Solved BSOD Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool stops at 88% complete

[Snugglebugs]

I have bought a new PC for my wife without OS. It is an Acer N2120G supplied only with FreeDOS on the HD. I have installed Win 7 Pro via a USB flash drive, using the Windows DVD/USB tool from the install DVD without any great difficulty.
Everything works but once she started using it she got crashes about once a day. I tried it myself and get the same problem. At present there isn't anything elaborate installed. Mainly it will be used for browsing and emails and a few of the built in card games. Having installed Win 7 Pro sp1 32bit, I wiped the FreeDOS partition so that is now unallocated empty space.

She had to stop using it so I could check it all. I got advice from the Win 7 Forum http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/359788-windows-memory-diagnostic-tool-stops-88-complete.html) so I started with simple checks like PW and SFC and they looked fine. I went back to the AMD website and their auto detect told me that I had all the up to date drivers.
Just to be safe, I updated all the drivers from the AMD automatic system. I was especially cautious about the graphics card as I know that can be very sensitive! But the crashes still occurred - maybe after 6 hours - maybe after 6 minutes

I set the PC to run the Memory Diagnostic from Administrative Tools. Just the standard shutdown and run option. it froze at 88% complete. After some hours I gave up and after a reboot, tried again - same freeze but at 21%. Then I tried the memtest86 having downloaded it for recording to a CD. That showed that the memory was OK in all respects.

I have worked my way through the Troubleshooting steps and something else I did made a great improvement. The PC then ran fine without BSOD for four days, but crashed again once the day after. That was about a week ago and some days it is OK and on others it just crashes after a while. Today I switched it on after a three day break and there were some updates to do. I left it unattended and when I looked again after an hour - lo and behold - BSOD again

The last suggestion in the Win 7 Forum was from Gregrocker who wrote "Can you confirm that there is no BSOD dump file being generated? Even if not, post back the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions - Windows 7 Forums exactly as specified so a fresh set of eyes can look over the problem. Ask the analysts to please see if they can spot the problem in the reports submitted even if absent a dump file."

I cannot find any minidump folder on the PC and there is no memory dump file. So I have followed the BSOD Posting Instructions to use DM Log Collector and the file generated is attached.

Hopefully someone can give me an answer from its contents

Tony

PS I had to restart the PC from BSOD to get the data - as I write this an hour later, it is still sitting there with an innocent look on its normal Desktop Screen :huh:

 

[essenbe]

Please make sure your computer is set for Small Memory Dumps http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html Then make sure there is a folder in C:/Windows named Minidump. If not, create one.

Also, check your Windows Updates and make sure there are no recommended or important updates left to run and in the left column look at view update history and see how many have failed.

When you ran memtest did you run this one for 8 complete passes?

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 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.

Also, Please open an elevated command prompt ( click start, type cmd in the search box, right click on the cmd entry and select run as administrator) in the black box that opens, copy/paste sfc /scannow. If you decide to type it, notice the space between the sfc and the /. It is a system file checker which will scan your system files and attempt to correct any missing or corrupt files. What we want are the results to say windows found no integrity violations. If it says files were found but could not be repaired, close the box, reboot and run it again, after opening the administrative command prompt. You may have to reboot and run it three times for it to repair all system files. If it can't repair them after 3 reboots, let us know.​

 

[Snugglebugs]

Answers to your suggestions.

1. I had configured the dump file settings to type 3 but without the restart box ticked. So I have now changed that.
2. There was no Minidump folder, so I have now created one.
3. I have run the SFC scan before, but have now run it again. The result is still "no integrity violations"
4. I already have the memtest 86+ CD but I only ran it about 3 times - I will run it again as you suggest and report back tomorrow.
5. Updates were all made. As I started from scratch there were some initial failures. As far as I could see they were all corrected in later update sessions. Hardly surprising as there are so very many since the OS was first issued! The last few failures were 3032622, 2310138, several security updates on 15th and 16th January which were all successful later the same day, 2538243 which was also successful later.

Tony
PS Probably not relevant but: The PC is 64bit capable but as I already had a 32bit install OS, that is how it is configured.

 

[essenbe]

Ok, fine. Please let me know what the results are. Just so you know. Please make sure your memtest disk was made from the link I provided. There is another test with the almost the exact same name, but the link I gave is a much better test. Also, I ask for 8 passes because each pass consists of 10 tests. Each pass tests a different thing and each test tests something different. It takes a minimum 8 passes to completely test the ram. So, it is not the same test 8 times. Each one is different.

