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Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem



 
 
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  #11  
Old December 10th 13, 07:07 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
RayLopez99
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Posts: 897
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

On Tuesday, December 3, 2013 9:06:08 AM UTC+8, Flasherly wrote:
[stuff]

Well the BSOD is not going away, but not getting worse either. Perusing the net, I saw some threads that indicated it was a motherboard problem.

How would a motherboard problem cause BSOD that is intermittent? That is, does not always occur?

I have gradually replaced all 25 drivers identified with DriverMax save three: Mouse and KB drivers and the Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller -

This last one I see has caused a problem with at least one user he https://communities.intel.com/message/185025

But I doubt this driver is at fault, but who knows?

Questions:

1/ would mainboard for an i5 system bought in 2011 be at fault? Would it go bad so quickly? Doubtful. Is it easy to replace the motherboard? I've build a system, so of course the answer is yes, just double checking. For an i5 quad core the only issue is finding a mainboard that accepts the uP, and getting the heat transfer patch applied correctly; I probably would go to the local PC shop and let them do it quickly rather than soil my hands (been there done that).

2/ would fact I am using a pirate version of Windows 7, SP1, but no other updates since SP1, be at fault? Why would having the latest update be important? Wasn't Win7, SP1 stable?

3/ would installing a new but cheap graphics card, by ATI, Radeon MHD 4600, be at fault, even though I have the latest drivers from this year reinstalled? I doubt it.

4/ would a faulty USB port be at fault? At one point I had USB 3.0 but now it only defaults to USB 2.0. Either a bad driver or the port has gone bad. But why would this cause a BSOD? I can see it not working, but would a faulty driver for USB or bad hardware USB port cause BSOD? I doubt it

5/ Here is what the excellent freeware BlueScreenView shows. Various drivers are last reported in various BSOD's, so it's not always one, but common causes a

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

And of course the classic driver ntoskrnl.exe is usually at the top of the culprit list, but I doubt this necessary program is at fault or corrupted.

I think however cause 2/ might be a problem, but in connection with some other program I may have installed, like freeware GOM video player (I think this is buggy, but it also is very handy) ...I do have a licensed version of Win7 and worse case, if this BSOD becomes more annoying (right now it's tolerable) I might do a clean reinstall and use the licensed CD.

Any suggestions appreciated.

RL
  #12  
Old December 10th 13, 08:28 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul
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Posts: 13,364
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

RayLopez99 wrote:
On Tuesday, December 3, 2013 9:06:08 AM UTC+8, Flasherly wrote:
[stuff]

Well the BSOD is not going away, but not getting worse either. Perusing the net, I saw some threads that indicated it was a motherboard problem.

How would a motherboard problem cause BSOD that is intermittent? That is, does not always occur?

I have gradually replaced all 25 drivers identified with DriverMax save three: Mouse and KB drivers and the Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller -

This last one I see has caused a problem with at least one user he https://communities.intel.com/message/185025

But I doubt this driver is at fault, but who knows?

Questions:

1/ would mainboard for an i5 system bought in 2011 be at fault? Would it go bad so quickly? Doubtful. Is it easy to replace the motherboard? I've build a system, so of course the answer is yes, just double checking. For an i5 quad core the only issue is finding a mainboard that accepts the uP, and getting the heat transfer patch applied correctly; I probably would go to the local PC shop and let them do it quickly rather than soil my hands (been there done that).

2/ would fact I am using a pirate version of Windows 7, SP1, but no other updates since SP1, be at fault? Why would having the latest update be important? Wasn't Win7, SP1 stable?

3/ would installing a new but cheap graphics card, by ATI, Radeon MHD 4600, be at fault, even though I have the latest drivers from this year reinstalled? I doubt it.

4/ would a faulty USB port be at fault? At one point I had USB 3.0 but now it only defaults to USB 2.0. Either a bad driver or the port has gone bad. But why would this cause a BSOD? I can see it not working, but would a faulty driver for USB or bad hardware USB port cause BSOD? I doubt it

5/ Here is what the excellent freeware BlueScreenView shows. Various drivers are last reported in various BSOD's, so it's not always one, but common causes a

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

And of course the classic driver ntoskrnl.exe is usually at the top of the culprit list, but I doubt this necessary program is at fault or corrupted.

I think however cause 2/ might be a problem, but in connection with some other program I may have installed, like freeware GOM video player (I think this is buggy, but it also is very handy) ...I do have a licensed version of Win7 and worse case, if this BSOD becomes more annoying (right now it's tolerable) I might do a clean reinstall and use the licensed CD.

Any suggestions appreciated.

RL


You double check, by running another OS.
And observe whether the same symptoms are showing up.

I used to have a problem with Win98. I suffered with the
problem for about a year. Then, one day, I booted a Linux
LiveCD. With the problem hardware in place. And I got
similar problems. Immediately, based on the severity of
the problem, I could conclude it was a motherboard design
problem. Up to that time, I'd been blaming Win98. And
Win98 wasn't actually the problem. The motherboard used
440BX chipset - two sticks of RAM were extremely stable
(16 hours of Prime95, no errors), install all four sticks
and it could crash sitting idle in the desktop. I didn't
even need to run Prime95 when all the RAM slots were full.
In either Windows 98 or Linux. Same level of instability.
It seemed like an AGP problem.

I wouldn't have known that, if I hadn't run a second OS.
Now, it's a part of my testing procedures.

Versions of Prime95 run under both Windows and Linux.
If you need a 100% CPU test, you can use that. It's
available from mersenne.org/freesoft . You use the
torture test, as a way to check the stability of
your processor and memory.

*******

The Intel chipset drivers have a USB section. The
USB section is a stub. It applies a nice neat text
title to the USB entries showing in Device Manager.
Then, it calls "usbport.inf", the standard Microsoft
driver. And that driver installs the Microsoft stuff.
There's nothing Intel in that, to speak of. It's a stub.

If you download the chipset drivers for your chipset
from Intel, you can review the USB section for yourself.
The driver used to be called INFINST.

USB2 and USB3, are different animals. I'm not going into
the details, because it's quite possible you don't
have any USB3. USB3 is a much more "uneven" situation.
In one OS, Microsoft owns the driver now. And in older
OSes, you may end up using the hardware company driver.
(Just like in Win98, there was the Maximus Decim driver,
because no other driver was available.)

Paul
  #13  
Old December 11th 13, 02:54 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
RayLopez99
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Posts: 897
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

On Tuesday, December 10, 2013 4:28:27 PM UTC+8, Paul wrote:
[useful stuff]

Here are some more "for Paul type" questions: :-)

1/ why would Memtest86+ take more than 8 hours to run? I ran it overnight, at least eight hours, with no errors found in the RAM. I have 4 GB RAM and an i5 fast uP. So why isn't the memory exhaustively tested? Why would I have to run the test for say 18 hours just to be extra sure of no errors?

2/ I test using Memtest on a USB stick that is bootable, and it defaults to a DOS console mode. Thus obviously memtest cannot test the area in memory that the program itself occupies (though I supposed it can randomly occupy various places in RAM to avoid this problem), nor can memtest test the programs occupying RAM during bootup, such as the tiny drivers or somesuch that is driving the console, right? So what if your error is in those areas of the RAM? Well I suppose if that was true perhaps your PC would not even boot up properly, or crash before it even gets to Memtest?

3/ Why would running a program like Prime95 or some such that stress the PC uP and RAM be helpful? Is it because if there's an error in your RAM, it will manifest itself by having the PC crash when running Prime95 overnight? That's a rather crude way of testing memory but I guess it makes sense. BTW, is this finding a prime number program a sort of TSR program that is hard to remove? I downloaded it, looked at the documentation, and was a bit leery since it seemed to almost be like spyware, running in the background and/or maybe embedding itself in your registry and maybe hard to uninstall.. If that's not the case I might install it.

Thank you.

RL
  #14  
Old December 11th 13, 04:43 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul
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Posts: 13,364
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

RayLopez99 wrote:
On Tuesday, December 10, 2013 4:28:27 PM UTC+8, Paul wrote:
[useful stuff]

Here are some more "for Paul type" questions: :-)

1/ why would Memtest86+ take more than 8 hours to run? I ran it overnight,
at least eight hours, with no errors found in the RAM. I have 4 GB RAM and
an i5 fast uP. So why isn't the memory exhaustively tested? Why would I
have to run the test for say 18 hours just to be extra sure of no errors?


Consult the "Pass" counter on the screen. It records the
number of times the whole test suite has been run. Considering
what memtest86+ detects, and how well it works, I'm happy
just doing one pass, then moving on to other testing.

I treat it mainly as a "stuck-at" tester. Not as a "transient"
tester. For transients (non-repeatable errors), I'd rather use
the more stressful Prime95. Even if it doesn't test every
memory location, it can still be used to detect bad timing.
(Marginal RAM timing, will eventually throw an error.)

The memtest86+ test will run forever, bumping the Pass counter
after each test pass is complete. To quit, press esc, and the
machine should reboot.


2/ I test using Memtest on a USB stick that is bootable, and it defaults
to a DOS console mode. Thus obviously memtest cannot test the area in
memory that the program itself occupies (though I supposed it can randomly
occupy various places in RAM to avoid this problem), nor can memtest test
the programs occupying RAM during bootup, such as the tiny drivers or
somesuch that is driving the console, right? So what if your error is in
those areas of the RAM? Well I suppose if that was true perhaps your PC
would not even boot up properly, or crash before it even gets to Memtest?


See the source code. There is source code available.

There was no "DOS" in anything I ran here.

The code is rather unique, in that it boots from
the BIOS, and that single program is the "whole OS".
For the single threaded version, there is no scheduler,
no kernel, no nothing. Just a single program, making
BIOS calls to do stuff. It's probably writing directly
to a BIOS frame buffer, and accepting the BIOS VESA screen
mode that is already set up. That's why it's stuck at
800x600 or whatever. It's using a default VESA mode,
just like the BIOS does.

When you prepare a boot floppy, you can't even see a
file system on the floppy. It seems the program is
just copied directly to the floppy as a block device.
Perhaps the USB version is similar ?

The code also "lifts the executable out of the way"
and tests underneath it. Look at the address counter
carefully. You'll see an extremely short test interval,
which is the "testing the underneath part". The code
copies itself to an already-tested area, then does
a JMP to the copied code, then sets the test address to
point to the old code location, and runs the tests.

For all that care and cleverness, the program still has
untestable locations. The BIOS passes a table of
reserved locations, which are not to be used. Memtest86+
honors that table. That causes around 1MB of RAM to
not get tested. You can cover all the RAM, by running
single channel mode, and swapping the upper and lower
DIMMs. That means, you test two sticks at a time,
and run two test cases, to cover all the memory locations
on the two DIMMs.


3/ Why would running a program like Prime95 or some such
that stress the PC uP and RAM be helpful? Is it because
if there's an error in your RAM, it will manifest itself by
having the PC crash when running Prime95 overnight? That's
a rather crude way of testing memory but I guess it makes sense.
BTW, is this finding a prime number program a sort of TSR
program that is hard to remove? I downloaded it, looked at
the documentation, and was a bit leery since it seemed to
almost be like spyware, running in the background and/or maybe
embedding itself in your registry and maybe hard to uninstall.


If that's not the case I might install it.

Thank you.

RL


Prime95 has two operating modes.

It wasn't written for us. It was written for mathematicians,
to detect prime numbers. The prime numbers can be used for
diverse things, like being part of polynomials used for
encryption. Stuff like that.

Since the run time is long, and the task is important, the
author of the program, wanted to test the computer hardware.
You test the hardware, before relying on the hardware to
do the actual math.

When you run the program for the first time, you can
"Join GIMPs" or you can do "Just Testing". You don't
want to join GIMPs, unless you intend to leave the TSR
running 24/7. GIMPS server will send you numbers
to test, and then your computer goes off and tests
them.

As overclockers, we use the hardware test ("Just Testing")
to our advantage.

The test is relatively simple. A large number of FFTs are run.
The FFTs are different sizes. They test different amounts of
memory. The author of the program, knows the "exact answer"
for each test. If a test is wrong, the test thread stops,
and the screen may have some red color to show the thread
has stopped. That means your PC needs work.

The program should start a thread per physical or virtual core.
You leave it running overnight, then the next day, check
to see if any thread got a "rounding error". They're not
really rounding errors - typically a result is bad because
there was a memory error. We don't get an "address" of
a bad location. We merely know "our memory is unreliable".

In obscure cases, the fault is actually with the FPU on
the processor. Or the ALU. There have been cases, where it
was actually the processor that was bad. There was at least
one small batch of Intel processors like that.

When you get a "stopped" thread, you don't really know
what broke. All you know, is you can no longer rely on
your computer for a correct result. Then, go off and
fix it.

A slightly better test, is to run Prime95, at the
same time as you play a 3D game. That seems to
offer a bit more electrical stress (to power supply),
than running Prime95 by itself. Obviously, I do that
for shorter runs. I'd get pretty bored doing that
all night. I was using that, while testing some
overclocks on my P4 (which happened to be a miserable
overclocker).

Paul
  #15  
Old December 12th 13, 07:09 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
RayLopez99
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Posts: 897
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 12:43:47 PM UTC+8, Paul wrote:

[useful stuff]

Well this mystery deepens. I downloaded the Prime95 program, clicked on "Just Testing", and *immediately* got rejected. Very strange. As I type this I am running CPU Stability Test 6.0 without any problems so far, but I will run for at least 8 hours. Also I am downloading the PCMark freeware version. Can you recommend others? I am relying on the Prime95 author of the note below for suggestions. Can you endorse any of these sites for useful information, like Tom's Hardware or www.overclockers.com?

What is weird is that if Prime95 immediately rejects my i5 PC, it must be due to some detected trivial to find property like temperature (but my mobo temperatures are OK, just giving an example)? What else can cause an immediate fail? Can you detect "bad RAM memory timings" immediately for example?

BTW I program just fine on this machine, using Visual Studio 2010, so programming must not be a high-stress PC activity. The PC seems to crash when playing back Youtube music videos (or shortly thereafter, so it seems, and the sound card seems a bit weak on volume at times for certain videos, but not for Skype--can a bad sound card cause a system to hang?) so perhaps it's a graphics card problem, but how could Prime95 detect that so fast? Strange.

RL

Forums are a great place to learn about available stability test programs
and to get advice on what to do when a problem is found.

The currently popular stability test programs are (sorry, I don't have
web addresses for these):
Prime95 (this program's torture test)
3DMark2001
CPU Stability test
Sisoft sandra
Quake and other games
Folding@Home
Seti@home
Genome@home

Several useful websites for help (look for overclocking community or forum):
http://www.overclockers.com
http://www.arstechnica.com
http://www.hardocp.com
http://www.anandtech.com
http://www.tomshardware.com
http://www.sharkyextreme.com
Also try the alt.comp.hardware.overclocking Usenet newsgroup.

Utility programs you may find useful (I'm sure there are others - look around):
Motherboard monitor from http://mbm.livewiredev.com
Memtest86 from http://www.memtest86.com
Cpuburn by redelm: http://pages.sbcglobal.net/redelm/
TaskInfo2002 from http://www.iarsn.com/


WHAT TO DO IF A PROBLEM IS FOUND?
---------------------------------

The exact cause of a hardware problem can be very hard to find.

If you are not overclocking, the most likely cause is an overheating CPU
or memory DIMMs that are not quite up to spec. Another possibility is
you might need a better power supply. Try running MotherBoard monitor
and browse the forums above to see if your CPU is running too hot.
If so, make sure the heat sink is properly attached, fans are operational,
and air flow inside the case is good. For isolating memory problems, try
swapping memory DIMMs with a co-worker's or friend's machine. If the errors
go away, then you can be fairly confidant that memory was the cause of
the trouble. A power supply problem can often be identified by a significant
drop in the voltages when prime95 starts running. Once again the overclocker
forums are a good resource for what voltages are acceptable.
From Prime95 stress.txt file


If you are overclocking then try increasing the core voltage, reduce the
CPU speed, reduce the front side bus speed, or change the memory timings
(CAS latency). Also try asking for help in one of the forums above - they
may have other ideas to try.


CAN I IGNORE THE PROBLEM?
-------------------------

Ignoring the problem is a matter of personal preference. There are
two schools of thought on this subject.

Most programs you run will not stress your computer enough to cause a
wrong result or system crash. If you ignore the problem, then video games
may stress your machine resulting in a system crash. Also, stay away from
distributed computing projects where an incorrect calculation might cause
you to return wrong results. Bad data will not help these projects!
In conclusion, if you are comfortable with a small risk of an occasional
system crash then feel free to live a little dangerously! Keep in mind
that the faster prime95 finds a hardware error the more likely it is that
other programs will experience problems.

