re: Bad Memory- Checking
Saturday, October 4, 2003 at 5:24 am
Posted by Jack Gulley
(5917 messages posted)
If the memory on the system board is bad, you are kind of stuck. Short of getting
the system board replaced under warranty or paying to have it fixed. Some system
do have a way to disable blocks of memory. It would be located in the details of
the BIOS CMOS Setup somewhere if it exists. Look. Then ask a Compaq's web site.
To run a good memory test. Get both DocMemory_v2.0 and MemTest86_v3.0 and make their boot diskettes. Boot using
them and run an extended memory test on your system. If it does not fail on these
tests, its not a memory problem. Let each one run over night. Could be an over heating
problem.
Windows ME can get a lot of hangs caused by bad device drivers. Back level ones
cause problems. And spyware/Adware and Vrius/Trojans. etc. See: Windows ME Fixes for a whole
list of sequential checks and changes to make Windows ME run a lot better.
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re: Bad Memory- Checking
Saturday, October 4, 2003 at 7:35 pm
Posted by yutzyem
(2 messages posted)
Thanks for your response. Could you tell me where to access the BIOS CMOS Setup?
I have to admit an [unblissful] ignorance of such things, but I can usually intuit
my way through things once I know where to start. (Famous last words?)
I will test my memory as you suggest. You mention that it could be an overheating
problem. I had actually considered that myself, but occasionally (like yesterday,
for example) my computer crashes right after being turned on, so I don't think that
can be the problem. I asked Compaq about my problems and they only suggested that
I reinstall the OS from the recovery disks.
Here's the description I sent them of the problems I've been having: I have been
having a variety of problems with my laptop over the last year, which I suspect may
be related to some hardware problem, but I am uncertain. Scandisk finds no problems,
and Norton WinDoc also finds no major problems. I have tried defragmenting the disk,
which sometimes seems to help, but at best temporarily. I maintain Norton Corporate
Anti-Virus, scan the disk regularly and update the virus defs. I have downloaded
the critical updates for Windows. I have no reason to think that my computer has
been infected with a virus.
Here's what happens: 1) Sometimes, usually (always?) when I'm in the internet, the
screen simply changes to a series multicolor blocks and there are sorts of indecipherable
symbols covering the screen. When this happens, I can only shut the computer down
and restart.
2) Sometime, also seemingly linked to being online, the computer randomly reboots,
but always freezes at the Windows ME screen. I then have to force it restart, and
it starts in safe mode.
3) Less often, but on multiple occasions, the screen has suddenly gone black and
one line of text (blue) appears about a problem in a bus device (I think...I have
not written this down, it happens infrequently).
4) Also less often, I get a blue error screen that will not let me get back to Windows
and am forced to shut the computer down.
5) Sometimes, my computer fails to properly enter standby; I can hear the disk still
spinning, and then I must restart it to "wake" it back up.
6) Sometimes, the computer simply runs abnormally slow, usually when I am running
several applications at once. These problems seem to occur in waves. I get frustrated
and then it starts working better, and then suddenly, like last weekend, it will
do the multi-color screen thing three or four times in one weekend. It has rebooted
spontaneously twice today. Please help!
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