Can ECC Ram go bad?


Spies

Recommended Posts

If one of your ram blocks start throwing more than 1 error once in a while you probably have a defective ram block that should be replaced, and RMA'ed if its within its warranty. I haven't seen any so fare in my relative new SuperMicroX11 64GB ECC build. But will let you know if/when I start notice ECC errors in the eventlog.

Link to comment

In normal PC applications, where ECC DIMM modules are 72 bits wide, 64 of those bits are data.  The normal usage in a PC allows single-bit errors to be corrected at the memory controller (in the processor) and double bit errors to be detected and not corrected.  Multiple bit errors of more than two bits, may or may not be detected, but cannot be corrected.  Error correction schemes can be implemented to offer much greater protection than this, but they would require more check bits to be stored with the data.  The correction codes and numbers of check bits used with regular processors and memory systems are chosen based on costs, complexity and relative likelihood of different types of errors.  I worked on error correcting computer memories back in the late 1970's - the maths behind Hamming codes and similar methods was beyond me, but the hardware to make these things work is fascinating (in a geeky kind of way).  

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.