installer. It booted in LiveCD mode after this, but when I tried to run the installer from the desktop it asked for the root password (I typed in "Ubuntu") then did nothing, even after I left it for 20 minutes. It then wouldn't even shut down until I hit the button and did it manually.

I tried to boot from the Ubuntu disk again after that, but it said that "ubi-language" had crashed and the install wouldn't work.

I booted from it again and it just came up with a login screen which wouldn't let me do anything at all.

When I tried to install an OSx86 distro, it failed at trying to install "BaseSystem"

Windows 7 came up with all sorts of different errors, but I can't remember the details of those now (this was a few weeks ago).

Where are you located? If you are in the US, Newegg.com is one of the best.

UK. My first thought is to just use Amazon, but I'd like to shop around.
 

Zatharus

VIP Member
Amazon may be fine for you. You can also go directly through Crucial, but you will likely pay more. A few of the UK members here have some favorites. I am sure they will chime in at some point.

Hmm... Are you using the hard drive that came with this unit as well? That could also be part of the problem. I recommend swapping the hard drive with a known good unit from one of your other machines, one you wouldn't mind erasing, and seeing if the same errors pop up.

Sadly, with it being a used computer (and an eMachines unit at that), there could be any number of malfunctioning parts. Swapping out RAM and the hard drive are a start. You should also make sure the unit is clean and all the heatsinks and fans are clear of dust. Also, look for any missing heatsinks on the motherboard. It is possible you have an overheating problem. One other part to try swapping would be the PSU. eMachines uses VERY cheap power supplies in their computers.
 

UbuFool

New Member
Thanks for the buying advice reguarding the RAM.

I don't think it's the hard drive since I get more problems when booting from CDs and DVDs than I do when it's booted from the HD anyway.

Can I just download a memtest program online, burn it to a CD, and run it?

It didn't look dusty when I opened it up, but I'll give everything another look at some point.
 

Aastii

VIP Member
What part of the UK are you in? Depending where you are, you can potentially negate shipping by picking up in store if you are near by.

Also, what type of memory is it you need (DDR, DDR2, DDR3)?

www.scan.co.uk
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.ebuyer.com

that is in order of preference for vendors from UK that I use regularly. There are others I have and would use, but can't remember them of the top of my head :p
 

Aastii

VIP Member
I'm in London, and I'll take a look at those, thanks :)

I don't know any places around London, both of those are up north, Scan in Bolton and OcUK in Newcastle, so would cost more in fuel than getting it shipped to you :p

I know there are many retailers down there though, and a few computer fairs. Picked up a cheap Asus 5850 for a friend while I was down there, can't remember where it is though, only there a couple times a year at best so don't know place names. Do a little googleing and hunting around, it is a big city after all so you should have some luck, otherwise those 3 e-tailers have anything you could want, just the disadvantage of paying a few £ in shipping
 

UbuFool

New Member
I went to a computer fair recently and there was cheap RAM aplenty, but I'd rather get it from a retailer TBH, espeically after the computer that's giving me these problems was from a computer fair in the first place.
 

Aastii

VIP Member
I went to a computer fair recently and there was cheap RAM aplenty, but I'd rather get it from a retailer TBH, espeically after the computer that's giving me these problems was from a computer fair in the first place.

So long as you get memory from a reputable brand (Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, Geil, Mushkin, G.Skill, Crucial, Patriot) it should be alright regardless of where you get it from, and if it has problems they all come with lifetime warranty, so just send it off and they will sort it for you within a couple of weeks. Have done so with Corsair and OCZ, both of which replaced my memory within 2 weeks of starting the RMA process
 

fastdude

Active Member
It seems to run fine though, a little laggy but it works. Yeah, I reckon I should have a gig of RAM on there anyway, especially since it's so cheap. Where do you recommend I should get RAM from online?
If your in the UK, then try out www.novatech.co.uk, if your anywhere else, then ebay is as good as anything :eek:
 

Aastii

VIP Member
If your in the UK, then try out www.novatech.co.uk, if your anywhere else, then ebay is as good as anything :eek:

Novatech are ok, however don't have much in the way of choice compared to the other retailers, and also are often more expensive than it's competitors. That and their support is utter crap from experience. OcUK aren't too much better with support though, Scan on the other hand, you couldn't ask for better than what they give, be it over the phone, in person in the shop, whatever.

As for ebay, unless I needed old components, I wouldn't use it
 
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