RAM errors only after Win7 restart

[David (PassMark)]

I don't suppose you have a spare CPU or spare motherboard to try?

You could also try adjusting the voltage levels in BIOS. Manually bump it up by 0.1V. You could also try using the slower standard RAM timings in BIOS, rather than any XMP settings the RAM might support.

[tomidis]

Hi,
I tried some more testing, so I can confirm the following patterns:
- when errors are detected, they are detected very quickly after Memtest86 start (if they aren't detected before test #5, they will never be detected)
- when errors are detected, the longer testing time is, the more errors is detected, all following passes after the first pass also detects the errors
- errors are detected only after the machine has been booted up into Win7
- the last testing confirms the machine can be booted into win7 up until the user logon screen (I don't need to login to win7) and the errors will be detected after reboot from the user logon screen
- also I can 100% confirm that errors are detected if the machine is started from the completly powered OFF state, but ONLY if previously was booted up into win7 (enough until logon screen)
- if I turn OFF the machine from Win7 (or from Win7 logon screen), then cut the power supply for up to 10 seconds (until the capacitors are emptied), then switch ON the power supply and start the Memtest86, there are no errors detected!!

[David (PassMark)]

I think there are only a few possibilities.

- The cause and effect is just co-incidence. And what you are seeing is just random RAM errors (or CPU/MB errors) that happen to fit the pattern you describe, so far.

OR

- When you boot into Windows, then the values left sitting around in the RAM provoke an error (somehow). If this was the case then you should not see the same errors on the 2nd pass in MemTest86.

OR

- The errors are not really random, but instead related to some other effect. e.g. temperature. Having booted the machine into Windows might heat it enough to provoke the errors upon the reboot.

OR

- There is a common bug in both versions of MemTest86 that no one has noticed up until now.


Note that RAM errors don't mean the RAM is bad. There might a slight incompatibility. So if you had another stick (from a different vendor) I would try that to start with.

What are the details for the BSOD?

[tomidis]

yes, yes, yes,...... to all you wrote
also if I restart from Linux Mint I never get any errors. If I restart from Windows but testing with Windows's memory diagnostic, I also don't get any error.
only with Memtest86 (with or without plus) when I boot into Win, and then select "restart" from start menu I get errors. If I restart with "esc" from Memtest86 and then start again Memtest86 there is no errors anymore

[David (PassMark)]

It is possible to have a RAM address that is slightly above the listed maximum RAM installed. The memory manager can put holes into the address space. It doesn't mean you have extra RAM, it just means the address space isn't continuous.

So just to recap;
If you power up the machine from a powered off state you never get any errors with MemTest86 4.3.6.

If you power up the machine then boot into Windows, then select "Restart" from the Windows start menu, then (without powering down) reboot into MemTest86 4.3.6, you get errors straight away.

Both these cases happen regardless of how many sticks are in the machine, or what slots they are in?

[tomidis]

Hi David,
thanks for answering
yes, I have the latest bios version
absolutely the same happened when I tried with memtest86 (without plus) from usb stick
Isn't strange that errors shows the failing address at more MB than currently installed (the same with Memtest86 v4.3.6)??
I'm very confused. What can be wrong???

[David (PassMark)]

MemTest86+ (with the plus) is not our software and we don't support it. The author of MemTest86+ used the same name when he made an alternative version using the MemTest86 source code leaving a large number of people confused.


Do you have the latest BIOS for the motherboard. I see on the Gigabyte site they are listing, "Enhanced memory compatibility" as a feature of their last BIOS version.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3439#bios

[tomidis]

Hi all,
I have a dual boot system Win7 and Linux Mint, and sometimes I have a BSOD's only with Win7. I suspected at faulty RAM so I run Memtest86+ v4.20 (from Linux boot menu). The errors appeared very quickly so I decided to test separately each of total 4 modules to find the faulty one. Each RAM module I tested for more than 24 hours and it didn't find any error. I was very confused. After some time I decided to run the Memtest86+ again, but that time I was logged into Win7 and after restarting Windows and starting Memetest, it found memory errors again. So now I tried many more times to restart the computer (from Win7, from Linux and from Memtest) and start memtest (with all 4 modules separately and together) and finally I concluded that Memtest86+ finds memory errors only after just restarted machine from Win7 (when restarted from Linux, or restarted from Memtest86+ I don't have these errors). Now I installed the last Memtest86+ version 5.01, and all is the same like with v4.20. I also tried with Windows's memory diagnostic, all modules separately and together (Windows memory diagnostic was run directly after windows restart), and it didn't found any error. The last time I tried with 2 modules so attachd are some pictures.


So this happens only with Memtest86+ and when machine is restarted from Win7
I tried also with Memtest86 v4.3.6 from USB stick, and the same happens like with Memtest86+