Can a broken SDRAM memory create some problem?

Question

I just discovered that the amount of memory installed in my laptop is no longer the one I am supposed to have.
This is what I have installed (from About This Mac, More Info...)
SODIMM0/J20STANDARD:
+Size: 512 MB+
+Type: DDR SDRAM+
+Speed: PC2700U-25330+
+Status: OK+
SODIMM1/J23REVERSED:
+Size: 256 MB+
+Type: DDR SDRAM+
+Speed: PC2700U-25330+
+Status: OK+
And I'm sure that the reversed memory should be 512 MB.
from the diagnostic I can read this:
+Power On Self-Test:+
+Last Run: 10/25/08 9:41 PM+
+Result: Failed+
+Failure type: Memory+
+Memory slot: SODIMM1/J23REVERSED+
I don't know how long this has been the situation. But I know that recently I had some operating system problems, 3-4 times during regular browsing with safari, the black screen that tells you to restart the computer appeared.
I think that the last time this (probably) caused major problems to the internal Disk... please see this discussion:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=758&start=15
I wonder if these issues were caused by this broken memory.
My questions:
Can this memory issue cause other problems?
Should I keep working with this existing condition or it will be better to remove the "broken" SDRAM "broken" and replace it.

Answer 1

Hi there,
Can this memory issue cause other problems?
Yes, +untold problens+.. just one bit being off could be the difference between read a file and deleting a file!
Should I keep working with this existing condition or it will be better to remove the "broken" SDRAM "broken" and replace it.
Remove it or replace it, then Verify/Repair the HDD at the very least.