My Laptop failed Prime 95

[ssvegeta1010]

So the problem is as said above. I have gotten three BSODs caused by corrupted RAM and this has luckily shown it as a hardware problem. (Luckily because Dell can likely replace my RAM)

Does anybody know if this test shows anything specific? Also could anything else be the culprit?

I guess I'll memtest ASAP and see which stick or slot it is.

Also, has anyone dealt with a hardware problem with Dell support? I know it will most likely not be good, but if Dell Diagnostics fail (which I havent tested yet), they should have to recognize the problem.

Anyway, he are some specifics:

Test 1, 100000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M983041 using 48K FFT length.
FATAL ERROR: Resulting sum was -274052680556707, expected 3.214221154101201e+023
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
Torute Test ran 5 hours, 40 minutes - 1 errors, 0 warnings
Execution halted.


Thanks for any help/info in advance.

 

[fstime]

Five hours is long enough.... Its only a laptop, how stable do you want it to be.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

I know that its pretty stable but the reason I investingated into this was because I was receiving multiple BSODs, and also I am participating in DC projects and Im sure they dont want tainted results.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What are your temps? Are you running on AC power ("performance") mode, or battery? It could be heat-related too, some laptops don't have the greatest cooling, and running something that puts a 100% load on the CPU can push them over the top, and could cause the GPU and DRAM to overheat a bit too if internal ambient temps rise too high.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Five hours is long enough.... Its only a laptop, how stable do you want it to be.

More stable than that. Any instability in a system, to me, is unacceptable.

How often do you want your system to crash? Is once every couple days OK? How about random data corruption? If it only happens once every two or three weeks, and it only rarely requires a format/reinstall or wipes out a file you're working on, would you be OK with that?

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Virtual- I am sure that the temps are fine as I was basically watching the system the entire time. I have a program which I use to keep the fan on high at all times and the temps were from 56C to 44C (when i took the laptop into a 40F room for a few hours.) I think those temps would still be fine, because of the ambient air temp which was mostly about 40F.

Matthias- Exactly what I should tell Dell.

 

[Budman]

How can you be sure that it's the ram if you're using prime95?

If I were you I would test with memtest to be sure that it's the ram that's causing your problems.

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Budman- The BSODs being caused by RAM lead me to be 90% sure its the RAM, and I will get to memtest to dtermine for sure, and to see which stick/socket is faulty.

Do you know about how long this error would take to show up in a memtest run?

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: ssvegeta1010
Do you know about how long this error would take to show up in a memtest run?

I would say let it run a few hours or overnight if you can.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Ok, ill probably have to get to it on the weekend then, for the next few days, maybe ill try the Dell Diagnostics and hopefully those will detect the error also.

BTW, this is a 6-month old Dell Inspirion 5150 with Samsung PC 2700 Memory

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: ssvegeta1010
Ok, ill probably have to get to it on the weekend then, for the next few days, maybe ill try the Dell Diagnostics and hopefully those will detect the error also.

BTW, this is a 6-month old Dell Inspirion 5150 with Samsung PC 2700 Memory

you can run it now for a few minutes,if your ram is bad it should show up pretty fast.

I said a few hours to make sure the ram is good but if it's bad usualy it shows up pretty quick.


And btw before you ask 1 error is 1 error too much.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Thanks for all the help, but it is too late for me to do anything now (school...)
But i will try to figure all of this out soon, and hopefully I will get some compensation from Dell.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

bump for more help/info

 

[Terumo]

Originally posted by: Budman
How can you be sure that it's the ram if you're using prime95?

If I were you I would test with memtest to be sure that it's the ram that's causing your problems.

http://www.memtest.org/

Bud, unfortunately Memtest86 isn't catching the memory errors on some builts. My memory is suppose to be 32bit/1066mhz, but it's actually running at 16bit/800mhz. Even with the motherboard configed at different levels -- like running it even over 600mhz FSB -- thing still comes out free of errors. Three full Memtest86 tests come out clean, but something clearly is wrong for 32bit memory to run underclocked.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

I am trying to run memtest and I have the image, but I do not have a program capable of burning an image of a CD to boot from.
Can anyone recommend a program? EDIT: Preferably a free program or trial.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: ssvegeta1010
I am trying to run memtest and I have the image, but I do not have a program capable of burning an image of a CD to boot from.
Can anyone recommend a program? EDIT: Preferably a free program or trial.

DVDShrink (free) can burn CDs as well as DVDs in "ISO mode", I think that should work. Although, I think it uses the Nero burn engine, which may require Nero (also available as a trial) to be installed first, scratch that. Just download Nero, and you should be able to use it to burn the ISO. There's also a freeware proggy called "BurnAtOnce", but I've never used it.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

I cant find a Nero demo on their site, all I can find is a free update from a paid version and free other programs.

I guess ill try to find DVD shrink for now. Thanks!

EDIT: DVD Shrink requires Nero.

Found Nero dl here

Can I just get the first package and use Nero Image Drive?

EDIT2: Here there should be a free version but there isnt and the older version says that it is not a demo.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Help for a burning program that can do ISO?

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Never mind, after navagating my Sonic Recordnow! Help Menu. I realized that it can intelligently burn images when an ISO file is drap and dropped.
Now to try memtest86+.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

CD boot did not initialize and burning attempt with Microsoft's cdburn.exe had a reinserting/ejecting error.
I guess memtest will have to wait, for now Ill just try Dell Diagnostics.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sorry, Nero always used to have a free-trial version of their software on their site. Tried BurnAtOnce yet?

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Ok, heres whats happened so far. I burnt a ISO CD with cdburn.exe from Microsoft, but it said that it didnt 'initialize cache' after the burn. I tried the disk and it worked.

So after about 2hrs of memtest86+ my system had no errors, it went for 8 passes of all tests. I will still run for longer periods of time later, but what does this currently mean?

Is my RAM ok after all? Should I use memtest more? Could anything else be bad instead?

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: ssvegeta1010
Ok, heres whats happened so far. I burnt a ISO CD with cdburn.exe from Microsoft, but it said that it didnt 'initialize cache' after the burn. I tried the disk and it worked.

So after about 2hrs of memtest86+ my system had no errors, it went for 8 passes of all tests. I will still run for longer periods of time later, but what does this currently mean?

Is my RAM ok after all? Should I use memtest more? Could anything else be bad instead?

yes this means you ram is good,so now that the ram has been tested & found good but prime95 found something bad we can only deduce that there's something wrong with your cpu or the cache on your cpu.

either way it points to a cpu error.

 

[sirfergy]

Sounds heat related. I'm pretty sure the 5150 doesn't use a mobile cpu. Don't run DC on a laptop, that's the best suggestion I can offer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Found this , it appears that the 5150 models may have a heat problem.

Btw, are these particular models, Sager OEMs? I have a friend that bought a Sager OEM-made P4 2.4Ghz laptop, and it came with a desktop chip installed, and it is useless for gaming, because the thing overheats and apps start crashing in about an hour of solid use, even with a desk fan blowing right into the cooling ports.

Edit: Found an updated NV laptop video-driver hacked-INF thread here too.