Solved Games crashing after RAM upgrade.

[baddudevsninja]

Recently upgraded from Corsair 2GB Dominator to Corsair 8GB Vengeance, ever since I have experienced crashes in games.
I have got into playing Dirt 2 again and that crashes almost every time I play it, Just played Fallout:NV and that went into windowed mode and the window went a bright blue colour I can still hear everything but I cant see anything, Deus Ex:HR just crashes randomly and says I have a graphics error this might be due to the graphics card but not sure. So basically when its being heavily used it crashes.
I ran Memtest for 21 hours and it got through 10 tests without any problems and I have updated the BIOS.

 

[bassfisher6522]

I just went through the same thing. I to ran MemTest 86+ and it turned up nothing. Turns out it was my GPU causing the crashes due to overheating. Check your temps on all your hardware with SpeedFan or SIW, both are free. Then check with each vendor and see what the heat tolerances are for each of them and compare. I ended up replacing my RAM, CPU, CPU cooler and GPU, trying to figure out what was bad (the hard way). Luckily for me I had extra hardware on hand to switch out, except for the RAM (new).

 

[baddudevsninja]

Thanks for the advice, I did have a feeling it could be the graphics card when the trees on Dirt 2 started falling over and my car fell through the floor. Although I find it weird that it would happen to start overheating as soon as I upgrade the RAM. Could it be a voltage issue do you think, I have a 400w PSU not sure if this is enough for what I have. I'll fiddle around with everything tomorrow maybe put old RAM back in and see if that makes a difference and get rid of any dust build up.

 

[Schroff87]

A friend of mine had similar issues, it was due to a failing generic 500w power supply. Next time you see the blue screen write down the error displayed and if possible the file name, such as irql_not_less_or_equal & some nvkdsply.dll file. I would recommend trying your pc with your old 2gb ram stick.

 

[baddudevsninja]

By screen going blue I meant the games graphics turning blue I could exit the game okay and the computer would still run fine not a BSOD, Iv'e only had one BSOD since installing the new RAM but it seemed to be a driver issue thanks though. Anyway I removed the graphics card and gave it a clean up it was due one anyway replaced thermal paste, that didn't make a difference and temperatures are around 38-42C. I switched back to the old RAM and its working perfectly even managed to play Deus Ex without it crashing which was great. So I'll be getting a replacment for the RAM once I contact the seller. Thanks for your help, guys.

 

[razy60]

You could try using 4Gb of ram instead of 8. that is providing it is in 2Gb sticks.

 

[baddudevsninja]

its 2x4gb sticks, I tried with one of the sticks and I got bad glitches while playing Dirt 2 I wasn't even into the game it was just booting up and the screen was flickering and freezing. Changed to other stick and it worked perfectly, so I can only assume its bad RAM.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Sounds to me like you were borderline on PSU and now with the extra ram you are maxing out your 400 watt Piece Of C_ap PSU.

 

[baddudevsninja]

Sounds to me like you were borderline on PSU and now with the extra ram you are maxing out your 400 watt Piece Of C_ap PSU.

haha, that may be but I find it strange that I have tried both sticks separately with one giving me trouble and the other working perfectly. I might give the RAM sticks to one of my mates to have a look at see if he has any problems with them as he got the same RAM.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Or just call Corsair and RMA the suspect ram stick as they have a lifetime warranty.