memtest86-3.2 [722 errors found]

[jonnny]

Ive been having problems with my new built PC and there's been a thread up for few days on another part of this forum, which someone suggested I run memtest to test my ram(2x 1GB XMS3500LL PRO)

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/A8N32-Sli-Deluxe-problems-long-story-ftopict176098.html

Ive just ran a memtest scan, and its found 722 errors, the screenshot is below..

http://www.jony.co.uk/memtest.JPG [apologys about quality]

Test 0 = no errors
Test 1 = no errors
Test 2 = no errors
Test 3 = no errors
Test 4 = 2 errors
Test 5 = no errors
Test 6 = 720 errors
Test 7 = no errors
Test 8 = no errors
Test 9 = no errors

As the screenshot shows, its got "Pass 68%" at the top, and its got in the middle "Unexpected Interrupt", so I dont know weither this means it stoped at test 6.. or whatever, Ive never used memtest before so I dont know what any of this means


Does anyone know what I should do next, are these error's a big deal? I supose every error is a big deal, but how bad?

Any support is apreciated,

thanks :roll:

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Well, as memtest86 found errors, then it is clearly suggesting that there is a problem with 1 or both of the modules. Any problems with memory is enough to make your system unstable.

As these modules come as a matched pair, I would suggest you RMA both modules.

 

[jonnny]

what does RMA mean?

Here's what Ive just done:

I took out the ram from my other computer, which is 512mb pc3200 ddr 400mhz - changed it with the XMS modules(s), and it didnt make the slight bit of diference, the computer went into its normall state... which is a circle of rebooting... and if i left it all day, it would prob stay in the circle and reboot untill my power in my house runs out! (I also put my XMS into my old computer & it booted windows 100% normally!) - so this might sugest the ram is working fine? - or the ram doesnt like the Asus A832N-Sli Deluxe? (however this is the ram recommended you use for performance - which says so on the box?)

I also took out my x1900xt... I was just curios for some reason, obviously since its a Asus board, it doesnt have onboard graphics - I had nothing else to plug it into, so the monitor was dead. however - i waited for about 2mins, and it rebooted itself lol? reason I know this is 1: I heart the beep, 2: the ram lights went off and back on again(which it allways does when it reboots).

Could it be possible that its something to do with the MBR or any other startup file? The reason Im saying this is because it restarts itself at the EXACT same spot each time which is right after the POST, and right before the GUI "windows xp" loading screen apears.


My next step is puting the XMS's back into my older computer & running memtest on that.

 

[Covered_in_bees]

I didn't realise that you had a 2nd pc and other memory

It would be worth running memtest86 on the other memory with your A8N32-Sli board, and also on the Corsair TwinX 3500LL Pro memory on your spare computer. That should certainly tell you if the memory is ok or not.

btw, I have the A8N32-SLi board with the Corsair TwinX 3500LL Pro memory also, and don't have any problems. Note that in order to have the memory running in dual mode, both modules need to be in the same colour slot (both blue or both black). Also, this memory should only be fitted this way (as mentioned in the manual).

If the memory is a problem, then you should return it and get it replaced.

If it's not the memory, then repost and hopefully we can give you some other ideas of things to check.

In the meantime, I'll read the other thread you posted (could take some time) and see if I can think of any other suggestions.

This tends to be a process of elimination really, so if we can eliminate the memory as a problem, then we have less things to check I do think the problem is more than just bad memory though, but best to check.

Have you changed anything in BIOS at all, or are you using the default settings ?

 

[jonnny]

Have you changed anything in BIOS at all, or are you using the default settings ?

I have changed things in the bios yeah - I went to corsair support & it said to change some settings... some I couldnt find, but those I could.. I changed however it didnt make the slight bit of diference, I even got an error about 30mins after saying "Overclock Failed" - had to put them back to default, but right now they are back at default, I did notice the new bios version changed a few things.

I didn't realise that you had a 2nd pc and other memory

I'd have to, how could I post on here?

I took out all of my neon lights & CDRW+DVDRW from the power yesterday, because I thouht it could be lack of power thats causing it(500w Jeantech PSU), however this didnt solve anything. As I said in a prevous post, took out my graphics card... system still rebooted itself, changed ram, system still rebooted itself.


Right now im not in my house, but just before I left the memtest was runnin on my old pc + the XMS ram, it was on test 6, with 92% completed with no errors at all! (and by this stage on the other one it was into the 600's) When I go home(quite late tonight) Im going to do what you sugested... run the memtest on my new computer with the old ram.

