Memory Tester results

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave
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Dave

Hello. I recently bought a Dell XPS 600 and it has been quite unstable,
crashing with numerous blue stop screens with different error codes that can
be found here:-
http://www.zen70645.zen.co.uk/crash/
It has a clean updated install of Windows XP with the latest driver
updates. So I suspected faulty hardware.

I've tested the RAM using a number of different programs that load from a
boot floppy. I'm wondering whether the results mean I have bad RAM or not.
They are as follows:-

1) Memtest86:- I left it running overnight and it passed all the tests.

2)Microsoft Windows Memory Tester:-
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp This failed straight away. It ran
the first 2 tests and failed, then it locked up while running the third test
with a garbled flashing square appearing on the screen.It does this every
time I run this program.

3) Goldtest. This ran for about 3 mins and reported no errors. But the
program stopped working after 3 mins and locked up

4) Documem. This behaved like goldtest. It reported no errors but crashed
after a few mins.

5) Dell Diagnostic Utility. Most Dell computers have a utility partition
that has hardware diagnostic programs you can boot to. I ran them all and
they reported no errors.

I'm wondering how to interpret these results. Does anyone know if it's
possible that the test that causes the RAM to fail, i.e. Microsoft Memory
Tester is incompatible with the type of memory Dell ships the XPS 600 with
and therefore produces false negative results?
The memory is 'DDR2 unbuffered SDRAM'

Thanks.
 
If faulty hardware was the cause, you would have experienced the problems as soon as you turned the computer on. In that case, you would have called Dell and had them replace your computer or refund your money.

So it seems your "clean updated install of Windows XP" may not be so clean.

Steven
 
In message <[email protected]> "M and D"
If faulty hardware was the cause, you would have experienced the problems as soon as you turned the computer on.
Click to expand...

Far from true... If you have 512MB of RAM, and the logic error doesn't
occur until the 488MB-mark, you may well not notice anything at all
until the system has been up long enough for the problem to become
apparent.

--
A man and his wife are sitting in the family room and he says to her,
"Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state dependent
on some machine.? If that ever happens, just pull the plug."

So, she gets up and unplugs the TV.
 
Dave said:
Hello. I recently bought a Dell XPS 600 and it has been quite
unstable, crashing with numerous blue stop screens with different
error codes that can be found here:-
http://www.zen70645.zen.co.uk/crash/
It has a clean updated install of Windows XP with the latest driver
updates. So I suspected faulty hardware.

I've tested the RAM using a number of different programs that load
from a boot floppy. I'm wondering whether the results mean I have bad
RAM or not. They are as follows:-

1) Memtest86:- I left it running overnight and it passed all the
tests.

2)Microsoft Windows Memory Tester:-
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp This failed straight away. It
ran the first 2 tests and failed, then it locked up while running the
third test with a garbled flashing square appearing on the screen.It
does this every time I run this program.

3) Goldtest. This ran for about 3 mins and reported no errors. But the
program stopped working after 3 mins and locked up

4) Documem. This behaved like goldtest. It reported no errors but
crashed after a few mins.

5) Dell Diagnostic Utility. Most Dell computers have a utility
partition that has hardware diagnostic programs you can boot to. I ran
them all and they reported no errors.

I'm wondering how to interpret these results. Does anyone know if it's
possible that the test that causes the RAM to fail, i.e. Microsoft
Memory Tester is incompatible with the type of memory Dell ships the
XPS 600 with and therefore produces false negative results?
The memory is 'DDR2 unbuffered SDRAM'

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Immediately call Dell tech support for repair/replacement. You can give
them the results of your tests. There is most certainly some hardware
problem - either the RAM and/or the motherboard. This is a new machine
and you spent a fair amount of money on it. Make sure you tell the
bottom-tier tech that you have already clean-installed Windows to test
so they don't try to make you do it first. My experience with Dell
Diagnostics is that your machine can be smoking and the DD will still
show no problems.

Software RAM testers are not as good as hardware RAM testers, but the
equipment needed is very expensive. Since you got failures with at
least two software testers, something is definitely wrong. The poster
who told you that if there were any problems you'd see them immediately
is wrong and "Devils PGD" is correct.

