NMI: Parity Check/ Memory Parity Error -- System crash

Just so you guys all know that this is NOT a Dell-specific problem. I have a netbook - Samsung NC10 which has been operating just fine since I got it last October.

This morning I booted up and found my wireless internet not working (problem with router not netbook) so I used a plug in USB modem instead. Midway through connecting up with the modem, I got the that this thread is all about -

Hardware Malfunction
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error.
The System has halted

I rebooted and it happened again. So I decided to Google the problem and ended up here!

Anyone any the wiser yet?

 

i have the same problem. it seems that it doesn't always caused by memory ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/101272)

after i remove my firewire card, the problem vanished. my computer run perfectly as usual.

fyi, i use hp xw4600 workstation without built in firewire.

 

Got this error on a Dell D610 after installing a new wifi mini PCI card. Tried replacing all RAM but fault persisted. Replaced the wifi card with another identical type and fault cleared. So it's not always a RAM problem!

 

I just saw this message for the first time today on my Inspiron 1520 with an 8600M GT. RAM is 4 GB of aftermarket Kingston DDR2, upgraded from Qimonda 2x1 GB stock. Wireless is an aftermarket Intel 5300 ABG Draft N. About a week ago I started noticing that my computer sometimes failed to resume from hibernate, although as I usually walk away while it resumes I hadn't seen an error. Today I saw this error when I attempted to resume from hibernate. Not sure what the error might be yet. Only other odd behaviors recently were many BSODs when playing Call of Duty 4 (which I'd assumed were due to crummy nVIDIA drivers), and a slow wireless connection with XP x64 (works fine with XP x86). But as I'm not at 90%, I'm not too concerned.

Plans if it persists/gets worse:

0). Test with Memtest86+

1). Try switching back to my Dell Wireless 1390 ABG card (skip if Memtest yields errors to 2).

2). Try switching back to my Qimonda 2x1 GB RAM.

3). Call Dell if those don't work? I've still got about 9 months of warranty, so if it's a Bumpgate GeForce, at least I've got recourse.

 

Just wanted to let you know that I had a Dell E1705 some time ago (about an year ago), I had to sell the laptop as parts because I got the same error as you are getting - memory parity check.

After a lot of testing and diagnostics I can safely say it was the video card memory. A new video card would have cost me an arm and a leg - it was a 7900GS. So I just decided to sell the laptop and get myself a new one.

 

If you experience this on a Dell with a pre 9000 series nVidia GPU I strongly recommend you use your warranty. The error is often caused by the GPU core breaching and after any warning sign, such as reboots, BSOD, odd colored pixels, lines, and other system problems, the damage is done and it will only get worse. nVidia had been manufacturing GPUs with the flaw since at least 2006. See my post on the previous page. Likely at this point, parts on these older laptops is dwindling and you'll get a newer system as replacement.

 

Hi,
Thanks All...
I was suffering from this problem on one of my laptop since last 6 months.
This was not my primary machine and hence i could live without it.
The system would work for 5 mins and then go into blue screen and after that,wen restarted,pixels would be forming crude shapes on the screen...

I have the following config

Dell Vostro 1400
Vista
2 GB RAM
nvidia

Tried the following(did not work)
reinstalled vista/xp etc..
replaced the RAM..

What worked...
Uninstall the nvidia dell provided software.
re install the one from nvidia site.


I created this account to thank the people who posted this solution and also to let other people know who have similar config as mine.

 

Hi everybody I'm a certified dell technician, and I had this memory parity problem with an XPS M1210 while I trying to install a new copy of windows. i've try replacing everything, processor, Mobo, memory, HDD. the only thing that works for me was removing the WLAN card. once I did it the system start to install and the blue screen disappear.

 

What is the brand and model of the wireless adapter?

