Memory problem Toshiba laptop

[Rlah]

Model P205-S7436, 3 years old, 2GB factory, added 2GB

My 3-yr old laptop hasn't been playing videos smoothly for some time... maybe less than 1 year. I noticed videos were stuttering and the cooling fan was running more often with video use. Someone told me to check for memory problems and Windows reported a "Memory problem" after running it's diagnostics on boot up. I went ahead and upgraded from 2GB to 4GB RAM but the unit doesn't seem to be running any better.
I would rather try to get this unit working smoothly instead of buying a new laptop but I don't know the feasibility of tearing into one of these. Desktop computers seemed more repairable than a laptop to me. I wish the Win 7 diagnostic tool was more descriptive in reporting exactly what the error problem is. Any tips on what direction to take?

 

[goombawaho]

Download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD and run the memory diagnostic test on it. If it detects any problems, turn it off and remove HALF the memory and then re-run the test to isolate which RAM (if any) has a problem.

Then move on to the hard drive diagnostic test. Then maybe the video, CPU and motherboard tests.

If all hardware is OK, report back and then we can start looking at windows issues/malware, etc.


Halfway down this page where it says Mirror Sites

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

 

[flyboytim]

Three years old means that it probably needs to have the fan and heat exchanger cleaned free of lint. Disassembly instructions here:

http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/toshiba-satellite-p205/removing-motherboard-1.htm

Overheating causes many odd problems with laptops, odd crashes, boot failure, video instability, keyboard glitches etc.

When the fan and the heat exchanger fins are exposed, blast them with canned air, and remove lint etc. with a fine paintbrush. If you need to separate the cpu etc. from the heat sink, you will need to apply new thermal paste when reassembling.

 

[goombawaho]

I wouldn't do the above BEFORE the steps I mentioned just to keep everything unchanged. If you do my suggestions and find something/nothing, do the cleaning as mentioned.

The key to troubleshooting is not to change too many things at once so you can know which change fixed the problem.

 

[Rlah]

goombawaho
I ran the Memtest86 v4.10 on the newer Corsair 4GB (2x2GB sticks) and found errors. So I put the factory 1GB sticks back in (one at a time) and tested each 1GB stick separately and they both passed thru all 8 tests. But this is all puzzling since I had stuttering video with the factory memory before I upgraded. I tried some of the other diagnostics on the UBCD ... I was a bit disappointed in the CPU diagnostics, they seemed too cryptic or useless for my situation ... didn't get any results or I just skipped over some... . I did not see any diagnostics for "video". I figure my problems are memory or video system related somehow, I'm leaving the old factory 2GB memory in for now.

I tried playing some videos. They still stuttered some but a bit better. So I decided to turn off all the Aero stuff and it seems to be even better... actually it's less of a pain now. The cooling fan seems to run less although I think it runs more than it should.

flyboytim
I did a cleaning with *strong* air blasts from my air compressor back in January before I bought the new 4GB Corsair (2x2GB)... but I did not dis-assemble the unit except the access doors on the bottom. A fair amount of dust came out, but there was no noticeable benefit.
Although I may attempt the deep dis-assembly in the future, I probably will not do this until I get a new unit up and running. Right now, it is my opinion that my main problem was bad memory or insufficient memory... somewhere.
Those dis-assembly instructions and your comments about laptops confirm my fears about working on laptops. I am considering going back to a desktop PC on my next purchase... looking at small form factor desktops now.

Anybody interested in 8 month old 4GB Corsair memory with errors?

 

[rclarke250]

Contact Corsair should be under warranty, they will replace it. If the same videos ran well before, and now they are stuttering, it may be a codex issue,or driver issue, or something in the OS that changed with a hot fix that is causing the issue. try creating a linux live cd, and running the videos after booting to the linux distro. Or you could tailor a BartPE disk to run xp from a cd to see if it is an OS issue. also it is not uncommon that an audio driver will cause video frame rate issues. You can run the direxctx video tests, just run dxdiag from the run line. Or you could try benchmarking software like sisoft.

 

[goombawaho]

There could be many sources of your problem, but thankfully you got a major one cleared up. You wouldn't have gotten much satisfaction with anything else with bad memory in place.

Have you upgraded your video drivers and directx?

Have you cleaned out temp files (Ccleaner)

Have you cut down on startup items that might be hogging your CPU and/or hard drive?? (autoruns)

Have you done a malware scan (MalwareByte's Anti-Malware)

 

[flyboytim]

My personal experience was first indicated by the inability to play streaming video in a stable fashion, then whole areas of the keyboard started to be unresponsive. Eventually, I could not even boot up without the laptop hanging. I upgraded my broadband to no real advantage on the streaming video issue, and removed the upper fascia which did stop the keyboard problem. Eventually, a thorough clean fixed everything!

I would not be put off from laptop ownership just because of any overheating problems. They are wonderfully tidy and portable, compared to desktops. Over time, I have realised that the upgrade path for laptops is really not that poor compared to desktops, unless you really want cutting edge models, and need the ultimate in graphics power. Resource-hungry mistakes like Vista, coupled with slow uptake of 64-bit OS-based applications, have provided us with a pool of powerful, and cheap portables that will be running up-to-date systems for the next few years.

Not all laptops are designed so that the fan is the most difficult part to get at. I have an Acer Aspire 7520, where the fan is beneath the same cover as the memory slots, so just needs 4 screws to get at for cleaning. If more people made an issue of accessibility of Laptop fans, manufacturers might just make that design feature into a selling point - a little flap on the base that you could point your vacuum cleaner nozzle at every so often. OK, your ultraportable netbook is unlikely to have enough space to have easy-to-get-to airways.

