Uncorrectable memory error

[Submarine]

Here is one I have never faced before. I week ago, I found the following error in the Event Viewer log:
Log name: System
Source: Application popup
Event ID: 1801
"The hardware has reported an uncorrectable memory error."
Next day, there were two, and then three, and four, increasing with one every day until I had 8. They only appear when I turn off the computer and shut down its power supply, and then start again. I do this every night. At normal cold or warm boot, these errors do not appear. The messages come first in the error log. I have run the Vista Memory Diagnostics Tool and almost all Dell Utility Tool available at booting. I do no longer think, this is a hardware error. I have run the Symantec on-line scanner and dito Kaspersky. I have run my own McAfee Virus Scanner. I have downloaded Malwarebytes and run it. Yet I cannot be sure, I do no longer think this is some nasty infection. After a hard fight between Malwarebytes and McAfee, leading to a return to older restore points, restoration of files from backup and uninstallation of Malwarebytes, my computer now runs as well as it ever has on Vista. This is less good than on XP, but OK, and I like the interface. Anyone having an idea on how to further investigate the reasons for these errors? Keep in mind, I am an ordinary, but bold, user.

 

[Fumz]

Download memtest, Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic make a bootable cd/floppy and let it run for 8 hours. If your RAM is bad, or there are a few bad address ranges, this will let you know.

 

[Submarine]

Thanks, I have made the CD. Sorry for a stupid question, how do I boot from it?

 

[mansrm81]

Change your bios to have the dvd-rom or cd-rom to boot first. I don't remember where that setting is in dell computer just look around.

 

[Submarine]

Will do. I do not really think this is hardware related, but I guess it is a good idea to test this thouroughly first.

 

[Fumz]

This guy could be you: Solved: Uncorrectable Memory Error - Tech Support Guy Forums Same error, same OEM.

Agreed, lets start with the most basic and simplest and move on. Make sure to let memtest run for a minimum of 8 hours. Don't shortchange yourself here. If your RAM turns out fine, then look into updating your bios. As far as I can tell these are the only two solutions to the problem.

Event ID 1801 may be logged in the System log on a computer that is running Windows Vista

You haven't messed with the bios' settings have you?

***edit***

Not sure how I forgot about this, but...

Hit the Windows logo key (on keyboard), then type reliability. Hit enter, elevate privileges and highlight 'reliability monitor'. The red circle with the x in it should have some details we can use to troubleshoot this. Find the error, list the problem(s).

 

[Submarine]

Struggling with making a bootable DVD with the Iso image with help of Roxio. No success so far.

Reliability monitor provides no clue. I have had some problems though. Explorer.exe behaves strangely since a while back, problably from about the same time I started getting these errors. The taskbar disappears. I have tried various solutions recommended on the internet, like activating and deactivating the screen saver, changing screen resolution and so. It isn't just it has minimized below the screen. Only way to get it back is to stop the process in the task manager and then start it again. Desktop shortcuts do not disappear (until I kill the process). These problems leaves nothing in the event log or in the reliability monitor. This could be something else though, and I will try to uninstall some programs and re-install them again as it could be related to some of the plug-in icons.
The strange thing with the memory error is, it only occures after turning off the power supply, and that there is an extra every day. When backing on restore points, I went back to one again, now increased to two. How odd.. This is one of the reasons I suspect this may be soft ware related. Have not tampered with the BIOS (until today when I moved my DVD drive first in boot chain), and it is the latest verion. No overclocking.

 

[Fumz]

Oh god... please get rid of Roxio. I could go on for days about their software... grab this instead: The Official ImgBurn Website You'll be a much happier and speedier camper. :D

Why are you turning off your power supply... just curious?

How old is this Vista install? Do you have a ton of patches prior to SP1?

 

[Submarine]

I have no good excuse for turning the power off. Just that I have several cords plugged in to a safety switch and this one has a manual switch. As I have it, why not turn the power off when I go to bed?