The second school of thought is, "Why run a stress test if you are going
to ignore the results?" These people want a guaranteed 100% rock solid
machine. Passing these stability tests gives them the ability to run
CPU intensive programs with confidence.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
--------------------------
  #16  
Old December 12th 13, 07:24 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
RayLopez99
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Posts: 897
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 3:09:49 PM UTC+8, RayLopez99 wrote:
On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 12:43:47 PM UTC+8, Paul wrote:



[useful stuff]



Well this mystery deepens.


OMG! I may have a bad math co-processor (or whatever you call that FPU/CPU component)? I re-ran the Prime95 "just testing" stress test and get this error, almost right away, for all four cores (some failed first before the others did): "FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5 [or for some cores 0.4975...] expected less than 0.4".

So that means a uP error, right? I got this chip when i5-2400 just came out, and I have the CPU part number: CM8062300834106. Is there any way to check for 'recalled' or 'defective' Intel chips? I see this Part Number is found on the net: http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemd...FYtQOgod3AYAig

Seems OK, no recalls.

What are the chances I have a defective CPU? I thought if that was true the PC would hang on bootup, no? How can rounding errors not cause a CPU to hang? Well I guess maybe precision is not that critical to a PC? Strange and stranger... Now I wonder if my Excel spreadsheets are all wrong, lol, but i suspect if the error is small that they are not, since I don't use more than 0.xx two decimal points levels of precision.

RL
  #17  
Old December 12th 13, 09:32 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
RayLopez99
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Posts: 897
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 3:24:23 PM UTC+8, RayLopez99 wrote:
On Thursday, December 12, 2013 3:09:49 PM UTC+8, RayLopez99 wrote:


Update:

I ran PCMark07 freeware version and after 30 minutes of tests, including video, it found no problems and my score was respectable for this PC. It underscores how superior Prime95 is to these other tests, since Prime95 knows what it is looking for (an exact answer to a predetermined problem) whereas these other tests are statistical 'hit and miss' tests. I will uninstall PCMark btw, which is trivial except to overclockers who want to compare benchmarks. The other program, CPU Stability Test, also has found no errors after running a few hours but I intend to run it longer.

RL
  #18  
Old December 12th 13, 06:21 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul
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Posts: 13,364
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

RayLopez99 wrote:
On Thursday, December 12, 2013 3:24:23 PM UTC+8, RayLopez99 wrote:
On Thursday, December 12, 2013 3:09:49 PM UTC+8, RayLopez99 wrote:


Update:

I ran PCMark07 freeware version and after 30 minutes of tests, including video, it found no problems and my score was respectable for this PC. It underscores how superior Prime95 is to these other tests, since Prime95 knows what it is looking for (an exact answer to a predetermined problem) whereas these other tests are statistical 'hit and miss' tests. I will uninstall PCMark btw, which is trivial except to overclockers who want to compare benchmarks. The other program, CPU Stability Test, also has found no errors after running a few hours but I intend to run it longer.

RL


I don't know if I can debug a Prime95 failure for you,
because portions of the program are written in assembler
for speed.

A rounding error does not necessarily mean the FPU or ALU
played a part in it. You suspect the error was caused by
a memory error first. If you test the memory using
other means and it passes (like, test in another machine),
then you might suspect the CPU is marginal. Or, you
overclocked too far :-)

It it was my machine, I'd take a look in my BIOS, that
I hadn't manually mis-adjusted something. Some BIOS
are chock full of "red-yellow-green" parameter adjustments
that the overclockers use, and something in there might
be turned down too low or up too high.

In any case, I would work on getting Prime95 to run, to
prove my system was stable.

You can also boot a Linux LiveCD, and run the Linux version
of Prime95 off a pen drive if you want. Keeping a copy on
the pen drive, is so you'll have it for next time. The Linux
LiveCD just provides a slightly different execution
environment to test from. If there is a stability error,
Prime95 will turn red immediately, just like a Windows
run would. The visual appearance won't be exactly the
same, but you'll figure it out.

Paul
  #19  
Old December 12th 13, 06:47 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
RayLopez99
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Posts: 897
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

On Friday, December 13, 2013 2:21:24 AM UTC+8, Paul wrote:

RL




I don't know if I can debug a Prime95 failure for you,

because portions of the program are written in assembler

for speed.



A rounding error does not necessarily mean the FPU or ALU

played a part in it. You suspect the error was caused by

a memory error first. If you test the memory using

other means and it passes (like, test in another machine),

then you might suspect the CPU is marginal. Or, you

overclocked too far :-)



It it was my machine, I'd take a look in my BIOS, that

I hadn't manually mis-adjusted something. Some BIOS

are chock full of "red-yellow-green" parameter adjustments

that the overclockers use, and something in there might

be turned down too low or up too high.



