ekeller99
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BSOD on WinXP Pro with new RAM stick
I've been getting periodic BSODs on my WinXP Pro workstation with recent hardware upgrades
Western Digital 80 GB HD
ATI graphics card
SDRAM (1GB) PC3200
I can get the specs on these hardware upgrades, if necessary - am really exhausted right now. Long hours and tired from working on a tight deadline with a computer that performs slowly on one 512MB stick of RAM. Put in the new 1GB SDRAM stick today and the BSOD happens much more frequently (enough to really drag out my work day).
Check of System Event Logs shows corresponding "System Error" at time of BSOD "explosion", but no error details and MS KB does not pull up anything for the error code.
So far have tried checking system temps (CPU at 56 degrees C), running Memtest on both 512MB sticks of legacy RAM together, separately, and in each slot separately, but no errors. One stick of RAM, when reinserted, was preventing the system from booting up, so removed it. Inserted recently purchased 1GB RAM stick and BSODs are now worse.
These non-descript error codes that lead nowhere are not helping me troubleshoot this. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Western Digital 80 GB HD
ATI graphics card
SDRAM (1GB) PC3200
I can get the specs on these hardware upgrades, if necessary - am really exhausted right now. Long hours and tired from working on a tight deadline with a computer that performs slowly on one 512MB stick of RAM. Put in the new 1GB SDRAM stick today and the BSOD happens much more frequently (enough to really drag out my work day).
Check of System Event Logs shows corresponding "System Error" at time of BSOD "explosion", but no error details and MS KB does not pull up anything for the error code.
So far have tried checking system temps (CPU at 56 degrees C), running Memtest on both 512MB sticks of legacy RAM together, separately, and in each slot separately, but no errors. One stick of RAM, when reinserted, was preventing the system from booting up, so removed it. Inserted recently purchased 1GB RAM stick and BSODs are now worse.
These non-descript error codes that lead nowhere are not helping me troubleshoot this. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Sorry my bad, saw that you have ran the RAM test and shows no error.
Issues may be with your mainboard probably
- Try the following to see if your issue is resolved.
1) Reseat all ur items in ur CPU, cables, rams, harddrives conections, PCI cards, graphic cards etc
2) Remember your current BIOS settings and try a reset of BIOS
3) Worse to worse, try to update your mainboard BIOS if u have not done so for the past 2 years (PLEASE DO NOT CARRY OUT THIS IF YOU AIN'T SURE OF A BIOS UPDATE)
4) Change your BIOS battery if you have not done so for the past years. (I ever had few systems having errors due to BIOS battery issue short-circuiting the mainboard)
5 Have another harddisk to install a fresh copy of WinXp to see if BSOD still occurs
Issues may be with your mainboard probably
- Try the following to see if your issue is resolved.
1) Reseat all ur items in ur CPU, cables, rams, harddrives conections, PCI cards, graphic cards etc
2) Remember your current BIOS settings and try a reset of BIOS
3) Worse to worse, try to update your mainboard BIOS if u have not done so for the past 2 years (PLEASE DO NOT CARRY OUT THIS IF YOU AIN'T SURE OF A BIOS UPDATE)
4) Change your BIOS battery if you have not done so for the past years. (I ever had few systems having errors due to BIOS battery issue short-circuiting the mainboard)
5 Have another harddisk to install a fresh copy of WinXp to see if BSOD still occurs
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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check also for bad caps : www.badcaps.net
Did you change video card and add memory at the same time? Your error is commonly caused by video card drivers.
Download and install current drivers from ATI (AMD) website.
Download and install current drivers from ATI (AMD) website.
make sure your running at least .net 2.0 for willcomps solutions
ASKER
I've been out of my office all day, so haven't had a chance to follow up. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
I've downloaded the most recent drivers for the ATI Radeon video card and will install that.
I've also removed the NEW 1GB RAM stick. I'm currently working on the system with only the legacy 512KB RAM and it seems to be stable.
My suspicion is that the problem might be with one of the RAM slots on mobo. No matter what RAM I insert into that slot, I get BSODs and performance issues.
Will update the video drivers and see how it performs for a while. Then, will experiment with inserting both the second 512KB RAM stick and the new 1GB RAM stick in the (suspect) slot and see what happens with stability.
I've downloaded the most recent drivers for the ATI Radeon video card and will install that.