Malke
 
As others as have already said software tests of RAM are not 100% reliable
but only an indication that there may be a problem. I prefer memtest86 but I
also use others. If any software tests fail the RAM is suspect and I replace
it. If it still fails I replace the motherboard or start looking for other
causes. Other possibilities are a bad PSU, bad CPU, improperly installed RAM
or CPU. All of these are hardware related. Contact Dell for warranty.

Kerry
 
Dave said:
I'm wondering how to interpret these results.
Click to expand...

Now this is not your problem. Report your results to Dell, have them
replace your new machine and interpret whatever they want.

--PA
 
call dell but a memory module that is not seated perfectly in the slot will
cause that problem. Part of the memory will work but when trying to access
the part that is not
in contact will cause the error/ Hey the memory could be bad also/ so if you
open the case you could check to see if the memory is seated/
 
In message <[email protected]> "Kerry Brown"
As others as have already said software tests of RAM are not 100% reliable
but only an indication that there may be a problem. I prefer memtest86 but I
also use others. If any software tests fail the RAM is suspect and I replace
it. If it still fails I replace the motherboard or start looking for other
causes. Other possibilities are a bad PSU, bad CPU, improperly installed RAM
or CPU. All of these are hardware related. Contact Dell for warranty.
Click to expand...

If a software tester indicates a problem, then there is a problem.
Period.

It might not be RAM specific, but there is a problem of some sort
occurring -- All RAM testers really do is write data and read it back,
and absolutely *any* time you don't get the same data back and you were
expecting, there is a problem.

The problem could be a bug in the RAM tester, in the CPU (the logic
which generates the data being written to RAM), the actual RAM,
configuration, or any number of other things, but ultimately there is
some sort of problem somewhere.
 
My interpretation is that you have a hardware fault, but it's almost
certainly not bad RAM.

Memtest86 _will_ report errors during an overnight run if the RAM is
bad, but it places very little load on the rest of the system, and
therefore is less prone to freezing or crashing as compared to
Windows-based RAM testing software.

Dell sold you an unstable system. Contact them for a replacement.

Triffid
 
Triffid said:
My interpretation is that you have a hardware fault, but it's almost
certainly not bad RAM.

Memtest86 _will_ report errors during an overnight run if the RAM is bad,
but it places very little load on the rest of the system, and therefore is
less prone to freezing or crashing as compared to Windows-based RAM
testing software.

Dell sold you an unstable system. Contact them for a replacement.

Triffid
Click to expand...
I contacted Dell and they said that the warranty only covers hardware faults
and they only define something as a hardware problem if it fails the Dell
hardware diagnostic programs they include with the computer.
Since the RAM and indeed all the other hardware tests pass Dell diagnostics
they believe it to be a software problem.
This sounds very dodgy. I don't know what the law states about this. I'm
sure that they would have to acknowledge a hardware fault if it fails
non-Dell tests that are reliable. I'm sure the Dell diagnostics are not able
to cover all hardware faults.
So looks like I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've not tried removing/moving about
the RAM sticks yet. But that's the next thing on the list.
 
Dave said:
I contacted Dell and they said that the warranty only covers hardware
faults and they only define something as a hardware problem if it
fails the Dell hardware diagnostic programs they include with the
computer. Since the RAM and indeed all the other hardware tests pass Dell
diagnostics they believe it to be a software problem.
This sounds very dodgy. I don't know what the law states about this.
I'm sure that they would have to acknowledge a hardware fault if it
fails non-Dell tests that are reliable. I'm sure the Dell diagnostics
are not able to cover all hardware faults.
So looks like I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've not tried
removing/moving about the RAM sticks yet. But that's the next thing
on the list.
Click to expand...

What was their suggestion to fix the crashes? I would save any personal data
then restore it to the factory setup. Run it that way for a few days and see
if there are any crashes. Document the steps you take. If it still crashes
with a factory setup then they have to honor the warranty.

Kerry
 
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