Can BurninTest program be used in Vista Home Basic ?

[GI Wan]

In our factory we have used BurninTest Version 5.1 (Build: 1014) to test our PC under Vista Home Basic (RTM Version) , but some units will be hange up at memory test items . However, under "Burnin Test Version 4.0+Vista Home Basic" &"Burnin Test Version 5.1+Vista Ultimate" the test result is PASS , Can BurninTest program be used Vista Home Basic ? Thank you very much !!

Following are our test failure symptoms. We also would like to know if you also have met the similar failures under Vista

Burnin test Item: CPU/RAM/Disk/2D/3D
Test condition: 1. SKU #1 : CPU : T5200 , RAM : 1GB*2 , HDD : 160G
SKU #2 : CPU : T5500 , RAM : 1GB*2 , HDD : 160G
2. All items loading set to 100%, Run 2hours (only run RI program)
Test results : Defect Rate 40% (4/10)

(1) RAM Test Mode : Standard (0-1GB) , OS : Vista Home Basic
While running Burn in test, the program was interrupted. An error message popup then system hange up :
a. Error: Access violation at 0x101365C7 (tried to write to 0x00FF0010), program terminated.
(It’s UMA SKU)
b. Error: Access violation at 0x2448C188 (tried to write to 0x037F0FFC), program terminated.
(It’s Discrete SKU)

(2) RAM Test Mode : Torture (0-4GB) , OS : Vista Home Basic
The Brunin test cycle will be pass but system will hang up after LCD lid enabled (= tilt the LCD as 40 degrees for R/I).

(3) RAM Test Mode : Address Windowing Extensions (0-64GB) , OS : Vista Home Basic
No function to set "Lock Pages in Memory" in the OS

(4) RAM Test Mode : Torture (0-4GB) , OS : Vista Ultimate
System gets slow response (over 90% physical memory usage)

[Ian (PassMark)]

Currently we have a number of our users using BurnInTest V5.1 1014 on Vista and we have made some changes for Vista. We have not had this problem reported to date.

Officially V5.2 of BurnInTest that is due around the end of the month will support Vista (including Vista Home Basic). We do not recommend running BurnInTest V5.0 or earlier on Vista as there are known problems that are resolved in V5.1.

I would suggest that you use V5.1 1014 for your testing and move to V5.2 when available in a few weeks. There are no known issues with BurnInTest V5.1 1014 under Vista - the changes in V5.2 are related to Vista UAC and permission levels required (and not test problems).

When you get these access violations, are you running only the standard RAM test (or running the CPU/RAM/Disk/2D/3D tests)? If you are running these other tests, I would suspect a device driver - most likely the graphics device driver. Try reducing the test set until you are only running a particular test (eg. 3D) and are still seeing the problem.

Which test causes the problem?
How far into the tests do you get the error?
Is the error consistent and reproducable?
Were all of the results you posted from the same hardware?

Regards,
Ian (PassMark)

[GI Wan]

Dear Ian ,

My reply as below :

Which test causes the problem?
=> RAM test. We have tried to disable other test items (CPU / Disk / 2D / 3D, only "RAM test" left) and got same failure symptom. Below are the descriptions
[A. Standard Memory Test (0-1GB)]
It will happen "Access violation.." while system fits with 1GB /or 2GB system memory under Windows Vista "Home Basic". The failure rate will be around 30 ~ 40% and it's not solid duplication for same unit.
[B. Torture (0-4GB)]
System will get "slow response" or "hang up" while BurnIn Test executing and then let system enter "standby" mode (with 1GB /or 2GB system memory under Windows Vista "Home Basic"). The failure rate will be 100% and could be duplicated.
[C. Address Windowing Extensions (0-64 GB)]
This test mode needs to have the administrator right to "Lock pages in memory". Unfortunately, Windows Vista "Home Basic" has no the function of "Local Security Policy" to change the authorization. But it could work under Windows Vista "Ultimate" since this version has the function of "Local Security Policy".

How far into the tests do you get the error? => Within 2 hrs
Is the error consistent and reproducible? => Same as above reply.
Were all of the results you posted from the same hardware? => Yes, it's same hardware configuration except CPU, system memory size and LCD type.

Best Regards,
GI 1/5

[David (PassMark)]

Regarding,

A. We have no reason to think this is a problem with BurnInTest. If it was a simple fault with BurnInTest, BurnInTest would crash. But as your system hangs I think you have to assume you have a systematic hardware fault, BIOS issue or device driver bug.

B. It is not normal that your system puts itself into standby mode. But we have no reason to think a result of any command issued by BurnInTest

C. This is normal Window behaviour and not a bug.

[kmruss]

GI,

You should be able to 'force' this setting by editing the registry directly. Check out this quote from a website:

Windows XP Home does not support Policies or User Rights, but it should be possible to grant the "Lock Pages in Memory" privilege with a hack to the HKLM\SECURITY Registry hive if support under Windows XP is critical for your secure application

http://www.ddj.com/dept/windows/184405839

I was thinking it would be possible - because I've added the ability for the 'Security' tab in Windows XP Home on a lab workstation here.

Good luck.

[CJ]

GI Wan, go to http://www.memtest.org and download Memtest (bootable CD or Floppy) and use that to test memory under DOS before running BurnIn Test.

The problem with Windows based memory testers is that it cannot test all the memory since Windows locks a large chunk of it.

Memtest only uses a very small amount of memory (KB's) and has complete control over the memory system, so its more reliable if you need to do an accurate memory test.

[David (PassMark)]

Memtest is a good tool. But it also has its limits. In particular you can only test up to about 3GB RAM because of the 4GB limit in the 32bit address space and some hardware being memory mapped into the virtual address space (BIOS, video RAM, PCI bus addresses, etc..).

With BurnInTest we have a native 64bit version that can test much more RAM than 3GB.

Even with the 32bit version of BurnInTest we use Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) to get past the 4GB barrier.

As far as I am aware there is only a 32bit version of Memtest (but it has been a while since I looked at Memtest).

[kmruss]

I agree - Memtest has it's good uses - but I'm testing a critical data server RIGHT NOW that has 8GB of ram. Luckily, BurnInTest supports the 'address extensions' (PAE) as 'pass' mentioned - and I'm able to test the full 8GB.

Plus it seems much quicker in it's testing. Cycles go MUCH quicker in BIT than they do in Memtest. However, I'm hoping that's because of the 32-bit access - and that they are as thorough as Memtest.

Bottom-line I guess, it doesn't hurt to use both - especially if you're SUSPECTING a memory problem. But Memtest does have it's limits in memory size.

P.S. 'passmark' - do you have a name we can call you by? Or do multiple people answer from that account?