 

first off OMG i cant believe this thread has been going on for over 4 years wow . anyway i work as a pc tech for the dept of ed . i came across this error on a dell 755 desktop , and like most people here this was my first time coming across such an error and there was pretty much no info online about it expect this thread . anyway this unit has on board video VGA and an AGP video card installed , if you boot the unit from the on board VGA it crashes as soon as windows begins to load. so i thought it might be the HDD but if i would boot it into safe mode it would boot all the way to windows and if i removed the AGP video card , the unit would boot fine with no problems , so i figured the video card is the problem , replaced it and everything is ok with it .... i hope this helps someone

 

It is the video card and not anything else for the E1705 and the 7900 GS card. Nothing else! By the time Dell replaced my system the E1705 could only boot to safe mode because it couldn't come up to the full resolution. Dell will replace the system. They have no GS7900 cards. They replaced mine with a Precision M6400 though I am not too fond of that system but it is what I chose. They have to match or give you better components. If Dell refuses to replace the system. Escalate it!
GET A NEW SYSTEM!

 

GOD DARN IT, I settled for an XPS 1645. I would have rather had the Precision or Alienware but the guy said no. I'm trying again cause this XPS 1645 just isn't performing well. I'm asking for a Precision M6500.

 

I dont think you would like the M6400. I am selling mine and getting an Alienware M17x (hopefully). The M6400 suffers from a blueish gray cast to the LCD screen. The E1705 had a much better LCD and warm tones.

 

Just found this old thread through Google. I guess I'm luckier than some of you since it looks like this has happened on fairly new laptops. My XPS M1710 is over three years old and I've never had a problem until yesterday. Not only do I get the memory error but I M also seeing a snowy display on my screen. I have 7600 GTX video card. Not sure what I should do at this point as far as buying new parts or just buying a new laptop...

 

Hello all,

I currently have an E1705 laptop that is almost three years old. I have just begun getting this error message in the last couple of months. It happens at random, and I've read it could be attributed to the video card. Is that something Dell will replace? Or will they only replace it if it is still under warranty?

I know next to nothing about computer hardware.

 

Weirdly I'm slightly glad that there are 4 years' worth of this thread - nothing more frustrating that having a problem and not being able to find out if others have the same problem (with hopefully a suggested solution) as well.

This is my system:
- Dell Inspiron 6400
- Ati x1400 video.

Similar to others, these are the "symptoms".
- firstly, a few random incidents of the BSOD (system halted)
- then yesterday, a blank screen. Laptop works (I can hear it and my keypresses are effective) but the screen does not come on at all. Managed to get it working plugging a VGA cable to my LCD TV. The laptop screen then comes on when windows loads (and will stay on - even if I reboot, but if I reboot - it's 50/50 whether i get a blank screen or not).
- viewing from my TV screen, I can see that if on loading up when turning the machine on the dell bios screen and loadup screen is fuzzy / grainy - it means I'm going I'm going to get the BSOD just before windows loads.
- In safe mode, windows will always load fine.
- I still get the blank screen on the laptop which I have to connect to my LCD TV to "fix".

I have tried updating the video drivers but that didn't help.

So if it is the video card (though I'm still trying to work out why, if it is a hardware fault, there's no problem in safe mode), anyone know how to replace the video card or bypass the video card (with say a PMCIA video card) on a Dell Inspiron?

KC

 

Weirdly I'm slightly glad that there are 4 years' worth of this thread - nothing more frustrating that having a problem and not being able to find out if others have the same problem (with hopefully a suggested solution) as well.

This is my system:
- Dell Inspiron 6400
- Ati x1400 video.

Similar to others, these are the "symptoms".
- firstly, a few random incidents of the BSOD (system halted)
- then yesterday, a blank screen. Laptop works (I can hear it and my keypresses are effective) but the screen does not come on at all. Managed to get it working plugging a VGA cable to my LCD TV. The laptop screen then comes on when windows loads (and will stay on - even if I reboot, but if I reboot - it's 50/50 whether i get a blank screen or not).
- viewing from my TV screen, I can see that if on loading up when turning the machine on the dell bios screen and loadup screen is fuzzy / grainy - it means I'm going I'm going to get the BSOD just before windows loads.
- In safe mode, windows will always load fine.
- I still get the blank screen on the laptop which I have to connect to my LCD TV to "fix".

I have tried updating the video drivers but that didn't help.

So if it is the video card (though I'm still trying to work out why, if it is a hardware fault, there's no problem in safe mode), anyone know how to replace the video card or bypass the video card (with say a PMCIA video card) on a Dell Inspiron?

