I've got Win 7 64 bit as my main box now, actually really like Win 7 compared to Vista but I'm having some issues. Windows will load but after about 2-5 minutes, it blue screens and I'm done.

I'm getting two specific errors, 0x0000007a and 0x0000004f. The 7a error from the searches on Google are indicating a HD error, the 4f a memory error. I ran Memtest86 with each chip (4) in each slot (4) and they all came up with errors. With the 7a errors indicating a HD issue and with all mem chips coming up with errors, the chances that the motherboard is actually bad compared to 6 pieces (HD's are set up in Raid 0 format) of hardware are what? It's what I'm leaning towards compared to all four mem chips being bad along with the hard drives. A power surge could have knocked everything out but what are the chances of that?

What would be the direction you guys would take in order to further trouble shoot this issue? I'm low on funds, it's all out of warranty and I don't have another system that can handle DDR2.

If Vista is a pig, Windows 7 is a pig with lipstick on.

The 64bit edition seems to be a little more buggy from what I have read.

Do the parts work correctly under other operating systems ?

If its actually loading up windows and then blue screening it could be a driver issue, will it boot in safe mode ?

Are all the sticks of memory the same size?

Have you tested the sticks individualy or in pairs of the same size in the correct slots? I have a board that tests fine like this but when I put mismatched sizes in of the same memory it fails. Try to boot with with one or two sticks.

Is your boot drive in the raid configuration? Have you tried it without raid?

What hardware are you using and is it win7 compatible?

Win Vista was fine, Win 7 is 10x better.

It's your memory, if Memtest gives errors like that. Double check your memory timings, and voltage. And check if it's running at the rated speed.

If that's all okay. Test each individual memory stick to find the bad stick.

Where you running Vista and then just changed operating system to Win 7?

I've been running Win 7 since last Sept with no problems up until now.

All four sticks are Kingston Hyper X 1 gig sticks that came in set from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134596). I ran Memtest on all four sticks and it's saying that all four sticks are bad, in all four slots. Being that all four are coming up bad at the same time, it's why I was kind of leaning on a mother board failure rather then memory but it's also why I posted this as all four could indeed be bad.

Hmmm I just noticed the link I posted, one of the reviews posted that all of his went bad at the same time as well. Does that generally happen? I've had one or two go out at a time but never all four at once. 

That's very unlikely. Reset your CMOS, or just load defaults, and run the test again. That way there is no uncertainty about wether the Ram is running at the proper settings or not.

@ Oldskool, software level does not matter, the problem is on a hardware level.

Just trying to establish all the facts before making a diagnosis  :)

I talked my boss into letting me bring home one of our Dell Optiplex 745's which is running DDR II mem in it so I've got some options for testing here. The memory is slower, DDR2 5300 compared to DDR2 8500 but it works.

So far, I took out the two mem chips that were in the 745 and popped them in my box one at a time and ran Memtest on them, same thing, I got errors right from the start with both chips. I took two of the Kingston's and put them in the Dell box and it's what I'm using now as I type this. They haven't caused a blue screen yet and I'm running virus scan on my laptop's hard drive (I've got a SATA "toaster" USB drive adapter) and I'm playing music with no issues.

I'm leaning on a motherboard issue. I looked at Kingston's site and most of the memory modules have a lifetime warranty on them which is good as these things are running very hot to the touch but I can't find any warranty information on the Gigabyte site and don't know if that's covered or not. I bought the board in April of 08 so I'm guessing it's probably out of warranty but....

If it's a board replacement, then it's a question of what to do. Suck it up and get a new CPU and memory and go with AM3 board or try to stick with what I have that's the cheapest route but older stuff...

Here's a question.... lets say it is a motherboard issue. With using a ATI chipset with built in RAID controller, the chances of data recovery or even lack of a forced reinstall with a new board is what you think? 

I've changed different motherboard brands using the same chipset before with out having to reinstall Windows. I know I've been forced to reinstall Windows when installing a HD on a different motherboard using a different chipset though.

I've ran into issues at work with servers going down and trying to use different RAID controllers that didn't quite work the way I was hoping so this is just a question I thought I'd ask.

Have you reset the cmos yet?

