BIOS memory caching...

[Chewy]

it's noname memory(the 1 gig sticks) but in spec(cas3) even tho it doesn't match the cas 2.5 512's?

[mens_sana]

It is PNY "Optima" memory. I don't understand the rest.

[Chewy]

well you can try memtest or just test each stick one at a time in your computer.

[mens_sana]

Per PC-Doctor Diagnostics (came with pc), memory is OK. However it said it was OK previously, after which Windows Memory Diagnostic found a faulty stick. I'll have to run the Windows test overnight. It takes a loooong time.

In advance: Is it possible that a DIMM could be faulty while the stick is OK? (This in case it is always the same DIMM that has the faulty stick.)

A side questions:
Sometimes I hear a pinging sound, once or twice but sometimes repeating for several minutes. It sounds like the sound you get when you dismount an external hard drive or open a drawer to unload a CD. Any ideas?

[Chewy]

use everest sensor to check cpu and mainboard temps at idle and after
heavy load

make sure voltages are running good also

[mens_sana]

I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic overnight, using the extended tests which check with both cache on and cache disabled. No errors were found. So something else is going on. The crashes nearly always happen just after a DVD burn is completed.

[Chewy]

a manual burn? or one where shrink has been running?

what burning app?

[mens_sana]

Nero Ultra 7 and I updated it Friday. It hasn't crashed since the update, but who knows??? It may have crashed once at the end of a DVDShrink burn, but I'm not sure. In any case Shrink uses Nero also. From a long time back, it may have crashed at the end of a Pinnacle Studio 10+ burn, but I seldom use that one day-to-day stuff.