Memtest - Proper use of?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Louise
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Louise

I just doubled the memory on my Asus P4C800 E Deluxe board from one gig
to two gigs. The original configuration had one deed of Kingston value
RAM and I purchased the same RAM and put it in the other two slots.

My system has been acting a bit strangely, although nothing concrete
that I can point to. As a result, I decided to run memtest.

I've never used this program before and therefore I really don't know
what I'm doing. I made the floppy disk, rebooted and memtest started.
About 40 minutes later, the top line which says Pass, suddenly stopped
at 78% and the whole program was essentially frozen. The bottom lines
where there is a column for errors, had a zero and that gives me the
impression that there were none -- but then why did it stop before it
reached 100%? When is it supposed to stop and how?

How do I find out what this means.

TIA

Louise
 
Louise said:
I just doubled the memory on my Asus P4C800 E Deluxe board from one gig
to two gigs. The original configuration had one deed of Kingston value
RAM and I purchased the same RAM and put it in the other two slots.

My system has been acting a bit strangely, although nothing concrete
that I can point to. As a result, I decided to run memtest.

I've never used this program before and therefore I really don't know
what I'm doing. I made the floppy disk, rebooted and memtest started.
About 40 minutes later, the top line which says Pass, suddenly stopped
at 78% and the whole program was essentially frozen. The bottom lines
where there is a column for errors, had a zero and that gives me the
impression that there were none -- but then why did it stop before it
reached 100%? When is it supposed to stop and how?

How do I find out what this means.

TIA

Louise
Click to expand...

Sounds like your PC is acting a bit strangely - memtest86 will run
forever, if it sees any memory errors it will display one line per
error. Since you did not get any error lines, your problem may lie
elsewhere, maybe power supply or ???.

Rather obvious, you could go back to the original configuration and test
again. If that is solid, it points back to the memory. Personnaly, I
have never had much luck mixing different brands or types, but you say
you bought the same kind.

Roger
 
Sounds like your PC is acting a bit strangely - memtest86 will run
forever, if it sees any memory errors it will display one line per
error. Since you did not get any error lines, your problem may lie
elsewhere, maybe power supply or ???.

Rather obvious, you could go back to the original configuration and test
again. If that is solid, it points back to the memory. Personnaly, I
have never had much luck mixing different brands or types, but you say
you bought the same kind.

Roger
Click to expand...
Thanks -

I guess I'll just test it again and see if it hangs at the same place.
Perhaps there was some kind of blip in the power - that does happen in
this building.

This is the same ram with the same part number, Kingston Value PC 3200 -
two dimms 512 each - purchased in sealed containers from NewEgg. The
only thing I can imagine is that I think Kingston Value ram is actually
rebranded and comes from different manufacturers. Since the original
sticks are year old, perhaps these new ones are from a different
manufacturer - but they supposedly have the same specs.

Louise

\
 
when I ran memtest - I left it running whilst I went work... it had been
running for 11hrs and was still running!! I think it just changes the
config slightly each time it starts again

pull the new stick out and see what happens. Then if that's fine, remove
old, stick in new and test again. If both times are fine then it might be
down to the memory does not like each other (can happen even if it is the
same make and same type)... could be down to a very small chance im the
timings or the way they have designed the chips or something silly like
that...

maybe play about with the location of the ram in the slots... IE
if you have the ram sticks in slot 1 and 2.. try 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 2 and 4 -
if ya follow... dont do it to much - generally it should only need a couple
of moves if it is that...

Stephen Harding [SplanK]
*****************
Email: (e-mail address removed)
MSN Messenger: (e-mail address removed)
 
"Stephen Harding said:
when I ran memtest - I left it running whilst I went work... it had been
running for 11hrs and was still running!! I think it just changes the
config slightly each time it starts again

pull the new stick out and see what happens. Then if that's fine, remove
old, stick in new and test again. If both times are fine then it might be
down to the memory does not like each other (can happen even if it is the
same make and same type)... could be down to a very small chance im the
timings or the way they have designed the chips or something silly like
that...

maybe play about with the location of the ram in the slots... IE
if you have the ram sticks in slot 1 and 2.. try 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 2 and 4 -
if ya follow... dont do it to much - generally it should only need a couple
of moves if it is that...

Stephen Harding [SplanK]
*****************
Email: (e-mail address removed)
MSN Messenger: (e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

I ran memtest again and it hung again - this time at a different place.

