On 15/05/2022 10:50, Adam Bower wrote:
On Sat, May 14, 2022 at 07:29:44PM +0100, Phil Thane wrote:
I think I'll try some new RAM and if it's still unstable then maybe a mainboard and CPU too...
That sounds like a good course of action although I suspect you may have 2 problems, the RAM and another one as yet undiscovered.
If you boot a live distro does that work OK? My suggestion is that you may have a faulty storage device, especially if your machine is trying to use swap space....
One other thought, are you certain that the memory timings and settings in the BIOS are OK?
A few years ago, when I was too skint to afford a replacement, I managed to keep a machine going with what appeared to be memory problems. I never really got to the bottom of it - I had several memory modules I could swap in but kept getting occasional errors, with no consistent pattern. It was a BIOS based machine and as such I could control the memory settings - I told the BIOS to read the memory more slowly and ignore the memory ratings and that kept it going - I don't know if you can do similar with modern UEFI "Bios".
My 2p is this: Is it worth trying to save this machine? You could chuck some money at new (to you) ram and still find out it's the motherboard, then replace the motherboard and probably consequentially have to buy some more ram in a different format. I'm wondering if it's quicker to just go to a new motherboard and ram, or a new machine (or new to you, 2nd hand). You'd probably end up with a newer, faster machine. It depends on how much time and/or money you want to invest in the problem.
Steve