Random Physical Memory Dumps

[ambient_sounds]

Hey, I'm having some troubles with my computer. Well of course I am, or I wouldn't be posting this. Okay. I have a Gateway computer. It was purchased around a year ago and came with 256 MBs of RAM, a 2.4 GHrz P4 Processor, a GeForce 4 MX 440 graphics card, an Intel Mobo, and Windows XP Home.

Several months ago, I started upgrading it to better fit my avid gaming lifestyle. I bought a new card, a GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, and installed it with few hitches. The computer worked fine. Then I decided to get some more RAM. I bought 512 MB of DDR PC2700 RAM to match the 256 MB of DDR PC2700 I already had in the computer. This is when I started having problems.

I noticed, while installing the new RAM that's it's speed was about 100 Mhrz faster than the old RAM. I looked up some stuff online and from what I read, that shouldn't have made a difference, the RAM would just run at the lower of the 2 speeds. Also, around this time, I started messing with my computer. I suppose this could be the source of some problems, but I have attempted to undo whatever I did. The first thing I did was update the motherboard drivers (before the crashes appeared) and do some software updates. I also downloaded an overclocking program to overclock the FSB of my processor and a temperature monitor system to monitor the temperature of the processor, so as to know if the overclocking was too much. Around this time, the computer started crashing. I uninstalled the overclocking program after setting the FSB back to it's original setting.

The computer just totally crashes randomly. While I am in the middle of something, doesn't even have to be a game or use up much memory, the computer will blue screen. It will show some mumbo jumbo about what to do if the problem persists (doesn't help at all) and at the bottom says Physical Memory Dump and starts showing the numbers of the locations it's dumping (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4...).

I've scanned my computer for viruses, and I have eliminated anything that looks remotely like it could be the cause (i.e. spyware). This really gets annoying :evil: especially while playing games, or even just playing music, so if someone could help, that would be awesome. And if you need any more information, just let me know. Thanks in advance!

[Chipps]

I would check out your bios, it could have something to do with when you overclocked your system, but i'm not an expert...it might be running to high causing problems I had the same thing happen with my computer when I first built it, but then after I turned down basically, it hasn't been better! So I would try your bios and see whats up in there...also with your DDR did you check your bios in there to see what MHz it was running? if the new one is faster, but they are the same type (pc2700) it might have different MHz, your old one could just be a slower version of it too, I don't know.

[ambient_sounds]

Since Gateway is a major computer manufacturer and offers Tech Support, but doesn't want to waste their time with people accidentally screwing up their computer, they have locked the motherboard to where you can't modify the FSB in the BIOS. I would have overclocked through the BIOS had it not been for that factor. I do believe that program that I used caused some instability, but not the persistant crashes that have occurred on my machine.

On the other hand, I seem to have over-estimated my new RAM's speed a bit. It is actually 333 Mhz, not the 166 Mhz I though it was. Even though there is a slightly larger difference than what I first thought, I have taken the old RAM out anyways, and the system still blue screens. I went into the BIOS to collect a little more information about my system, although I was unable to modify it. See if this helps:

BIOS Version: RG84510A.15A.0057.P19
Processor Type: Intel P4
Processor Speed: 2.40 Ghz
System Bus Speed: 533 Mhz
System Memory Speed: 333 Mhz

Cache RAM: 512 KB
Total Memory: 512 MB
Memory Bank 0: Not Installed
Memory Bank 1: 512 MB (DDR333)

As for the Mhz of the old RAM, the speed is 166 Mhz, but I still don't think that would cause a problem. Of course, if anyone could prove me wrong, I would greatly appreciate it! :mrgreen: