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

[Elitevaz]

Update:

I called tech support last night, it was pretty funny. After getting the story straight to the foreign tech and proving that I could replicate the problem even faster now, after he asked me for the blue screen message. Funny thing is, I now did not get a blue screen, but instead a strange pattern of scrambled colors that I can't explain in words. He then asked me if I had reinstalled the drivers since the hardware changed. I told him no, as it didn't make sense since the only difference between the hardware was that 1 was actually supposed to work.

We then had what I call a friendly argument where I told him I would do it just for him to be happy and then he tells me if I don't want to do it I don't have to.

When the repairman was at my house, he called a support line and the agent he spoke to had told him that it was a software issue because it only happens during games! I found that so hard to beleive that dell would sell a card that is spec'd to run games and then turn around and say "your stressing the system too hard running games on your system" when someone has defective peices in the system. Well the agent I spoke to then went that route, and I then argued some more that I don't want help with supporting a game, I want the system to work up to spec, which doesn't include blue and green dots all over the windows xp and Dell loading screen with crashes in every 3d game. He then says, "so what do you want us to do to resolve problem, because I cannot support game. You want to have the whole computer replaced?" I kind of thought this was a joke, but then I went along with it and told him yes, if it will keep me from having to call tech support for parts for the next 2 months. He put me on this huge hold, breaking it about every 4 or 5 minutes or so.

When he finally comes back, he tells me he is going to send out a new system that is going to have even better parts than the one I have, but it will take 10 days to get to me and that if I call back to tech support it will cancel and have to start all over again! LOL, this was pretty strange and it got stranger as he continued to emphasize over and over that I can't call for 10 days. Although strange, I am patient and my warranty still has more than a year left on it. So I went along, as I am slowly building up a case to take to whatever corporate assistance I can manage to get, in the event that I can't get a decent working system or a refund. He gave me a case number on it and then ended the call. So I'll be back in 10 days to say what happens in this bizzare case.

[JMiles]

Hopefully you get a system that will work! A Dell Technician is coming over in about an hour or two to replace my motherboard and memory modules. This will be the second time my memory modules will be replaced. If this does not resolve the issue I will be pressing for a new system or a refund. Wish me luck!

[JMiles]

The Dell Tech guy just finished replacing my motherboard, memory, and updated my bios. Hopefully this will fix things, if not I will be pressing for a new laptop or refund.

[Snowjoke]

Since I am using a Netgear Wireless Card ... in this desktop ... I don't think I am having an Intel wireless driver problem. This last time I was doing a big file transfer across my network it hung up with a NMI Partiy Error Blue Screen again. Before that it was while downloading a large file over the internet. I have a feeling that heat is probably the issue. It seems like my machine crashes whenever it is doing a bunch of work. Strange that it only does it every few days. The box seems to get hot and since this optiplex crams a bunch of equipment in such a little box (actually uses some laptop components in the box) it is just heating up. The case is getting hot. I have a feeling that the cooling system in this machine is inadequate. I used to have this problem on early pentium machines .... although the message was different. I really do think that this is a temperature related issue. The processor is probably way too hot with poor cooling.

I bet that some of the people that were told by Dell that their memory was bad had their memory replaced for no reason. Since bad memory is common ... they have been giving this out as a fix-all solution, especially since their first couple of tiers of technical support providers (outsourced to India ... I believe) have very limited troubleshooting skills.

I'm pretty sure my issue is not a memory problem.

I really think that this has to do with the computers processor - itself - overheating ... although you can get a NMI parity check error for many reasons.

The BIOS checks your memory at boot-up and when it fails the test .... it halts or you get a Parity Check error or repeated beeps. I think the Dell technicians were replacing the memory just because they associated this Parity error with a BIOS Memory Parity Check error. The issue I am having is not a RAM issue.