Will make a new attempt to boot, and then, as this is likely to fail, go to bed. Good night and thanks for the help today.

 

[Fumz]

sleep is for wussies... :D

 

[Submarine]

Sleep? People here hibernate, don't they? Where ordinary people have REM-sleep, we have RAM-sleep (and wasn't it cats who are for..?).

I haven't had time to do anything about this, keeping the power supply on overnight. Still I have to admit, it would be interesting to see what happens when the count reaches 10. UFOs all over, CPU explosion or just black out?

I have decided to start by uninstalling Adobe Reader 9, dito Flash and Shockwave and then McAfee. Then install the October Nvidia graphics driver and re-install the programs again. Followed by memory and hard disk tests. I have had two occasions when the computer did not boot at all. If it happens again, I'll make sure I notice if BIOS loads. Power off and on again worked.
I will post on the development.

 

[Submarine]

I have upgraded my Graphics driver. Still get this error, occasionally also at "normal" cold boot.
This is the error I get:
View attachment 8196

Just by coincidence, I found the foillowing in the Perfmon:
View attachment 8197

And then this:
View attachment 8198

And these:
View attachment 8199View attachment 8200

Anybody having a suggestion how to proceed?

 

[Submarine]

Sorry for triple posting...
Changing the view in the Device Manager revealed the following, indicating the sound card or PhysX as potential reason for the errors (unless I am totally on the wrong track here):

Considering taking them out to see if this solves the problem.

Have also run a 36 hour HDD test without any errors and then the Memtest86 program. After 9 hours of testing, it found 46 errors and displayed the following information:
Error Cofidence Value: 109
Lowest Error Address: 0000000332a - 0.1 MB
Highest Error Address: 000f58cdbff - 3928.8 MB
Bits in Error Mask: ffffffff
Bits in Error - Total: 32 Min: 6 Max: 22 Avg: 15
Max Contiguous Errors: 1
ECC Correctable Errors: Blank (ECC not enabled)
Errors per Memory Slot: 0:13, 1:12, 2:7, 3:14
44 errors were found in test 7 (Random number sequence) and two in test 8 (Modulo 20, ones&zeros). Nothing in the other 7 tests.

Not sure how to interpret this. Also noticed that this version of the program has not been updated for a couple of years and it reports my CPU as Intel Core 2 2400 MHz and no info for the chipset. The hompage says that "Memtest86 is designed to work with all memory types and all chipsets. Only support for ECC requires knowledge of the chipset", so maybe it is reliable.

Grateful for some experienced interpretation and advice.

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

Memtest errors. Test one stick of RAM at a time. Do you have matching sticks of RAM? Do you overclock? If you overclock, reset timing to default and reboot. Then, test.

 

[Submarine]

Memtest errors. Test one stick of RAM at a time. Do you have matching sticks of RAM? Do you overclock? If you overclock, reset timing to default and reboot. Then, test.

Tested the modules one by one today. One of them failed totally. The test even refused to finish. Seems I found something to fix. Strange the Dell Utilities memory test could not find anything wrong. Neither did Vista Memory Diagnostics.

I tested the sticks one by one and this one was the second in order. It produced 10 errors in test 4 and refused to go any further. Rebooted and tested again. Now it found thousands of errors in test 2 and just ran this test over and over. Then tested the remaining two sticks without problems and went back and tested the faulty one again. Identical result on test 2. Then ran Dell Diagnostics on this stick and was told it passed all tests.

So, can I safely conclude this stick needs to be replaced?

 

[Submarine]

Replaced my faulty memory stick with a new one. Got it from Dell. My memory speed dropped from 800 Mhz to 667 (discussing this with Dell), but the error message disappeared. Computer overall more responsive. Thanks for the help.

 

[Submarine]

Dell sent me four new sticks. Unfortunately, two were 555 and two 666, probably a picking error. Installed two 555 and kept two of my old. Memory now running 800 Mhz, and is more responsive than ever, yet WEI did not change.