Bad Ram
Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue
screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error
indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged
and will need replacing.
But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a
mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram
will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This
will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.
One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings
and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another
way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on
the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances
that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections,
as they can be easily damaged.
Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips
are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two
types, as this can be a cause of trouble.
EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not
be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked
to old Dos-based programmes.
