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I have dual channel motherboard and two pairs of memory cards of which one of other pair is a bit faulty, one bit or something. I found out that I can disable Linux from using the bad RAM addresses, but does dual channel still work, as those two cards are not identical due to other one being faulty?

Does it matter in which slot I put the faulty RAM card? I mean if I e.g. want to boot something from USB, the software does not know about the faulty RAM, and I want to minimize the possibility of that using those faulty addresses.

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    While your OS may be able to avoid the faulty RAM, your hardware probably cannot. Using faulty RAM should never be considered an ongoing or regular state, and OS-avoidance should only be utilized to keep a critical system running long enough to replace the faulty modules.
    – music2myear
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 21:13
  • If memory is truly faulty (hardware error) I put it in the recycle bin.
    – anon
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 21:22
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    The best slot for faulty RAM is the small round slot beside your desk. It gets emptied regularly. You'll then have space inside your PC for good RAM.
    – Mokubai ♦
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 21:24
  • @Mokubai is that slot compatible with all types of RAM :D
    – Jaromanda X
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 21:46
  • @Mokubai, Excellent! It implements garbage collection far more reliably than Java or C# do, causes lower power consumption and gives new meaning to Windows' Recycle Bin. Another use: remove epoxy with piranha etch (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha_solution -- Caution) and examine awesome silicon circuitry under an electron microscope.
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 22:10

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It sounds like you have 4 memory sticks of which you believe one is bad. Have you confirmed it is actually the stick thats bad - i.e. by moving them around to ensure it's not a problem with one of the slots on the motherboard?

If you are sure it's the stick, as others have stated there is no point putting a bad stick in the computer, in a pinch it might be possible to put the three good sticks into three different banks, so that all of them are single channel - that may allow you to boot and use the full capacity of the 3 good sticks however they will all be single channel, so I am not sure the extra RAM is worth the performance penalty.

Typically you should run a matched pair in a bank, so I would recommend buying two new RAM sticks - that will leave you with a spare, which you can keep in the draw incase one of the other two sticks go bad in future.

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  • Yes, I have four smaller capacity cards with which memtest86+ passes tests without an error.
    – jarno
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 8:30
  • Even with the good ones I have a selection between 12GB single channel and 8GB dual channel.
    – jarno
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 9:04

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