Memory Failure!
Recently, I started experiencing random crashes from applications like Discord and Firefox on my Arch Linux machine. Given that the hardware is over six years old, my first suspicion was faulty memory.
To validate this, I created a bootable USB with MemTest86 and began testing. Almost immediately, memory errors started appearing.
This system is equipped with two 8GB DDR4 modules (Corsair Vengeance LPX) in a 4-slot motherboard, with only two slots populated. I swapped the modules between different slots and re-ran the test—same result, consistent errors right from the start.
Next, I removed one module and tested with a single 8GB stick. To my surprise, the test completed with zero errors. I then swapped it out for the second module, and sure enough, the errors returned. That confirmed one of the DIMMs had gone bad.
For now, I’m running the system with a single 8GB stick—which, honestly, is more than sufficient for its current workload. The random application crashes have completely stopped, and I’m just waiting on the replacement memory to arrive.
This machine will continue to thrive!
