When troubleshooting problems with a computer, the first thing we check is the hard drive. Next is the memory. A bad memory stick can cause all sorts of different problems from intermittent strange behavior, crashes and can even prevent the machine from booting at all. The good news is that memory is fairly cheap to replace if it is discovered that there is a bad chip and, even better, there are many different ways to test your memory for free.
If you are lucky enough that your computer can still boot and you are running Vista, you have a memory diagnostic tool built right into your system. Using this tool will require a reboot, so keep that in mind before you launch it.
Type in memory into the start menu, and you should see the first option will say Memory Diagnostics Tool.
A dialog will pop up asking if you want to reboot and check for problems now, or check for problems the next time you restart.
If you choose to restart now, Vista will reboot into the memory diagnostic utility:
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If you aren't so lucky, another option is to boot to a cd that runs a memory diagnostic scan. Microsoft has a free downloadable tool that you can copy to a bootable cd. It includes a comprehensive set of tests and plenty of documentation. You can download the tool here.
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You can also try Memtest86. This powerful tool is developed as an open source project and is updated regularly and well maintained. Like the Microsoft tool, you can download the software for free and install it to a bootable cd. Click here to download the zip version.
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These tools should be enough to prove whether you have bad RAM in your system. If you do find that some of your memory is bad, simply pull it from the system and replace it with another stick that is compatible with your system. Remember that, when replacing RAM, there are different types of RAM and they are not interchangeable. Also, some systems have a limit as to how much memory they can use. So, for instance, if you are running Windows XP on a 32 bit machine, any more than 4 gigs of RAM is waste. In some cases, putting too much RAM into a system, especially an older one, will cause it to not boot at all.
