Errors in Memtest86 4.3.7 - Alienware 14

[FrontRange]

Seeing errors in Memtest 4.3.7 almost immediately:

• 2 errors in test #3
• 8 errors in test #4
• Lowest error address: 000967e9350 - 2407.9MB
• Highest error address: 000967e9350 - 2407.9MB
• Bits in Error Mask fff7ffff
• Bits in Error - Total: 31 Min: 3 Max: 25 Avg: 11
• Max Contiguous Errors: 8

I switched to a new set of RAM and am seeing errors in the same address space. None of these errors appear in the latest v6 version of Memtest. Which one do I trust?

Running in an Alienware 14 laptop Intel Core i7-4700MQ Haswell processor.

[keith]

Does the same error appear every time you run MemTest86 4.3.7?
Do errors appear when running MemTest86 on the sticks individually?

It may be that the particular address is marked as reserved in MemTest86 v6 which may explain why you don't see any errors. You can verify this by selecting 'View Memory Usage' from the Main Menu.

[David (PassMark)]

In every BIOS / UEFI there is a memory map. Also know as E820 map in BIOS.

The memory map is a list of memory addresses that are free (for testing), or are in use by the hardware.

It looks a bit like this,

Start address - End Address (Size) {Purpose}
0x000000000000 - 0x000000007FFF (32KB) {Boot Services Code}
0x000000008000 - 0x00000003EFFF (220KB) {Free Memory}
0x00000003F000 - 0x00000003FFFF (4KB) {Boot Services Data}
0x000000040000 - 0x00000009FFFF (384KB) {Boot Services Code}
0x000000100000 - 0x00000FFFFFFF (255MB) {Free Memory}
0x000010000000 - 0x00001000AFFF (44KB) {Boot Services Code}
0x00001000B000 - 0x000064AECFFF (1354MB) {Free Memory}
...
0x00007B28A000 - 0x00007BFF8FFF (13MB) {Runtime Services Data}
0x00007BFF9000 - 0x00007BFFFFFF (28KB) {Boot Services Data}
0x000100000000 - 0x00047FFFFFFF (14336MB) {Free Memory}
0x000080000000 - 0x00008FFFFFFF (256MB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
0x0000FED1C000 - 0x0000FED1FFFF (16KB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
0x0000FF000000 - 0x0000FFFFFFFF (16MB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}

There is a different map for traditional BIOS and UEFI.

If there is a bug in the BIOS then it can be the case that a block of RAM is labelled as being free, when it is really in use. There have been instances of this in the past where 'free' RAM is actually used by USB host controllers, WiFi cards and the like. This in turn provokes an error when testing the RAM. It can also cause instability in the operating system.

In this case I think it is more likely to a mapping bug, than a real RAM error. The chances of two RAM stick having the same fault is low. Plus having 31bits in error is also not typical of a real RAM error. (one or two bits are more common).

Sometimes a BIOS firmware update can fix the problem.

You could report the problem to Alienware, but I would be surprised if they care.

[FrontRange]

Errors

Does the same error appear every time you run MemTest86 4.3.7?
Do errors appear when running MemTest86 on the sticks individually?

It may be that the particular address is marked as reserved in MemTest86 v6 which may explain why you don't see any errors. You can verify this by selecting 'View Memory Usage' from the Main Menu.

The errors appear at different test points, and the number of errors varies. They seem to all be constrained to the same address space:

• Lowest error address: 000967e9350 - 2407.9MB
• Highest error address: 000967e9350 - 2407.9MB

The bits in error and the max number of contiguous errors varies as well.

Could there be another problem with the Motherboard or CPU? Alienware wants to replace them.

[orioon]

Could you post the memory mappings from V4 and V6 please?

It's extremely unlikely that a motherboard replacement will fix your issue, Dell/Alienware often attempts that as a 'first fix' (even though the cause is rather unlikely).
If you don't have ProSupport it's very unlikely to get this fixed, even with ProSupport this is probably not worth your time.

[FrontRange]

Memory Map

Could you post the memory mappings from V4 and V6 please?It's extremely unlikely that a motherboard replacement will fix your issue, Dell/Alienware often attempts that as a 'first fix' (even though the cause is rather unlikely).
If you don't have ProSupport it's very unlikely to get this fixed, even with ProSupport this is probably not worth your time.

I REALLY appreciate all the help I have gotten here. More than I have gotten from Alienware. I have a three year warranty -- don't know if it is ProSupport.So do you think it is a bug in the BIOS or in v4.3.7? Reran the tests to get you the memory map info:v4.3.7 (doesn't appear to place a log file on the disk -- these are retyped from screen)


Error Confidence Value: 72
Lowest Error Address: 000967ec7a0 - 2407.9MB
Highest Error Address: 000967ec81c - 2407.9MB
Bits in Error Mask: ffffffff
Bits in Error - Total: 32 Min: 6 Max: 27 Avg: 13
Max Contiguouis Errors: 12
16 errors in test #4


Memory Map:
0x00000000 - 0x00000090
0x00000100 - 0x00094d70
0x00095d70 - 0x0009a77f
0x0009af7f - 0x0009afff
0x0009afff - 0x0009b000
0x00100000 - 0x0045f600


v.6.0 (Pulled memory map from log file)No errors.Memory Map:
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - Getting memory size
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000000000 - 0x000000000FFF (4KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000001000 - 0x00000000DFFF (52KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00000000E000 - 0x00000000FFFF (8KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000010000 - 0x00000002BFFF (112KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00000002C000 - 0x00000002DFFF (8KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00000002E000 - 0x00000002EFFF (4KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00000002F000 - 0x00000002FFFF (4KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000030000 - 0x00000006EFFF (252KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00000006F000 - 0x00000006FFFF (4KB) {Reserved Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000070000 - 0x000000087FFF (96KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000088000 - 0x00000009FFFF (96KB) {Runtime Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000000100000 - 0x000092D7FFFF (2348MB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000092D80000 - 0x000092D9FFFF (128KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000092DA0000 - 0x000093828FFF (10MB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000093829000 - 0x000093A68FFF (2MB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000093A69000 - 0x000093EE8FFF (4MB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000093EE9000 - 0x000094D6FFFF (14MB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000094D70000 - 0x000095D6FFFF (16MB) {Reserved Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000095D70000 - 0x000095EB1FFF (1288KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000095EB2000 - 0x000095F7EFFF (820KB) {Loader Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x000095F7F000 - 0x0000961E0FFF (2MB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x0000961E1000 - 0x00009621CFFF (240KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00009621D000 - 0x00009621DFFF (4KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x00009621E000 - 0x0000962F6FFF (868KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x0000962F7000 - 0x0000962F7FFF (4KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:08 - 0x0000962F8000 - 0x000096304FFF (52KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000096305000 - 0x000096305FFF (4KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000096306000 - 0x00009630BFFF (24KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009630C000 - 0x00009630DFFF (8KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009630E000 - 0x0000967BBFFF (4MB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000967BC000 - 0x0000967BFFFF (16KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000967C0000 - 0x0000967C1FFF (8KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000967C2000 - 0x0000967C2FFF (4KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000967C3000 - 0x000097770FFF (15MB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097771000 - 0x000097944FFF (1872KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097945000 - 0x000097B13FFF (1852KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097B14000 - 0x000097B24FFF (68KB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097B25000 - 0x000097DDBFFF (2MB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DDC000 - 0x000097DDDFFF (8KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DDE000 - 0x000097DDFFFF (8KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DE0000 - 0x000097DE0FFF (4KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DE1000 - 0x000097DE3FFF (12KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DE4000 - 0x000097DE8FFF (20KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DE9000 - 0x000097DEDFFF (20KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DEE000 - 0x000097DFAFFF (52KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097DFB000 - 0x000097E10FFF (88KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097E11000 - 0x000097E1FFFF (60KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097E20000 - 0x000097E56FFF (220KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097E57000 - 0x000097ED1FFF (492KB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000097ED2000 - 0x000099F7EFFF (32MB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000099F7F000 - 0x00009A37EFFF (4MB) {Boot Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009A37F000 - 0x00009A57EFFF (2MB) {Runtime Services Code}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009A57F000 - 0x00009A77EFFF (2MB) {Runtime Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009A77F000 - 0x00009AE7EFFF (7MB) {Reserved Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009AE7F000 - 0x00009AF7EFFF (1024KB) {ACPI Non-volatile}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009AF7F000 - 0x00009AFFEFFF (512KB) {ACPI Tables}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009AFFF000 - 0x00009AFFFFFF (4KB) {Boot Services Data}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x000100000000 - 0x00045F5FFFFF (13814MB) {Free Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000000A0000 - 0x0000000BFFFF (128KB) {Reserved Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x00009B000000 - 0x00009F9FFFFF (74MB) {Reserved Memory}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000E0000000 - 0x0000EFFFFFFF (256MB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000FEB00000 - 0x0000FEB0FFFF (64KB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000FEC00000 - 0x0000FEC00FFF (4KB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000FED00000 - 0x0000FED1BFFF (112KB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000FED1C000 - 0x0000FED1FFFF (16KB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000FED20000 - 0x0000FEE00FFF (900KB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - 0x0000FFC00000 - 0x0000FFFFFFFF (4MB) {OS Memory-mapped IO}
2015-03-18 12:09:09 -
2015-03-18 12:09:09 - Available Memory: 0x3F373F000 (15GB)

[David (PassMark)]

The V4 memory map in is pages (not bytes), and only lists available pages.

