Help please, my PC BSODs

[PrkChpXprss]

Hi all hope this is the right forum.

I recently upgraded to a Q6600 from Fry's. I'm running 4x1 GB OCZ Plat Rev 2 DDR2 800, and an Abit AW9D-Max motherboard with most recent BIOS. My system has been rock solid since I bought it about 6 months ago -- until now.

Now that the Q6600 is in, I get BSODs every few hours. I ran SP2004 and Prime95, but SP2004 is returning errors after several seconds. Not good. I bumped the voltage on my RAM to 2.1, but still nothing.

Then I ran Memtest86 and the thing gets a bunch of errors almost right when it starts. Then half the screen goes black and the bottom half shows a bunch of Memtest86 errors. I shuffled the RAM, tried different sticks, etc, but it still kept getting the exact same error. Then I took out the RAM and replaced it with DDR2 Ram that I know is good. Exact same errors. Does that mean the error is in the cache on the chip?

Here's the other odd thing -- I took out the Quad and put my trusted/known working Core 2 Duo back in the motherboard and then retried Memtest86. I got the identical errors / memtest lockup!!!

What is going on? Did I fry my mobo somehow, and if so, why would that affect Memtest?

I'm getting ready to borrow my friend's Hummer and drive over this thing. Maybe I'll just toss it into traffic. I dunno, but this has cost me lots of time, frustration, and lost wages.

I almost forgot to mention that absolutely *nothing* is overclocked on this PC. Stock everything, with an Antec TruePower 550 power supply.

 

[PrkChpXprss]

Over 20 views and no thoughts? Anyone?


*chirp chirp*

 

[rhagz]

Have you tried testing it with just 1 stick at a time?

 

[Lames.]

If memtest is shooting out errors, your RAM is failing. Nothing to do with your processor.

 

[Khanmots]

I'd start wondering if you'd staticfied your mb...

Do you have another mb handy you could at least test the ram in?

 

[anime4u]

I think you have narrowed the problem to your motherboard. Try RMAing it.

 

[PrkChpXprss]

Ok, I think I've figured it out.

It was a heat issue. I had not tightened the heatsink down properly -- not once, but twice (ugh). I'm using the Silverstone NT-06 and didn't turn the thumbscrews far enough apparently.

To make matters worse, I accidently left temperature monitoring turned off after I reset the BiOS.

Problem solved (pending further testing).