So I pulled the new ram and ran memtest with the original ram that has
been in the machine for a little over a year, but I'd never tested it.

Well.....the old memory hung as well.

The old memory has been running fine (as far as I can tell), for a
little over a year - no crashes and no really odd behavior.

I know I could continue to fiddle with it, but I'm beginning to question
whether it's worth it. Maybe the memory doesn't like memtest? Maybe
the Asus board doesn't like memtest? I feel kind of silly worrying
about the results of a test when the machine works perfectly.

Is there another program similar to memtest that I might try?

Thoughts?

Louise
 
I know I could continue to fiddle with it, but I'm beginning to question
whether it's worth it. Maybe the memory doesn't like memtest? Maybe
the Asus board doesn't like memtest? I feel kind of silly worrying
about the results of a test when the machine works perfectly.

Is there another program similar to memtest that I might try?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Is the CPU/FSB overclocked?
What's the CPU temp?
Have you tried with *just* the NEW RAM ONLY?

You also mentioned that the system was apparently running fine. If this is
the case [stable - not crashing unexpectedly], then you are probably OK and
shouldn't be too concerned.

If, on the otherhand, you notice that it starts getting flaky then it would
indicate something is amiss [component(s) on the way out etc]. Possibly
try some other diagnostics that check for computational errors.
 
Kingston Value RAM is indeed rebandaged. I bought it once- 2 X 256 MB. One
stick was Samsung and one was Nanya. I couldn't even boot up the system. I
was fairly new to building my own computers at the time and ended up calling
Soyo (motherboard). I actually got to talk to a live person who, when told
what memory I had purchased, told me to "get that garbage out of my
motherboad". Replaced with Crucial, and no problems.

Fitz
 
Louise said:
This is the same ram with the same part number, Kingston Value PC 3200 -
two dimms 512 each - purchased in sealed containers from NewEgg. The
Click to expand...
only thing I can imagine is that I think Kingston Value ram is actually
rebranded and comes from different manufacturers.
Click to expand...

The only Kingston modules I've bought in the past two years were all PC
2100, and they all contained only unbranded (no marks or just size and
speed markings, i.e., 32M x 8 - 7) or second-grade chips (like Spectec
- Micron's brand for used/reject chips, or Elixir, Nanya's equivalent),
never prime chips with real chip makers' complete part numbers. Many
of those modules failed MemTest86 in at least one of my mobos, unless I
underclocked the memory bus speed, and in my experience if a module
fails either MemTest86 or Gold Memory (www.goldmemory.cz), then it will
eventually fail in real life use, provided that the rest of the
hardware is OK and no BIOS memory setting is too fast, except when
MemTest86 ver. 2.5 is used. Apparently it was buggy and could show
gross numbers of errors even with perfect memory.
 
Go into your bios and see what the machine reports the ddr volts at. I run a
pair of these kingston 512mb sticks in my nf7s v2 and the voltage has to be
2.7 for them to run stable. That is the voltage that is shown in the PC
Health status page of my bios and not necessarily the number by the setting
as they can differ depending on your power supply regulation. Make sure that
it is set to 2.7v and run memtest again.

For what it's worth I have been using memtest and memtest86+ for some years
now and use it as a rough-in guide for all my builds. I have found that the
majority of memory failures seem to show up quickly in test #5. I start the
machine and set the memtest to run test 5. If it is successful for at least
3 passes I run the full test. If it fails with many errors, I give the volts
a bump up and test again. Saves me a lot of time when I'm setting one up.
Pretty near every stick of ram I've seen doesn't mind a bit of a voltage
bump........

Regards, Bob "hopelessly insane machine warrior" Troll
 
Louise said:
I just doubled the memory on my Asus P4C800 E Deluxe board from one gig
to two gigs. The original configuration had one deed of Kingston value
RAM and I purchased the same RAM and put it in the other two slots.

My system has been acting a bit strangely, although nothing concrete
that I can point to. As a result, I decided to run memtest.

I've never used this program before and therefore I really don't know
what I'm doing. I made the floppy disk, rebooted and memtest started.
About 40 minutes later, the top line which says Pass, suddenly stopped
at 78% and the whole program was essentially frozen. The bottom lines
where there is a column for errors, had a zero and that gives me the
impression that there were none -- but then why did it stop before it
reached 100%? When is it supposed to stop and how?