So the error location was in this free memory range in V4,
0x00095d70 - 0x0009a77f

And this range in V6
0x0000967C3000 - 0x000097770FFF (15MB) {Boot Services Data}

Meaning that range was used by UEFI itself and not tested in V6.

Going back to earlier suggestions,
- Try testing 1 stick at a time.
- See if there is a BIOS update available.

I am still leaning towards it being a BIOS bug.
Is the machine stable otherwise?

[FrontRange]

The V4 memory map in is pages (not bytes), and only lists available pages.

So the error location was in this free memory range in V4,
0x00095d70 - 0x0009a77f

And this range in V6
0x0000967C3000 - 0x000097770FFF (15MB) {Boot Services Data}

Meaning that range was used by UEFI itself and not tested in V6.

Going back to earlier suggestions,
- Try testing 1 stick at a time.
- See if there is a BIOS update available.

I am still leaning towards it being a BIOS bug.
Is the machine stable otherwise?

Machine seems stable, no BSOD's at all -- was seeing an unusual WHEA error in Event Viewer in Windows 7 (WHEA Error 18 Cache Hierarchy Error) but not in Windows 8 (other users have seen this on Alienware systems as well). I had backed down to an old BIOS to test something. I just reflashed back up to the current release and it got through test #4 without errors this time on v. 4.3.7. BIOS Memory Map appears identical.

This is the second set of RAM I have tested with.

I also am testing without the USB keyboard and Mouse plugged in now -- not sure if they could create any problems.

Trying to determine whether or not I should send this into Alienware for the motherboard/CPU replacement (I have heard these don't always go well). If it is a BIOS bug I'd rather just keep the system here as the repairs won't do anything to fix it.

Thank you so much for you help David and Kieth. I really appreciate your expert input. Just want to make sure I don't have something going on here that will cause problems down the road.

[David (PassMark)]

The BIOS update might have fixed it without a change to the memory map. i.e. some hardware device that was writing to 'free' RAM might no longer be doing it. Or it might be that the USB host controller was writing to RAM and without a USB device the test passes.

[FrontRange]

The BIOS update might have fixed it without a change to the memory map. i.e. some hardware device that was writing to 'free' RAM might no longer be doing it. Or it might be that the USB host controller was writing to RAM and without a USB device the test passes.

I have gone through one pass without any error. Will run a few more and see how things look. Then maybe a test with the USB keyboard/mouse plugged in to see what happens.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks again!

[FrontRange]

More info

I have gone through one pass without any error. Will run a few more and see how things look. Then maybe a test with the USB keyboard/mouse plugged in to see what happens.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks again!

UPDATE: Testing with USB mouse and keyboard plugged in. Moving USB mouse causes Memtest v. 4.3.7 to crash. I haven't touched the mouse during the test before so this hasn't happened.

Can reproduce consistently. Every time I move the USB mouse during the MemTest86 4.3.7 run it crashes and the system restarts. Changed USB ports, same thing happens. Touching the trackpad or using it's buttons does nothing. If I don't touch the mouse the test seems to run fine. No mouse or USB errors in Windows or MemTest86 v6 at all that I have seen. (Mouse is a Gigabyte M6800 USB Mouse.)

I am not seeing any error messages while the test is running using the latest BIOS.

I am unplugging all USB devices and going to let it run for several passes. Does this look like a BIOS bug or something else?

[David (PassMark)]

We had a similar issue a couple of years ago on a Gigabyte motherboard. Details are here,
http://www.passmark.com/forum/showth...6446#post16446

And years before that it was also a reported bug on Acer and ASUS boards
http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/53...ow-to-avoid-it

and this one
http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/48...st-4.1-Halting

The comment at the time was

Check that you have USB legacy support disabled in your BIOS setup. Some
BIOSes have a bug in them that reports the reserved memory areas
incorrectly in the e820 memory map. This causes memtest to write over the
memory area used by the USB legacy support resulting in freezes or reboots

So try turning off legacy support in BIOS.

[FrontRange]

We had a similar issue a couple of years ago on a Gigabyte motherboard. Details are here,

Hi David,

Will give that a try -- as long as I don't touch the mouse the test runs fine. I ran the test yesterday while out running errands with my family for close to 10 hours and no errors.

In your opinion, do you still think this is a BIOS bug?

Thanks!

[David (PassMark)]

Yes, a BIOS bug.