Kernel Panic - BAD RAM?

[intention]

For the past few days (never happened before) my apps started crashing continuously and kernel panic screen started appearing very frequently. I am still wondering what may be the cause of it, then I tested my RAM with Rember, and this log showed up:

---
Memtest version 4.22 (64-bit)
Copyright (C) 2004 Charles Cazabon
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Tony Scaminaci (Macintosh port)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 only

Mac OS X 10.6.5 (10H574) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 2 Intel core(s) with SSE
Requested memory: 1184MB (1241964544 bytes)
Available memory: 1184MB (1241964544 bytes)
Allocated memory: 1184MB (1241964544 bytes) at local address 0x0000000101000000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 592MB (620982272 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000101000000
Buffer B: 592MB (620982272 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000126037000

Running 1 test sequence... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 1:

Running tests on full 1184MB region...
Stuck Address : setting 1 of 16 ok
Linear PRN : setting 1 of 16ok
Running comparison tests using 592MB buffers...
Random Value :  ok
Compare XOR :  ok
Compare SUB :  ok
Compare MUL :  ok
Compare DIV :  ok
Compare OR :  ok
Compare AND :  ok
Sequential Increment:  ok
Solid Bits : setting 1 of 64

FAILURE! Data mismatch at local BUFA address 0x0000000120a36ab0, BUFB address 0x0000000145a6dab0
BUFA Data: 0x7cfbffffffffffff, BUFB Data: 0xffffffffffffffff

Block Sequential : setting 1 of 256
---

Does this mean I have to change the RAM? Is that the cause of OS crashing?

Thanks in advance for all your responses.

 

[captkirkmtl]

The most logical solution is to try test out other RAM sticks in your laptop and see if it continues to produce errors like this. From experience, Problems such as these can usually be attributed to Software Issues. I remember some macbook users experienced this issue after installing Snow Leopard on their Macbooks, from Leopard (10.5). I would try to troubleshot it with different RAM sticks.

 

[Detrius]

From experience, Problems such as these can usually be attributed to Software Issues. I remember some macbook users experienced this issue after installing Snow Leopard on their Macbooks, from Leopard (10.5).

This part is blatantly wrong. His suggestion of swapping RAM modules, though, is sound. Sometimes, all you have to do is reseat your existing modules.

 

[rprebel]

This part is blatantly wrong. His suggestion of swapping RAM modules, though, is sound. Sometimes, all you have to do is reseat your existing modules.

I don't know about blatantly wrong. Patently wrong, obviously wrong, but not blatantly wrong. I doubt he intended to mislead the OP.