Memtest86 crashing on Dell PC's

[Bozilas]

Hey guys,

I've successfully used Memtest86 on a home built PC with no problems, but when I bring the same jump drive to my work PC's (all varieties of DELL) it tries to load then gives either a blackscreen or some pixellation (crash). Any ideas as to why this is happening on these Dell machines?

Thanks in advance,
Boz

[David (PassMark)]

What version of MemTest86?

Can you send us the log if you are using V8.3 or V8.4
https://www.memtest86.com/tech_debug-logs.html

[Bozilas]

Thanks for the reply...

Using Memtest86 version 8.4, I've attached the log text.

[keith]

Thanks for the logs.

We added some more debug output, as well as disabled setting of the graphics resolutions. The screen may be cut off but hopefully it is a temporary workaround for the hang.

https://www.passmark.com/temp/memtes...b-8.4.1004.zip

If possible, can you attach the logs as before.

[Bozilas]

Thanks for your efforts.

Unfortunately, it's still giving a blank black screen after loading.... same problem.. I've attached the log files.

[keith]

Thanks for the logs.

If possible, can you give the following build a try and post the resulting log file.

https://www.passmark.com/temp/memtes...-8.4b.1005.zip

[Bozilas]

Thanks for the logs.

If possible, can you give the following build a try and post the resulting log file.

https://www.passmark.com/temp/memtes...-8.4b.1005.zip

Thanks for your help.... latest log attached.

[keith]

Looks like it is hanging when attempting to set the screen resolution via the UEFI firmware. There is possibility we may have to blacklist the board to avoid changing the screen resolution.

Before we do that, please give this build a try first:

https://www.passmark.com/temp/memtes...-8.4b.1006.zip

[Bozilas]

Hey thanks a lot! Looks like that one did the trick... I haven't tested it on all our machines yet, but the one we were creating the logs from it fired up no problem. Much appreciated, and I'll get back to you if it hangs on the other systems.

Thanks,
Boz

[keith]

Thanks for letting us know the results. Good to hear the hang doesn't occur on the particular system.

If you still have the logs from the runs, can we get a copy of the MemTest86.log file as well if possible.
We should be able to verify the fixes to the code.

[aweber1nj]

Add my exp to this list. Using the latest d/l (v8.4), my Dell Precision T7600 starts to run the test, and I briefly see the "testing screen" and then it crashes and reboots the workstation. Not sure why passmark seems to have a lot of trouble with one of the largest PC/Workstation/Server mfr's in the world.

Happy to send diag logs if you give me a link on how to enable it so it logs right at the start of the testing.

[David (PassMark)]

Crashes are due to bugs in Dell's UEFI BIOS (or a small chance it is hardware failure).

You can collect the log using the details here
https://www.memtest86.com/tech_debug-logs.html

[aweber1nj]

Here's the log. From my naive view, it looks like it just dies. Hopefully you can see something so I can use the util. Thanks!

[David (PassMark)]

Might be this known problem
"some old Dell machines have a 32bit addressing bug that prevents testing more than 4GB of RAM. In this case testing will freeze early on during Test 0 (the address test), while test in the 0x100000000 (4GB) memory range. To partially work around this issue you can limit the maximum address to test to below 0x100000000. This might mean a lot of RAM doesn’t get tested however"

See also,
https://www.memtest86.com/tech_freezing-lockups.html