Not sure if MemTest is actually testing all the RAM...

[Impact619]

Hi all...


I have an HP Z800 workstation that I just purchased (gently used... lol).

Have ordered and am going to be installing a bunch of new RAM, and will want to test it, so I figured I might as well test what's in there first. Did some searching, and that's how I found this app. Downloaded and burned the CD, so far so good.

The disk did not want to boot, until I selected "Boot from only one CPU". That worked, and the app is up and running. However, near the top, it shows for Memory: 596K. It does have a bit more than that... 12GB, in fact. It's ripping through several cycles a second, which jives with the app perhaps only seeing a fraction of the overall RAM. No errors so far, after 4300 cycles, but again, it appears that it is not seeing all of the RAM.

Does anyone know what might be wrong? I went into the configuration settings, and told it to 'Test All RAM'. Just doesn't seem to see all of it.


Thanks!

[David (PassMark)]

What version of MemTest86 are you using?
If you aren't using V4.3 can you try that release.

In V4.3 there is an option to dump out the memory map (under the configuration options). It would be good if you could tell us what is on that screen. Or even better send in a couple of photographs of the screen.

[Impact619]

Thanks David...

I just checked, and it's 4.3. Makes sense, since I had just freshly downloaded it from your site before trying it.

If I get a chance to try it again, I'll see if I can find that option, and I can grab some shots of the screen as well.

Thanks again!

-Thomas-

What version of MemTest86 are you using?
If you aren't using V4.3 can you try that release.

In V4.3 there is an option to dump out the memory map (under the configuration options). It would be good if you could tell us what is on that screen. Or even better send in a couple of photographs of the screen.

[Impact619]

OK, let's see whether I can figure out how to attach photos... lol




OK, so here's a full screen and a close-up... again, system actually has 12GB of RAM... dual quad-core Xeon processors.

-T-

[David (PassMark)]

From the 2 photos it certainly looks like something is wrong.

In V4.3 there is an option to dump out the memory map (under the configuration options). It would be good if you could tell us what is on that screen. Or even better send in a couple of photographs of that screen.

Also, what BIOS version are you running, can you check for any available BIOS upgrades.

[David (PassMark)]

There is also this HP document listing how the RAM should be installed.
http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/down...800_memory.pdf
Seems there are a bunch of rules to follow regarding the distribution of RAM between the CPUs.

[Impact619]

Hi David...

I looked for the dumping memory map as per your first instructions, and didn't see it. Maybe I'm not sure what to look for.

Haven't thought to check the BIOS. System came with a clean install of Windows 7, and although that doesn't mean they also made sure the BIOS is up to date, everything does seem to be stable and running smoothly.

Interesting you mention the memory. It does NOT match the optimum configuration, in that it has two 4GB chips and two 2GB ships. Was supposed to have six 2GB chips to give the best distribution and triple channel performance. The memory I purchased for it, and that just arrived, IS six identical chips, so I expect to have optimal performance as long as there are no surprises with it (main reason I wanted to run MemTest).

On my end I more or less have the problem solved, but I sent you the photos anyway, in case it helped with your continued development and research. Doing some more looking around I came across 'MemTest86+', and I went ahead and downloaded the image and burned the CD same as I did with yours, and that one booted right up, and started testing all 12GB. Since you guys both seem to be open source efforts, perhaps you should collaborate... maybe they're putting more time and effort towards newer cpus, chipsets, and memory configurations.

Their app did not find any problems with the existing configuration, and it passed all of the tests. It then DID find problems with my other system, which I have also recently upgraded to 12GB, so now I need to see what is up with that RAM, once I get the new one all sorted out!

So thanks again for all the responses... I seem to be good to go since I found something that works on my machine without any fiddling around.

-T-

[David (PassMark)]

Just to be clear.
MemTest86 didn't work as expected with the non identical RAM.
MemTest86+ did work as expected with the identical RAM in optimal configuration.

But did you test MemTest86+ with non identical RAM and also MemTest86 with identical RAM?

I ask this as the same problem with the HP Z800 problem was reported on MemTest86+ here,
http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/67099-Memtest86-5.00-Alpha-6-available-here.-Alphatesters-Needed-%21?p=5391962&viewfull=1#post5391962

We made an offer to the MemTest86+ to merge the two code bases, but he wasn't interested. He also hasn't published any source code for about a year despite the GPL license. So it isn't really open source anymore.
http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/68001-NEW-%21%21-Memtest86-5.00-RC1-available-%21-Need-betatesters-%21?p=6828751&viewfull=1#post6828751