KC

 

Based on this thread and one posted in the Dell forum, there are so many theories and possible causes I'm no closer to solving this issue than I waswhen it first occured.

The problem is no longer intermittent on my M1710 but permanent. It will no longer boot back to the desktop. There is nothing but a snowy display-no NMI message. All I can do is boot into safe mode. I'm not going to start replacing parts when I have no clue what to replace.

 

Hello,

I just registered to say thanks for all the support provided by the users of this forums, and to provide you with my experience of this issue.

My machine is a 2.5 year old Dell Vostro 1500 with an Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT graphics card.

I receive this error fairly commonly (maybe twice a week) and I have another issue where all of my downloads are corrupt. I suspect this is due to a hardware conflict. I have a workaround for now, as I don't want to start replacing hardware until I have to.

Simply disabling my video card (via device manager) is enough to make downloads work correctly. On some machines this may also disable your ability to see anything Do so at your own risk.

I have also rolled back my video driver to the one recommended by Dell and have not experienced this error yet, but it has only been a couple of days, and downloads still require the video card to be disabled.

I hope this helps.

 

Update.

I replaced my X1400 video card on the Inspiron 6400. Quite simple to do. Problem has gone away (fingers crossed).

I suspect the video card get faulty over time due to overheating at one stage. The heatsink for the video card is the one that sits closest to the outside and when I opened up the laptop, there were layers of dust blocking the ventilation. I think it's unavoidable that anyone who has this laptop for more than a year will need to open up their system and give the vents a good clean to prevent overheating.

 

Just want to say that I got this error recently for the first time after fresh W7 install, but I believe it was because I did not update drivers and just used default Windows 7 drivers.

Updated to DOX's latest nvidia drivers and no error since. Also updated Ricoh memory card reader too.

 

I've had this problem consistently with my M1730 for about a year and a half. Dell obviously thought it was the HDD at one point and replaced that but never touched the video cards.
The cards are Nvidia 8700GT SLI. They run quite hot and the performance has never been that great.
I can recreate the problem quite consistently by turning off the laptop for a while and then booting it up. On the initial boot 50% of the time it will go to the BSOD almost immediately.
Rebooting again will usually bring me into windows with no further problems as long as the laptop is left on. Weird I know.
The other 30% of the time, on inital boot, windows will be about to load and the laptop will reset itself.

The RAM is fine, I have checked that. The HDD's are fine, I have checked them. It's the video cards I've always suspected to be the problem. Some sort of hardware issue between them and the mobo? Just speculating here.

I'm out of warranty now so I will live with it but it's interesting to see I'm not the only one out here with this cropping up all the time.

 

I had the same problem but when shutting down or during operation. The issue was the HDD. Some bad sectors on it. I checked the memory, it wasn't. I repaired Windows, it began at booting. I decide to change the HDD and problem solved. Check your HDD guys, I did run the Dell's Utility Partition for all the components including the HDD and it didn't find any errors but I changed my HDD and it's working now.

 

^i just installed a new HD in my dell e1505 about a week ago

and this is the first time in 3 yrs i have ever seen this error message..so i dont think its the HDD...

 

Hi all,

Just found this thread while I was researching the error message that I just started getting tonight.

My system is a three year old M1730, with dual Nvidia 8800GTS's in SLI. Luckily, this is my "work" computer, and I've purchased the extended warranty every time it has neared the expiration.... Mainly because I started having problems out of it before the initial warranty expired. Dell has sent a tech to my business 4 times in the past 2 years to fix problems, including swapping the mobo, replacing the LCD, replacing the video cards, and replacing the optical drive. So, it'll be interesting when I call them Monday morning, requesting a replacement computer.... I'm thinking an alienware m17x..... lol.

 

Ok, so I went through the process of letting them troubleshoot... we ran diagnostics, during which my m1730 rebooted itself. They immediately approved a parts replacement. I decided to let them try to fix it their way, before I raised a stink. They are sending me 4GB of RAM, two new 320GB HDD's, and a new GPU. I had to send screenshots of my BIOS and device manager to prove that I have 8800 GTS's in SLI, because the original configuration of this machine had 8700's.

