On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:13:08 -0700,
wrote:

I think I found the problem: it was a defective ram stick. The laptop
had 2 dimms @ 512mb each. I pulled one out and ran memtest 86 on the
other. One of the sticks produces multiple errors within one minute
of the start, the other ran for 2 hours with no problem.

I guess I will need to buy new ram.

I still wonder what caused the weired artifacts in the BIOS thought
and how that is related to the memory problem.


?? I don't remember the past thread details but when you
turn the system on, the bios is decompreseed into main
system memory. If that main system memory is not stable it
is definitely possible that things you see (and even worse,
things you don't see (code for settings saving and such) are
corrupt even if intact enough to run for a bit of time).

It is rare for memory that once worked to just spontaneously
fail. I'd wonder if it wasn't seated good in the slot or
the board has a crack or cold solder joint/etc.

When you tested it, did you try both sticks in the same
slot? If not I'd retest using both modules in same slot.