Browser crashes, windows crashes, memory test won't complete, BSOD

Thanks for listening, as my user name reflects I am now into stuff I'm ignorant about.

History.

Had this computer a little over a year, I7 with 16gb of memory, windows 7 ultimate. etc

About a month ago, started seeing BSOD's. The BSOD would normally reflect "Memory Management" as the cause.Then the browsers started crashing, tried chrome, firefox and IE. Have removed and re installed all of them. I continue to received "windows has recovered" screens.

Was reading this thread, attempted the memory test via CD, it ran for several hours (actually alowed it to run all night. When I went to bed it was on test 8, the errors were moving from 0 to 32767. I got up this morning, same numbers, same test #. Seemed like it was stuck on that run even though the error numbers were still changing.

I have down loaded and ran who crashed. It's conclusion is :

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12 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. A third party driver has been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

shareduserdata.sys

If no updates for these drivers are available, try searching with Google on the names of these drivers in combination the errors that have been reported for these drivers and include the brand and model name of your computer as well in the query. This often yields interesting results from discussions from users who have been experiencing similar problems.

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Attempted to install and run the "SF diagnostic tool" from the desk top. I get an error message....0x80004005

I have a temperature monitor utility, all temperatures are within range.

Recently I have run the Norman Malware cleaner

Not sure where to go from here.

If Memtest86+ is showing up errors, then there are hardware issues present. It's just discerning what hardware is bad. Initial suspect obviously is memory, but the unusual case makes it think it's some logic error like some CPU failure or something. It's also possible that when burning it to CD that the Memtest itself got corrupted somehow (i.e. bad burn).

16 GB is a lot of memory on a consumer motherboard. There is the possibility that while your motherboard can handle 16GB of memory, that 16GB of the actual memory model that you're using may not be supported. Certain configurations of memory can have problematic issues. So while the memory sticks themselves may not be bad, the actual 16GB setup of them may break things.

Have you tested system stability with reduced amount of RAM, like 1/2 sticks of RAM, as well as running Memtest on a couple passes for each separate stick?

No I have not...

I think I have 4 sticks, remove 2 and re-run memory test?

I recommend running a couple runs for each single stick. Also, you are running Memtest86+ and not Windows memory test or some other memory test?

I will do that and report back. Also plan to get the Memtest86+ on a thumb drive and try that.

Curiously, I removed 3 sticks and tried a Start up.... wouldn't start and kept getting 3 beeps.

I pulled that stick and put in a different one and it started

It may be faulty?

Which stick did you pull? Understand that the sticks must be in a certain order on the motherboard. Memory slots are commonly paired and staggered in number, as in 1-3 2-4 instead of 1-2 3-4. Make sure you remove the 4th one instead of another one incidentally.

If you confirmed you removed the right one, and it's giving you that beeping still, check your motherboard's manual for the POST/beep code list. It will tell you what the 3 beeps implies.

To late. ... I'd already removed them. I googled "3 beeps", seems some think that indicated a RAM problem.

Anyway, ran the memory test on each stick. One indicates lots of errors, other 3 passed the test.

Like I stated before, if I put a stick in what I would call #3, I would get the beeps and the computer would not start. I tried with sticks that passed the test. I think that would indicate that slot #3 is defective...

I placed the 3 good sticks in 1,2 & 4 and the test passed.

Do you think I'm ok now and can run the 12 gb?

Oh ok, somehow I misinterpreted what you meant. Btw, for future reference, beep codes are specific to the BIOS and can also vary between motherboards, so you'll want to look at the motherboard manual next time to be sure what it means. I've seen some beep codes that mean RAM problems for some motherboards and the exact beeping pattern means video error for another.

Other than that, looks like you found the bad one! Time to get it replaced. You can mark this thread solved for future reference to others if you are confident that's what's causing your problems.

I think I'm fine with 12 GB so therefore nothing to replace.

Thanks for your help.