my wife and i both have the same dell inspiron 14z (1470) laptop that we got about the same time (2 months ago)...she started getting blue screens 2 weeks after the computer was new, bad enough that you couldn't even get into windows for longer than 90 seconds before it'd crash

ran memtest, errors all over the place...i bought 8GB (2x4GB) of patriot memory and swapped it out for her single stick of 4GB...bought 8GB (2x4GB) of G.SKILL for myself, RMA'd her bad stick, and sold both of our sticks on CL thinking everything was cool

her computer has been fine (so far), but mine started blue screening randomly over the last week, though the computer can be on for hours before it happens...no new program or updates that i can remember...ran memtest and i'm getting errors

so...what are the odds that it's actually bad memory instead of a design flaw of dell's? not that i really know what could cause it...poor voltage control?

it could be unrelated, but both thunderbird and firefox have been crashing since about the same time i started getting blue screens...given tb/ff's memory usage, i thought it might be a result of bad memory as opposed to an indication of a program/OS issue causing the blue screens

[Edited on January 29, 2012 at 1:30 PM. Reason : .]

1/29/2012 1:26:10 PM

Have you run diagnostics on your hard drive?

1/29/2012 4:01:10 PM

it passed CHKDSK and S.M.A.R.T. using seatools

1/29/2012 5:46:14 PM

memtest is always right

1/29/2012 6:22:13 PM

swap memory between your two machines and run again.

That rules out everything else. And in my experience ^. The only reason I've ever seen memtest fail like hell on good memory is when the memory ran at some non-standard voltage and wasn't able to specify it in the BIOS. Double check the operating voltage on the G.Skill, make sure it's actually running at that. Double check that the G.Skill is actually supported in your laptop.

1/29/2012 6:37:04 PM

+1 Memtest don't lie.

1/30/2012 9:32:06 AM

Quote :

"And in my experience ^. The only reason I've ever seen memtest fail like hell on good memory is when the memory ran at some non-standard voltage and wasn't able to specify it in the BIOS. Double check the operating voltage on the G.Skill, make sure it's actually running at that. Double check that the G.Skill is actually supported in your laptop."

QFT, although I'd add timings, make sure the voltage & timings are per manufacturers spec, but in a Dell laptop I'm not sure these can even be modified.

1/30/2012 11:12:28 AM

...i'll have to double-check the voltage, but i know the G.SKILL isn't HIGHER than what it replaced (i thought the old were 1.65V and the new are 1.5V, but i may be thinking of desktop memory)

the clock is okay, though i can't imagine that'd be the trouble

i figured memtest was correct...i'd rather it be the memory instead of the laptop(s)

1/30/2012 2:06:34 PM

laptops can be especially finicky about memory, since you can't adjust the voltages or timings.

it's entirely possible that your 1.5v memory is running at 1.65v and being overvolted.

1/30/2012 4:02:12 PM

^ if that's the case, what would show up in CPU-Z? both slots are showing 1.5V

as a side note, i've had the computer one for about 10 hours and it hasn't blue screened...it's annoying

[Edited on January 30, 2012 at 4:59 PM. Reason : .]

1/30/2012 4:59:20 PM

^nope, cpuz is pretty reliable. Must not be the voltage then, the timings would be my next check.

1/30/2012 9:10:32 PM