Windows 10 Memory Diagnostic

[rbrownlie91]

Hi PCS forums, so I got my PC from PCS back in August, and for the most part it's been fantastic, however over the past 4 or so days, I've noticed that my PC has restarted after I've been away from it for a period of time, the first I assumed to have been Windows updates, but looking back at event viewer logs, it seems like they may have been Blue Screen errors.

For info, the full specification on my PC is posted in my signature - all of it came from PCS, apart from the GPU which I bought separately.

Unfortunately without having actually seen BSOD errors in person, I couldn't determine what the cause was, until about 45 minutes ago, when I saw the blue screen myself and saw the stop code "memory management"

Online help pointed me firstly to Windows Updates

I have checked for any pending Windows updates, and I have two:

- 2019-10 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64 (KB4522741)
- 2019-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based systems (KB4522355)

Neither have yet been installed. (UPDATE 21:22 - updates now installed)

The next was to try the Windows 10 Memory Diagnostic Tool and I ran this as I figured it may be a good idea to check that there are no faults with the RAM.

Unfortunately for me, I was notified by the Diagnostic tool that "The Windows Memory Diagnostic tested the computer's memory and detected hardware errors. To identify and repair these problems, contact the computer manufacturer" - event viewer shows two entries with event IDs 1102 and 1202 - unfortunately there seems to be limited information on the event IDs online, and hasn't really helped me to pinpoint any issues.

The next option that has been suggested is to use a tool called MemTest86 to perform a more in depth test. I haven't yet attempted this and will probably hold off on this unless otherwise advised.

I note that Drivers may also be a cause of issues, and it is perhaps worth advising that I did update my Nvidia drivers not too long ago, I can't remember the precise date, and as such am unable to recall if the crashes started to happen before or after the driver update.

I'm going to post this for now, but may add in some more information that I feel may be important.

 

[Oussebon]

Memtest is free, easy to use, and pretty much the go-to when suspecting or wanting to rule out RAM errors.

In your position I'd leave memtest running overnight, and see what the results are in the morning. Take a photo of the screen.

Essentially as a 2nd opinion of what Windows Memory Diagnostic said, though it does look like it might be bad RAM.

You could remove one stick of RAM, run the test, see if there are errors. Then swap in the other stick in its place.

If both show errors, try the sticks one by one in a different slot.

This will help weed out whether it's just a bad stick, or if there is a problem with the RAM slot on the motherboard.

The forums aren't an official support channel so you'll want to phone PCS tomorrow, but if you've comfortable doing the above it will help diagnose the issue.

With luck it's just a bad stick of RAM and they can send you a replacement. Replacement parts are often shipped next day delivery I believe.

 

[ubuysa]

Just because the BSOD says MEMORY_MANAGEMENT that does not automatically mean it's a RAM problem. What that BSOD means is that; either there is a hardware problem with RAM (unlikely) or that some software process has tried to use memory in an invalid way (much more likely).

As you mention, a driver issue is a far more likely cause. Driver issues are the cause of the overwhelming majority of all BSODs. If you have a dump from the latest BSOD upload it to the cloud and post a link to it here, we may be able to tell you which driver was at fault (and then again we may not).

If you don't have a dump then first make sure that all available Windows updates are properly installed.

Next unplug all external devices except for the mouse and keyboard. If either of those are wireless change the batteries (even if you changed them recently) then reboot and see whether you still get the BSOD.

If that doesn't help then use Device Manager to select each device, right-click and select 'update driver'. Do that for every device to be sure the latest drivers are installed.

You can run Memtest, as Oussebon says it's a much better tool than the Windows memory test, but don't be surprised if it finds no problems. I'm betting this is a software (and that usually means a driver) problem.