Another real problem I am having with the NMI - Parity Check on this Dell machine is the actual message I receive itself. An NMI - Parity check is such a general message on a machine and the BIOS should return more specific information. In reality an NMI parity error could be caused by almost anything. Anytime the machine runs into a compatability issue with a piece of hardware or software it should trigger an NMI parity error. However, many of these NMI errors are masked by the system and since the message is general ... it will probably need to be debugged by an engineer.

Check out the wikipedia definition of Non-Maskable Interrupt

It is really broad.

Perhaps a BIOS update will mask the error ... but the real problem hasn't been solved on my machine.

Final note: I am going to add an extra fan to my case to try to keep my processor cool. I got a hunch that this will solve my NMI Parity Check error.

Nice post. To summarise, it could be anything, but you think it could be an inadequately cooled CPU.

I'd note that everyone who has posted in this thread, as far as I can see, has a dedicated NVIDIA or ATI graphics card. Does that suggest it's graphics card related, or is it just the case that hardly anyone goes with the Intel integrated graphics?

I've played a fair amount of Civ 4, and the funny thing is it's never crashed when I'm playing that, and the CPU and GPU are obviously heavily loaded. I also use IK8FanGUI on the Games setting, which means the chips get hotter than normal before the fans kick in, so I don't think it's heat related.

I play quite a lot of online poker, and it's been crashing for me in the middle of games (losing me money ), or other times when I'm just when browsing the internet on Firefox. The CPU is under some load (~20%) but the graphics card isn't doing much.

Anyway, my update is that my machine went back to Dell for a new motherboard and memory boards. The motherboard and ONE of the memory boards has been replaced. And guess what, it's crashed twice in the last 36 hours. Once it just froze up, Windows still displayed but nothing including the mouse or keyboard working (anyone else getting this?), and once the blue screen.

Not sure whether to ask for a whole new laptop or a refund, or if it's worth asking for a new graphics card. Sounds like some people have had a whole new machine and still have the problem.

[Snowjoke]

The Dell Tech guy just finished replacing my motherboard, memory, and updated my bios. Hopefully this will fix things, if not I will be pressing for a new laptop or refund.

I had the same - keep us posted on whether it helps - it didn't for me.

[AM Radio]

dudes: sorry to hear you're still having issues with this unresolved issue. guess i'm one of the lucky ones.

got my notebook in December 2006; had the latest drivers at that point -- still using the same; have BT + A/G wireless networking; ran cable networking for a while; 7900, 2GB memory, A06 Bios -- still running perfectly, not one system error yet!

wish there was a definitive answer out there ...

[GaimeGuy]

Good news! I haven't gotten a single parity error in the last two weeks since I updated by wireless card's drivers.

[S1ider]

I have an m1710 with a 7900 gs, ive had this prob almost since the begining when i first got my laptop. It first happened after upgrading the ram, done mem test everything was fine. It used to happen about once a fortnight, if i can remember doing random stuff. I believe it then only happened when playing battlefield, but not very often. So i chose to put up with it. A few months ago i upgraded to vista, and it hasnt happened once, not even whilst playing bf. But i decided id like to use xp for plying games, so i now dual boot. After first loading xp again and playing bf everything was fine for a couple of weeks, or maybe even longer, but now i get it after ive been playing bf for an hour every night. Someone must have a solution. help. funny how it didnt happen in vista

[darkdreamr]

I have an Inspiron 9400/E1705 with a Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS, running Windows MCE. I really like this site, I use it a lot, but I decided to register today just so I could post in this thread what I ended up doing about this annoying and frustrating error.

I started getting the BSOD with NMI: Parity Check/Memory Parity Error last week. Now I'm pretty used to computers, and windows. I did technical support for 2 years in college. I was pretty darn sure I had not changed anything important in the day or 2 before the error happened. Just to be sure, I did a system restore back 2 weeks. BSOD continued to happen. Uninstalled the most recent new drivers I had installed. Again, no change. So I went online.

This is a very vague error with no error code, or any numbers, or any indication what might be the problem except "hardware." Which makes it difficult to diagnose. In my particular case, the BSOD would only occur after using the computer for several minutes, usually (but not always) during gaming, and never during startup or overnight. The frequency was about once per day, but it was increasing.

