Is Memtest86+ the be all and end all with regards to memory/system stability?

dagwoood · 27 Apr 2006 at 01:30

I ask as I'm Prime(12+ hours), OCCT, SnM, Aquamark, SuperPi and 3Dmark05 stable, I have tried 2 different sets of memory in two different motherboards, but every type of configuration I've tried throws up errors in memtest86+.

So should I be concerned about the memory errors in Memtest and try to find a solution that would be costly to do(the only other avenues left to explore are PSU or CPU related); or just ignore the errors and put it down to one of lifes mysteries?

dagwoood.

quadboi · 27 Apr 2006 at 07:31

Hm, If it runs everything on your machine fine had no probblems i'd leave it..

Dutch Guy · 27 Apr 2006 at 10:00

What test produces the errors and is it always the same error?

dagwoood · 27 Apr 2006 at 10:09

Dutch Guy, it's normally test #4 that it fails on.

I came across a guide last night that says test #4 failures are normally related to HTT or Vcore issues. So I started Memtest after upping the Vcore, but it failed after a couple of cycles on test #6.

id10T_error · 27 Apr 2006 at 12:23

Everything goes through your memory so having 100% rock solid/stable memory is paramount imho...
If every other stability test program is giving your memory a full bill of health when run on their most extreme setting then I would suggest it's probably a compatibility issue with Memtest?!?! Have you tried a different build of memtest? Try a few different builds of Memtest and Memtest+.

Also all these other stress programs you have tried (I think) run within windows where-as Memtest run's in DOS?!?! Could you have an issue/problem in DOS????
Also do you not have any other memory lying around that you can chuck into the rig and test??

GuruJockStrap · 27 Apr 2006 at 12:40

I recall there being a bug with it where having the USB ports enabled would throw up sudden errors with certain configurations.

dagwoood · 27 Apr 2006 at 20:53

Thanks for the suggestion guys

I disabled USB in my BIOS and ran Memtest86+ v1.65, but it showed errors in test #4 on the first pass.

I then tried Memtest86 3.1a, but that showed errors also.

I then downloaded MemTest 3.4 which runs in windows. It prompted me to run two instances of the program in view of the amount of memory I have on my system(2GB)and I ran it though 10 cycles(which took 6 hours, that's why it's took so long to get back to this thread)and they didn't find any errors.

I think id10T_error may have been onto something when he/she suggested there's a compatibility problem with running the memory tests in DOS.

If I can concurrently run s/w to test memory for 6 hours and not get any errors, taking into account the hammering a CPU/memory controller would take to do this, I'm not going to loose any sleep, or pour money into, trying to cure a problem that Memtest86+ says I have. Not when all the other tests I've run haven't indicated any problems either.

Thanks everyone for the advice, dagwoood.

Dutch Guy · 28 Apr 2006 at 08:22

dagwoood said:
I'm not going to loose any sleep, or pour money into, trying to cure a problem that Memtest86+ says I have. Not when all the other tests I've run haven't indicated any problems either.

I agree, leave it as it is and only go troubleshooting if you get BSOD's, CTD's or lockups.