Solved BSOD - Memory Management?

[Jeff1961]

I've experienced 3 or 4 BSOD's in the past two weeks. I have attached the required file.

I have not seen a pattern in my activity that might be related.

I wrote "Memory Management" in the subject line because that was what I saw at the top of the BSOD.
I did not notice if that was present during the previous BSOD's.


Thanks so much for your help.

 

[essenbe]

Hello, Jeff1961. I will try to help you with this. I looked at your last 5 dump files, 4 of them gave this

[COLOR=red]MEMORY_MANAGEMENT[/COLOR] (1a)
    # Any other values for parameter 1 must be individually examined.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000041790, A page table page has been corrupted. On a 64 bit OS, parameter 2
 contains the address of the PFN for the corrupted page table page.
 On a 32 bit OS, parameter 2 contains a pointer to the number of used
 PTEs, and parameter 3 contains the number of used PTEs.
Arg2: fffffa8005abd150
Arg3: 000000000000ffff
Arg4: 0000000000000000

Or this

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.
BugCheck 4E, {99, 26322c, 2, 26832b}
[COLOR=red]Probably caused by : memory_corruption[/COLOR] ( nt!MiBadShareCount+4c )
Followup: MachineOwner

I would suggest you run Memtest86+. Run it for 8 complete passes all at the same time. Please use these instructions.

Please Run Memtest86+

   Information

Please download from this site only http://www.memtest.org/ in the middle of the page are the Download links, you can download the ISO.zip or the Auto USB Flash Drive installer.zip

Extract the Zip file. If you chose the ISO image, burn it to a CD using Windows Disk Image Burner or any Image burner you may have. If you downloaded the Auto USB installer, extract it, insert your USB 2.0 Flash Drive and take note of the drive letter. Run the installer, select the Flash Drive Letter, check the format box and press next. It will install memtest86+ to a flash drive. You can use either V4.20 or V5.01. Boot from your selected media. If you use V5.01 it will tell you to press certain buttons at the start, please press no buttons. The test will begin on it's own and continue to run until you stop it. It needs to run for 8 complete passes or until you receive an error. If you receive an error, stop the test. Even 1 error is a fail. Each pass tests a different part of the ram and each of the 10 tests in each pass tests something different. It takes a minimum of 8 passes all run at the same time to completely test the ram, more passes are better. It is quite a long test and will take several hours depending on how much ram you have. Due to the time length it is best to run overnight. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask​

 

[Jeff1961]

I've attached a photo from right after the start of the process, and from several hours afterwards.
Please explain the results. I do not understand what this means.

Thank you.

 

[essenbe]

In Pass 2 you had 5120 Errors. You have bad Ram or Bad Motherboard. To see which, you need to keep track of which stick and which slot. Then run 1 stick at a time in each Dimm Slot, then do the same with the other sticks. If you see an error, stop the test. If a stick of ram is bad, it will fail in every slot. If the sticks of ram pass in all but 1 slot, then you have a bad Motherboard Dimm Slot. The odds are that the ram is bad, but it is possible the Motherboard is bad. I have been where you are and know what a pain it is. I have also had a few times where it was the motherboard and not the ram.

 

[Jeff1961]

Thanks. I will run the memtest program with the sticks in each dimm until I isolate the problem.
To confirm...as soon as I see a "fail"...then I can stop memtest? There is no need to continue for hours if I see a fail?

 

[essenbe]

Correct. Even 1 error is a fail. You are lucky. I noticed your first screenshot is 5 minutes. At least that one won't take long. The good sticks will though. But when you see an error, stop the test. But, running a 4 GB stick will be much faster that the 16 GB. 16 GB takes about 20 hours to run 8 passes.

 

[Jeff1961]

Correct. Even 1 error is a fail. You are lucky. I noticed your first screenshot is 5 minutes. At least that one won't take long. The good sticks will though. But when you see an error, stop the test. But, running a 4 GB stick will be much faster that the 16 GB. 16 GB takes about 20 hours to run 8 passes.

So I guess we cannot determine which dimm the software started testing first? There's no logical approach it takes?
And if I pull out 3 and leave one in...do I need to check my mobo manual to insert it in one particular dimm? I guess it doesn't matter as i'm not running the os, just the software?
Okay...sounds simple enough...just tedious. Thanks for your help.

 

[essenbe]

Trust me, I know what you are saying about tedious. The test should run with 1 Stick in any slot. There is no logic behind which stick is bad or what order it checks the sticks in. This is the only way I know of to do it. On the brighter side, you ram has a lifetime warranty, so you shouldn't have any problem getting it replaced free, except for shipping. I would request to send in all 4 sticks and receive a kit in return. A kit has been tested to all work together, where individual sticks are not. I would also request an advanced replacement. You have to give them a credit card number, but it is not charged as long as the bad ram is returned within the time limit. That protects them, and also keeps you from being without a computer for a few weeks.

 

[Jeff1961]

I started testing yesterday, and stopped short of completing everything to see what you think about the results so far.

I tested each stick of RAM in the same slot...about 1.5 hours each. No errors.