Yeah, that didn't seem to do anything. Still getting a blue screen with an 4f error. 

jandarsun8 wrote on 03.04.10 at 02:10:19:

I talked my boss into letting me bring home one of our Dell Optiplex 745's which is running DDR II mem in it so I've got some options for testing here. The memory is slower, DDR2 5300 compared to DDR2 8500 but it works. So far, I took out the two mem chips that were in the 745 and popped them in my box one at a time and ran Memtest on them, same thing, I got errors right from the start with both chips. I took two of the Kingston's and put them in the Dell box and it's what I'm using now as I type this. They haven't caused a blue screen yet and I'm running virus scan on my laptop's hard drive (I've got a SATA "toaster" USB drive adapter) and I'm playing music with no issues. I'm leaning on a motherboard issue. I looked at Kingston's site and most of the memory modules have a lifetime warranty on them which is good as these things are running very hot to the touch but I can't find any warranty information on the Gigabyte site and don't know if that's covered or not. I bought the board in April of 08 so I'm guessing it's probably out of warranty but.... If it's a board replacement, then it's a question of what to do. Suck it up and get a new CPU and memory and go with AM3 board or try to stick with what I have that's the cheapest route but older stuff... Here's a question.... lets say it is a motherboard issue. With using a ATI chipset with built in RAID controller, the chances of data recovery or even lack of a forced reinstall with a new board is what you think?  I've changed different motherboard brands using the same chipset before with out having to reinstall Windows. I know I've been forced to reinstall Windows when installing a HD on a different motherboard using a different chipset though. I've ran into issues at work with servers going down and trying to use different RAID controllers that didn't quite work the way I was hoping so this is just a question I thought I'd ask.

This certainly sounds like a problem with your motherboard.  Have you recently upgraded the bios?  If so, you might want to consider downgrading to the version you had before the problems started.

As far as swapping mobos without a re-install, I've had very good luck with Win7 on two occasions.  One swap did involve a raid 0 array that I moved from a Core 2 / X38 chipset motherboard to an i7 / X58 motherboard with very few issues.  The other swap (no RAID) was from an nForce 9300m mobo to the aforementioned X38 motherboard.  This one caused me more fits than the first, but a boot into safe mode and a driver sweep did the trick.

I wouldn't even attempt this if you're running XP.  XP is completely intolerant of mobo swaps.  You can attempt a recovery, but I recommend just doing a reinstall.

sigtau wrote on 04.04.10 at 16:34:42:

This certainly sounds like a problem with your motherboard.  Have you recently upgraded the bios?  If so, you might want to consider downgrading to the version you had before the problems started. As far as swapping mobos without a re-install, I've had very good luck with Win7 on two occasions.  One swap did involve a raid 0 array that I moved from a Core 2 / X38 chipset motherboard to an i7 / X58 motherboard with very few issues.  The other swap (no RAID) was from an nForce 9300m mobo to the aforementioned X38 motherboard.  This one caused me more fits than the first, but a boot into safe mode and a driver sweep did the trick. I wouldn't even attempt this if you're running XP.  XP is completely intolerant of mobo swaps.  You can attempt a recovery, but I recommend just doing a reinstall.

No, I haven't updated the bios in a while. The motherboard is two years old and the last update they pushed out was before Win 7 was out which is what I've been using since with no issues up until recently.

I was hoping it was just the memory as Kingston's got it listed on their website that they have a lifetime warranty on the Hyper X stuff but all four sticks have been working in the Dell just fine.

At a loss.....

Ok, after writing the last post, I figured I'd try something. Tim mentioned to try resetting the bios which in itself didn't fix anything. Sigtau, you asked about a bios upgrade which I haven't done either however after commenting on my memory chips running on the Dell box, the Dell runs the chips at a much slower rate. The Kingston memory are DDRII 8500 chips which run at a speed of 1600 or supposed to. The Dell chips are DDRII 5300 and run at a much slower rate. Why the Dell mem chips did the exact same thing with blue screening and failing with Memtest, I really don't have an answer for it but since then, I've manually dropped the speed down from 200 to 166 in the memory controller part of the bios with the Kingston memory in there, booted into windows, let it sit for a couple of minutes with no blue screen then ran a Windows update, booted back into the bios changed everything to "Auto" for the memory and now I'm running two of the Kingston chips in here for the last hour with no issues (the other two chips are still in the Dell).

So... now I'm back to the original question, wtf is wrong with this system? Memory or motherboard as it's now bugging the hell out of me on why it's behaving like this.

So far it's stable, but I can't trust it. I've moved, or in the process of moving, all of my files that I deemed critical so I don't loose anything on here but... Where do I go from here to trouble shoot this now? Could heat be a factor in all of this? I noticed the memory chips getting very hot, it's something I need to throw out there as a possible issue as at this point, I'm worried that if I sneeze by the damn thing, it'll blue screen. Any other ideas?

I'm using it right now if says anything, I just don't trust it.

Which memory model are you using ?
Look up exactly what timings you should be using on the manufacturers website and at what voltage it requires. Auto settings may not have adjusted the voltage or timings correctly. CPU-Z should be able to give you the JEDEC and EPP timings and also the current settings you are using.

If you could provide you multiplier, FSB, memory divider memory volts timings ect it may help. Are you overvlocking at all as well.