I just got confirmation of the Fedex overnight waybill, that the parts were shipped. Included is the K650M PN....

So, hopefully tomorrow, the tech will be out to do the work.

I'll update again when it's finished.

-E.W.

 

hello i am getting the parity check /memory error at boot up dell says it motherboard i dont think so i changed the video card i got the ram that came with pc and i got 2 new gh of ram i got year or 2 ago anyone know what could be make it happen at boot up

 

My Dell tech just left. She installed 4 new GB of RAM, left me the two new 320GB HDD's for me to install myself if I want to later, and for the icing on the cake, she installed the new GPU's that they sent.... two 9800M GTX's in SLI.

It's awesome!

Couldn't be more happy.

Hope everyone else gets satisfaction as I have. I called Dell on Monday, and two days later, I've got a laptop that is better than the one I bought.

-E.W.

 

My E1705 is coming upon 4 years old now, and it has been doing this through XP Pro and now Windows 7 Ultimate x64. It is a lot better now in Windows 7, but I still get the BSOD about 4 times a month. I've gotten used to it, and bought an HP in February to take over the Dell's primary function. The Dell is now just a browsing and email system. No BSODs from the HP, and no more lost work either.

EDIT (17/7/2010): Just had one this morning during bootup. Powered it down, restarted it, and now it's running fine.

 

Hi,
I was suffering from this problem on the customer laptop few days ago.
It is impossible to reinstall the OS (XP SP3).It works only in safe mode.
I have not had time and money to replace any parts of it.
I just put Linux (Ubuntu 9.1) on it and the PC works fine right now.

 

Hello,

I have a Dell Inspiron 6400, which was purchased in 2007.
I had this error message virtually a week after buying the laptop, I phoned Dell and they gave over the phone advice and simply recommended a system format - had nothing to do with the problem nor did it fix it.
After some time it because apparent that the error message only appeared when the laptop was running from the battery (not plugged into the mains)
So my simple solution was to only use my laptop when it was plugged into the mains, I had no problems for ~3 years used my laptop for various things from gaming, to web browsing to graphic design.
Recently the error returned with a vengeance, and was occurring intermittently ranging from 3 minutes from start-up to a few hours of runtime.

I've stripped the laptop cleaned all the dust inside, and re-seated everything.
I highly recommend you don’t do this, because it’s a waist of time and does not fix the problem.

I recently brought a broken computer, 19" monitor, keyboard and mouse - ps2 connections all for £50.
So whilst I'm rebuilding the computer I've been using the 19" monitor on the Inspiron.

After two weeks I haven’t had any crashes, it’s still fairly slow compared to what it was on the first day. But via VGA cable to an external monitor it seems to of fixed the issue.

 

Hello all!

Approx 70 odd pages on this topic...

just wanted to add.

I have a Sony Viao VGN-N383/W

Whenever I try to insert a USB into the side of the laoptop i get this same error.

Have tried different RAM sticks.

No avail!

If this does not sort itself out... I will be breaking the laptop with a BIG SLEDGE HAMMER! and will be posting the vid.

I am a graphics designer and all of my customer(s) work is on there.

Dont knw what to do!..if i had any hair... i would be pulling it all OUT even the small bits....using a tweezer!

 

Hello,

I just want to share how I got rid of this error.

First of all, I have a Dell Inspiron 640m (a.k.a Inspiron E1405).
Video card: Mobile Intel 945GM Express (=onboard videocard)
Network card: Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Wireless card: Intel 3945ABG.

I have used this setting for 4 years without any problems (the only ' problem' is the limited range of my wireless card, but unfortunately this is normal for this card).

One day I decided to replace this wireless card with another card, a Atheros AR5007EG.

The moment I installed the driver for this new card, I imidiatelly got the Memory Parity error everybody is talking about. I have tried all kind of drivers (the newest and very old ones) for the atheros card, I even un-installed the Videocard driver because somebody thought is was PCI-E/Video-card related, but it all ended with the same dissapointing result.

I believe, at least in my case, the problems is in the Athw.sys file that is used for the atheros-card driver.

