Memory Parity Error

[Anamodiel]

I was playing Lord of the Rings Online this morning, and the error came up. I thought nothing of it, as I've never seen it before, and after I rebooted, everything was fine during my reboot process and as I browsed the forums and such. I eventually jumped back in to LOTRO, and after about 5 minutes of playing, again, it happened. I shut the computer down, gave it about 15 minutes to cool-down, and I turned it back on. Again, after about 5 minutes of playing, the error occurred for the third time.

I have not changed any of my computer settings. I have not changed any graphical settings. I haven't even upgraded my video drivers within the last two weeks. What could be the problem?

I should also include that I don't run any other processes while playing this game (nor MXO). I don't run Kazaa (actually, I've never run it), I don't run iTunes, and I don't even run MSN. The only other application that I run is Teamspeak.

[Lithium]

If it not related to the game and it's hardware it could easily be bad memory sectors. You'll want to run memtest. I think you just need to make it as a boot up disk. And that'll tell you if your ram is bad.

http://www.memtest86.com/

[Anamodiel]

RAM apparently wasn't bad, it just needed to be re-seated and have the dust blown out. I ran LOTRO for about 2 hours with no problems.

Thank you for the help.

[Tbone]

I had this problem when I first got my Dell XPS. The culprit ended up being the video drivers. Two hours of uninterrupted game time doesn't mean the issue is resolved. If it happens again, I'd focus on vid drivers.

[Anamodiel]

I had the problem occur again. Dammit, Tbone, why did you have to be right?

To be sure that the problem wasn't my RAM, I took each memory stick out individually and turned the computer on. Both of them worked fine. I would assume that, if my one of my sticks of RAM were bad, then the computer would not start up. Am I right in assuming this, or should I further test this aspect?

I upgraded my video drivers earlier today, as well, just to be sure that that wasn't a factor. I guess that I will have to revisit that area now, too. Pointers? Tips?

[Lithium]

To be sure that the problem wasn't my RAM, I took each memory stick out individually and turned the computer on. Both of them worked fine. I would assume that, if my one of my sticks of RAM were bad, then the computer would not start up. Am I right in assuming this, or should I further test this aspect?

Not true at all. Many times RAM will have bad sectors that will not be known until you start using high memory applications. I told you to run memtest. If you haven't done that yet then, A. you don't listen to your own thread replies in which case asking for help is pointless, and B. you still have no idea if your RAM is the problem.

[Anamodiel]

Sorry, I guess I didn't make it clear that I ran it. I did run the test once, and no problem came up in regard to my RAM.

I ran the .iso file.

[Lithium]

Then it shouldn't be the ram, that program throughly scans all memory sectors.

[Tbone]

My problem was that the video drivers that Dell was providing with my computer were faulty. I either upgraded via Nvidia's site or downloaded an earlier version. Maybe run a google search with "memory parity error" and your video card for more specifics.

[Anamodiel]

My problem was that the video drivers that Dell was providing with my computer were faulty. I either upgraded via Nvidia's site or downloaded an earlier version. Maybe run a google search with "memory parity error" and your video card for more specifics.

Yeah, I always update on the companies site rather than through Dell. Dell just can't seem to keep up with the updates for some reason. Most of their updates for my computer are either for 2005/2006 and are not very recent. Dell pegged the newest release for a video driver at late-2005 when the newest driver for my card (nVidia 6800 GTO w/ 256 MB RAM) was posted on nVidia's site in late December of 2007.

I did go through and see what needed to be upgraded from Dell. I downloaded an Intel Chipset Driver from Intel (Dell had the newest release pegged at 2005, when Intel had released an update in 2007) and I also downloaded a BIOS update, as well, but from Dell.

My video card drivers are up-to-date. I re-installed the newest drivers over the same drivers I downloaded earlier today in case there was a botched install.

*fingers crossed*