Parity check indicates Bad Ram.

Oh my god! I never thought I would meet someone else with this problem. I used to not have this problem with both ME and XP home. Then a usb port broke on my computer, so dell replaced the entire motherboard (same kind). That memory problem, blue screen after shutdown, is exactly what happens to me, but I'm pretty sure our memory is really fine.

Can I ask you a question? Did you ever have Windows ME installed and did a similar problem occur. Are you running XP right now?

I switch between ME and XP every 6 months or so and it only happens with XP for me at least.


Oh yeah, there's one strange thing also. On my 8100, right before the blue screen comes up, I hear a motor shut off. The fan still runs, but I'm taking a guess here and I think the hard disk shuts off, leaving just the motherboard and a few essentials like LEDS on, so I don't think there is any major problem, just a huge inconvenience.

Speedstep,

That's what the message says but it is doubtful this is the problem.  I reported a similar problem with my Dimension 8100 namely "NMI - Parity Check / Memory Parity Error" earlier in the year  The problem appeared after upograding my ME to XP (clean install). I went to the expense of purchasing new memory modules from DELL Spare Parts, no improvement.  At the time my Dell Service contract was still valid and their representative advised me to update my BIOS but I was chicken at the time.  Now I have recently flashed my AO2 BIOS with Dimension 8100 XP2 FlashBIOS (BD81XPP2.exe).  To date, touch wood, the problem has not re-appeared.

Derek Nicholson

I have had this problem for over two years.  I have a Dimension 8100, with 512 megs of memory, and nothing exotic installed, either hardware or software.  Happens randomly a couple of times a week during shut down.  It began for no apparent reason.  I had not changed the hardware or software configuration of the machine for several months prior to the onset of the parity check error call.

I have done extensive troubleshooting, including changing out memory modules, hardware configurations, and software removal and reinstall.  I have even been through a couple of reinstalls of XP Pro.  All to no avail with respect to the shutdown problem.

All the research I have done into the issue indicates that once the "Windows is saving your settings..." screen disappears, that the OS has truly left the building, so the problem is not with whatever version of Windows one might be running.  Unfortunately, no one seems to have an answer to what might be causing the problem.  The good news is that it appears to cause no lasting damage to the system, just the annoyance of having to manually shutdown the system when it blue screens to the parity error screen. 

Yesterday, I stated that updating my BIOS to Dimension 8100 XP2 FlashBIOS (BD81XPP2.exe) had probably resolved the blue screen with the message "NMI - Parity Check / Memory Parity Error".  This morning the problem re-appeared when I closed my Dell Dimension 8100.  So the problem is not the memory modules nor the BIOS. 

My symptoms are similar to those detailed by jlmurphy.

Is it beyond the capability of DELL Engineers to resolve this problem, after all there are many reported cases of this problem and probably many which are not reported on this forum.

What can I try next?

Derek Nicholson

 

Message Edited by bg001334 on 08-28-2004 01:36 AM

My story so far:

My Dimension 8100 was supplied with Windows ME.  Due to my own fault Windows ME had a catastrophic crash.  Whereupon, I reformated the HD and installed Windows XP Home (purchased from Microsoft). Almost immediately I began getting the error msg "NMI - Parity Check / Memory Parity Error" on shut down after the settings had been saved.  I replaced my memory modues with new modules purchased from Dell Spare Parts using my TAG number.  I upgraded my BIOS from AO2 to XP2 with no improvement.

Recently, I read that reformatting the HD removes the "Chipset driver".  I downloaded and installed the Chipset driver from Dell using my TAG number.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed but am confident that this may have resolved my Memory Parity Error problem. 

It is two weeks since I installed the Chipset driver, I will report back if the problem reappears.

Derek Nicholson

 

 

Message Edited by bg001334 on 10-23-2004 09:43 PM

Dear bg001334,


Where can I download this "chipset driver"? I've been looking around the dell downloads site and can't find it. Is it the same thing as the Intel Application accelerator?


Thanks,

sblive

Sorry for the delay in  replying but have been away from home for a few days.

Go www.Dell.com, then Customer Support, Downloads, log in with your TAG number, drop down the "Download Catagory" menu and select chipset, select the Operating System & Language, then Submit..............Ok.

PS. For my TAG number there wasn't a Chipset driver for XP but the drivers for ME & 2000 appear  to be the same.  Personally, because my computer was originally supplied with ME, I used the ME driver.

Good Luck

Derek

I'd love to use SP2, but it is currently incompatible with more than 5 applications I use (I havn't checked all of the applications yet, but I stopped at 5).

Thanks.