To me.. this doesnt make sense, if someone came and told me they had this problem I'd be speachless - its just weird, when the PC boots up onto desktop(once every 20/30 trys) - I can run games and everything is fine... I dont have any problems(well not any major problems).

Thinking comon sense.... because it reboots right after POST, and right before GUI loading windows screen.. it would sugest its the boot files but It doesnt sound like corrupted boot files, because if it were then it wouldnt load windows AT ALL... so this 'once in 20/30 trys' thing... is really confusing! The weird thing also is.. when I change something, example: take out a memory module, unplug my mouse, the odds of windows booting into desktop is better, maybe one in every 5, when a change is made, it seems to help windows to load up.

The only 2 things I can think of now is.. hard drive is damaged somehow...(if it was, why does windows load once in awhile?), or motherboard is damaged in some way... (same as above..)

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Well, if the memtest86 is successful on the other pc, then it sounds like the memory should be ok.

If that is the case, then I can only think that there is a problem with either the motherboard or the power supply. These are the only other components I can think of that would cause memtest86 to error.

I'm not familiar with that brand of psu. If you could check the voltages in BIOS (Hardware Monitor), that may help to identify if the voltages being supplied are correct (although a tester kit is the only sure way).

Not sure what else I can suggest really.

 

[jonnny]

I bought the PSU from PCWorld & I hadnt heard of that brand before either, My old PSU(480w) doesnt have a 6pin PCI-E plug, so obviously I needed one of those. My current HDD isnt new, it had files on it in my other computer, however I gave it a FULL format before I installed windows, however I only noticed last night that it was set as master, when it was actually on slave on the IDE cable, and it had been like this even while installing windows I guess

 

[jonnny]

Tested the ram on my other PC & ran memtest, no errors whatsoever...

so we can rule the memory modules out.


how do i 'reset' the bios? ive read the manual but i dont see anything saying how to, someone on irc sugested i reset the bios.


anyone know how to do this?

 

[Covered_in_bees]

As I think you can still get into BIOS, then on the last menu page, there is an option to 'Load Setup Defaults'.

Once all the default BIOS options have been loaded, it would also be useful to set all the onboard devices to 'disabled' (these can be found in Advanced Options -> Onboard Devices).

Regarding the 6-pin connector for the graphics card, were you not supplied a cable adapter with this pin with the card ? Basically has 2 x 4-pin molex connectors feeding the 6-pin PCI-E connector. If not, then it may be useful if you could buy/borrow one so we can test the mobo with the other psu.

Could you also post the voltages that are shown in the Hardware Monitor so we can check they are within tolerance.

I think that, if we can eliminate the psu, and memtest is still failing the memory, then it must be the motherboard (can't think what else it could be really).

 

[jonnny]

Regarding the 6-pin connector for the graphics card, were you not supplied a cable adapter with this pin with the card ? Basically has 2 x 4-pin molex connectors feeding the 6-pin PCI-E connector. If not, then it may be useful if you could buy/borrow one so we can test the mobo with the other psu.

Nope, this wouldnt matter anyway as my old psu is a 20pin connecter, and the mobo is a 24pin connecter.

What Ive just done is.. I turned on my pc this morning, and left it running for 4hours, when i got home.. it was STILL in the rebooting circle, so what I did was took out 1 stick of ram(so ive only got 1 gig of ram in now), and turned it on, it was rebooting itself again, however eventully.. it came round and when i came back 20minutes later, it was on desktop.

Im very close to giving up, spending all this time on it.. about 4days constantly(other than sleeping). spending all this money on this new computer... im starting to think.. why did I bother!

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Firstly, don't give up yet Once you get it up and running, I'm sure you will be happy with the performance.

Next, it is possible to power that mobo with a 20-pin ATX connection (I've done it before I got my new PSU). If the other PSU has less power, just make sure to only connect the basic components (also make sure it has enough power to support the basic components before trying it).

If we can eliminate the PSU as the problem, then I think we can safely return the motherboard and ask for a replacement.

btw - I'm assuming here that you have reset the BIOS back to the default settings, all power connections are correct, and that you have WinXP installed.

You may even consider trying to replace the motherboard without checking the PSU first if the voltages in BIOS are reporting correctly (need to be within +/- 10%). I'm starting to think that this is the most likely source of your problem.