How do I find out what this means.
Click to expand...


i've used memtest
and found that if there is some serious memory problem...
it will list the error early on in the test
however in other cases, memtest may run for 12 hours or more
with no errors, but by substituting ram...the problem goes away.

so basically memtest is merely one tool to use but by no means
definitive.
so the real test is merely to see if the machine runs ok
btw: sometimes instability can be corrected by slightly underclocking the
ram.
 
Louise said:
"Stephen Harding said:
when I ran memtest - I left it running whilst I went work... it had been
running for 11hrs and was still running!! I think it just changes the
config slightly each time it starts again

pull the new stick out and see what happens. Then if that's fine, remove
old, stick in new and test again. If both times are fine then it might be
down to the memory does not like each other (can happen even if it is the
same make and same type)... could be down to a very small chance im the
timings or the way they have designed the chips or something silly like
that...

maybe play about with the location of the ram in the slots... IE
if you have the ram sticks in slot 1 and 2.. try 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 2 and 4 -
if ya follow... dont do it to much - generally it should only need a couple
of moves if it is that...

Stephen Harding [SplanK]
*****************
Email: (e-mail address removed)
MSN Messenger: (e-mail address removed)
Louise wrote:

I just doubled the memory on my Asus P4C800 E Deluxe board from one gig
to two gigs. The original configuration had one deed of Kingston value
RAM and I purchased the same RAM and put it in the other two slots.

My system has been acting a bit strangely, although nothing concrete
that I can point to. As a result, I decided to run memtest.

I've never used this program before and therefore I really don't know
what I'm doing. I made the floppy disk, rebooted and memtest started.
About 40 minutes later, the top line which says Pass, suddenly stopped
at 78% and the whole program was essentially frozen. The bottom lines
where there is a column for errors, had a zero and that gives me the
impression that there were none -- but then why did it stop before it
reached 100%? When is it supposed to stop and how?

How do I find out what this means.

TIA

Louise

Sounds like your PC is acting a bit strangely - memtest86 will run
forever, if it sees any memory errors it will display one line per
error. Since you did not get any error lines, your problem may lie
elsewhere, maybe power supply or ???.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


I ran memtest again and it hung again - this time at a different place.

So I pulled the new ram and ran memtest with the original ram that has
been in the machine for a little over a year, but I'd never tested it.

Well.....the old memory hung as well.

The old memory has been running fine (as far as I can tell), for a
little over a year - no crashes and no really odd behavior.

I know I could continue to fiddle with it, but I'm beginning to question
whether it's worth it. Maybe the memory doesn't like memtest? Maybe
the Asus board doesn't like memtest? I feel kind of silly worrying
about the results of a test when the machine works perfectly.

Is there another program similar to memtest that I might try?

Thoughts?

Louise
Click to expand...

With the symptoms you are seeing, I don't think you have a memory
problem. Not all memory problems memtest reports reports are indeed
memory problems. They could be related to overheating, a bad CPU, bad
motherboard... Most memory problems are transient, they may be related
to specific data values or similar memory addresses.

The symptoms say your PC is having some sort of massive failure that
stops all processing. The general rule of debugging this kind of thing
is try the easiest and cheapest first. If you suspect local power
fluctuations, try moving to a different location. After that, start
replacing parts one at a time.

Good luck,

Roger
 
I ran memtest again and it hung again - this time at a different place.

So I pulled the new ram and ran memtest with the original ram that has
been in the machine for a little over a year, but I'd never tested it.

Well.....the old memory hung as well.
Click to expand...
I feel kind of silly worrying
about the results of a test when the machine works perfectly.
Click to expand...

It doesnt :)

There is something wrong with your machine. You may not encounter it much
during day to day use but there is something wrong.

Now you may decide its an acceptable risk to keep it like this.

Its very likely it will freeze when you are working with it one day.

Personally I wouldnt. If its hanging in different places it may be power
supply or cooling.

In normal use, how long is the machine switched on for?
Try just switching it on, going into Windows and just leaving it overnight.
Dont touch anything. Does it hang?
 
The old memory has been running fine (as far as I can tell), for a
little over a year - no crashes and no really odd behavior.
Click to expand...

It could be related to how long you have the PC on (more chance of
temperature or PSU problems showing up).

Prior to anymore testing I would also ensure you have the bios settings at
"Normal" (or equivalent) or Failsafe but double check CPU and memory speeds
are as expected during daily use. (Some failsafe modes may make these too
slow)
 
Louise:
The old memory has been running fine (as far as I can tell), for a
little over a year - no crashes and no really odd behavior.
Click to expand...