I read that the 2-pronged dell power adapter could sometimes cause errors like this, so I grounded it with a 3rd party surge protector. Still no change. Then I came here and read about how drivers fixed it for some people, and it was the wireless card for others, and how heat was possibly related. I rarely used wireless but I disabled the internal wireless card, switched my drivers back to the ones from Nvidia (as opposed to Dell's version), and put some external fans on. Voila, no more BSOD (or at least the frequency has been drastically reduced, even through heavy CPU/GPU loads).

So here's what I think. I think that for most people, this has to do with overheating. All the solutions that have worked have been to replace drivers, which can control how devices operate, and consequently how hot they get. Certain drivers may end up running devices cooler than others, and this holds for wireless cards, graphics cards, or anything. Secondly, many people have tried ordering replacement parts, reinstalling the OS, etc. to no avail. Because the operating conditions are unchanged and the problem is rooted deeper than the device level (probably the BIOS).

Ok, I'm sorry for rambling. Here's an easier to read summary from this thread and my experience.

1. The error tends to happen during computer activity after a while, not in response to a user action. This implies a heating problem. Why did the error just start for me last week? Maybe because the weather has warmed up to the 90s for the first time this year here in Chicago.

2. Replacement parts - including memory - will probably not help. Nowhere did I read that replacing the memory fixed the problem. This is just a red herring from the BSOD message. Unfortunately this is what Dell tech support will focus on. You can run the full memory diagnostics by pressing F12 when you see the dell logo on startup or downloading a 3rd party program, but in most cases you will pass with flying colors.

3. Solutions that have worked
a. grounding the power adapter. It has been admitted by dell that stray current can occur with the 2-pronged plug, although they don't seem to think it's a problem. This current however, can contribute to heat.

b. replacing drivers. As I mentioned before, some drivers can cause devices to run more efficiently and therefore effectively cool them off. Likewise some drivers are bad and make the device hotter than necessary.

4. Recommendations
a. Get I8kfanGUI. It's a program that lets you measure the temperature of your CPU, GPU, memory, and chipset, and you can control the computer fans with it. Go see if your components are running hot, especially when the error happens. Try putting the laptop on top of an AC unit and see if you still get the BSOD. For an idle computer, CPU temps should be <40 C, GPU <50 C. If you're gaming or using the CPU a lot, the temperature should rise maybe 10-15 degrees C but not too much more than that. GPU temps over 70 are hot in my books. To increase cooling you can
1) make the onboard fans run faster. Unfortunately this is somewhat noisy.
2) use a desk fan and blow air around your computer, especially the back, where the vents are.
3) lower the room temperature. Unfortunately this is somewhat cold.
4) Use compressed air and clean the vents on your case! Someone else already mentioned this as one of the quickest and best things you can do to keep your computer cool.

b. you can try to use better drivers. Update to the newest. Many GeForce Go 7900 GS users have reported that the error disappears with the drivers on the NVIDIA site, whereas it *does* occur with the Dell drivers. However, depending on when the graphics cards were made, it might be different for some people. Try different things.

c. ground the adapter somehow. no harm in that, and it might help.

I don't know enough about hardware to say what the root of this problem is, but if all else fails I would try flashing the BIOS. Intel has reported a lot of serious problems with the Core 2s, who knows if that is the source. Anyway, thanks for this informative thread, sorry again for the length of this post, and best of luck. I will try and let Dell tech support know that this is a widespread problem and what I think the solution is.

EDIT: to snowjoke: I could be wrong, but this is the only reason that makes sense to me. I would guess that the problem is more prevalent with dedicated graphics cards because they use up more power and they run hotter than onboard graphics. In I8FanGUI try turning the fans on at lower temperatures. Or like I said, turn the AC up and sit the computer on top of that. If that doesn't help, I'm at a loss.

[GaimeGuy]

I don't think it's always a heating problem.... I got the error even when I forced my fans to run on high settings, when the temperatures were <=30 degrees Celsius.