older PC produces corrupt files

[Chris Wenger]

Hello!

I had to re-install Windows 2000 on my PC. Now I've come across a
strange problem. When I download large files (current example: Win2k
Service Pack 3 with 125 MB) they are always corrupted. I have
downloaded that service pack 5 times. I have 5 files now, all of equal
size and all are corrupted. I've tried to compare the files and found
out some facts about the corruption:
..) it is not spread across the whole file
..) the corrupted bytes are usually grouped together
..) there are only a few bytes corrupted, about 100 bytes or less
..) there seems to be a pattern in the corruption

Here is an excerpt from the comparison of two files:
W2Ksp3-1.exe and W2KSP3-2.EXE
02544802: EB AB
02544812: DF 5F
02544822: BE 3E
02544832: C2 82
02544842: A3 23
0254485A: D9 59
0254486A: E8 A8
....

I have a P3-500, Asus P3B-F, 512 MB, 60 GB + 20 GB HDs, AVM Fritz Card
PCI ISDN, Dlink DFE-530TX network card, Hercules 3D Prophet II with
Nvidia GForce2MX. This system has been running w/o problems for years.

Has anyone ever seen something similar? Which hardware problem could
cause such corruption?

TIA for any help, Chris

 

[Chris Wenger]

A guess would be failing memory. Your modem and hard drive should be
able to detect the errors and retry or complain with an error message.
Most memory these days is the non-ECC variety and do not check for
errors. Download and run memtest86 for a few hours.

That's a good point, it is non-ecc memory indeed. Next I will check
all connectors and also remove the memory sticks to clean them. I'll
also give memtest a try.

There is a possibility of overheating - may be lots of dust build-up in
an old computer.

I clean it periodically, last time when I had to remove a defective
harddisk. I will still check the memory slots though.

Thanks for the advice!

Chris

 

[Stacey]

Hello!

I had to re-install Windows 2000 on my PC. Now I've come across a
strange problem. When I download large files (current example: Win2k
Service Pack 3 with 125 MB) they are always corrupted.

Has anyone ever seen something similar? Which hardware problem could
cause such corruption?

I had a bad HD that "seemed" OK but would corrupt files..

 

[Strontium]

For me, it was some wierdness between my NIC and soundcard. Switched PCI
slots, problem dissolved. Not that NT5.x uses IRQ's, anyway... I've, also,
had a HDD that seemed bad, turned out to be the motherboard DIMM's. Too
many variables. Use Sherlock Holme's method, and deduce.


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Stacey stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:

 

[Chris Wenger]

I had a bad HD that "seemed" OK but would corrupt files..

I suspected the IDE cables to be the culprit but I have located the
problem now. Memtest86 (free at http://www.memtest86.com) clearly
proves that one of my three RAM modules is defective. I will replace
it and see if that solves my problem.

Thanks all for your assistance!

Chris

 

[Strontium]

Software memory tests, generally, are crap. Unless you slap those modules
on an actual tester, don't put much stock in that program.

-
Chris Wenger stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:

 

[Strontium]

No. The point I was 'trying' to make is: unless you slap those modules into
a DIMM tester (Physical), nothing means nothing. Software tests mean squat.

Learn it, live it, love it. It's how it is.

-
jaster stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:

 

[Roger]

An advantage of memtest86 over the DIMM tester is the memory is being
tested in the physical environment it is being used in. Memory which
fails in one motherboard may run fine in another (possibly at a lower
speed, possibly at the same speed). I presume most manufacturers have
and use DIMM testers, but new memory still occasionally fails. memtest86
has worked well for me, a DIMM tester may work better for you.

Roger

 

[Strontium]

The only problem with software testing is that if the module tests bad...how
do you know it's not the motherboard's DIMM(s)? The only real world answer
is to physically test the memory on an instrument built for that purpose.
OP is saying that their memory is bad. Well, unfortunately, it could very
well be the motherboard/and/or DIMMs. I've seen it happen, far too often.

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Roger stood up, at show-n-tell, and said: