Computer booting problems

Hii guys
Recently, i've been facing a quite peculiar sort of problem with my pc. Whenever i boot in Windows(i have only XP as my sole OS), it shows some "Memory Parity Error" evenever the file agp440.sys is being processed at the time of startup. Its some type of hardware error. Now ehenever i use Knoppix LinuxLiveonCD , it shows the followin error

/etc/init.d/apmd
Line 15 : /usr/bin/apm_available input-output error


What problem does my computer have?? I have a Pentium 3 500Mhz 128mb ram 20Gig HDD CPU, which had been serving well for me for all these years, and had no problem with the same configuration. This problem occurs to me for some days, and then the PC starts working well again, and its the third time i'm facing this wierd situation. Does anyone have any clue ??

Greetings.

A quick google of "Memory Parity error" pulled up this website. Maybe have a browse/read and see if that offer's a useful solution.

http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/ram/parity_Boot.htm

My opinion would be maybe a case of bad memory, maybe either run memtest and see if it finds any errors in your stick/s of ram, or just replace the sticks with new ones.

Hi,

agp440.sys is a Windows XP native onboard video driver IIRC.

Is this a laptop? if so, what make and model is it?

If it is a desktop, are you using onboard video, or do you have an independent video card. Also if you have a separate card is it AGP or PCI? [I am trying to work out whether you actually need agp440.sys]

The parity error you are getting suggests a problem with RAM. If your video is an onboard chipset then it is sharing your system RAM (the 128Mb); if it is an independent card then it has its own RAM.

As t34b4g5 suggests, run memtest86 to check your system RAM.

You can get it here:

http://www.memtest86.com/

Just download the free version. The pay for one is the same but comes on a CD with a load of other tools that you won't need;)

Thanks guys. Somehow it suddenly started to work again, and i'm still clueless for the root of this problem. Will surely update you guys, as soon as i move ahead with it

Hi,

Quote:

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Somehow it suddenly started to work again, and i'm still clueless for the root of this problem.

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It will probably return, so I would still run the memory test as suggested. A single pass should be enough.

As for the root, that will depend on whether you have onboard video or a separate video card.

Hey bro!
I opened the cabinet, and cleaned the processor(yup, it had got some dirt in it) . Thanks for the suggestion, will surely try(once i get access to a broadband unlimited connection at some place where i can download hasslefree, i'm using the cybercafe for my net access these days). I'll update once i'm done with the scan!

Reseating the memory, or even cleaning the memory contacts with a pink pencil eraser might chase away the gremlins (brush off the rubber afterwards).

If you don't have a static strap, discharge yourself on the case of the computer before touching the memory

Dave

Hi,


I have determined your problem to be most likely a hard disk sector error, or secondly a RAM Memory error.

Hope this helps!