Windows 7 - BSOD and help with windows memory diagnostics

Hi,
I have recently been having random blue screens of death and i downloaded the Windows memory diagnostic tool, ran the diagnostics tool (http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp) and a few things happened:
1- It threw up a message before the scan saying then memory map could not work with 4gb or something like that (i only have 4gb installed on my system) however it gave me the option to continue with the scan anyways.
First question, is this normal?
2- I continued with the scan and left it overnight for 8 hours, the first half hour i watched what was going on and it kept flagging FAILED messages on every single pass, there wasnt a single SUCCEEDED message which seemed extremely bizarre. I woke up in the morning and the scan was still going on past 64 passes.
Second question: Surely if my pc works most of the time then something would have passed and not just flagged everything as FAILED?!
Third question: How many passes does windows go through, i left the pc on over 8 hours and from what i read the memory scan should only take a few hours...

Thanks for help

I personally prefer Memtest86+ for RAM tests

You should also test each stick of memory separately (preferably overnight if not errors) and NO errors are permitted.
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Thanks pbcopter, i will download the application and test tonight with full memory sticks in first to see if i get any errors at all, if i do i will remove sticks and test each one individually then post back if necessary.

I use the same test. It can be pretty long testing process. Basically you have to test the ram sticks and the dimm slots. The ram can show errors and the problem is the dimm slot and not the ram. here is a tutorial on memtest86. hope it helps

Thank you i will follow those steps

Hi i have attached 2 screenshots of the memory scan while it is still in pass 0, can i assume from the screenshots immediately that something is very wrong with 1311 (and counting lol) errors and that i need to test each one individually now?

You can do it that way until you find out which stick is creating the errors. Make sure you remember which stick was in which slot. When you find the stick that causes errors, run a known good stick in the slot where the bad stick was. Then run the bad stick in a slot where a good stick was. If the bad stick shows errors no matter which slot it is in, you know the ram is bad. If a known good stick shows errors in the slot that the bad stick was in, it suggests the dimm slot is bad. When you think you have determined the answer run the test with good sticks in for at least 7-8 passes, to make sure they are good. If they all pass, either replace the bad stick with the exact kind or you can replace all sticks. What you are doing is testing the ram and the slo

Cheers for reconfirming what i read in the post, i will get busy now and get back . I feel sorry for anyone who has to test memory for a living lol, such a pain.

You are lucky it found the errors in the first pass. I had problems and had to run it for 8 passes doing 12 tests. Times vary on the computer and how much ram is installed. With my computer it was about 8-10 hours each test. And, until you have run what you think is good ram at least 8 passes without errors, you don't know for sure that those are good sticks. Many run it for 24 hours.

1 bad stick of ram can cause a multitude of problems.

lol thats some demotivation right there, i find it ironic with all the technology we have now, something as simple as memory in PCs is still such a pain to debug and hasnt really changed much over the years.