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Thread ID: 127183	2012-10-09 00:52:00	Dell BSODs	linw (53)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1305866	2012-10-09 00:52:00	Got called in to look at a crashed Dell Vostro 220s running Vista that had a BSOD screen up . In fact it had 4 BSODs that morning, each with a different STOP error . Disk looks OK with a couple of chkdsks coming up fine . A/V scan OK . To cut a medium length story short, it wouldn't go longer than 3 sec on a memtest . It has 2 x 2GB DDR2 sticks . Re-seated both - still crashed . Took one out, memtest looked OK . Swapped in the other - still ran fine! Put the second stick in and memtest crashed . So memtest will run with one stick but not two . This machine must be about 3 yrs old and has run fine in this config since it was installed . Left it running with one stick so will see if it gives any more problems . Wonder why it doesn't run with two sticks?? Looks a bit like a hardware issue do you think? Not able to supply the current needed for two sticks? Any ideas? Cheers .	linw (53)
1305867	2012-10-09 01:03:00	I had a similar problem on my laptop; both sticks would crash the system while either one in either slot would not crash. Strangely, memtest86+ showed no errors, with any configuration, ever. But replacing both sticks with brand new ones stopped it crashing.	Agent_24 (57)
1305868	2012-10-09 01:18:00	Run bluescreenview, if it stays in windows long enough. See what it says	Speedy Gonzales (78)
1305869	2012-10-09 03:21:00	I have run bluescreenview. As I said, there were 4 different stop errors and there were tens of files involved in each! No common factor thus pointing to random things like mem crashes.	linw (53)
1305870	2012-10-09 03:35:00	So what did it say is the cause? And what were the stop errors if there were only 4 of them?	Speedy Gonzales (78)
1305871	2012-10-09 09:23:00	Stop errors were D1, 4E, 1A, 19. The 4E error was a PFN_LIST_Corrupt (corrupted page frame no. file) one. This list is in memory so reinforces the memory problem. Really, as it stands, we know that the hardware is problematic as memtest crashes and that has nothing to do with windows or its drivers. The question seems to be why running with both sticks cause problems when each tests OK on its own. After 3 yrs or so something has changed. Guess we'll never know. This machine will probably see out its life running on 2GB which will be OK, anyway.	linw (53)
1305872	2012-10-09 10:17:00	Guessing, I would say that it is a hardware fault that has caused the operating system to be unable to control which of the RAM sticks is controlling the bus for the time required, in other words, RAM stick select is in some way inoperative and there is BUS conflict when both sticks are present. My motherboard went faulty this way at the beginning of the year.	zqwerty (97)
1305873	2012-10-09 11:32:00	I had a similar problem with my brother's machine, it would give ram errors and randomly blue-screen (when memtest ran, it crashed and restarted several times, but stopped doing this once the machine had warmed up(?)), tried another set of good ram sticks, still gave errors, tried a new PSU (450 watt instead of 320(*)), problem went away (no more ram errors or BSODs), and hasn't returned. (*)Was a Hyena :groan: The BSOD was mostly "IRQL not less or equal".	feersumendjinn (64)
1305874	2012-10-09 19:17:00	Thanks, guys. Interesting comments. Being a Dell, the PSU will be non standard! The owner could get Dell support to replace the PSU but I suspect that they won't bother if it continues to run with the one stick. Cheers.	linw (53)
1305875	2012-10-09 19:42:00	Does it run in dual channel mode? it's possible the timing of one of the two RAM chips has changed enough over time to make them not work well together but I am admittedly reaching here. The easiest thing might be to just live with half the RAM or replace the two sticks with a single 4GB one if possible. At 3 yrs old it becomes a case of how much money and effort is it worth spending chasing a fault like this.	dugimodo (138)
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