I was too impatient to wait - and I did not even have to wait until a bad result
Here is a screenshot (by phone) of the running screen of Memtest after maybe one minute of runtime:
I am not really a techie so I would need some interpretation. Obviously there is something wrong, but what do I do about it?
Buy new RAM, reinstall everything and hope for the best? Or what would be my next step here?
Firstly, please check how many RAM modules you have installed (it should be reported by BIOS or you can open up the NUC to check visually). If you have more than one, cut power to the NUC and remove some RAM to leave only one RAM inserted only. Having multiple modules of RAM is harder on the system than only one. Check each RAM individually with memtest.
If you only have one RAM module, or all of them behave similarly, please go into BIOS settings and underclock the RAM to run at 2133MHz. If this still does not fix the memtest errors, Iâd buy new RAM and reinstall everything. Meanwhile you can see if you still have warranty for the faulty RAM and attempt to get it replaced by its manufacturer (seems to be Crucial), which obviously will take time.
I have only one RAM module and it already runs at 2133 MHZ, so obviously it is simply defective.
In the meantime I have found a website by Intel " IntelÂŽ Product Compatibility Tool" that lists tested RAM-modules, where Crucial is not mentioned.
My guess would be that it does not matter, but since I am mostly interested in high reliability I will pick a module from that list and just forget about the warranty. The next steps in that direction will take place in about two weeks since I will not be at home for a while.
Many thanks again!
In your photo it shows 2400MHz. Iâm not sure whether MemTest reports the actual current clock, or the label inside the RAM module. If itâs reporting the actual clock but your modules are rated at 2133MHz, then your system is overclocking the RAM from 2133MHz to 2400MHz, which would certainly cause errors.
There should be option(s) in BIOS settings to control the RAM clock, and youâd typically have 1 second to look at the actual RAM clock when the system powers up and before booting the USB or internal storage.
So youâve already underclocked the 2400MHz RAM to run at 2133MHz. This should be less stressful for the system but it still gives you errors. So youâll need to buy another RAM.
Everything seems to have turned out alright in the end - I am very much relieved!
What I did:
Bought a RAM-Module (8GB Transcend) from the Intel approved list and tested it with Memtest86 before doing anything else with it.
Updated the BIOS on my NUC
Performed a clean re-install (repair was not possible - probably due to the damage) of ROCK
Restored my oldest available backup from about one month ago. The oldest because I was hoping that the defective RAM module would have done the most damage further on.
On restart everything seems to be OK and ROCK is way faster than before. All I have lost is maybe 2 hours of editing and I can easily live with that!
So I am happy again