this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
336 points (97.5% liked)

PC Master Race

21516 readers
736 users here now

A community for PC Master Race.

Rules:

  1. No bigotry: Including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
  2. Be respectful. Everyone should feel welcome here.
  3. No NSFW content.
  4. No Ads / Spamming.
  5. Be thoughtful and helpful: especially when new beginners have questions.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Failing RAM? In this economy?

Now to go beg to the RMA gods

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] digilec@lemmy.world 26 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

You can edit the grub config (assuming you're using Linux) and add reserved ranges for the affected physical address.

find the linux boot command and add a memmap=$ argument This tells the kernel to avoid the bad parts.

In your case it looks like a relatively small chunk of bad memory so.. memmap=64K$0x130FE0000

I've used this trick to stabilise systems with faulty RAM and it works.

[–] dangrousperson@feddit.org 7 points 19 hours ago

Seems like its always the same core that is creating the error. Could be a bad overclock. Try reseting the bios to default. Also try reseating the RAM (and clean out the slots with compressed air) and rerunning the test. I've had similar issues in the past that were fixed by this.

Once stable overclocks can fail after many years as it slowly wears out some transistors.

[–] Life_inst_bad@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago (5 children)
[–] alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.works 2 points 22 hours ago

Lol I got the same as well

[–] SitD@lemy.lol 2 points 1 day ago

😂😂😂

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza 57 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They're very few addresses, you can tell the OS not to use them. Take a look at this: https://www.memtest86.com/blacklist-ram-badram-badmemorylist.html

[–] T4V0@lemmy.pt 4 points 19 hours ago

It didn't even occur to me it could be done, makes sense.

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 day ago

Dawg you're the GOAT with that link

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

Not good. The pattern is not consistent.

Take the RAM out and carefully clean the contacts with e.g. alcohol and a piece of lint-free cloth.

[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 6 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Try blowing on it and inserting again

[–] Beangut@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

This does actually help, if you still have bad sections you can reserve them in GRUB or Badblocks(?) on windows iirc

I mean not actually blowing on the ram but taking it out, cleaning contacts with isopropyl and reseating it has fix memory errors for me in the past.

[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

This usually makes me start working.

[–] iamnotme@feddit.uk 1 points 15 hours ago

It worked the other day on my servers ecc ram. The greatest tech support trick of all time after ‘have you tried turning it off and on again’

[–] Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world 69 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fffuuuuuu

Check the used market first

[–] deepfriedchril@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago (7 children)

If it's still under warranty, why wouldn't you try to RMA it first?

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If it's still under warranty, why wouldn't you try to RMA it first?

You can try... but several manufacturers are opting to refund you what you paid for the product, instead of replacing it, per their warranty terms. Terms that never were an issue before. And obviously what you paid years ago won't get you anywhere near a similar product now.

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But OP would still get something.

worth asking anyway... but if they demand the pair back and only offer a refund, you're losing money over keeping a single stick probably.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 2 points 19 hours ago
[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Just buy a bunch of NAND gates and make your own registers

[–] BodilessGaze@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Sure, you can do that....if you're a casual. Real PC users build their own NAND gates out of MOSFETs.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my relays

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Relays are for kids and cowards who are too soft to use mercury delay-line memory

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, the relays are just a side project that I'm toying with. My daily driver is a hamster-wheel-powered marble-run abacus running floating point arithmetic

[–] Orygin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Excuse me, but real programmers use butterflies

[–] roserose56@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm making my own GPU at the moment, it can run for sure a potato. lol /j for anyone who didnt understand

[–] locahosr443@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Report back with crysis benchmark

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I prefer to do the old fashioned way like granny taught me, by weaving my own damn memory.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 points 23 hours ago

Memory-safe by default!

[–] christov@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

F. Godspeed.

[–] loric@piefed.social 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Remove the sticks, blow out your sockets with some compressed air and re-test. I had something similar recently and a full memtest pass ran clean after that.

[–] Shayeta@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago

Also, disable any OC. I had my ram fail tests because it is not supported by my mobo. After reducing speed to factory stock it would pass flawlessly.

[–] 0x0@infosec.pub 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

you'd be surprised. it's not even a about dust. chip creep is still a thing in modern ddr and pcie slots, and can absolutely show up as a bad part. I've saved a few gpus and ram sticks from being declared dead after a bad test by just cleaning contacts and reinstalling.

[–] Zonefive@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Don’t know what brand you’ve got but I had two 16GB sticks of G.Skill DDR4 go bad a few months back and their RMA process worked a treat.

Wishing you success as well.

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 15 points 1 day ago (3 children)

GSkill yep. Should be good. I originally built in 2020 with 2x8gb and then in October 2024 I got another 2x8gb because it was only $35USD why not lol

The exact same set is currently $135...

And go figure the new sticks were the ones that failed.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Life_inst_bad@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

The software for the AGC was written by programmers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Instrumentation Lab, and was woven into core rope memory by female workers in factories.[2] Some programmers nicknamed the finished product LOL memory, for Little Old Lady memory.[3]

LOL Memory indeed

[–] zergtoshi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

They want RAM, not ROM ;)

[–] juipeltje@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Dang, i'm a bit worried for my own RAM as well. I keep getting random reboots on my pc every now and then. I initially suspected my distro to be the problem since it started happening after i hopped, but after feeling like i checked everything on the software side, i'm checking hardware now just to be safe anyway. Started with removing the OC from my RAM. I also have my 5800X3D undervolted though since i saw it recommended at the time. Now that it's a few years old i might just not be stable anymore at that voltage.

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

I've got two 16GB sticks that I bought in 2020 pullin me through—I'm praying they last long enough til prices go back down haha

load more comments
view more: next ›