I noticed a similar thread below mine, but the problem I'm having is that both memory cards in my Laptop seem to be corrupt. Being that this laptop is brand new, does failure of two memory cards at the same time seem very likely? They seem to have failed in more than one location on each card, as each test that is run it finds different addresses with errors. Is there any way to erase the memory and see if that removes the errors? I can't see myself going out to replace two brand new memory cards as was suggested in the previous thread.

In addition, yesterday before the cards failed, I was playing a video game and I noticed these distortions on the screen that kept happening in different areas, but I dismissed them at the time.

After installing AVG, the computer failed to boot on the next reboot and I ran a memory check, only to find a horribly corrupted set of cards a mere month after I bought it.

So far, the scans have failed every single time except for 2 out of about 100 scans of different memory blocks.

EDIT: After the memory tests finished, it rebooted to a flashing white line in the upper left corner and refuses to go any further. Rebooting doesn't seem to make a difference.

What memory test did you run....if it was memtest86 then I would do as suggested and replace the memory cards.

Memory cards are the easiest parts of a computer to damage simply because they are in constant use and any spikes in the system or any static discharges can fry them.

Also Not all memory is compatable with all computersThis is the most common mistake that people and even techs make. Also it is best to all ways use the same manufacturer for each memory stick nstalled...while it is not so prevailent these days as before mismatched memory voltages can burn out sticks very easily.

There are some malware/virus that can cause memory failures ( memory handles failures). so make sure that your computer is clean and free from any malware/spyware/viruses.

I managed to get it running again by wiping the hard drive and reinstalling windows, however, it doesn't appear to be a software/firmware problem because upon reinstall, windows automatically disabled one of the two memory cards and automatically rebooted. So I'm running on one memory card but since I don't seem to be noticing a hit in performance by my video games and programming software, I won't mess with it further until it actually totally fails.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll remember to not let my laptop overheat ever again. When the temperature monitor tripped over to -1C that could've been a hint to shut it off. I just thought the monitor broke.

Hey, wanted to inform you guys that I found the real problem. It wasn't that it was overheated or that the memory failed, it turns out that Dell installed my memory cards in reverse after it was returned from repairs. DIMM1 was in Slot 2 and DIMM2 was in Slot 1. It only became a problem after I tried flashing the BIOS which corrupted it somehow, I have no idea why the reversed cards would cause that. When I reverted the position of the two memory cards, it crashed a couple times but did NOT show the memory integrity errors, so after re-flashing the BIOS, it hasn't crashed since!

Re-flashing the BIOS...as in you already flashed it once before...on a new machine????? .... no wonder you are having issues. The BIOS is not something that you just mess around with. In fact it is best not to even mess with it unless it is a measure of last resource.

Swapping memory sticks around should not have any effect on new computers as the channels don't care what position memory sticks are in. More than likely there is a hardware issue with the contacts of the memory sockets or the sticks just were not seated firmly before. I for one tend to believe that you have a serious issue with that,,,,as installing the correct memory should not make your system crash a couple of times to begin with! This could be related to the multiple BIOS flashing as well.

I am glad that it is working properly (?) now...I just hope it continues to do so. In the case that it doesn't please refer the next post concerning your computer back to this thread so that others will not be wasting their time trying to figure out what might be wrong!

Really. Oh well I guess so. The only reason I said that is because I tried doing the same thing on another computer; installing the memory backwards and flashing the BIOS. It produced the same results. So unless it was just a coincidence that's why I assumed that happened. But yes you're right I shouldn't flash the BIOS unless it's necessary but it was because it had gotten corrupted way back, and although it seemed to be fine I just wanted to make sure. It was my fault for not giving all the info, because I assumed things in the past that I had fixed wouldn't matter.

Older computers were concerned as to which memory went where...the largest stick had to go into the nearest slot to the CPU and/or certain channels had to be matched...etc.. You said it was new and being so the stick placement shouldn't matter any more. But even the old computers, the addition to the correct ram should not have made them crash. and that should be something to be concerned about!
Memory is the one thing people should not get cheap on. If they can they should purchase only top of the line memory and leave that value crap alone. And only go with the major brands if you must buy value sticks....stay away from house brands and special runs in store sales.

Relatively speaking....everything that one does to a computer can compound into a new issue....especially things being done to the BIOS and registry. One must remember that all a computer does is what it is asked to do....nothing more and nothing less....if that happens then there is a problem.

Anyway, I am glad that you got it up and running but you should check the event viewer and see what errors were recorded in the logs...you highlight the various errors and click on them and the details concerning the errors and possible causes will pop-up

control panel > admin tools > event viewer. Look in the window on the left and there should be 3 different log files....click on each on and in the window on the right scrool down till an error shows and highlight it.

Check all three log files as the errors may show up in only one or two.