The flaky PC (as it is often referred) is a computer which acts normally most of the time, but occasionally quits active programs, delivers obscure error messages, or restarts entirely. So, what causes flaky PC syndrome? Although there is no single answer, one of the most common causes is due to bad random access memory (RAM for short).

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Random access memory is the hardware component within your PC which is responsible for executing and running software (whether it be software applications such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop or operating systems such as Windows Vista and Windows 7). The problem is that once this RAM has become wholly or partly faulty, your machine will suddenly attempt to execute or run computer instructions which no longer make sense. In an overly simple world, double clicking on Microsoft Word would tell your computer to load up Microsoft Word (into RAM) so you could then use it. However, a computer with bad RAM may only load part of Microsoft Word correctly. Consequently, at some point in time, it will come across a bunch of information that it doesn’t understand, and crash.

Generally, determining whether a particular hardware component is in need of repair is quite difficult. Luckily, with regards to RAM, there are several well-tested, reasonably reliable, free applications which will perform the necessary testing with little user input.

Testing RAM

Two of the tops choices for RAM testing are: Memtest and Windows Memory Diagnostic (we will focus on the latter in this particular article). Windows Memory Diagnostic is a program which basically goes through your RAM and checks each section of it. It does this by writing a piece of information, say the words “computer repair” to RAM and then reading this information back. If the RAM returns the appropriate information, “computer repair” in our example, then this section is fine. If, however, RAM returns something else, like “cats” then there is a fundamental flaw and you will likely need to purchase new memory from your local computer shop.

So how does one use Windows Memory Diagnostic anyways? Head over to the Windows Memory Diagnostic webpage and download the mtinst.exe file.

1. Double click the downloaded file to run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Setup (you will have to accept the agreement before you can move on).

2. At the main setup window, you have to choose the “Save CD Image to disk” option (unless you are still using a floppy disk in your computer). You will be prompted to choose a location to save the windiag.iso file.

3. Burn this iso file to a CD/DVD.

4. Restart your computer and boot it up with this CD or DVD. You might need to go to your BIOS to change the bootup sequence in order to boot from the CD-ROM.

Now all you have to do is wait and watch. Wait for Windows Memory Diagnostic to complete one pass and then look at the bottom of the screen for any error messages. If error messages occur then your computer’s RAM is likely toasted and you will have to get it serviced by a computer repair shop or replace the memory yourself. If no error messages occur, then your memory is likely ok, and you will need to look elsewhere in regards to your computer’s problems.

Finally, once you are done make sure to turn your computer off, as Windows Memory Diagnostic will continue to run until you manually stop it.

That’s it.

The information that it collects is quite detailed and is focused around you CPU, mainboard, memory and general system info about Windows and DirectX.

Throughout the rest of the post, I’m going to walk you through getting CPU-Z and harnessing it’s awesome power on your own PC.

To get started, head on over to the CPU-Z home page and download the latest version of the software (at the time this article was written, the current version was 1.50). The package comes as a zip file, so you’ll need to unzip it.  In situations like this, I tend to just create a folder on my desktop and extract the files from the zip archive into that folder.

This program doesn’t have a fancy installer because it doesn’t install itself into your system.  You simply extract the zip contents to a folder and run it from there.  When you don’t want CPU-Z any more, you just delete the folder.

Once you have the folder set up and you are ready to go, start CPU-Z by double-clicking on the cpuz.exe file.

You should see the following image on your screen while the program is loading.

Once loaded, the information is readily accessible in and easy to navigate format.  The window is laid out as a series of tabs that sort information into logical categories.  The tabs are labelled CPU, Cache, Mainboard, Memory, SPD, and About.  This can be seen in the image below.

Selecting each tab will open up a world of information, including some things that you never even wanted to know.  Try not to be overwhelmed by the data and focus in on what you want to see.

For example, on the CPU tab the average user will be interested in the Name of the CPU, Specification,  Instructions, Core Speed, Bus Speed, and Level 2 Cache size. Power users will likely be interested in the rest of the information for various purposes.

The Cache tab elaborates on the cache information from the CPU tab. I’ve never had a lot of use for this data, but it’s here and you never know when it might come in handy.

On the Mainboard tab, you will find a lot of information that is useful when upgrading or replacing components.  This covers things like the motherboard manufacturer, chipset, BIOS, and graphics interface.  From the screenshot below, we can see that I am using an nForce4 based motherboard that supports x16 PCI-Express.

What that means is that my video card is PCI-E based and not AGP. This is important to know if I was upgrading the video card.  Unfortunately for this example, CPU-Z was unable to detect my motherboard manufacturer.  This a rare occurrence and I have only ever seen the problem with this particular board.

The Memory tab is also very useful because most people that upgrade their computers add more memory. In the image above, you can see that I have 2 GB of memory in this system (2048 MB). The memory is DDR (as opposed to DDR2 or DDR3), and that it is running in dual channel mode. Most of the other info on this tab is for advanced users. I find it particularly helpful when overclocking.

To complete a memory upgrade, you would probably need a little bit more information. The SPD tab has the rest of it. This tab shows information about the memory stick in each specific slot on the motherboard. You can see the size of the chip, they type of RAM, and the frequency that it’s operating at. There’s also a timing table to show details based on the configuration.

Last, but not least, is the About tab. This tab gives details about the software and also some details about your system.  For example you can see the Windows version, Service Pack installed and DirectX version. From this tab you can also dump the data into an HTML file.

This application should be in everyone’s PC toolbox.  The data it provides is invaluable and the ease of use makes CPU-Z simple for anyone to operate.