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Thread ID: 124419 2012-04-25 21:20:00 Windows freezing Mike (15) Press F1
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1271966 2012-05-10 04:09:00 ah I see, it finished then started again :)

Mike.
Mike (15)
1271967 2012-05-10 04:25:00 The reason for leaving it longer than 1 pass is because the longer its left, it writes differently and can load the system even more, it may not be the actual memory failing, could be memory controllers or other components on the Motherboard.

From Memtests site:
How long does memtest86+ run? How do I stop it?

Memtest86+ runs indefinately unless you stop it. It does however repeat the
same tests over and over again. Memtest86+ contains a number of different
tests which each take different approaches in trying to expose any errors in
your memory. In the top right of your screen you can see the progress of
each test in the lower of the two progress bars. The topmost progress bar
shows the progress of a pass, each pass consists of all the tests in the
memtest suite.

Thus all tests are executed in one pass, so does that mean that no errors
will show after the first pass if that pass didn't reveal any errors? Well
no, there are several reasons why errors might only show up after a number
of passes. Firstly as of this writing, the latest version of memtest also
includes a test which uses random test patterns, each pass these patterns
will of course be different. Secondly some types of errors simply don't show
up until the system has been running for a while or are very critical on a
certain timing condition, or other such conditions.

To conclude, one successful pass of memtest will give you a pretty good idea
that your memory is ok, only in rare cases will there be errors showing
after the first pass. To be sure though simply have the test run overnight
or even for a couple of days depending on the level of importance of the
system.
AND:
If memtest86+ shows no errors does that mean my memory is not defective?

Of course no answers are definitive, no matter how good memtest86+ will
eventually become there is always the possibility that a particular type of
error will go unnoticed. As long as you are having no problems with the
system it will be pretty safe to say that the modules are good. If you are
having problems with the system however you will just have to check by trial
and error, ie swapping the modules for new ones and/or testing with modules
of a different brand/type.
As I mentioned previously, I've run memtest before - memory comes up as Ok, yet the fault is still happening, change the memory and its gone.

The freezing could even be a the actual Graphic card failing under some conditions.
wainuitech (129)
1271968 2012-05-10 06:45:00 ok thanks wainuitech, I'll run it overnight and see what happens. I think we're heading towards either RAM or Video card. I've reinstalled Windows and still got the problem :( unfortunately it takes DDR2 RAM, so not the cheapest anymore

Mike.
Mike (15)
1271969 2012-05-10 07:22:00 At a guess, and from past experience, Id say its something to do with the Graphics Card.

Reason: In the past every time there has been a memory related problem on computers I have worked on it will show while doing the actual install.
Up to the point of installing separate drivers for your hardware, windows uses any inbuilt drivers.

Not saying its not memory, but it will normally play up reasonably fast during a install (if its going to).


Does the motherboard have onboard Graphics ??? If it does, remove the Video card and try running on those. That will soon tell you if its memory or video Card.
wainuitech (129)
1271970 2012-05-10 08:33:00 At a guess, and from past experience, Id say its something to do with the Graphics Card.

Reason: In the past every time there has been a memory related problem on computers I have worked on it will show while doing the actual install.
Up to the point of installing separate drivers for your hardware, windows uses any inbuilt drivers.

Not saying its not memory, but it will normally play up reasonably fast during a install (if its going to).

Does the motherboard have onboard Graphics ??? If it does, remove the Video card and try running on those. That will soon tell you if its memory or video Card.at first I thought it was something to do with the graphics (well I thought it was the video driver), so could well be. I have no idea if the mobo has onboard graphics :D I'll take a look and see what happens. Would I need to physically remove the video card, or just plug the monitor into the onboard?

Cheers,
Mike.
Mike (15)
1271971 2012-05-10 09:02:00 nevermind that was a stupid question :) I've taken the video card out and will see what happens.

Cheers,
Mike.
Mike (15)
1271972 2012-05-10 09:22:00 damn! Well video card is sitting on my desk, and windows just froze again... guess its not that.

Mike.
Mike (15)
1271973 2012-05-10 09:31:00 OK so thats eliminated the actual Video Card.

Next thing I would do, depending on how many RAM sticks you have, remove 1 and see if it freezes again. Of course it will be slower, but try to eliminate one at a time. if it still freezes with 1 removed, put it back in, and remove another till all have been removed. If its a actual RAM module it should stop freezing once the faulty ones removed.
wainuitech (129)
1271974 2012-05-10 21:38:00 OK well I have 2 RAM sticks, a 2gb and a 1gb. I can't get Windows to start on just the 1gb - it could be faulty RAM, or it could just be that it's not enough RAM for Win 7 64bit? It started on about 2 of 5 or 6 attempts with the 1gb, then only stayed running for a couple of minutes. Sometimes blue screen, sometimes just restarted without warning (which has not been happening before with this problem that I can recall).

I'm now running on just the 2gb RAM stick. so far about 5 minutes no problem, will start doing more and see what happens.

Mike.
Mike (15)
1271975 2012-05-10 21:48:00 I'll see how the 2gb goes for a while, and if no problems I'll put just the 1gb back in and run memtest on just that for a while... hopefully this is the problem

Mike.
Mike (15)
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