THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...
↘ submit your questions to: [email protected]Random BSODs
I’m suffering from a weird
problem that I hope you can
help me fix. I am getting
random blue screen errors
when copying or moving
files, and once in a while
when I open too many
browser tabs. I had one when
I was syncing my Ancestry.
com family tree to Family
Tree Maker, when scanning
a large downloaded file
with McAfee, when trying
to create an OS backup with
Macrium Reflect Free and
even while downloading a
Linux ISO to create a live disc
to boot from.
This problem has existed
since I built the PC in October
2020, starting when I copied
files from the old computer’s
drives to this one. It happens
when copying files from
external hard drives or flash
drives to internal SSDs or
HDD, internal to internal, or
internal to external drives.
I am pretty sure this isn't
a hardware problem. I can
boot to a Linux live DVD (I
used PCLinuxOS) and copy
or move files without any
problems. And I booted to
a Macrium USB flash drive
and created the OS backup
without problems too.
Western Digital’s Dashboard
shows all of the internaldrives to be healthy. The
external drives work fine
with laptops. And I have to
assume the cables are OK
since I can copy files without
errors when booting to a
USB drive or Live DVD.
Before I format and
reinstall, I wondered if you
could come up with anything
less severe. And I am a bit
skeptical that a format and
reload will fix this since it
started immediately with a
new build and installation.
—Dave MarshallTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
Seemingly random errors
like this often point to faulty
memory, particularly when
there’s no obvious pattern
to when or how they occur.
But first, we wanted to
check the drives—not just to
eliminate them as the cause
of the problem, but also to
ensure there weren’t any
problems as a result of all
those crashes. Sure enough,
when Dave ran Chkdsk on
all the drives, errors were
found and corrected. He also
checked their SMART status
to eliminate a rogue drive
as the cause of the problem.
Once done, we turned our
full attention to the RAM.
Dave had already run the
Windows Memory Diagnostictool twice with no reports
of errors, but we persuaded
him to download and run the
free version of Memtest 86
from http://www.memtest86.com/
memtest86.html as part
of a more thorough check.
Don’t confuse the Passmark
version with the open-
source Memtest86+ that
was forked from the original
open-source project;
sadly, Memtest86+ doesn’t
officially recognize the
latest DIMMs. Sure enough,
Memtest86 threw up so
many errors with Dave’s
four sticks of 8GB Corsair
Vengeance LPX DDR4-24 00
CL1 6 RAM that it aborted the
test with a big red FAIL.
Once you’ve identified a
failure, you need to pinpoint
which stick(s) of RAM are
failing—Memtest86 can
provide clues here. In
Dave’s case, it consistently
reported errors in the
“26G-28G of 32G” range of
the installed memory. Sure
enough, by isolating and
testing each stick of RAM,
Dave was able to confirm the
faulty module was sitting
in the fourth and final slot
(#B2) on the motherboard.
As Dave’s RAM was still
under warranty, he got
in touch with Corsair. It
required him to test eachstick independently in
Memtest86 and then email
the results of each scan as
an HTML file. On receipt of
the results, Corsair accepted
the fault and authorized
a return under guarantee
of not just the failed DIMM
but its matched pair. This
ensures the replacements
will be similarly matched.Tagging issue in Plex
I recently allowed Plex
to switch my TV library’s
scanner to its new Plex TV
Agent. Since doing this, I
have one of two choices: if I
want to view specially tagged
content (such as specials
not covered by TheTVDB)
then I must tick ‘Prefer
local metadata’ under
‘Manage Library > Edit...
> Advanced’. However, this
reveals that several of my
regular TV shows have got
title tags that have been
added elsewhere. Where
these tags exist, Plex uses
these tags instead of the
episode titles scraped from
online databases.
So, if I untick ‘Prefer
local metadata’, I get all the
correct episode titles, but
no tagged specials, but if I
tick it, I end up with incorrect
episode titles for some
shows. I have various taggingquickstart