After inserting some more RAM I got problems
 

Hi!

Yesterday I inserted 1GB of RAM into my box. Very soon after that the computer began acting very strangely. I had 2 crashes in two days, and get Segmentation fault errors often. The computer freezes completely and I can't move the mouse or use the keyboard. The strange is that it happens, I don't run any resource intensive apps. The logs doesn't mention anything about the hangup. Yesterday I got two Segmentation faults when emerging. This is also strange because I never had such kind of errors before.

Is this critical? Should I get my stuff out of here before the whole place blows up?

Perhaps it isn't the right speed of RAM?

I would boot up to a bootdisk with memtest, and let that run for an hour or so, make sure there are no errors.

Definitely run memtest, but if the two sticks are different types (eg, DDR266 and DDR333) then it's highly likely that you will see instability. A system can only run as fast as its slowest component, and if you have one "slow" RAM stick and one "fast" RAM stick, your system will be running at the slower speed. In general, I'd recommend always using identical sticks (same manufacturer, same model, same size).

If they are identical, then it is highly likely that one (or both) of the sticks is defective. Running memtest should confirm or refute that hypothesis, but if problems are detected, then hopefully your RAM is still under warranty and you can return it. Good luck with it -- J.W.

I ran memtest and it gave me over 6000 errors. What now? The sticks are the same speed, but their not the same size. One is 256MB and the two others are 512MB.

Matter of elimination in my opinion.

Run 1x512 and check with memtest.
Run the other 512 and check with memtest
Run 2x512 and check with memtest
Etc

Some additional HW info can be useful (mobo/proc)

Memtest is a reliable and reputable utility, and if it returned over 6000 errors, I would conclude that your RAM is defective. If it's new, exchange it or get a refund. I'll assume you're using a quality brand - in my experience using off-brand or no-name brands just ends up being a wast of money and time. Stick with quality, you won't go wrong. As for me I've had very good experience with Kingston.

BTW I would also suggest using an 'even' amount of RAM, ie, 256Mg, 512Mg, 1G, etc. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with mixing different size RAM (ie, 128+512 or whatever) but as they say 'same is good'. Good luck with it either way -- J.W.

I'm running memtest now. I removed the 256MB stick and until now (pass 7) I only got 3 errors. Thanks a lot guys!