Currently Reading Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time, Book 10) By Robert Jordan see related

Ok, I'm fed up with my new computer. I have literally spent entire days trying to get it to work. Here is how things worked. I have been having trouble with stability, random BSODs and the like. So, I ran Memtest86, which is a bootable CD that is supposed to be a really good memory tester. It passed, no problems. Next, I tried Windows's memory tester. This one failed. So, I look online, and it looks like the memory is recognized with 4-4-4-12 timings, and is supposed to be 5-5-5-15 timings. So, I manually set the memory timings in the BIOS, and then the Windows memory tester passed.

So, because I don't trust software installed with faulty memory, I try to reinstall Windows. Now Windows crashes right during the first boot, so I can't even get INTO Windows.

Now I decide to update my BIOS. The old version was 0602, and the most recent is 1102. So, I get it updated and everything is hunky-dory, right? Wrong. Now Windows crashes during the install, so even that fails. It seems like everything that I do that should fix things causes things to crash even earlier.

So, now I'm REALLY frustrated. I ran Memtest86 again, and, go figure, it now detects lots of memory errors. The only thing that I can guess is that the old BIOS version hid the memory errors some how.

Now to figure out how to determine which memory module is bad. First thing I do is remove one set of RAM. Then I run Memtest86 again. It passes, so I reverse them (so that all of the RAM is tested). It still passes. So, I take that pair of good RAM out and put the other pair in. It passes also, so I reverse it. That passes too. It seems like all of the memory is good, so I put all 4 sticks back in the computer, and Memtest86 detects 3000+ errors.

The only thing that I can figure out is that there is some incompatibility between the RAM I got and the motherboard. I'm sending the RAM back, and going to buy a different brand that is certified to work with the motherboard I have. This means that my new computer is a pretty, useless box for the next two weeks or so.

Steffanie and I went to Tucanos for lunch today. It is a Brazil style buffet. Nice salad bar and a LOT of different types of meat. We mostly ate meat (Steffanie needed the protein). Now, I am proud of the fact that I never loose money at a buffet (Good Dilts upbringing). I am also used to eating way more than Steffanie did. Steffanie ate as much as I did at lunch. I'm proud of her. Definitely signs of being a true Dilts.