I once ran memtest on my machine just to see how it worked. It kept
hanging up after a few minutes even though my computer has never frozen or
crashed, not once in 3 years.

If you really want to test your system, run Prime95 in torture test mode.
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
Is there another program similar to memtest that I might try?
Click to expand...

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

I haven't tried the MS thing, I just found it the other day. If you try
it, let me know how it works.
 
Memtst (like all memory testers) has a problem in that some
memory locations are not in memory. For example, the NIC can
reserve a block of memory. Then when Memtst thinks it is
testing motherboard memory, instead, it is screwing with the
NIC. Video controller creates same complication.

Memory tester must understand and avoid these problems.
Therefore Memtst is constantly being upgraded. Memtst must be
constantly upgraded as these new 'landmines' are discovered.

Too many reasons why this test may do as you report. Too
many others have simply posted 'try this and try that'
speculations. Do you even know if other computer hardware is
good? Does you computer manufacturer provide comprehensive
diagnostics for free? It not, then you must download Memtst
and other diagnostics, one at a time, to verify your other
hardware.

However start by determining YOUR Memtst is the latest
version.

BTW heat is not a reason for failure. Heat is the
diagnostic tool we use to find defective hardware. Heat is
when diagnostics are most effective. If heat is a problem,
then don't cure the symptom - add more fans. Instead replace
the completely defective part that also will not operate, as
it should, in a 100 degree F room.
 
philo said:
i've used memtest and found that if there is some
serious memory problem...it will list the error early
on in the test however in other cases, memtest may run
for 12 hours or more with no errors, but by substituting
ram...the problem goes away.
Click to expand...
The problem of no errors goes away when you substitute other ram?
 
It doesnt :)

There is something wrong with your machine. You may not encounter it much
during day to day use but there is something wrong.

Now you may decide its an acceptable risk to keep it like this.

Its very likely it will freeze when you are working with it one day.

Personally I wouldnt. If its hanging in different places it may be power
supply or cooling.

In normal use, how long is the machine switched on for?
Try just switching it on, going into Windows and just leaving it overnight.
Dont touch anything. Does it hang?
Click to expand...
The machine is often on for 48 hours at a time - and no, it never hangs,
although sometimes it gets a bit "sluggish" and I reboot and it speeds
up again.

Temps reported by Lavasoft Everest are 29 motherboard, 51 cpu, 40 for
SATA hard drive.

Louise
 
Memtst (like all memory testers) has a problem in that some
memory locations are not in memory. For example, the NIC can
reserve a block of memory. Then when Memtst thinks it is
testing motherboard memory, instead, it is screwing with the
NIC. Video controller creates same complication.

Memory tester must understand and avoid these problems.
Therefore Memtst is constantly being upgraded. Memtst must be
constantly upgraded as these new 'landmines' are discovered.

Too many reasons why this test may do as you report. Too
many others have simply posted 'try this and try that'
speculations. Do you even know if other computer hardware is
good? Does you computer manufacturer provide comprehensive
diagnostics for free? It not, then you must download Memtst
and other diagnostics, one at a time, to verify your other
hardware.

However start by determining YOUR Memtst is the latest
version.

BTW heat is not a reason for failure. Heat is the
diagnostic tool we use to find defective hardware. Heat is
when diagnostics are most effective. If heat is a problem,
then don't cure the symptom - add more fans. Instead replace
the completely defective part that also will not operate, as
it should, in a 100 degree F room.
Click to expand...
My memtest is the most recent version 3.2 - I just downloaded it
yesterday.

Heat? After being on for over 24 hours: cpu 51, motherboard 29 and
SATA hard drive 40. Is the CPU too hot? I have a fan mate adjuster for
the cpu fan and I can raise the fan if need be.

Louise
 
Kingston Value RAM is indeed rebandaged. I bought it once- 2 X 256 MB. One
stick was Samsung and one was Nanya. I couldn't even boot up the system. I
was fairly new to building my own computers at the time and ended up calling
Soyo (motherboard). I actually got to talk to a live person who, when told
what memory I had purchased, told me to "get that garbage out of my
motherboad". Replaced with Crucial, and no problems.

Fitz
Click to expand...
I've been thinking about that - but - 2 gig is pretty expensive.

I will never ever buy it again when I get a new system.

Louise
 
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