All user configuration data reset + weird RAM errors
 

I was getting some errors checking gmail.com and my school website this afternoon, so I reboot. I get an error when bios boots about memory settings, so i press any key to set that back to normal, then slackware 10.2 boots up. I log on (in GUI) and instead of reaching my default (or what was the default) windows manager, XFCE, i jump into plain out-of-the-box gnome. So i thought this was an error on my part, and logged off, switched to XFCE. I get on, and all my settings and background and panel things are reset to look like a fresh install. In firefox, i lose all my tabs and plugins (DownThemAll and Session Saver). I run xmms and i cant hear anything anymore and my settings in there are reset. Then I run gaim, and i lost all the accounts on the list.

So as of now, I assume all the settings for my user on linux are reset or gone. Sound isnt working, as it was 20 minutes ago. Is there a way to get my stuff back? I have not installed anything between the last 2-4 reboots I've done the past few days. Is there a chance my settings and everything are still on this system?

would it be dangerous to post some errors from my syslog in terms of security?

I won't go into the long, sad story of my experience with such errors. I wil cut to the bottom line: it sounds like you may have a memeory chip failing.

Put your Slak installation cd in the drive, then re-boot or power-up, whichever. Do you have the option to run memtest, istead of installing? Memtest works more completely before the system is booted up. You don't want memory in use; it has to be free for a complete test.

If you can't, then get a liveCD that will offer the option to run memtest before booting. Memtest will run ram through a series of test and report the result. If failing ram is the problem, memtest should tell you so. If it's just certain memory blocks that are the problem, you can isolate them, and use the rest.

I ran memtest for 8 hours and had 0 errors, 11 pass. I thought this was a memory problem as well because i checked through the logs and i got a similar error back in october. assuming that there wasnt supposed to be an error, should i attempt to back everything up on that computer, or should i move the harddrive?