Hardware Malfunction? NMI Parity Check / Memory Parity Error

I currently am using a Dell XPS M1210 with the following specs:
2.0GHz Core2Duo
2GB RAM
80GB 7200RPM HDD
Nvidia 7400 geforce go
Running Vista HP 32bit

I've had this system for a just a little over a year. Yesterday I suddenly got random bsod's, with windows telling me it was to do with my graphics card driver which has had little to no problems since I've installed it for 2 months or so. So I uninstalled it to see if it would fix the problem.

After uninstalling for a little while, before I had rebooted, it suddenly bsod'ed. When it booted up again, I checked device manager to see what driver it was using. It seemed to say it was Nvidia, I'm not completely sure. I ran drive sweeper and tried to erase the remaining traces of it, but the problem remained. I pressed the uninstall (advanced) tab in the graphics card properties to try and uninstall the driver again, when it was done, the graphics card was missing from my device manager list.

I rebooted and although the card was back in the list, most of the time the would just crash right after startup. Now when I press the power button it boots up, but 90% of the time, the screen is black, (sometimes I get the blue screen, but it is a bit garbled) and I can't see to try and fix the problem. When I actually can see something, it just crashes at startup.

The last time, I pressed the MediaDirect button, and it booted into it and then the screen went into a garbled blue screen which had the message:

Harware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support NMI
Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
The system has halted.

Sorry for such a long post, but I want to give as much information as possible. Since I have 2 exams next week, I'd like it to be fixed as soon as possible and get my notes off the computer.

 

Sounds like a job for memtest86 Or you could remove one stick of RAM and then boot and try the other if that stick doesn't work.

 

Dell has a memory tester in the BIOS... restart the computer, press F12 at the Dell splash screen, and choose Diagnostics.

Memtest86+ is another option, if you want to download it.

Vista also has a memory tester built-in... I haven't used it though.

 

I would like to, except I can't see anything at boot up to do anything, even at the bios part, the screen is all black from the moment I press power on.

 

Sorry to say this mate by the looks of it . I think your ram is gone , just get a new one check if its working

 

Wouldn't it be my graphics card since nothing up is showing up on the screen?

 

that could be a culprit too but "Parity Check / Memory Parity Error" this error points to a faulty memory mate

 

Have you tried what atbnet already suggested;
Remove one of the RAM sticks and try to boot up and try this also with the other RAM stick.
This way you can exclude faulty RAM as the cause for the NMI error.

 

I haven't tested the memory yet, will do it soon.

I have, however, looked through a few pages of this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=92036
in the dell section on this error (a whooping 67 pages) and it seems that although it is a generic error, most of them had to do with the graphics card. But this is just me assuming, as I have not had the time to read through the whole 67 pages yet.

 

Ok, just tried removing one RAM stick at a time, beyond it giving me a beep the first time after I removed one stick when starting up, the screen is still black when I press the power button. Hence I don't think it's a RAM problem unless both of them are dead.

 

Try this last test. Plug in an external monitor. If nothing comes up, you are looking at a failing gpu and/or motherboard. Good lucks.

cheers ...

 

If I have to return it for warranty, can I remove the hard drive first? Or will they need it for testing and such?

And thanks for the help you guys.

 

Yeah, they will probably suggest that you do remove your hard drive so that you preserve your data.

 

Would they have the parts to fix it? As they've stopped selling the m1210 a while ago ever since the m1310 was released.

 

Most likely they have a stock of refurbished parts. If they can't then they must replace it with an equivalent new system. It depends whether or not you are still under warranty.

 

Yeah, luckily when I bought it I had a coupon that gave a higher discount if I upgraded to 2 years warranty. It's been just a little over a year so I would've been pissed if I had not upgraded. But it is veeeeeery suss that it broke just a little after a year

 

Ok, just tried plugging in an external monitor, still pitch black. It probably is the graphics card, which means I probably have to send it back. Do I have to call up Dell support and have them send me a box or something?

 

What kind of warranty do you have? You may have next business day service and they will send a tech to your house. Otherwise they will send a box with a return label for you to return it to the depot.

 

I think I have the:
"2-year XPS Premier Service with 30 Days CompleteCover"
which I think includes:
2 Years Priority PC User 24x7 Support (Round-the-clock-technical-assistance)
2 Years Limited with Next Business Day Onsite Service
# Included 2 Years POW
30 Days CompleteCover
Future Technical Support
# Year 1 Standard NBD Labour
# Year 1 Standard POW
30 Days HelpDesk (Software, Virus, Spyware & Peripherals)

The 1 year and 2 year thing and 30days thing confuses me :\
So am I still under warranty if it's been over a year?