 

[Snugglebugs]

Steve

I downloaded memtest86+ v5.01 a month ago from a link elsewhere on this forum. I have just downloaded it again from the link in your message and the resultant file has exactly the file name and size as the one I still have. The screenshots on their website are also exactly the same as I see on the monitor. I recorded the CD on this PC - NOT the PC with the problem by the way

So far I have run the CD four times and got four failures. I can't see that the test saves any logs, so I have photographed the result direct from the monitor screen and attach those for you.

I will continue running the test tomorrow and report again if you need the full 8.

Thanks
Tony

 

[essenbe]

If you have run it 4 times and have 4 failures, you are halfway home. That is your problem. You only need to determine if you have bad ram or bad Dimm slots on your Motherboard.

Take each stick of ram (remember which stick and which Dimm slot each time) run 1 stick at a time in each Dimm Slot. That will answer your question. If you have a bad stick of ram, it will fail in each Dimm Slot. If you have a bad Dimm Slot, it will pass in 3 slots but fail in the bad slot. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Snugglebugs]

Thanks Steve.

If I had only run the test today, then I would not have got the same positive result! The first pass failed after 12' 51". The second one is doing what happened when I first tried the test a month ago. That is, it is still running and showing OK after 2h 25'

Does that indicate anything in particular?

I will now have to contact Acer Support and get their approval to open the case and try the card and slot(s). Then I won't violate the warranty conditions! I suppose I could use the BIOS to disable the case switch, but I won't complicate things.

Tony

 

[essenbe]

Tony, I don't understand completely what you are saying. If both sticks are in and you got an error, stop the test. There is no reason to continue. You don't know which stick had the error, it doesn't tell you. I didn't know you were not allowed to open the case. If you are still under warranty, call Acer support and they should replace the ram.

 

[Snugglebugs]

Steve

Sorry if I didn't word it well

I can't actually make any physical checks until the manufacturer tells me how they want to deal with my complaint. So I have no idea yet what is inside the case.

By 'first' and 'second' I was referring to the two memtest86+ passes I tried today (before I read your message). I just wondered if the fact that the second pass ran without errors for so long meant anything useful to know?

Tony

 

[essenbe]

No, it didn't mean anything. Each pass checks something different and each test checks something different. The fact that the first pass fails means the ram or the dimm slots are defective. It is most likely it is the ram, but the Dimm slots are a possibility and them being defective is a possibility. If you are under warranty contact Acer. They will most likely just replace the ram. If that is what they do, it is fine. When the new ram is installed, just run Memtest86+ again for 8 passes. If it passes, you are OK.

 

[Snugglebugs]

Well after 4 weeks Acer have repaired my computer. The report states that they had to replace the mother board and reinstall the OS. Their final test states that the system recovered!
Unfortunately, that "recovery" meant that they reinstalled the original software which was just FreeDOS and totally useless! At least the commands worked this time.
Sadly they managed to leave some old data so that when I went to install Win 7 all over again, the install from DVD thought that I needed to repair and not install. So the opening menu did not include an Install option!
I think that the quickest way out of that is just to use Partition Wizard to wipe the HDD and format as NTFS ready to start the Win7 DVD from scratch.
It has been a very long and painful process so far and installing from scratch means even more hours getting hundreds of updates once the OS is in place. Luckily I never installed anything much in the way of programmes.
Tony

 

[essenbe]

There must be a windows installation on the drive for Windows to see one.

Try this and see if it helps you http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html
or
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
I would go for the clean install and get rid of all the Acer junk.

 

[Snugglebugs]

My memtest result indicated to me that either the card or the socket/interface was faulty. Eventually Acer accepted the screenshots as confirmation and agreed to make a repair at no expense to me.

They found that the card was OK but the motherboard was not! So replaced it completely.

I got the PC back yesterday and ran memtest. No problems reported. So now I have to install an OS all over again.

As the PC is now surplus to requirements (we bought my wife a Lenovo with 8.1 preinstalled - cheaper and worked straight off!) I will use the Acer PC to run the Win 10 preview and see how that works.

Thanks for all the good advice. I have learnt a lot that I never expected to need to

Tony

 

[essenbe]

That's all good news. I'm happy that you have it running as it should again. Well done. You are very welcome for any help I may have given. That's what we do here.