Memory Errors Inspiron 6000

Question

Hello, i am having trouble fixing an issue with my laptop. It is failing on doing a dell diag with memory integrity error 1000-0123. It also will not load the reinstall disk because of this. I have tried the following to diagnose this:

Replaced the memory twice, both with known good memory from dell and from a different vendor.
Replaced the mother board once.
Tried the memory individually in each slot, all three sets (All fail, both boards)
Tried the memory in another machine that is known to be good (All pass diagnostics)
Updated the new motherboard BIOS (Was A07 updated to A09) (Update succeeded)
Removed all peripherials and cards.
Removed the DVD R/RW drive and HDD.

Both boards will boot to the DOS prompt if i use a diagnostic disk or the bios disk but the dell Diags will not run from the diag disk, i have to run them from the Bios in both cases. The Bios update program will run and a separate memory stress test disk i have fails right away on the inspiron but passes fine on the known good system with the suspect memory. Also, the beep code it gives is a 1-2-3 code which according to my data means a DMA memory read/write failure. Everything i have read on this site and the web says replace the memory or motherboard. The memory i am now convinced is good, the board i dont know but i find it odd that the same exact error crops up on a replacment board.

Frankly i am not sure what else needs to be replaced or if i got sent a bad board with the exact same error (unlikely but still possible). The video card is a separate board (ATi x300) and it tests fine in the Dell Diags. i am at a loss of what to do from here. The only things left i can think of are to replace the CPU or replace the motherboard once again. However i dont want to do that till i have at least gotten a second opinion on the subject as that does cost a bit and i am out a lot of time already. If anybody has any ideas i would appreciate it. Oh, also, the system is out of warranty...

Any ideas?

ward733 · Answer

Sorry to hear of you issues.. I had a similar issue with a predecessor of the 6000 the  e1505.. It was deemed to have a faulty motherboard and replaced never to have the same issue.. It is more likely that a systemboard have generally the same defect than seperate and different.. Have you tried running the system with 1 modual instead of 2 if the board is bad it is unlikely both memory controllers and/ or sockets are bad.Try switching I dimm within a/b slots and running the tests.. It is possible that your video card could cause it because it is tied in with the board for the hypermemory function. I would do the dimm socket test first.. Good Luck..

Bignerdguy · Answer

Yes I did the DIMM socket test. as mentioned previously each module failed on either slot whether singly or together. I replaced the motherboard at least once already but got the same errors. Tried the single slot test for that board as well, same problem. Not sure how to test the video card without buying a new one. I hate to keep throwing money at this thing without knowing for sure what is causing the issue. I can say the video tests in the dell diags all pass, only the Memory DMA test seems to fail.

What do you think is the more likely? A second failed board or the video adapter? I removed all other devices but the video with no success. Unfortunately this board requires a separate video card to work as it does not have built in video.

Bignerdguy · Answer

Sorry it has taken me so long to post back but i have been trying different things to fix thios system and now i could REALLY use some help. Hopefully someone will see this and reply. Besides the above, i havew now tried a total of 2 new mobos, and a new video card and the same exact error continues to occur. Bout the only thing i have not replaced or removed for testing is the CPU. At this point i am not willing to replace that since i am not convinced that this could be the issue. Funny thing about this system is that DOS level OS'es work fine and dandy. Even flashed the bios on all three boards and had no errors. Right now i have three motherboards, all two of them new and one original, 2 video cards, and 3 sets of memory, 2x256mb, 1x1GB and 2x512mb all give the error code i mentioned.

So here is the question or two:

1) how likely is it that the CPU is bad and is there a way to test this theory without replacing it to do so?

2) What else am i missing?

For reference again, i have swapped out the motherboard twice, replaced the memory twice both in pairs and in each slot one at a time, replaced the video card, removed all devices such as the modem and wireless card and yet i still get the memory failed error on the dell diags with the error code of 1000-0123.

Signed: Desperate and looking for a miracle!

Mike · Answer

Hi,

I had a smilar problem with an Inspiron 6000. Thought it was a video card problem at first. The computer was always failing memory tests giving error 1000-0123. The problem was the processor. I am pretty sure that this is your problem. You will probably want to get your hands on a replacement cpu to fix the problem. Hopefully this helps. eBay's probably the best place to get a good inexpensive one.

Thanks,

Mike

Bignerdguy · Answer

Thanks.  i will try that and let you know if that fixed it... lord willing and the creek dont rise.  ;-)

Bignerdguy · Answer

Yup, that was it.  For everyone else out there, if replacing the memory, mobo, and video doesnt fix it, replace the CPU.  got the system up and running fine!  now to return the unneeded parts...

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Memory Errors Inspiron 6000

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