rmrichesjr wrote:If there is reason to believe the RAM is actually bad, you can test the RAM on many/most PCs by running a program called memtest86. It's best to run memtest86 directly from the BIOS. While I imagine there are other places to get it, one place is to download a Mandriva Linux installation ISO, find another ISO image called "boot.iso" in the "images" directory inside the larger ISO. Burn "boot.iso" to a CD and boot from it. Select memtest86 from the menu and let it run for several hours.
I didn't understand when you said, "run memtest386 directly from the BIOS." Booting from a CD makes sense, though.
Many modern computers have hardware diagnostics built in. You just have to know which key(s) to press during the POST to start the diagnostics.
In my experience, if RAM is bad, Windows throws a lot of Blue Screens of Death (BSOD).
Dana