That's exactly the error. RAM going bad, huh... do you have a MemFree86 bootable CD that you could bring to coffee (or some other suitable test widget)? ^_^

(I was planning on doing more research into whether or not it was in fact going into its death throes before investing in something new, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Plus I'm not used to having other people "local" enough that it makes sense to ping them about it... ~wry grin~)