I've also removed the NEW 1GB RAM stick. I'm currently working on the system with only the legacy 512KB RAM and it seems to be stable.
My suspicion is that the problem might be with one of the RAM slots on mobo. No matter what RAM I insert into that slot, I get BSODs and performance issues.
Will update the video drivers and see how it performs for a while. Then, will experiment with inserting both the second 512KB RAM stick and the new 1GB RAM stick in the (suspect) slot and see what happens with stability.
ekeller99,
Hope everything goes well. Keep us updated. :)
Hope everything goes well. Keep us updated. :)
ASKER
Well, here's what's happened in the last couple of days..
- installed the latest drivers for the ATI Radeon video card (which took WAY too long), rebooted the system and continued to have seriously degraded performance. I tested system performance by uninstalling an older version of a software program and installing a new one and the whole process took about 25 mins!! Screen went black and came back on during the process
- decided to run windows "Error Checking" on the primary drive, selecting "Automaticallly Fix File system errors" and "Scan for attempt recovery of bad sectors" and went to bed. Got up the next morning after the system completed error checking and fully rebooted and it's a lot more zippy. Also seems to be much more stable. It looks like HD errors were the problem?? (this is a NEW HD, aaaarrrggggh)
I will now try replacing the RAM into the suspect slot and see if system performance and stability remain or improve.
Will let you know how that goes.
- installed the latest drivers for the ATI Radeon video card (which took WAY too long), rebooted the system and continued to have seriously degraded performance. I tested system performance by uninstalling an older version of a software program and installing a new one and the whole process took about 25 mins!! Screen went black and came back on during the process
- decided to run windows "Error Checking" on the primary drive, selecting "Automaticallly Fix File system errors" and "Scan for attempt recovery of bad sectors" and went to bed. Got up the next morning after the system completed error checking and fully rebooted and it's a lot more zippy. Also seems to be much more stable. It looks like HD errors were the problem?? (this is a NEW HD, aaaarrrggggh)
I will now try replacing the RAM into the suspect slot and see if system performance and stability remain or improve.
Will let you know how that goes.
you might also run a disk test of the drive : http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
to be sure about it's status
to be sure about it's status
ASKER
Thanks, nobus. Running the error checking utility on this HD may have already fixed any issues it might have had.I followed the link, downloaded and ran the Diagnostic Utility for the Western Digital HD and everything came up fine.
Last night I inserted the new 1GB RAM stick into the suspect slot on the mobo to see how it would 'behave'. I got another BSOD so I shut it down for the night. This morning, before powering on, I moved the new 1GB RAM stick into slot #1, removing the 512MB one I had in there and left slot #2 empty. Powered on, booted up like a rocket and has been stable so far.
It's looking more and more like the issue may be the RAM slot on the mobo. I've got about five different sticks of RAM I've tested in 2 different computers and the issue always seems to come back to ANY RAM in slot #2 on this mobo.
Has anyone heard of a failing RAM slot causing errors on a HD? My issues may be several fold, not just the RAM slot. Perhaps there is something else on the mobo that is failing?
Last night I inserted the new 1GB RAM stick into the suspect slot on the mobo to see how it would 'behave'. I got another BSOD so I shut it down for the night. This morning, before powering on, I moved the new 1GB RAM stick into slot #1, removing the 512MB one I had in there and left slot #2 empty. Powered on, booted up like a rocket and has been stable so far.
It's looking more and more like the issue may be the RAM slot on the mobo. I've got about five different sticks of RAM I've tested in 2 different computers and the issue always seems to come back to ANY RAM in slot #2 on this mobo.
Has anyone heard of a failing RAM slot causing errors on a HD? My issues may be several fold, not just the RAM slot. Perhaps there is something else on the mobo that is failing?
SOLUTION
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ekeller99,
It may be a motherboard manufacturer issue or it may be that ur motherboard requires a BIOS update if you have not update your BIOS for a certain time.
It may be a motherboard manufacturer issue or it may be that ur motherboard requires a BIOS update if you have not update your BIOS for a certain time.
You've mentioned that when using a 512MB ram, your system functions fine but only that it's very slow right? Or am I right to say that BSOD happens even so with ur 512MB ram originally?
You may wish to perform RAM test at following url:
http://www.memtest86.com/