PC Memory Errors

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ed B.
  • Start date Start date
E

Ed B.

I have been having a problem where my PC will spontaneously reboot
itself.

I ran the Fix-it utility which found errors when doing a Pseudo Random
Memory Address Test. I then ran memtest86 and it found 10 memory
errors. The addresses range from 000003a0390 (3.0 MB) to 0000fc12460
(252.1 MB). I have 512 MB of SDRAM in my PC on two memory sticks.

I assume I will need to replace the memory but is there a way I can
tell which stick it's on and if all the memory errors are on the memory
sticks or could some of it be on the system board?

Thanks,
Ed
 
I have been having a problem where my PC will spontaneously reboot
itself.

I ran the Fix-it utility which found errors when doing a Pseudo Random
Memory Address Test. I then ran memtest86 and it found 10 memory
errors. The addresses range from 000003a0390 (3.0 MB) to 0000fc12460
(252.1 MB). I have 512 MB of SDRAM in my PC on two memory sticks.

I assume I will need to replace the memory but is there a way I can
tell which stick it's on
Click to expand...

More information on the system might help, but the easiest thing to do is
to pull one of the memory modules and see if the problem continues. Swap
and repeat.
and if all the memory errors are on the memory
sticks or could some of it be on the system board?
Click to expand...

Sure, it could be the board but it's not at all likely since there are
only 10 "randomly" spaced errors. If it were the board you'd likely see
chunks or many chunks of memory bad.

Since (if I understand you) it's only specific addresses, it's almost 100%
sure to be a memory stick. If it's not dual-channel memory it's most
likely to be the bottom stick (DIMM0, or whatever). Pull the top stick
(DIMM1?) and repeat the tests. You should still find the errors. If so,
pull DIMM0 and replace.
 
I assume I will need to replace the memory but is there a way I can
tell which stick it's on and if all the memory errors are on the memory
sticks or could some of it be on the system board?
Click to expand...

This is simple; remove RAM from the system and test one stick at a time.
Your system manual would hopefully say if there's ram on the motherboard.

~Jason

--
 
from the wonderful said:
This is simple; remove RAM from the system and test one stick at a time.
Your system manual would hopefully say if there's ram on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

Which is why it's smart to always have a pair of RAM modules, even if a
single one is cheaper....

(And it's even smarter to buy decent RAM, although even that can die in
the field; at least you have a good chance it'll have been 'somewhat'
tested)
 
Well it turned out I did only have one 512 MB RAM module in there,
which I replaced, and now my PC passes all the memory diagnostic tests.
So far it hasn't rebooted itself.

Ed
 
I have been having a problem where my PC will spontaneously reboot
itself.

I ran the Fix-it utility which found errors when doing a Pseudo Random
Memory Address Test. I then ran memtest86 and it found 10 memory
errors. The addresses range from 000003a0390 (3.0 MB) to 0000fc12460
(252.1 MB). I have 512 MB of SDRAM in my PC on two memory sticks.

I assume I will need to replace the memory but is there a way I can
tell which stick it's on and if all the memory errors are on the memory
sticks or could some of it be on the system board?
Click to expand...

Figuring out which stick of memory is causing the fault should be
pretty easy. Just pull one stick and run Memtest with only a single
stick in there. Then pull the other stick and test that one. Even if
you've got a dual-channel memory setup it should run with no trouble
with only a single DIMM.

Of course, it's entirely possible that BOTH sticks of memory will pass
on their own (and in both memory slots). This isn't so much a fault
in the system board as it is an issue with the loading of the memory
bus. Often sticks of memory are only just barely capable of working
at their stated speed on their own. When you load down the memory bus
with a second stick of memory you need to reduce your timings for them
to work. I would really only worry about this though if both sticks
pass Memtest86 individually but fail when together.

As for system board issues, they are possible and tough to track down
sometimes. Given the nature of the errors you're seeing though, I
would kind of doubt that it's a system board. Still, if you are able
to, it would be good to test some (known-good) memory from another
computer. If that also fails, then you're probably looking at a
system board issue. If you don't have any known-good memory that is
compatible with this board, I would ignore the possibility of it being
a system board problem for the time being.
 
Sweet, that was simple and easy. Now if only the leased line problems
here could be that way :/

~Jason

--
 
Hello Tony,

Well, I'm glad you posted your message because you may be right about
something. The memory I have is a 512MB 266 DDR stick. I took the bad
one out and replaced it with the new one, and it passed memtest. Then I
thought, well I may as well buy a second memory stick, so I got the
exact same brand from the same store as the one I just installed; put
it in, so I now have 1 GB of RAM. I ran memtest to make sure
everything looked good, and sure enough, memtest found a bunch of
errors on the second 512MB, which was the stick I just bought.

So to troubleshoot this, I swap the slots, so the one that just failed
is in the first slot, and the good one is in the second slot. Now the
one that was good and is now in the second slot is failing memtest. So
now I'm thinking there's something wrong with the second DDR slot, but
I run memtest again and memory addresses in both the first 512MB and
second 512MB are failing.

So how do I reduce the timing your were talking about. I'm assuming
it's either in the BIOS or a jumper on the system board. The only speed
setting in the BIOS is for the CPU, and there is a jumper for FSB speed
which is either 100MHZ or 133MHZ.

Thanks,
Ed
 
Ed B. said:
Hello Tony,

Well, I'm glad you posted your message because you may be right about
something. The memory I have is a 512MB 266 DDR stick. I took the bad
one out and replaced it with the new one, and it passed memtest. Then I
thought, well I may as well buy a second memory stick, so I got the
exact same brand from the same store as the one I just installed; put
it in, so I now have 1 GB of RAM. I ran memtest to make sure
everything looked good, and sure enough, memtest found a bunch of
errors on the second 512MB, which was the stick I just bought.

So to troubleshoot this, I swap the slots, so the one that just failed
is in the first slot, and the good one is in the second slot. Now the
one that was good and is now in the second slot is failing memtest. So
now I'm thinking there's something wrong with the second DDR slot, but
I run memtest again and memory addresses in both the first 512MB and
second 512MB are failing.

So how do I reduce the timing your were talking about. I'm assuming
it's either in the BIOS or a jumper on the system board. The only speed
setting in the BIOS is for the CPU, and there is a jumper for FSB speed
which is either 100MHZ or 133MHZ.

Thanks,
Ed
Click to expand...
I think he's referring the CAS and the other memory settings in the BIOS.
 
I must have a cheap motherboard because I have no memory settings in
the BIOS.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? IME, all PCChips/ECS boards have memory settings in the
BIOS, so I can't imagine that Asus/Asrock would be any different.
Otherwise, I wonder if this is one of those cases where an upmarket
manufacturer differentiates his products by crippling certain
features.
I have an ASRock K7VM2.
http://www.asrock.com/product/product_k7vm2.htm

Ed B.
Click to expand...


- Franc Zabkar
 
I must have a cheap motherboard because I have no memory settings in
the BIOS. I have an ASRock K7VM2.
http://www.asrock.com/product/product_k7vm2.htm
Click to expand...

Yes you do have a cheap motherboard, and assuming that the on-line
manual for this motherboard is correct, you do not have much of
anything in the way of memory settings in that BIOS. Basically you're
at the mercy of the SPD settings stored on the memory module itself.
In other words, make sure you use good quality memory on this system.
 
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