Solved Unexpected Shutdown & memtest

[Mike99]

I built an HTPC & every month or two I get an error message. It usually varies slightly but always seems to come back to an unexpected shutdown per the Events Logs, at least from what I can figure out. But it never says what caused the unexpected shutdown. The last 2 times a recording was interrupted & then restarted. IOW Windows 7 rebooted by itself. But those are the only times I'm have a restart in the middle of recording.

I looked in WMC7 and a message said this was "due to a temporary failure caused by either a system malfunction or a power loss".

I've ran sfc /scannow and no problems these last 2 times. But previously it corrected errors.

I have checked PSU voltages & they are correct, and the PC is plugged into a UPS.

Anyway I wanted to run a memtest and noticed 3 different ones. memtest, memtest 86, and memtest86+.
Which one is the recommended version?

Any comments & suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Phone Man]

Memtest86+ is a fork of Memtest86 and are very similar. The latest Memtest86+ is from Jan 2011 while the latest Memtest86 is from July 2013. Either one would probably do the job.

Jim

 

[Mike99]

Thanks, I'll give the newer memtest86 a try.

 

[Mike99]

Memtest86 indicates I have many errors. I understand each stick of RAM will have to be tested independently, but how do you interpret the test results? I’d like to get a basic understanding of what some of the data means. I’ve Googled & cannot find a tutorial or similar. Everything seems to be how to use the program but not how to interpret the results.

For example I have several errors on several of the tests.
The Lowest & Highest Error Addresses seem to stay the same.
And Max Continuous Errors = 1.

Does that mean all the errors are always within lowest & highest addresses?

After I get the problem fixed I've read one should to run the test several times. Does it just keep running over & over? If so, how do I know how many times it has run?

 

[Phone Man]

Check this home site for Memtest86. Click on Error Display.

http://www.memtest86.com/technical.htm

To quickly answer your questions, the errors are within the Low and High addresses.

On the Time entry on the error page the Pass field is the number of complete passes. The default is to run continuous test and it will increment the Pass field after each complete pass.

Jim

 

[Mike99]

Thanks for the information.

I've run both Memtest86 & Memtest86+. I tried every memory configuration. I have 2 sticks of 2GB RAM and 2 mobo slots. If both sticks are used, no matter which one in which slot, both memtests gives lots of errors.

Memtest86 usually shows Lowest Address of 4720.2MB, but once it displayed 4844.2MB.
It always shows Highest Address of 4844.2MB.

Memtest86+ always shows 4844.2MB.

If I use only a single stick in either slot, no errors are shown with either memtest.

IOW 2 sticks always have errors and 1 stick never has an error.

I called G.SKILL and the tech said there could be problem with the 2 sticks being used together. He suggested I do a RA. Problem is that will probably take a couple weeks to get replacement RAM. At this point in time Newegg does not have any great sale on what I need.

I asked the tech if it could be the BIOS. He said it could be. I've never updated BIOS because the manufacturer's website said not to unless you have problem. Of course I have problem, but I don't know if it's BIOS related.

Any thoughts on what could be the problem? Does the 4844.2MB address have any special significance, especially since a single stick of RAM does not go that high?

 

[DocBrown]

Did you buy the 2 sticks at the same time as a matched pair ?

 

[Mike99]

Did you buy the 2 sticks at the same time as a matched pair ?

Yes.

 

[Phone Man]

Your results are confusing. 4 GB of ram is 4096 MB and you show failure above that address.

Jim

 

[Mike99]

This may be a rhetorical question, but why would memtest86 even try to test an address that is out of the RAM address range? And if it's testing 4844 than why not test this same address when only 1 stick of memory is used?

 

[Mike99]

The problem computer PC#1 had G.SKILL RAM.

I pulled the Micron RAM from my other computer, PC#2.

The Micron RAM passes both Memtests when using both sticks in PC#1, no matter which one is in which slot.

I put the G.SKILL RAM in PC#2 and the Memtests do not show any errors no matter which one is in which slot.

IOW Micron works in both PCs.
G.SKILL works in PC #2 but not in PC#1.

Is the problem more likely the G.SKILL RAM or the motherboard/BIOS in PC#1?