Y
Yousuf Khan
Not really a problem, just a warning for people. Don't rely on the
Windows Memory Diagnostic tool to debug memory problems -- it doesn't
work. I'm not sure why Microsoft even includes such a useless POS at
all, it's about as useful for memory diagnostics as the BIOS memory
counter, but takes an hour to complete. The BIOS memory counter never
catches anything, but at least it finishes in a few seconds. WMDT is
neither fast nor thorough, i.e. worst of both worlds.
I was diagnosing a problem a friend was having on his machine constantly
hanging. Eventually we decided to run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
at the boot menu. It ran two full passes and found nothing wrong
whatsoever. We thought then there was nothing wrong with the memory, but
the problems still persisted. Then I brought my Ubuntu Linux installer
CD's, and ran the memory diagnostics from that one, and within seconds
it found faults in one of the memory modules. Needless to say Windows 7
is running flawlessly now with the faulty module removed. Even if you
never intend to use Linux, keep the Live Installer CD's downloaded just
for the memory diagnostics.
Yousuf Khan
Windows Memory Diagnostic tool to debug memory problems -- it doesn't
work. I'm not sure why Microsoft even includes such a useless POS at
all, it's about as useful for memory diagnostics as the BIOS memory
counter, but takes an hour to complete. The BIOS memory counter never
catches anything, but at least it finishes in a few seconds. WMDT is
neither fast nor thorough, i.e. worst of both worlds.
I was diagnosing a problem a friend was having on his machine constantly
hanging. Eventually we decided to run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
at the boot menu. It ran two full passes and found nothing wrong
whatsoever. We thought then there was nothing wrong with the memory, but
the problems still persisted. Then I brought my Ubuntu Linux installer
CD's, and ran the memory diagnostics from that one, and within seconds
it found faults in one of the memory modules. Needless to say Windows 7
is running flawlessly now with the faulty module removed. Even if you
never intend to use Linux, keep the Live Installer CD's downloaded just
for the memory diagnostics.
Yousuf Khan