What is ROW-HAM-DET?
Charge Leakage Detection (Row Hammer) is a critical-severity system memory (RAM) issue. Dangerous charge spillage between memory cells noted. It's most often caused by different modules in one board, poor quality CPU controller, frequency too high and dust in slot. Work through the steps below in order.
Common Causes
- Different modules in one board
- Poor quality CPU controller
- Frequency too high
- Dust in slot
Step-by-Step Fix Guide
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1
Disable XMP profile in BIOS
Start with Disable XMP profile in BIOS — it clears the most frequent root cause behind ROW-HAM-DET in the majority of cases we've seen.
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2
Clean the RAM contacts with a school eraser
For cases that don't clear up right away, the remaining steps target less typical ram instability problems.
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3
Update BIOS for better compatibility
"Update BIOS for better compatibility" covers a less common but documented cause of ROW-HAM-DET.
Commands & Diagnostics
mdsched.exe
wmic memorychip get capacity
Frequently Asked Questions
Different modules in one board accounts for the majority of ROW-HAM-DET reports; poor quality CPU controller, frequency too high and dust in slot come up less often but are documented.
The fastest fix is "Disable XMP profile in BIOS". Only move on to the later steps if ROW-HAM-DET keeps coming back.
Treat ROW-HAM-DET as urgent — it's flagged critical severity, meaning repeated occurrences risk data loss or hardware damage.
In most cases, yes — the guide above resolves ROW-HAM-DET without a clean install. Treat a reinstall as the last resort, not the first move.
MemTest86 is strongly recommended if ROW-HAM-DET occurs repeatedly. It runs overnight and tests all RAM slots independently. Even a few errors in MemTest indicate faulty RAM that should be replaced.
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