Restore to Factory Default Recovery Crashes Before Completing

[rubyrubyroo]

I always use Memtest86+ to be honest, I either don't remember or don't know the difference between the two since I always use the "plus" variety. But from what I can gather from your previous post, It sounds like you've run both with similar results. (As long as the program is being run from the USB or DVD/CD at boot-time (e.g. "offline") then there should be no difference between the two storage mediums.


Have you tried installing windows using one stick of memory? and if it fails, then try the second strip?


Another quick and easy idea might be to try another OS, like Ubuntu, since you obviously have access to the internet using another computer. This is one example of a Linux OS that can be download and fit on a DVD and then you can boot the computer using the optical drive (and memory), without any physical installation on the HDD! (you can test the DVD on your other computer to be sure a good clean image was burned to the DVD, too!)


See where this gets you and depending on the results, I might try getting someone else to help on this one!




Just let me know how this turns out!
Sincerely,
Mike

 

[Iskra]

Well I'm not really getting the same results from the two memtests. Memtest86+ runs as many passes as I let it, without finding any errors. Memtest86 on the other hand, finds thousands of errors, and crashes before finishing a single pass. So I'm not really sure why that is, and which is the accurate result. I was concerned that it might be a problem with the optical drive which is why I wanted to run both from the same medium, but the results are the same when I run memtest86+ from a CD or USB drive, so seems like its not a problem with the optical drive.

I'll try loading Ubuntu and see how that goes. If it works and is stable, then I'll try running Windows with 1 stick of RAM and in different slots on the MB. Any specific tests I should be running in Ubuntu, or just see if it works at all? Thanks for the help by the way.

 

[Iskra]

For what its worth, here's a sample of what happens when I run memtest86. Gives me a ridiculous number of errors, then crashes due to "unexpected interrupt". Meanwhile memtest86+ works just fine and gives no errors for 16+ passes

 

[rubyrubyroo]

Hello Iskra,

I've been away for a few days on my own quest of sorts - but I am back now, and willing to help all that I can. Your problem certainly sounds like it would be a bad DIMM stick/pair of sticks. (were you able to rule one out, or do they both present with the same problem separately?!?!)

I never use Memtest (the "NON-PLUS" version) and therefore cannot claim to have any useful/valuable information on the differences between the two, from an "experienced"-point-of-view anyway - I could goggle it just as easily as you, and make a handful of assumptions, but I would doubt that would be more helpful than the level/ability of comprehension you seem to already possess! I also doubt it would direct me away from the final conclusion that your memory is bad or incompatible with your system.

It does seem unusual that it produces errors while the "PLUS" version does not! Although the nomenclature of any type of S/W versioning/typing/etc hardly ever resembles anything directly, internal (aside from the date of completion), and you may have just gotten "lucky" in this case by using the "NON-PLUS" variety ?!?! Since I am unclear, I would recommend waiting for a more experienced voice in this rather quiet room, which I will attempt to summon for you.


BTW: One last question, you may or may not have already answered: Have you reset/cleared CMOS? Back to default BIOS settings - to be sure there is/are no setting(s) you have missed, esp. related to dual channel memory settings, RAM voltage, frequency, etc..


Best of luck,
Mike

 

[Iskra]

I haven't reset CMOS. How would I go about doing that? Is there an option in the BIOS? I'm afraid I'm pretty ignorant as to what that is or how to work it.

 

[Iskra]

Alright so I've been testing the sticks. There's two sticks, stick 1 fails in both sockets, stick 2 fails in one socket, and passes in the other. So it seems like there's a bad socket and one of the sticks is damaged as well. I'm not sure if its significant, but when the good stick is in the bad socket, the system locks up instead of just finding errors. So I'm thinking one of the sockets got damaged, and the stick that was in that socket was somehow damaged from the bad socket? (Or the other way around).

In any case, I'm going to try recovering the system from the Win7 disks using only the good stick in the good slot, and see how that goes. If that works, and the system is stable, that would probably give me my answer. It would mean that I'd only have half the RAM, but I'll live with that.

Anything I'm missing, or am I misinterpreting the results? Thanks again for helping out!