Faulty RAM

[Ives]

Computer has been shutting down unexpectedly / spontaneously and restarting. This happens randomly and at variable intervals- it might not occur for a whole week, and then it might occur 3 times in an hour. The error messages are sometimes different. Some of the error messages:
Problem with win32k.sys  and sometimes it says page_fault_in_nonpaged_area
Technical Info: STOP: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0xBF96F200, 0xF1FE895C, 0x00000000)
win 32k.sys Address BF96F200 base at BF800000 Datestamp 3d6de5e5

Sometimes the error message says there.s a problem with sisgrv.dll

Also sometimes there's a message Bad_Pool_Caller
Sometimes there are other error messages.

Computer is a P4 with 1.7Gig processor and Asus P4S533-VM board with 128 MB DDR RAM in one slot and 256 MB in the other. I added the 256 MB RAM several months later (in August 2003)and although at first there didn't seem to be any problem, I'm beginning to suaspect that this 256MB stick is the cause of the problems I've been experiencing since about September 2003.

There isn't an overheating problem and there seems not to be any problems with any drivers.

Can the problem be with faulty RAM?

Can RAM start off good, and become faulty or corrupted?

If the RAM is faulty, can it be that the computer apparently performs perfectly sometimes and then give problema at other times- in other words can faulty RAM cause a computer to behave erratically?

Can RAM be 'repaired'?

(I've removed the 256MB RAM stick just today and because the computer has been behaving erratically, I will see how it goes over the coming week before I can be sure that the RAM was really the problem)

I'd be grateful for any advice and responses to my questions on RAM

Thanks!
Ives

[MetalMilitia]

Yes those symptoms sound practically exactly the same as when i had a faulty stick of ram.  Take out one of the sticks and see if it solves the problem.

[Computer Hope Admin]

Can the problem be with faulty RAM?

As MetalMilitia mentioned this problem can definitely be caused by faulty RAM.

Can RAM start off good, and become faulty or corrupted?

Just like any other hardware component in the computer RAM can also fail unexpectedly.

If the RAM is faulty, can it be that the computer apparently performs perfectly sometimes and then give problem at other times- in other words can faulty RAM cause a computer to behave erratically?

Computers acting erratically are definitely signs of bad RAM. However, it is still a good idea to perform basic troubleshooting on the computer because random issues can also occur because of other software / hardware issues. Additional basic troubleshooting tips can be found at:

http://www.computerhope.com/basic.htm

Can RAM be 'repaired'?

Although we would say it would be impossible to repair RAM it is very impractible to repair RAM. Best solution would be to replace RAM with a new stick if it was bad.