A useful freeware utility for Windows is SpeedFan, which will monitor temperatures of your processor cores, GPU and hard disks if they have SMART capability.

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

In most laptops the graphics processor and CPU share a common heat pipe to the heat exchanger, so the hottest of the two will affect the rate of cooling of the other.

 

[Rlah]

Thx to all for helpful answers and suggestions.
rclarke250:
Indeed Corsair does have a good return policy... no questions asked and I've got my RMA and will be getting replacement sticks.
I have tried running some videos in my XP VirtualBox and they seemed to run OK although I'm not sure if this is proving anything to me now. I'll have to wait until I find a video that stutters in Win7 and then try it in the VirtualBox.

goombawaho:
I did try upgrading the ATI driver from Toshiba... I wasn't watching it the whole time and when I came back, the screen was blank... I had to power down first to reboot. But it booted up OK. Not sure if I'll retry that again...
I did the Ccleaner clean up. And I am a regular user of autoruns... that and Win7 have made this a much quicker booting machine than the original Vista that came with this unit.

flyboytim:
I appreciate the comments on laptops... I might hold off getting another new computer until year-end sales.

 

[goombawaho]

If your machine "blacked out" while doing the driver update, I might think about removing the driver and all associated apps in the control panel and then using the DEL key in Device Manager. Then reboot and re-install the driver from scratch.

 

[electricpete]

I have a Toshiba laptop Satellite A105.. same vintage.

About once a year I notice the keyboard area and air discharge port starts getting hotter and fan running more often. I turn off laptop, turn it upside-down, put a vacuum cleaner hose (round) onto the air suction, and suck out the dust. You can hear the fan whirring backwards. Afterwards it runs much cooler... for a year or so.

 

[goombawaho]

I don't think we should focus on heat as a primary culprit. Is it good to clean out dust??? - sure it is.

 

[Rlah]

Update
I received the Corsair replacement sticks; tested them with Memtest - all OK. (I would buy from them again - good service!) Then tried some videos. The video that started my suspicions earlier this year ran fine. And some other web based (hi-res) videos that stuttered during intense movements seemed to run better.
So at the least I got my memory working ... and the computer seems to be running smoother... I turned on some of the Areo features again, although not all of them.
I may try the vacuum idea of cleaning just in case it does a better job than forced air. (The fan stills runs a little more than I think it should but now I'm not sure if it's any worse than when I bought it.)
Thanks to all responders especially goombawaho for the memtest procedure. That test will be standard operating procedure from now on when I'm troubleshooting. I'm surprised I didn't know about this test before.

 

[kjv1611]

Some more bits that might help with the video playback. Someone mentioned codecs. If you're using Windows Media Player or QuickTime or Real Player, try one of the following:

VLC Media Player or The KMPlayer.

Both of those work much better on system resources with hi-def content than the aforementioned apps. Also, they'll both play practically anything that's playable.

You can get either/both from

http://www.download.com

I had begun leaning more towards The KMPlayer, b/c it handled hi-def stuff better than VLC (a year or two ago), but VLC now seems to be doing better in my experience. Of course, it could just be the particular codec(s) I had installed at the time, or settings I had changed, so that's difficult to say for certain.

Also, for general clean-up/maintenance, I like the following apps (also available at

http://www.download.com):

CCleaner - already mentioned
Glary Utilities - has a one-click fix as well as several other pieces you can run individually.
Advanced Ssytem Cleaner - very similar to Glary

 

[Rlah]

Update (uh-oh)
After 1 day of using the new Crucial 4GB sticks, the laptop won't even boot... it won't even get to the Post (I think that's what it is). After a very anxious period, I put the factory 2GB sticks back in and it boots fine.
I guess I'm changing my opinion of Crucial, at least their ValueSelect line. I can't even get to Memtest with them to re-test them.
I'll start dealing with Crucial again now to see what they will do, but I don't want any more sticks like these.

 

[kjv1611]

Hmm, are you sure the timings in the new RAM are compatible with your laptop board? Some motherboards are really finicky when it comes to RAM.

 

[Rlah]

Bad news - Corsair
See my previous post. I accidentally said my new memory was Crucial... it is *Corsair* memory. Apologies to Crucial.
I make this correction so that there is no misunderstanding. Corsair is not standing behind their ValueSelect memory. Their last (and apparently final) word from their "Ramguy" to me was:
"If both sticks are failing it would indicate there is another issue causing your system to not work properly."
That would certainly seem plausible *except* the factory 2GB memory is still working fine!
So I am apparently out of $90 but at least my notebook is still working fine with the factory memory.
Readers can draw their own conclusion.

 

[kjv1611]

I would suggest calling Corsair again. I would think that you just got a bad rep on the line. Call again, tell them you need an RMA for 2 bad sticks of RAM, tell them the details, and it should go fine.

I've had to deal with Corsair before, and they were VERY responsive and helpful in a similar situation.

I can also vouch for Patriot on it. With both companies, I've had to get USB thumb drives replaced, and had no hiccups whatsoever - frankly, those 2 were the fastest manufacturer's I've ever dealt with regarding RMA type replacements.

I think I've done the same with RAM, but I just can't remember for 100% certain. Most of the time, when I've returned RAM, it's been soon enough after purchase, that I could deal with the store/seller directly.

I also know that if you happened to buy your RAM at BestBuy, that you'd likely be able to go directly through them. I just had a coworker do the same with some PNY ram last week, I believe it was.