In any case, I would work on getting Prime95 to run, to

prove my system was stable.



You can also boot a Linux LiveCD, and run the Linux version

of Prime95 off a pen drive if you want. Keeping a copy on

the pen drive, is so you'll have it for next time. The Linux

LiveCD just provides a slightly different execution

environment to test from. If there is a stability error,

Prime95 will turn red immediately, just like a Windows

run would. The visual appearance won't be exactly the

same, but you'll figure it out.



Paul




Update. I think you're right Paul, it was something in the BIOS. But I'll never know since now I cannot even get to POST in the desktop in question (I am using my laptop to write this message). Very long story somewhat short. After screwing around in the BIOS, seeing if I accidentally overclocked (since another program SiSoft, indicated perhaps there was a BIOS mistake/overclock), I exited BIOS without saving, but then I got what is notorious for this mobo, an Asus mobo (P8H67), the dreaded "USB device over current status detected will shut down in 15 seconds" message.

Long story a bit shorter: I bet this ASUS mobo is crappy. I tried resetting the CMOS via jumper (drains the 'battery' charge for the BIOS), tried a PS/2 keyboard, new mouse, unplugging the front USB panel, checking that my mobo is not touching the metal case, and still no POST. This particular company ASUS is popular with overclockers, and perhaps I set (or it was set) to overclock incorrectly (the system always was a bit weird, even when I bought it at a Thai shop, so it could be the tech who built it had it overclocked) and perhaps that and in combination with a short somewhere, the uP will not boot up (apparently Intel has a switch that will shut off the chip if there's any short, so you won't even get into POST). I will take the entire desktop to the local PC shop and try another motherboard.

Question: I assume that you can switch out a mobo, connect all the cables, and voila! your system is back to normal, right? I don't see why not...any dissents?

I'll post here later, probably in a few days, when the repairs are made.

RL

More info from the net:

USB device over current status detected will shut down in 15 seconds

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/29...m-shut-seconds

What system do you have and how old is it? Sometimes that is actually caused by the USB device, but sometimes it is caused by a motherboard issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/31...tatus-detected

I have newly purchased (1 month) a computer with AMD FX 8120 CPU & VIP-500W smps, Odyssey Cabinet, Sata 500GB. Recently I face usb over current issue to ASUS M5A88-M MB.

I read the thread & other posts. Many a times when I boot pc after 6-7 hours it starts well. But for another boot it shows same prob. Also I had removed all cables and put it on paper and then connected.. I also changed the jumper (for 2-3 seconds to clear cmos).

It only shows the USB 3.0 connected ports. But suddenly it started again with the same prob. I also updated the bios through usb ez flash but no use..http://img.tomshardware.com/forum/uk/icones/smilies/non...

I'm really fed up with this. Instead of this my other 2.4 GZ intel PC with chinese mb is going OK..

Now also I'll need to pay Rs.175/- to the shop from where I purchased pc as traveling charges. In future I'll not prefer Asus.. Nobody should have such trouble.. I don't know after repairing for how many times I'll face same problem...

http://www.whoho.com/2011/03/usb-dev...-detected.html

Causes:

Screws used to mount the motherboard are too tight
Rogue mounting bolts attached to your case are touching the underside of your motherboard
Some kind of conductive material is under or on your motherboard causing short-circuits
Wrong installation of front-panel cables

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id...-detected.html

Hey everyone I have never posted here because I have not needed to yet. I have been working on computers for about 10 years so I have a lot of knowledge. Today I received a computer in that wouldn't boot.. wouldn't even post. I tore the computer down to just the motherboard, 24 pin power and 4 pin (cpu) power and the monitor into the onboard graphics. I got the computer to post but it showed the error below. I have looked through tons of forums to find that it's as I expected usually caused by the front usb ports plugged into the motherboard or a dirty or bent usb port. I cleaned out the usb ports on the board and as far as I can tell there is no debris or problems with them. All that's plugged into the board is power and one piece of ram and I am getting this error. I have tried everything I can think of can anyone assist? The motherboard is running outside of the case right now but gives the same error screwed down to the case or out of the case. This motherboard has a jumper to clear CMOS I tried that. I even took out the battery to try reseting that way. This error is given with or without the keyboard plugged in.