So, here is what I did and what worked for me:
I used atheros driver v7.6.0.172 and this athw.sys (v1343616.0.0 and 1.28Mb).
Go to start, Run: "devmgmt.msc" and update the ethernet driver. During installation you are asked to give the location of the athw.sys, then point to this athw.sys.

After doing this, my card worked perfectly and I could connect tot a wireless network imidiatelly.

-------------------------------------------------

Update:

The wireless card is working perfectly... until the laptop is rebooted. After reboot the Parity error will dominate the screen at startup. So if you are planning to never switch-off your laptop, this solution could work for you

For all the other people; back to the drawing table for a new fix...

 

*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check/Memory Parity Error
*** The system has halted ***

Hi Guys I also have 1GB x 2 RAM from Dell and x1400 video/graphic card. and encountered the above error while booting it into normal mode. Whereas when I boot it into safe mode it works. I am using another screen to see this message as my dell laptop screen has stopped working together with this problem.
Please guide me. Thanks a lot in advance.

 

Same thing. I'm running a Dell XPS laptop, with a Nvidia graphics card. I'm also getting red distortion on my screen, just before each "halt", or at least I was. This happened 3-4 times in a couple of minutes, and now my laptop won't start up anymore. It reaches the Windows 7 logo, then the screen goes black and the machine becomes unresponsive... it's sucky, because I just got it for Christmas. I will be taking it into the shop soon.

Still no fix for this?

 

So I have A dell business Computer with a Pentium D using the stock mother bored graphic drivers, this computer has worked for probably 8 years with out fail and has never had any problems. I recently gave the computer an internet connection because we are going to start sending emails for the company from it. the first thing i did once it had an internet connection was update the software then windows to service pact 3 <---------------- BAD PLAN!!!!!!!!

I have found now with dell pre built computers that the stock operating system weather xp, 7, vista, me, w/e is usually corrupted in one way or another. I say this because i have also own a handful of Dell gaming computers and have had this or other blue screen problems with every one of them after windows updates.

My solution simply the only way i have been able to fix this particular problem on this computer most recently is to reformat, or system restore to an earlier date preferably to were the computer is in its stock format, the way it came from dell. Though on pretty much all my computers i will just reformat, so that i can get up to date windows updates especially on the business computer, for more security reasons than one.

 

Hello,

after installing a PCIe-x1-adapter (zotac GT218) into my Dell Dimension 3100, I got the following error message:

* * * Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
* * * The system has halted * * *

I don't need the card for gaming, but only to get a graphic resolution matching to my widescreen monitor. Although I updated the graphic drivers, my onboard graphic is not able to do that.

If I start my system (Windows XP home SP3) in VGA-Mode, I reach system-login-window, but after giving my credentials, I get the error-message again :-(

Is there perhaps any idea, how I can convince my system to talk to my graphic-adapter without any errors?!

I already updated bios, chipset-drivers, windows...

As the problem occurs directly after powering on my system, a temperature problem can be excluded.

Perhaps a problem with the nvidia chips on the graphic card?

But if i plug the card into another non-dell-system, the card is accepted and the installation works without any problems...



André

PS: sorry for offtopic posting (my computer is a desktop-computer, not a laptop or notebook...)

 

I get the same blue screen that says
*** Hardware Malfunction
Call you hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
*** The system has halted ***

Started today after I installed a Zotac GT218-ION 512MB graphics card into a ML310 HP Proliant server

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Is this discussion wildly misplaced? This floor is for Dell laptops.

The NMI handler isn't particularly clever - think of a railroad train where each car has an emergency brake pull handle - anything can pull any of those handles and activate the train's brakes (or your NMI). Additionally, there are lots of other things (besides the obvious handles) that will activate the train's brakes - a break in an air hose, running past a signal that said stop, or the engineer not acknowledging the regular "are you awake" alerter buzz.

Back at our PCs - NMI was an interrupt that couldn't be ignored (hence the name - Non-Maskable Interrupt) and which had precedence over other interrupts. It did get used for a bunch of completely unrelated things - back in the [genuine] IBM PC and PC/XT models, the advanced debugger you could buy to replace PC-DOS's DEBUG.EXE came with a circuit board that plugged into an expansion card socket. When you pressed the button, an NMI was generated that transferred control to the debugger program.

