BSOD

From: william (WILLIAMA)14 Feb 18:37
To: ALL1 of 6
Just had one for the first time in ages. The bug check said memory error (0x0000001a) so I ran memtest86 and it said FAIL, with 688 errors. Windows memory diagnostics agreed. 

Fortunately I happened to have another 2 x 8GB of Corsair Vengeance 3600 lying around (don't ask why), so I'm up and running again. Since I only bought the newly failed 2 x 8GB in June, I wonder whether Amazon will cough up a refund.
From: william (WILLIAMA)14 Feb 23:53
To: william (WILLIAMA) 2 of 6
Well, the answer is not "no" as such, it's more that they don't want to. The window to return is closed and there is no facility to question or otherwise complain. A query about technical problems points me to the Corsair website. This states that they only deal with items purchased directly from Corsair (which is exactly in conformance with UK commercial law). That means that in order to obtain my rights under UK law I probably have to write a letter to Amazon and make a case that 7 and a bit months is not a satisfactory lifespan for RAM. 
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)15 Feb 12:02
To: william (WILLIAMA) 3 of 6
my ram (2 x 16G sticks) failed memtest86 spectacularly several months ago. You'd wonder how it could even POST. I ran it after a few suspicious events (mainly GIMP/Fedora crashes, but I suspect they may be GPU errors for reasons -- also GIMP doesn't crash in Windows, though I rarely use it). It's in dual-channel mode with no way to disable that in BIOS, and sticks were purchased separately several months apart in 2018 (same model number and specs, but a HyperX tech said they didn't match, and wouldn't work in dual channel).

I have continued using them with no discernible difference in stability or performance following this discovery. Maybe this test means less than one might suppose.
EDITED: 15 Feb 12:12 by DSMITHHFX
From: william (WILLIAMA)15 Feb 14:08
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 4 of 6
I did ponder this, since this is the first BSOD in the 8 months the RAM has been installed. That said, it was an error (a PTE corruption to be precise) so several possibilities 1) a fault on the drive with the virtual memory 2) a fault on the RAM where the real memory was located when the PTE was created 3) a fault on the RAM where the PTE is located or on the drive if the PTE was in virtual memory when accessed. There are other possibilities. 

I checked the drive which returned no errors. Memtest and Windows Memory diagnostics returned plenty of errors. The replacement RAM returns no errors. 

It's just speculation on my part, but it seems unlikely that both modules are faulty (they could be). If the faulty module was number 2 then Windows may only rarely have used faulty RAM, since windows pages memory out by design even when there's plenty of RAM available. I didn't bother testing them individually, but I may do that now.
From: ANT_THOMAS15 Feb 20:59
To: william (WILLIAMA) 5 of 6
Dig and dig and dig and find a link to Amazon customer services live chat.
If you get to an actual person you'll likely easily convince them to arrange a refund.
From: william (WILLIAMA)16 Feb 00:01
To: ANT_THOMAS 6 of 6
I'll give it a go tomorrow. They're not the only company that casually shrugs off the legal commitments of trading. Most of the high-street stores do the same but in those cases (the few that are left) there's actually somebody who can't escape. 
EDITED: 18 Feb 18:03 by WILLIAMA