Re: PC testing software

[Lukas Beeler <lukas.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 19:48, Jeff Crosby <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Over the past month or so, my PC has BSOD'ed 4 times (they are listed
> below). ÂI suspect hardware/driver of some kind but don't really know.

This shouldn't happen ;)

> ÂI've been running "Probe II" software that came with the motherboard
> to see if it was maybe a temperature or fan issue. ÂNothing unusual
> shows up. ÂI ran the MS memory tester - no errors found.

The MS Memory tester sucks. It only finds the most obvious errors, so
it can only tell you "yeah, this machine is broken" or "this machine
might be ok or it might be broken". Memtest86 isn't really better,
because there are many cases where it doesn't stress the memory
controller enough for faults to show (e.G. over- or undervolted
memory).

For testing your memory/memory controller and CPU, i would recommend
IntelBurnTest:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTest-v1.6-download-2047.html

For other components, i would recommend OCCT:

http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

For monitor your hardware, i can recommend HWMonitor

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

> The first 2 times happened after hours and I was greeted with the BSOD
> in the morning. ÂThe last 2 times it happened while I was looking at
> the screen and BOOM! there it is, all blue with those nifty white
> letters.

You had three different BSODs, which seem unrelated. This makes it a
high chance that you're dealing with faulty memory. Run IntelBurnTest
for an hour, and you should have your results.