View Full Version : Problem with Vista op. programme.
I'm a bit anxious at the moment as every odd day or so, my screen turns blue and this message appears :
" Hardware malfunction. Call your hardware vendor for support. MMI: Parity check/ memory parity error. The system has halted" What I've been doing is switching off at the computer and re-starting after a few minutes and all is well once more until the next time. Any advice before I "Call the herdware vendor" ( As they suggest ) I'm loath to do this as I don't know where to start, but I suppose I could find out !!
I'm a bit anxious at the moment as every odd day or so, my screen turns blue and this message appears :
" Hardware malfunction. Call your hardware vendor for support. MMI: Parity check/ memory parity error. The system has halted" What I've been doing is switching off at the computer and re-starting after a few minutes and all is well once more until the next time. Any advice before I "Call the herdware vendor" ( As they suggest ) I'm loath to do this as I don't know where to start, but I suppose I could find out !!
Hi Scaraben,
It's a memory issue on the computer.
I'm making the assumption that your PC does not uses ECC memory and therefore has no parity chip on the memory modules (as it's normally servers that have this but I mention it as you never know!).
Have you installed memory lately or changed anything in the BIOS?
Restart the PC an go into the BIOS. I'm not sure where you will look to be honest (what is the manufacturer of your PC?) but it will be under hardware or a memory option. Look for the memory type and make sure it doesn't say anything about parity / ECC. It is unlikely to be this if you haven't touched the BIOS or installed new memory but you should check it.
If the BIOS is correct then I would download MemTest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/download.html) - my advice is to download the ISO version and burn it to a CD and boot from it but you could download the Windows version and run it. This will test the memory and let you know if it is bad. If it is, and it's under warranty, call the warranty people. If it's not, find out which memory module has gone bad and replace it.
Memory problems are pretty common so it's not much to worry about - you just replace it.
Ah .... Blue Ivy, you have come to my aid once more, thank you ! Sorry I haven't acknowledged before now, but I've only now got round to studying what you wrote.
I have checked the BIOS, all appears to be Ok. Can you explain how you run the memory test to check if the memory chips are functioning properly ? The memory is not ECC Scaraben.
Ah .... Blue Ivy, you have come to my aid once more, thank you ! Sorry I haven't acknowledged before now, but I've only now got round to studying what you wrote.
I have checked the BIOS, all appears to be Ok. Can you explain how you run the memory test to check if the memory chips are functioning properly ? The memory is not ECC Scaraben.
Hi Scaraben,
Did you download the ISO to boot from CD or did you download the Windows version?
Boot from CD.
If you boot directly from the CD MemTest will automatically run the tests for you. You really don't need to do anything, which surprised me.
In the past I've had to configure it and then run the tests but I never used the MemTest boot disk but other boot disks that have it on there (so they obviously work slightly differently).
I will take a while for the tests to run (an hour or more depending on the amount of memory you have) - just watch the 'Errors' column. You shouldn't get any memory errors at all.
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.