There was a brief fling with using NMI as a way to signal a memory parity error, but that only lasted from the time when 30-pin SIMMs w/ parity came out to when 72-pin DIMMs arrived, since most low-medium and better chipsets could do actual error correction (as well as detection).

Unfortunately, most BIOS brands in use today have code from those old days left in them, with the error message text that points to memory as the likely culprit, even though that hasn't been the case for years.

For something more to the point that may relate to your system - I have to go into the Dell [Optiplex 755/960] BIOS setup and configure "Disable SEER" or randomly, activity on the video card will trigger on of those BIOS parity error messages.

 

Pretty sure it is not the software.

For me, I have had the problem 6 times now, 4 recently while watching Streaming Flash Video online from youtube, break, or nbc.com. The other 2 times were just completely random.

And once again, for me, it isn't the RAM.
_______________
Watch TV Online

 

How many of you guys change the OS lately?... I have a Dell Precision M65 i had 3 year with it (Windows Vista32-bit, 1GB Ram, the rest is just standar and a new hard drive and batterie but i change like 1 year ago so no that new)

Yesterday i update my windows vista 32 Home Premium into a Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit.... My life got miserable since there... and then i read about it Dell Random Forum Question it could be temperature or the OS.. so i got back to my windows vista 32-bit and everything is fine now....

I hope it help...

 

I Had The Same Error On A Dell Optiplex 330 Desktop. After Reformatting The Hard Drive And Reinstalling Windows, The Error Restarted After I Installed The Drivers For The Onboard Ethernet Port. I Rebooted And Disabled The Onboard Ethernet Card In Bios And The Error Disappeared. I Simply Installed A $15 Ethernet Card. Woo Hoo!!!!!!! I Hope This Helps.

 

Hi all,
I just got that msg on a desktop Optiplex 360, with its default configuration.
I'm using it for almost 3 years and it never happened.
Now i cant even turn on the computer, it simple doesnt start up, nothing show up on the screen.
I dont know what to do now.
Can someone help me?

PS. i tried to take out the memory and clean it, nothing changed.

 

Problem just developed on a Latitude D820 with 4GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit.

Of course the 3 year warranty expired in February, go figure....

Anyway I tried several of the techniques suggested in thie thread including:

1) Update BIOS
2) Update Nvidia Quadro NVS 120m driver
3) Ran Dell System Diagnostics - passes all tests
4) Vents are clean, gan is working and temperatures are within specs
5) Disabled network devices
6) Removed, cleaned and reseated memory cards


The culprit is, in my case, the integrated video. If I disable the Nvidia Quadro NVS 120m the problem stops. Enable it and the problem occurs again. This will replicate the problem 100% of the time.

Don't know what else to try except replace MOBO, not sure if I want to spend the money....

In the meantime I am stuck with the default VGA driver and 1280x1024 resolution with 32 bit color......

 

Same problem here, I've read some threads, you can discart temperature and nvidia errors, because it happens here sometimes after few minutes i had turned on my notebook (Dell Vostro 1510) and nvidia because I don't even have this here, but I it crashes.

 

I found that when I did a windows repair I received this error. Download the correct dell video driver from dell's website and burn it to disk. Boot your machine in safe mode. Go to device manager and delete the display adapter. Then install the display driver on the cd that you downloaded from dell. Reboot and you should be good to go. This was done on a dell Latitude d620.

 

Thought it was just me till I did a search.

Been having this since just before Christmas on a 2007 model Inspiron 6400, x1400 card.

I've had lines on the screen as well and not much luck with it booting again afterwards, seems to lock itself out. Suspected it was the graphics card playing up.

 

I've had this computer for over 4 years while at college. It has had a few other problems but is still running and will hopefully continue to buy me some time before I buy a new one. I just got this message for the first time. I guess it is reassuring to know that I am not the only one who has this problem.

 

look like your memory not suported to the board, try use different memory..

 

From what I have found on this NMI parity error on Dell is it is the VIDEO memory. I ran diags on system ram - PASS everything
Video tests showed some bits stuck - FAIL (saw some characters show as wrong color in text mode)

Probably not worth a new video card for it unless you are under warranty.