Athlon XP and memtest86

tomwatts · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2003 Posts: 24

I've been having some segfaults during compiling, so I ran memtest86 on my machine. Every test passes except test 5, which I believe is the copying of large chunks of data. Has anyone else had this happen, or know what it means? For what it's worth, I have 512 mb in 2 pc133 sticks on an ASUS A7V133 with an XP 1800+.

Help!

Moofed · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:54 am Post subject:

If memtest86 reports errors (especially when it is consistent) then it means there's something wrong with your ram. You should try to isolate which stick it is and attempt to return/rma it (assuming it is somewhat new).

taskara · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 7:49 am Post subject:

yes dlpierce is correct, but first make sure you are running it at the appropriate speed and settings.

mhz, and cas latencies and voltages.

you can normally find this information on the manufacturer's website, and make appropriate changes in your bios, then test again with memtest.

if it still fails, then RA it if it is still under warranty.
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Pink · Veteran Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 1062

Also, be aware it MAY NOT BE YOUR RAM.

Sorry to shout, but it is a very common misconception that a failed memtest automatically points to your RAM. Providing the settings are correct, as taskara points out, all it does is point towards a hardware failure (which is possibly, but not definitely RAM based).

I made the mistake of assuming it was a RAM only problem and went through £200 ($300+) of RAM before realising it was my mobo that was borked. It turns out that all the RAM was fine (i've used it in Gentoo Boxes since then!)

Just a thought you may want to keep in mind.

Moofed · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 9:17 pm Post subject:

I was thinking that if the memory address of the failed test is always the same then it is probable that it is infact the ram. Is this not correct? But yes, you should double-check your timing settings.

tomwatts · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2003 Posts: 24

I need to figure out how to get a shot of the memtest86 screen. Test 5 is the only test that fails, it fails consistently, and it fails almost every address in whatever ram i have in the system. One chip, both chips, any settings, it doesn't really make a difference.

The only reason I tested my ram is because I have some odd segfaults that happen when they shouldn't. Kind of made me suspicious.

Memtest's website also tells of athlon boards that can error out at tests 5 and 8. Anyone else have more info on this?

taskara · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 9:44 pm Post subject:

taskara · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 9:46 pm Post subject:

tomwatts · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2003 Posts: 24

My board is from before an age where ram voltages were popular, so I can't set those. As for the timings and such, they are correct. I've also tried running the ram at pc100 vs. pc133 (yeah, I need a new board soon) and that had no effect.

taskara · Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 10:51 pm Post subject:

tomwatts · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2003 Posts: 24

Hah, everyone else in my dorm has newer computers than me, so no DIMMs. Gotta try to get my hands on some to see if its the ram or the board.

Any CPU testing utilities out there so I can check that? Shouldn't be a cooling issue (nice zalman cooler) but you never know.....

taskara · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:41 am Post subject:

hmmm.. if u have windows you can run prime95 - it will certainly fail, and you won't know why.

but it's good to test your system's 100% stability..

I'm sure there are tools out there.. perhaps check out download.com
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Malakin · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 3:31 am Post subject:

If it's your cpu the errors will not be consistant. The spots that fail will change. At least this is what I've always seen.

If it's the ram then it will almost always be the exact same errors on every run. Sometimes it will deviate a tiny bit though.

Mobo errors that cause memory problems are also consistant and so far I haven't see this happen where moving the ram to different slots helped but it's worth a try. Mobo problems that cause ram errors are fairly uncommon but if you tried several sticks of ram and there were errors in the same spot then it's obviously the mobo.

Try this:
http://rick.vanrein.org/linux/badram/

tomwatts · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2003 Posts: 24

Yeah, must be ram then. The only times it crashes are consistent crashes on kdelibs, mythtv, and a few other packages... always in the same spot too.

*sigh*

Time to go spend the cash, I suppose. Anyone recommend a good athlon-based mobo?

taskara · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 4:39 am Post subject:

nforce2

a7n8x deluxe seems the pick of the bunch
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Pink · Veteran Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 1062

I have to agree, I have the a7n8x-x, but have no problems with it at all.
nforce2 has great support in linux.