Dell XPS 435mt Shows odd Memory and proc configuration

TVeblen said:

I see you mentioned switching processors. That can cause problems.
Try doing a ClearCMOS procedure. (CLRTC is the same thing) It should be in you Dell manual. But for many motherboards it involves moving a jumper:

• Note all your current BIOS settings
• Shut down the computer > remove the power cord.
• Remove the 3v battery.
• Move the CLRTC jumper from pins 1-2 to 2-3.
• Touch a metal part of the case and Press and Hold the reset button for approx. 30 seconds to discharge all power from the board.
• Put the CLRTC jumper back on pins 1-2.
• Replace the 3v battery > replace the power cord > boot.
• Immediately go back into BIOS and reset all your preferred settings. If the CLRTC worked you will need to reset the date and time.

I have done this with everything I have changed. Really an odd issue. The MRI bootable CD independantly *sp* checks the hardware and I have had it show me bad memory, bad Proscessor, bad hard drives on all sorts of machines including i7's and AMD 8cores.

It shows this system hardware as Completely Healthy. Could Windows really be the Issue?

I am going to boot up Mint and see what the system says then. I have been waiting for the latest edition to download so I know it's compatable with an i7.

TVeblen said:

Here is what I might try myself if I were convinced it might be a windows issue:

I would remove my current OS hard drive and install a blank hard drive. Then I would perform a ClearCMOS on the system, Reset the BIOS DEfaults, make only the absolute minimum BIOS settings changes needed (AHCI Mode, Boot from DVD), and then install W7 fresh. If it is still reporting hardware wrong then you can be assured it is not the OS. Reinstall the old hard drive and you are back to square one.

If you don't have a spare hard drive then an alternative would be to make a disk image of your current C: drive and System Partition (if you have one), and the format (just the) C: drive and do the fresh install.

I actually did that right before I read this lol. and guess what?
Fresh install on an 80gb tosser drive shows............wait for it...........8 CORES!.... mem is off but it shows 1 2gb is missing and that could be my mem stick.

TVeblen said:

Excellent!

To test the memory do this:
Download Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool , the bootable CD (ISO) or the USB stick. And boot that to run.

The best way to test for a bad stick is to install one stick in slot A1 and then run Memtest overnight (or at least 3 passes - about 4 hours). Do each stick one at a time till you find the bad stick(s). Discard these.

If all sticks test OK then you could have a bad slot. (Hope for the bad stick!) To test for the bad slot you install one (now known good) stick at a time in each slot (Slot A1 & B1, then A1, B1, C1, etc.) until you hit the bad slot - the known good stick starts throwing up errors.

This is not fun, but it is a thorough test.

While I admit this is thorough and expansive I ran MRI once again and it shows the 2GB stick in slot b2 as failing. I inserted the original 6GB factory memory (6 1GB sticks) and it shows 6gb 4.97 usable. I will root out the bad stick next and if needed I will use the memtest cd. I think I still have one in my case from last week.

Have you ever had any luck running memteset from a usb? I havent as of yet but I dont know what I might be doing wrong.

But I digress.

Point now is that with the new Mobo(yes the old one eventually failed a stress test AND Windows nailed down as an accomplice I am breathing a sigh of relief. Thanks to all that offered help and Thank you TVeblen.

I'm a bit confused here. The Studio XPS 435MT is an X58 system, LGA 1366.

You didn't put an I5 CPU into it because there are no I5 Socket 1366 CPUs. The Socket 1156 and 1155 I5s wouldn't fit. The only desktop CPUs for 1366 that I know of are I7-9xx, which are 4 cores with hyperthreading (windows shows 8 cores) or 6 core (12 shown).

So: what did you really do?

bobkn said:

I'm a bit confused here. The Studio XPS 435MT is an X58 system, LGA 1366.

You didn't put an I5 CPU into it because there are no I5 Socket 1366 CPUs. The Socket 1156 and 1155 I5s wouldn't fit. The only desktop CPUs for 1366 that I know of are I7-9xx, which are 4 cores with hyperthreading (windows shows 8 cores) or 6 core (12 shown).

So: what did you really do?

You are correct and this is a mistake of labeling on my part. I have dozens of test cpu's and I had i5 on the capsule this proc was in. after you mentioned this I looked closer it is indeed Not an i5 but a Xeon 5600 Dual core. My bad and I appologize.
the results are the same.
have a good day

mohavepc said:

bobkn said:

I'm a bit confused here. The Studio XPS 435MT is an X58 system, LGA 1366.

You didn't put an I5 CPU into it because there are no I5 Socket 1366 CPUs. The Socket 1156 and 1155 I5s wouldn't fit. The only desktop CPUs for 1366 that I know of are I7-9xx, which are 4 cores with hyperthreading (windows shows 8 cores) or 6 core (12 shown).

So: what did you really do?

You are correct and this is a mistake of labeling on my part. I have dozens of test cpu's and I had i5 on the capsule this proc was in. after you mentioned this I looked closer it is indeed Not an i5 but a Xeon 5600 Dual core. My bad and I appologize.
the results are the same.
have a good day

No need for an apology. Thanks for the clarification.

I mentioned "desktop" CPUs because I know nothing about Xeons. I've only glanced at the specs for the 8 core versions, and they're all too expensive for me.