If you do replace the motherboard, in theory it shouldn't be necessary to reinstall WinXP

 

[DragonDoc]

Regarding the 6-pin connector for the graphics card, were you not supplied a cable adapter with this pin with the card ? Basically has 2 x 4-pin molex connectors feeding the 6-pin PCI-E connector. If not, then it may be useful if you could buy/borrow one so we can test the mobo with the other psu.

Nope, this wouldnt matter anyway as my old psu is a 20pin connecter, and the mobo is a 24pin connecter.

What Ive just done is.. I turned on my pc this morning, and left it running for 4hours, when i got home.. it was STILL in the rebooting circle, so what I did was took out 1 stick of ram(so ive only got 1 gig of ram in now), and turned it on, it was rebooting itself again, however eventully.. it came round and when i came back 20minutes later, it was on desktop.

Im very close to giving up, spending all this time on it.. about 4days constantly(other than sleeping). spending all this money on this new computer... im starting to think.. why did I bother!

Your problem should be the motherboard. I would return the motherboard and then see. Aslo, are you trying to boot to a hard drive that has a previous intall (from another computer) or are you trying to install windows the first time on the drives? :?:

 

[jonnny]

Aslo, are you trying to boot to a hard drive that has a previous intall (from another computer) or are you trying to install windows the first time on the drives? :?:

It is a clean install of XP(FULL format & installed xp) the drive Im using was a storage drive, not a windows drive on a previous computer(if you know wot i mean)


I am on the computer right now... its running absolutly fine, im having no problems whatsoever. Its just when I reboot... and the quesiton is.. will it reboot back to desktop or switch onto this 'circle' or rebooting itself, I cant even get into safemode with it. Its mental! never seen a problem like this before, unless it was corrupted boot files.. but if that was the case, I wouldnt be able to get into windows at all!!

my old PSU is a 480w antec blue led, it is only 20pin, you say I could try this on the 24pin mobo? are you 100% sure I wont damage anything?

 

[Covered_in_bees]

my old PSU is a 480w antec blue led, it is only 20pin, you say I could try this on the 24pin mobo? are you 100% sure I wont damage anything?

This is spooky - that was the same PSU I had before I got the Tagan 580W (needed for SLi).

Yes, I ran the A8N32-Sli Deluxe on 20pin ATX without problems. My system has FX55 CPU, same memory you have, XFX 7800GTX Extreme (slightly less power required than your card I believe), 4xWD740 hdd's, DVD-RW, X-Fi sound card, Wireless PCI adapter, and lots of fans. The Antec 480W handled it fine.

When fitting the 20pin connector into a 24pin slot, it can only go in 1 way, and it misses out the bottom 4 pins.

Edit:
Page 2-29 of the manual doesn't explicitly state that you can use a 20pin ATX connection, but on page 2-1, it states the following:
'Make sure to connect the EZPlug when using 2 PCI Express graphics cards and a 20-pin ATX power supply unit...'.

As I had already used a 20-pin ATX on my previous mobo (Abit A8N Fatal1ty - which is also 24-pin), and that manual gave specific instructions on how to do so, I was confident to do so.

 

[DragonDoc]

Aslo, are you trying to boot to a hard drive that has a previous intall (from another computer) or are you trying to install windows the first time on the drives? :?:

It is a clean install of XP(FULL format & installed xp) the drive Im using was a storage drive, not a windows drive on a previous computer(if you know wot i mean)


I am on the computer right now... its running absolutly fine, im having no problems whatsoever. Its just when I reboot... and the quesiton is.. will it reboot back to desktop or switch onto this 'circle' or rebooting itself, I cant even get into safemode with it. Its mental! never seen a problem like this before, unless it was corrupted boot files.. but if that was the case, I wouldnt be able to get into windows at all!!

my old PSU is a 480w antec blue led, it is only 20pin, you say I could try this on the 24pin mobo? are you 100% sure I wont damage anything?

I still think its your motherboard. It also might be the hard drive - it might have bad sectors. I had a simular problem like yours a couple of times. One was a bad motherboard and the other a hard drive going bad.

 

[Covered_in_bees]

The reason we're tending towards the motherboard being the problem (rather than the hdd) is the fact that memtest86 is finding errors with the memory modules (which have been tested in another pc and appear to be fine). As memtest86 runs on boot from floppy, problems with the hdd shouldn't affect the results.

One positive thing though: we've found someone who's had the same problem, and that was caused by the motherboard

I sense we're getting close to finding the problem...

