RAM diagnostics failed at same addr on diff sticks!?!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Teffy
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Teffy

My trusty dell dimension 4100 has recently been restarting without a
blue screen of death or any other warning. So, I used my dell
diagnostics diskette which boots to DOS. The RAM test failed at address
000004E0.

I have two RAM sticks, so I swapped them and ran the diagnostics again.
The RAM test failed again at the same address!

What conclusions can be drawn from this?

Thanks,
Teffy
 
My trusty dell dimension 4100 has recently been restarting without a
blue screen of death or any other warning. So, I used my dell
diagnostics diskette which boots to DOS. The RAM test failed at address
000004E0.

I have two RAM sticks, so I swapped them and ran the diagnostics again.
The RAM test failed again at the same address!

What conclusions can be drawn from this?
Click to expand...


That 4E0 is most likely an address reserved for motherboard
use and can't be included in the test?

Memory errors can cause a lot of different odd behaviors,
but generally not just restarting the system. That is,
after you've disabled the restart-on-error setting on
Win2k/XP. So, disable that if you hadn't and see what
happens.

You might retest the memory with memtest86 and/or memtest86+
for several hours.

Try to isolate any commonalities, like whether you were
heavily using (full load) the system, or if it'd sat idle
and the power management timer had reached some threshold.
Check temps, voltage, that fans are spinning. Check cables
and wires and screws, etc. Had anything changed just prior
to onset of this problem (hardware, software or bios)?
 
Teffy said:
My trusty dell dimension 4100 has recently been restarting without a
blue screen of death or any other warning. So, I used my dell
diagnostics diskette which boots to DOS. The RAM test failed at address
000004E0.

I have two RAM sticks, so I swapped them and ran the diagnostics again.
The RAM test failed again at the same address!

What conclusions can be drawn from this?

Thanks,
Teffy
Click to expand...
Probably that the problem is on the motherboard.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I disabled restart-on-error and I'll watch the system event log. I
just made my memtest86+ floppy.

I haven't yet noticed a pattern with system load. Prior to the onset
of the problem, I installed yahoo desktop search, but have since
disabled it from starting. I also installed a PCI USB2 card and
drivers. I had trouble getting it to operate properly, and tried
installing different drivers. Then I somehow assigned the drivers for
the new card to the existing USB1 ports that came with the system. The
new card has been removed, and I let windows update choose drivers for
the built-in USB1, so I think (hope) that is all back to normal .

How can I tell if the problem is on the motherboard? I suppose there's
no simple answer to that question...

Teffy
 
Teffy said:
Thanks for the replies!

I disabled restart-on-error and I'll watch the system event log. I
just made my memtest86+ floppy.

I haven't yet noticed a pattern with system load. Prior to the onset
of the problem, I installed yahoo desktop search, but have since
disabled it from starting. I also installed a PCI USB2 card and
drivers. I had trouble getting it to operate properly, and tried
installing different drivers. Then I somehow assigned the drivers for
the new card to the existing USB1 ports that came with the system. The
new card has been removed, and I let windows update choose drivers for
the built-in USB1, so I think (hope) that is all back to normal .

How can I tell if the problem is on the motherboard? I suppose there's
no simple answer to that question...

Teffy
Click to expand...

Test both DIMMs *individually* in *both* sockets. If the failures occur if
only a specific socket is populated (using either stick), voila.


Stew
 
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