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Three days ago, I built my first gaming PC, everything was running smoothly upon today. So after 3 days, I decided to play few rounds of Fortnite, I turned it on and immediately the game crashed, I started again and I got a BSOD stating MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. I got worried (since it is my first build, very afraid of frying hardware), so I researched into the problem. I found two solutions: One of the solutions were to run "Windows Memory Diagnostics", so I ran that and it immediately thrown that there is an hardware issue. The other one, was to update everything (Windows, Drivers, BIOS). Since windows and drivers updates were updated on the first day of build (it was running smoothly) - I updated the BIOS.

The BIOS update went successful (I updated directly through BIOS using ethernet). Once the windows booted up again, I tried to run Fortnite again. Everything was working for approx. 15 minutes and I got another BSOD stating KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE . I researched the problem again and the closest issue I could come was the recent BIOS drivers, or malicious software. In this case, I was completely lost, so I just scanned the computer and it showed it was clean. I decided to try and run the game again and now it is restarting upon launching the game, without any warnings.

After, I tried to launch a different game - The Rise of the Tomb Raider. The game was running smoothly without any issues for 1+ hours until I quit. So I thought, it might be something with Fortnite, so I tried another game - Rainbow Six: Siege. It ended up on the same faith as Fortnite, restarting the PC. Last, I decided to go back to the roots and find out which RAM stick is faulty (I discovered that one stick has no issues the other is faulty) by running Windows Memory Diagnostics. So I removed the "faulty" one out and just left one (I have 2x8) and to try and run it again and it ended up restarting the PC again.

All in all, I'm in desperate need of help. - The drivers are up to date (including BIOS) - I am running WM Monitor, to monitor the heating and I have fair temperatures - I ran Furmark, to make sure my GPU is working - Some games are restarting immediately and some works fine (even with the "faulty" stick)?

Specs: Motherboard: Asus Prime Z370-A

CPU: Intel I5 8600k

GPU: Asus GTX 1060 6 Gb

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x8 LPX DDR4 3000MHz

PSU: Cooler Master MasterWatt 650

Please point me to the right direction. The hardware is basically brand new (3 days of usage that had absolutely no issues) and already faulty RAM stick and something else? Before I buy new sticks, What could cause the faulty RAM? Appreciate for any kind of help.

Happy Holidays!

Marius J.

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  • Do you know what "ESD" is? if YES: Did you take any precautions to avoid it?
    – Hannu
    Jan 1, 2019 at 10:48
  • @Hannu On building it, I was not aware about ESD, so I haven't taken much precautions. Could that be a one of the reasons or?
    – MariusJ
    Jan 1, 2019 at 11:57
  • Using the Corsair Memory Finder I can find no recommended RAM for your motherboard. The Crucial site recommends RAM with slightly different attributes.
    – harrymc
    Jan 1, 2019 at 13:18

2 Answers 2

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From your problem description it is very hard to pinpoint a plausible exact cause for the behavior.

One possibility for all of it is "ESD-damage".

You may have experienced the electrical snaps you get as you have walked over a carpet, sat in a car, pulled off a sweater - or similar - and then grab something metallic (car door, faucet, ...).

The snap is caused by electrical charge equalizing between your hand and a larger electrical conducting or even electrically grounded object. The electrical voltage involved for the snaps that jolts your body has levels in the neighborhood of 5000 volts, and above.

The sad story is that all levels down to some 10-15 volts may damage electronics components; at high levels simply by pointing a finger at them, even from a 1 meter distance - depending on the construction of the component and the environmental circumstances.

As you won't notice the lower levels; there is just one thing to do. Be aware, and take precautions.

The precautions may be simple things:

  • Wear a wrist band, wired to a electrical ground-connection.
  • While working avoid wearing clothes prone to create electrical charge.
  • Place ESD-bags with components on a grounded surface (e.g. a sink) and handle them there only.
  • Repeatedly discharge yourself against the grounded surface by touching it, or even holding your elbows or wrists against it while working.
  • Only SLIDE out the electronic components from one bag, with the bag on the grounded surface, onto the grounded surface.
  • Mount items (e.g. in a computer chassis, on the main board) while keeping elbows (shirt sleeves and arms) extended slightly from your body.
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  • Thank you very much for the heads up. I will do some research on that. However, as I understood, this should have been the reason that my RAM stick went dead right? But why after 3 days? And what can you recommend for me to do now? I have one fully operational stick (8Gb) that is working but my system still keeps restarting? Did my MoBo got damaged needs replacement or? Could you point me to the right direction? I really appreciate the help!
    – MariusJ
    Jan 1, 2019 at 13:36
  • It is really hard to tell / evaluate what your situation is from a distance. Without ESD-precautions in place you may have got several damaged components. And ESD damage is prone to create damage similar to "hard wear" - which then surfaces as a problem after some short time or even after more elongated use, and maybe just under certain circumstances (e.g. only one part or function affected; one of four CPU cores, a single USB port...).
    – Hannu
    Jan 1, 2019 at 13:45
  • I ran stress tests on CPU and GPU. Everything seems to be working correctly with no errors. However, issue was found on RAM, removing the faulty stick, the system shows completely error free. However, some certain games forces my PC to restart, other works with no issue.
    – MariusJ
    Jan 1, 2019 at 13:58
  • Right, the CPU address and data buses are in use, there probably is a memory controller, special functions as Cache logic and maybe DMA or whatnot. The game(s) that causes problems are using some special thing that isn't used as much otherwise - making that portion of a special chip to heat up slightly more than usual... -> poof. (generally --> e.g. The fact that you connect one extra memory module adds some amount of extra stress on the memory controller)
    – Hannu
    Jan 1, 2019 at 14:15
  • So that memory controller is located on the motherboard right? On double click of a game, it takes around 2-3 seconds and the PC restarts.
    – MariusJ
    Jan 1, 2019 at 14:20
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Problem solved (hopefuly).

While trying desperately everything, I decided to do connection checkup and reinstall windows before I bring it to the experts for full PC checkup. I started installing windows and on 22% I got Kernel_Security...... BSOD. So instantly removed the ram stick which I suspected is faulty and started the installation again. All went well, it installed and I can play games again.

Only one question remains unanswered - for what reasons the ram stick got faulty, even though it was just 3 days old...

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  • Come to think of it: google "memtest86", download and run - to verify memory faulty / good.
    – Hannu
    Jan 3, 2019 at 16:19

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