Checking your RAM (Computer's Memory) For Errors using Microsoft Windows Diagnostic

Case Study: On my older Dell Dimension with 1K of RAM, applications that I would run would crash at random times, at random spots. The crash could happen soon after the application was started or 5-20 minutes later.

Possible Causes:

• Bad "bit" of memory (RAM)
• Some other reason.

Possible Solution: For this blog post, I will test the RAM in the machine. Since I am running Windows on this machine, I will use the Microsoft Windows Diagnostic.

Steps: You can find this diagnostic and instructions here: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp For sake of simplicity, these are my simplied steps (please refer to the original steps, for the complete directions).

1. I first downloaded the mtinst.exe from http://oca.microsoft.com/en/mtinst.exe
2. I located where I downloaded it, and then ran the mtinst.exe. This program will have you create a boot floppy or an ISO image to create the CD from
3. In this case I created a bootable CD from the ISO file with Nero (this is a whole topic within itself, so for now please follow the instructions that Microsoft gave in the above site)
4. I then restarted the PC, and during the startup, I pressed F12 key (this might differ on your machine) to access the boot sequence in the BIOS
5. I then selected the CD drive which contained the newly created CD
6. After booting up, the memory tests started automatically
7. According to the Diagnostics, it says "The memory diagnostic will continue running until the (X) key is pressed or the machine is powered off"
8. So far no errors after 2 passes, but I will let it run for at least 20 minutes (which seems like the amount of time an application will run before crashing)
9. After 1 hour of the test (18 passes), still no errors, so I guess this test did not give any positive answers to my problem.

Well, not sure if this was good or bad news, but it is information none the less.

So, off to find some more diagnostic tools. Technology is so much fun. :)

If you want to run this test on your machine, without having do all the steps to create the CD, please email me at help@telluridetech.com so I can run the diagnostic on your machine.

Please comment below with your experiences/questions.

Good Luck,

t-tech