ASUS P7H55-M/CG5275/DP_MB

auto-detecting usb mass storage devices
00 usb mass storage devices found
no keyboard
usb device over current status detected
system will reboot.


http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...-detected.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...-detected.html
Yeah i tried a ps/2 keyboard and yes i get the error without anything connected to it. Im guessing it is shorting out somewhere? By the looks of it the backplate prongs are not touching anything.

he shouldn't need more standoffs..... You should be able to turn that board on, outside of a case(no standoffs). A true "short" would most likely prevent any boot-up/POST. Maybe you try this next.... I know it is a real pain the @$$ but if you still get the error, you have an issue with your main board or PSU. I believe most PSU over current protections prevent bootup/POST also. The main-board's power management utility may be malfunctioning... or working as intended. were you able to reset the BIOS?

skit75 said:
http://mediapool.getthespec.com/media.pdf?m=TZ3yZfARfgG...

There is a pdf of the manual. Go to section 1.9 and do the steps to clear the RTC RAM clock & memory and settings. Any luck or have you tried that already?


I tried that already, still nothing. I went ahead and bought a gigabyte mobo.

1337rofl
June 30, 2013 7:11:05 AM
  #20  
Old December 12th 13, 10:03 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13,364
Default Memtest86+ is always right? So it must be a software problem

RayLopez99 wrote:
On Friday, December 13, 2013 2:21:24 AM UTC+8, Paul wrote:

RL



I don't know if I can debug a Prime95 failure for you,

because portions of the program are written in assembler

for speed.



A rounding error does not necessarily mean the FPU or ALU

played a part in it. You suspect the error was caused by

a memory error first. If you test the memory using

other means and it passes (like, test in another machine),

then you might suspect the CPU is marginal. Or, you

overclocked too far :-)



It it was my machine, I'd take a look in my BIOS, that

I hadn't manually mis-adjusted something. Some BIOS

are chock full of "red-yellow-green" parameter adjustments

that the overclockers use, and something in there might

be turned down too low or up too high.



In any case, I would work on getting Prime95 to run, to

prove my system was stable.



You can also boot a Linux LiveCD, and run the Linux version

of Prime95 off a pen drive if you want. Keeping a copy on

the pen drive, is so you'll have it for next time. The Linux

LiveCD just provides a slightly different execution

environment to test from. If there is a stability error,

Prime95 will turn red immediately, just like a Windows

run would. The visual appearance won't be exactly the

same, but you'll figure it out.



Paul




Update. I think you're right Paul, it was something in the BIOS. But I'll never know since now I cannot even get to POST in the desktop in question (I am using my laptop to write this message). Very long story somewhat short. After screwing around in the BIOS, seeing if I accidentally overclocked (since another program SiSoft, indicated perhaps there was a BIOS mistake/overclock), I exited BIOS without saving, but then I got what is notorious for this mobo, an Asus mobo (P8H67), the dreaded "USB device over current status detected will shut down in 15 seconds" message.

Long story a bit shorter: I bet this ASUS mobo is crappy. I tried resetting the CMOS via jumper (drains the 'battery' charge for the BIOS), tried a PS/2 keyboard, new mouse, unplugging the front USB panel, checking that my mobo is not touching the metal case, and still no POST. This particular company ASUS is popular with overclockers, and perhaps I set (or it was set) to overclock incorrectly (the system always was a bit weird, even when I bought it at a Thai shop, so it could be the tech who built it had it overclocked) and perhaps that and in combination with a short somewhere, the uP will not boot up (apparently Intel has a switch that will shut off the chip if there's any short, so you won't even get into POST). I will take the entire desktop to the local PC shop and try another motherboard.

Question: I assume that you can switch out a mobo, connect all the cables, and voila! your system is back to normal, right? I don't see why not...any dissents?

I'll post here later, probably in a few days, when the repairs are made.

RL

More info from the net:

USB device over current status detected will shut down in 15 seconds

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/29...m-shut-seconds

What system do you have and how old is it? Sometimes that is actually caused by the USB device, but sometimes it is caused by a motherboard issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/31...tatus-detected

I have newly purchased (1 month) a computer with AMD FX 8120 CPU & VIP-500W smps, Odyssey Cabinet, Sata 500GB. Recently I face usb over current issue to ASUS M5A88-M MB.