I tested one stick of RAM for 5 minutes in each of the other three slots. No errors. (i thought that might reveal if the mobo slot was the problem seeing I got errors so quickly the first time)

I had no more time to test for the day so decided to put all four back in the same slots they were in, and run a test all night. No errors. (see attached screenshot)

So i'm a bit surprised that I was unable to reproduce the errors I got the first time I had all four sticks in.
I did notice when I began the tests yesterday, that the tops of the sticks of RAM were not all flush at the top...as if one or more was not seated properly. I did not think much of it at the time because I knew I had a problem before with the RAM not being fully inserted and had resolved that issue. But i'm thinking now I am being too cautious with how hard I push them in. There's a lot of flex as I push.
So I pushed a little bit harder when reinserting them all last night. They are all flush at the top, and i'm certain they are in properly...and wondering if I should just pause the testing for a week or so and see if I get another BSOD.

What do you think?

There was one other thing that happened that might be worth mentioning as well. When I began testing yesterday I received a bios request before the memory software booted up. The message was something about being unable to start because of overclocking...and gave me the option to (F1) go in to the bios settings or (F2) use the defaults. I chose F2.
I realize that unlike the first time, I only had one stick of ram in, instead of all four...but perhaps this bios setting change is why I got no errors during my second test with all four sticks in at once.

If either of these are related to the BSOD's...I would think it more likely to be that one of the sticks was not seated properly in the mobo.

 

[essenbe]

Jeff1961, sure you can try it and see if you have any more BSODs. But, as I stated before, if you run memtest86+ for less than 8 passes, it is not fully tested. Memory can be pretty difficult. No test is 100% accurate, but the test I asked you to run is the best test we have. I don't recall it ever showing errors where there were none, but it can pass ram that is bad occasionally. If the ram was not fully seated or locked into place, that could cause an error. If you continue to have BSODs, you are going to have to spend the time and run the tests right. 8 complete passes or an error, whichever happens first. With 16 GB of ram, 8 passes will take about 20 hours to run, and they all have to be run in one test. I know what an aggravation that is, but there is no way around it. I can't tell you how many times I have been through it and if there was a short cut, trust me, I would be using it.

 

[Jeff1961]

Jeff1961, sure you can try it and see if you have any more BSODs. But, as I stated before, if you run memtest86+ for less than 8 passes, it is not fully tested. Memory can be pretty difficult. No test is 100% accurate, but the test I asked you to run is the best test we have. I don't recall it ever showing errors where there were none, but it can pass ram that is bad occasionally. If the ram was not fully seated or locked into place, that could cause an error. If you continue to have BSODs, you are going to have to spend the time and run the tests right. 8 complete passes or an error, whichever happens first. With 16 GB of ram, 8 passes will take about 20 hours to run, and they all have to be run in one test. I know what an aggravation that is, but there is no way around it. I can't tell you how many times I have been through it and if there was a short cut, trust me, I would be using it.

Okay. I hear ya.

Can we clarify the definition of "8 passes" though please.
Do you mean the part in the middle-right box of the memtest interface that shows "2" for the number of passes in my last screenshot? The box that also shows ram, timings and errors in it.
If that's true...then I screwed up my initial tests as I thought it only needed to do one of those. Which are 1.5 hours to do for one stick in one slot. That would be 12 hours per stick, per slot. That's going to add up to a lot more than 20 hours to test all four sticks independently in all 4 slots.

 

[essenbe]

Yes, it states 'Passes' that has to be 8. But, the time it takes depends on how much ram you have installed. 16 GB takes about 20 hours, depending on your machine. 8 GB takes about 9-10 Hours for 8 passes. So, I would imagine that 4 GB would take 4-5 hours for 8 passes. Each pass consists of 10 tests. Each pass tests something different and each test runs a different test. So, you are not running 1 test 8 times, you are running 8 different tests with 8 passes. So, 8 passes is the minimum number of passes to run in order to completely test the ram, more is better. However, while running the 8 passes, if you get an error, you can stop the test right then. It has failed, so no need to run the 8 passes. I hope that explains it better.

 

[Jeff1961]

Ya...that's a better explanation, but I don't know where you get the overall time of 20 hours. I think you are saying 20 hours for each stick. (and that's just on one mobo slot)
My time is more valuable than the cost of replacement ram. I doubt I will continue with this. Thanks for your help though.

 

[essenbe]

That is not what I am saying. It is not 20 hours for each stick, it is 20 hours for 16 GB (4 sticks in your case). If you are running 1 stick, the time will be much less. I know that with 16 GB it takes me roughly 20 Hours to run 8 passes. With 8 GB it takes me roughly 9.5-10 hours. So if you were running with 1 4 GB stick, I would imagine you are looking at 4.5 - 5 hours.

As far as just replacing the ram, you can do that too, if you prefer. But, I would duplicate the issue and make sure before I spent money. You could also try using it the way it is right now and see if you still have the BSODs. It could have been caused by the ram not being completely seated.

 

[Jeff1961]

No more problems, so I think it is safe to assume it was due to the RAM not being seated all the way in to the mobo.
Thanks for you help.

 

[essenbe]

You are more than welcome for whatever help I gave. I hope it continues to work well for you. Thanks for the Rep too. That was very thoughtful of you.