Single Memtest86+ Error out of 200 Tests

QCHQCH Ancient GuruChicago Area - USA Icrontian
edited April 2007 in Hardware
I have a users laptop in my office for random crashes... Not blue screen crashes, just hard lockups with no display. When I say random, I mean once every few days...

I ran Dell's full diagnostic suite and they all came back fine. I ran Hitachi's advanced/ full hard drive diagnostics and nothing showed. I then ran Memtest86+ v1.7 on the laptop. I started it and left for a few hours. When I returned it had one error out of 20 completed tests... Weird. I remove one stick of memory and retested... failed again. Almost 75 tests but only one error. I swapped memory and slots and re-ran memtest... This time I ran it over a three day period... Over 250 tests and I got ONE error.

These errors are normally somewhere in the middle of the looping tests (say failed during test 12 out of 22 loops).

So... tested both sticks in different slots but never the same error, never more than the one error, and I am stumped. I'm leaning toward a problem with the motherboard... I even took the laptop a part, blew out any dust bunnies, re-plugged all connections and applied premium thermal compound to the CPU.

Specs....

Dell Inspiron 2650
1.9 GHz Mobile Pentium 4
Intel 845 Chipset

HELP.... What does only one or two errors out of hundreds of completed test mean?

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    It's probably something extremely esoteric like a "loosening" trace on the motherboard or some weird RF from a faulty component inside. I'd say it should go back to dell and get a new motherboard.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    It can't be the memory it self.
    Out of curiosity what setting does it run? Does it run the same settings with both sticks? They may not be programed with identical SPD.
    You never got a clean run, either stick/either slot?

    Sounds like mobo, maybe memory controller.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    The laptop is 4 years old and out of warranty. I don't thinks its worth the $400 for a new MB.

    As for the memory, it runs stock. Dell's BIOS doesn't give any adjustments for over/ under clocking. The memory is PC2100. One is Crucial and the other is Viking. Both sticks have failed in each of the slots...

    I'm leaning towards MB... I'll leave the final decision to the user....
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    There are tools that you can load that will tell you what memory setting it is running. Both CPU-Z and Sandra will.
    I didn't catch that both had failed in both slots.
    Sounds like toast.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited April 2007
    Yep... for a base model laptop from 4 years ago... not worth the time I already spent on it... It's trash. :D
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