 

[Gojuro1949]

I had the same problem with a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (P4) motherboard, using a matched set of expensive Muskin memory. Hard time getting WinXp to install, and when it finally did, the rebooting, crashing etc. Memtest 86 results similar to yours. Rma'ed the m-board, same problem.

Mushkin advised to up the voltage to the ram by small increments and retry the Memtest on each stick separately. One stick ran with a .1 volt boost (in bios) with no errors. The other took .2v and also ran with no errors. I installed both and ran at .2 over normal, with fingers crossed, for 24 hours no errors (boosting voltage can shorten ram life). Computer still going after a year.

 

[jonnny]

Ok here's what I just did, I did what you said bees, I put my antec 380 PSU on my desk, connected the 20pin, 4 pin, took out the graphics card(cos it doesnt have a 6pin PCIE plug), also obviously pluged in my HDD, and then connected the power cable to the psu.. turned it on, the pc actually loaded windows & then i pressed the reset buton(just to make sure its not one of them 'lucky' loads), and then pc went back into the rebooting circle again(i let it reboot itself 3 times before i decided the PSU was fine), i know this because of the ram lights... ive looked at them enough to know when the pc reboots.. and of course the BEEP by the motherboard(it also beeped few times cos there was no gfx card inserted).

So the PSU is fine it seems.. I emailed the company I bought these parts from just to let them know about it and ask weither I send the motherboard back to them... or Asus. I might give them a phone tomorrow morning just for quickness.

I am very gutted because the only thing left is the hard drive, but the first day I booted the pc up(lucky boot), i got it the way I wanted it, spent 6hours installing stuff, games, configuring windows, tweaking... and Id rather not format it unless its 100% needed. Im trying to find another hard drive to put in and see if that works, however the only hard drive i have at the moment is my old 8GB Xbox hard drive which I tryed but the pc cannot read it aparently... so I will try and get a hard drive from a friend tomorrow.

>>> EDIT <<<
I will try up the voltage on the ram, can anyone advise me on what im looking for in the bios... is it as simple as "memory voltage" ? and i up it in small bits..?

I did notice in memtest that the "chipset" is blank when i run memtest on my new pc, however on my old pc the chipset is displayed and on every screenshot Ive seen of memtest the chipset is allways displayed... strange?

Also I noticed on my new pc the test only tested upto test 6, i tryed to run test 7 manually by the config menu but it said chipset not supported.

 

[Mobius]

It doesn't matter how long you test a stick of RAM for - if Memtest86 (And I presume you are using the bootable Floppy version - because the windows version can NOT test all the RAM!) detects ANY errors at SPD selected timings, then that stick is hosed, and needs to be replaced.

 

[jonnny]

It doesn't matter how long you test a stick of RAM for - if Memtest86 (And I presume you are using the bootable Floppy version - because the windows version can NOT test all the RAM!) detects ANY errors at SPD selected timings, then that stick is hosed, and needs to be replaced.

the bootable CD version, I dont have a floppy drive.

I tested the same ram in 2 computers,

new pc + good ram = 720 errors
new pc + old ram = 626(ish) errors

old pc + new ram = 0 errors
old pc + old ram = 0 errors

so your saying the ram needs replacing still?

 

[Covered_in_bees]

No, you should not need to change the ram. The errors on the new pc are most likely being caused by a problem on the motherboard.

I would also strongly advise against changing any voltages in BIOS.

I think with all the testing you have done, it's clear that the problem lies with the motherboard, and you should try to get that replaced.

Let me know if you manage to get it replaced. In theory, you shouldn't have to reinstall WinXP, as you will be running with the same hardware.

 

[jonnny]

I just went and got another hard drive, so now im going to throw that in and install xp, and see what hapens from there..

will keep you guys updated

 

[jonnny]

Well windows XP wouldnt install because it kept giving me BSOD, so I guess the hard drive is ruled out now...

so its the motherboard I guess..

 

[DragonDoc]

Well windows XP wouldnt install because it kept giving me BSOD, so I guess the hard drive is ruled out now...

so its the motherboard I guess..

With all the time you spent on troubleshooting this - I am very positive it's your board. Change the board and you should see things work the way they should.

Please keep me posted - Thanks and good luck.

 

[jonnny]

going to phone the company in the morning & ask them what I should do, and if it is faulty.. then I guess I should get a replacment, fingers crossed !!