Using BurnInTest to isolate hardware problem

[Don]

Interpreting BurnInTest results -
I am testing a new system and experiencing intermittent problems, almost certainly hardware. The system will lock up and must be reset at random intervals, usually overnight. Heat does not apppear to be the problem.

BurnInTest provided the first way to isolate the actual problem but I am not certain what it means. This only happened once with BurnInTest. After a few minutes, all tests except for Video Memory Test locked up. Video Memory Test continued to flash through various colors while everything else, including mouse was frozen.

My system:
Antec SLK3800 400W power supply
MSI NF4 K8N NEO4-F
AMD 64 3000+
MSI NX6600GT PCI-Express video card
Corsair VS1GBKIT400 512mb x 2
Seagate ST3250823 SATA drive
LiteOn DVD
XP Pro SP2 up to date
AVG AntiVirus

[David (PassMark)]

Each test in BurnInTest runs within its own thread. It is hard to see how the rest of the PC could lock up and one thread continue to run.

To help find the problem I would suggest (if you have the time),
1) Run BurnInTest several times, each time will a smaller number of tests running. You might find that when, for example, the 2D graphics test is off, the problem disappears. This would give a hint as to what hardware might be at fault.

2) Try swapping out some components. e.g. swap the RAM, then retest, the swap the video card then retest.

Of course both these strategies assume you can reliably reproduce the problem to start with.

-----
David

[Don]

Thank you for the help

It turned out to be an issue where BurnInTest did not successfully end all threads of the test. The video memory test continued to run well past the 15 minutes of the rest of the tests and that was the real clue to the issue.

I have Nero6 installed and did not pay much attention to the error message about a debugger being installed.

I commend your product and superlative technical support.

Don