What do errors in MEMTEST-86 mean?

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:39 am

I did an overnight memtest run (18+ hours...from bedtime until I got home from work) on a computer that's been bluescreening on us, and it got a crapload of errors.

Last night I ran a baseline for comparison on a nearly identical computer, and after 8 hours have no errors.

My next step is to transfer the RAM from the error giving computer into mine and run more tests, I suppose.

Could a problem processor generate Memtest errors? Also of concern is the cheapie power supply in that box, haven't gotten around to upgrading it yet.

Flatlander · Post by **Flatlander** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:25 am

Bad memory, cache or CPU. Put known good memory in and test again, if there are still errors it's the processor, if not then it was your memory.

Testiculese · Post by **Testiculese** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:22 am

Make sure the memory is compatible with the board? (Depends on board manufacturer if it's necessary to look..like Compaq or something)

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:08 am

Is your FSB overclocked?

If you have more than one stick in there, pull one of em and run memtest again.

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:12 am

yeah no overclock, and the mem is compatible. Same mem same mobo runs perfectly also in different system. It's like this other box has a slight curse on it tho

nothing seems to go right

Floyd · Post by **Floyd** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:14 am

also the board can be damaged, as it was the case with mine just now. that's why i replaced the board and don't seem to get errors anymore.

BAAL · Post by **BAAL** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:22 am

WA, possible the voltage for the ram is set incorrectly on it?

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:28 pm

dunno. It's possible, but doubtful. I'll compare settings between boxes to be sure. Thanks for the tip. I'm running 'one stick out' tests tonight.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:50 pm

I doubt voltage is the case, but it wouldn't hurt to check your levels for everything to be sure. As long as you're within around 5% of spec on your power supply, you should be cool.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:24 am

MEMTEST86 --- we are talking the command-line-boot-from-a-floppy version aren't we? Because the version which runs in windows isn't worth spit.

If you encounter a single error - then you have bad RAM and it needs replaced.

Often, you can function with a bad stick, and it'll only fail (and crash the PC with the "IRQ NOT EQUAL", or the classic "ERROR AT #xxxxxxxx" BSOD) during certain tasks, like a software install.

You *can* run like this - but it's not recommended.

Remember, a retailer will probably accept a bad stick back, even outside the warranty period. Give it a go anyway.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:46 am

Mobius wrote:If you encounter a single error - then you have bad RAM and it needs replaced.

Oh shut up already, if you encounter an error the first thing you try is check and make sure the ram is running in spec. Try relaxing the latency or upping the voltage and see if it fixes it before you run out getting new RAM. I had errors in my old BH5 RAM, all I did was boost it from 2.6 to 2.7v and the errors were gone.