I read the thread & other posts. Many a times when I boot pc after 6-7 hours it starts well. But for another boot it shows same prob. Also I had removed all cables and put it on paper and then connected.. I also changed the jumper (for 2-3 seconds to clear cmos).

It only shows the USB 3.0 connected ports. But suddenly it started again with the same prob. I also updated the bios through usb ez flash but no use..http://img.tomshardware.com/forum/uk/icones/smilies/non...

I'm really fed up with this. Instead of this my other 2.4 GZ intel PC with chinese mb is going OK..

Now also I'll need to pay Rs.175/- to the shop from where I purchased pc as traveling charges. In future I'll not prefer Asus.. Nobody should have such trouble.. I don't know after repairing for how many times I'll face same problem...

http://www.whoho.com/2011/03/usb-dev...-detected.html

Causes:

Screws used to mount the motherboard are too tight
Rogue mounting bolts attached to your case are touching the underside of your motherboard
Some kind of conductive material is under or on your motherboard causing short-circuits
Wrong installation of front-panel cables

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id...-detected.html

Hey everyone I have never posted here because I have not needed to yet. I have been working on computers for about 10 years so I have a lot of knowledge. Today I received a computer in that wouldn't boot.. wouldn't even post. I tore the computer down to just the motherboard, 24 pin power and 4 pin (cpu) power and the monitor into the onboard graphics. I got the computer to post but it showed the error below. I have looked through tons of forums to find that it's as I expected usually caused by the front usb ports plugged into the motherboard or a dirty or bent usb port. I cleaned out the usb ports on the board and as far as I can tell there is no debris or problems with them. All that's plugged into the board is power and one piece of ram and I am getting this error. I have tried everything I can think of can anyone assist? The motherboard is running outside of the case right now but gives the same error screwed down to the case or out of the case. This motherboard has a j

umper to clear CMOS I tried that. I even took out the battery to try reseting that way. This error is given with or without the keyboard plugged in.

ASUS P7H55-M/CG5275/DP_MB

auto-detecting usb mass storage devices
00 usb mass storage devices found
no keyboard
usb device over current status detected
system will reboot.


http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...-detected.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...-detected.html
Yeah i tried a ps/2 keyboard and yes i get the error without anything connected to it. Im guessing it is shorting out somewhere? By the looks of it the backplate prongs are not touching anything.

he shouldn't need more standoffs..... You should be able to turn that board on, outside of a case(no standoffs). A true "short" would most likely prevent any boot-up/POST. Maybe you try this next.... I know it is a real pain the @$$ but if you still get the error, you have an issue with your main board or PSU. I believe most PSU over current protections prevent bootup/POST also. The main-board's power management utility may be malfunctioning... or working as intended. were you able to reset the BIOS?

skit75 said:
http://mediapool.getthespec.com/media.pdf?m=TZ3yZfARfgG...

There is a pdf of the manual. Go to section 1.9 and do the steps to clear the RTC RAM clock & memory and settings. Any luck or have you tried that already?


I tried that already, still nothing. I went ahead and bought a gigabyte mobo.

1337rofl
June 30, 2013 7:11:05 AM


A couple quick notes, before I go through your post in detail.

1) When clearing CMOS, you unplug the computer. That's to
cover bad motherboard designs, where using the CMOS jumper,
causes a certain diode to get burned. It can only burn
if the PC is powered. Unplugging the PC, before using the
jumper, covers those bad designs. On an Asus motherboard,
you want the green LED to be off, before using the jumper.

2) Not all "USB overcurrent" errors are caused by an actual
hardware event on the USB port. Some are caused by the
BIOS not handling a 4GB memory configuration correctly. It has
to do with the memory map not being set up right, in the
BIOS. Some code thinks it is working with system memory,
when actually, it's messing up some chipset registers. And
then a USB overcurrent error appears out of nowhere. So
don't accept the event at face value, until Googling
the motherboard model number, to see if the problem
is a known bug.

By the time you read this, your shop technician will have
"dialed in" the motherboard settings again, and you'll be
good to go. You could ask the shop tech, to run Prime95
Torture Test for ten minutes, just to make sure you're
reasonably close to the right settings. I don't know if
any shops like to run that overnight, or spend that kind
of time working on any system. Usually, they're in a rush
to get the next system up on the bench, and bench space is
limited.

HTH,
Paul
 




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