Re: [gentoo-user] Ramifications of memtest86

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hi, Dale,

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 06:43:46AM -0600, Dale wrote:
> chrome://messenger/locale/messengercompose/composeMsgs.properties:
> >On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 11:22:21AM +0000, Alan Mackenzie wrote:


> >>When I run memtest86 from the gentoo boot disk, it signals millions
> >>of failures in b11 of 32 bit words.


> >>I'll try unplugging and replugging these.

> >No help.  :-(

> >No matter how I plug in the RAM (4 combinations of 2 sticks into 2
> >pairs of slots) it is always b11 which fails and always at an address
> >ending in (hex) 0 or 8.

> >How is this DDR3 Ram organised?  Is each stick 64 bits wide, or are
> >they 32 bits wide, being accessed by the motherboard pairwisely?  If
> >the latter, I would have exected the failure to move to address ....4
> >and ....C when I swap the two sticks.  Am I being prematurely
> >pessimistic in thinking the motherboard might be the fault?


> Sounds to me like the mobo may have issues.  If swapping the ram around
> doesn't move the error, then the chips on the mobo that connect to the
> ram may be bad.

So the RAM sticks are each 32 bits wide, then?

> I would still rule out power issues if you can.  A bad power supply, or 
> a weak one, can cause some pretty weird problems.

The power supply is brand new, from a reputable manufacturer.  Surely if
the power supply were dicky, I'd get RAM errors in some other bit
position inside a 32-bit word.  Or maybe the RAM into which memtest86 is
loaded is also faulty.  ;-(

> Hmmm, I would also try putting in two sticks, then running the test and
> seeing what that says.  If it still errors, try the other two sticks.
> If it still fails in the same place, see if you can put the sticks in
> the other two slots.  Some mobos don't care what slot you have them in.
> May want to refer to the manual on that.

Sorry, I wasn't clear about that.  I have just two RAM sticks for a total
of 4Gb, but there are two pairs of slots on the motherboard.  The manual
says "put the sticks for preference in the orange slots for 'better
overclocking capability'".  But they (almost) work just as well (badly)
in the black slots.

> Let's hope for something simple and cheap.  ;-)

Oh, yes!

> Dale

> :-)  :-)