[dba-SQLServer] How to troubleshoot a blue screen

Francisco Tapia fhtapia at gmail.com
Tue Jun 19 16:04:54 CDT 2012


I don't have any issue with my boot disk being raid1, but it seems you're
fixing your issue...  happy times.

-Francisco
http://bit.ly/sqlthis   | Tsql and More...
Let Apple know you want turn by turn on your iPhone 4!
https://plus.google.com/112803888444646122406/posts/HmQej9pHZQM

 <http://db.tt/JeXURAx>




On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:27 PM, jwcolby <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>wrote:

> I have used Memtest64 dozens of times over the years.  Yes any single "can
> I access the memory at all" test only takes a "little while", however to do
> the full set of tests (adjacent bits, patterns and so forth) is not fast.
>
> Furthermore the memory is ECC memory anyway.  I have no idea what
> Memtest86 is going to do with that.  If there is an occasional error the
> ECC circuitry is supposed to handle it automatically and not even report it
> to MemTest86.
>
> I believe that the issue is probably a disk dying.  Now when it blue
> screens it fails to post, giving errors about talking to SATA channel 3.
>
> It seems I was silly enough to try and use an SSD for my boot disk.  I
> have migrated the boot to a rotating disk and am back to work.  The only
> way I will know is if the blue screens stop occurring.
>
>
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
>
> Reality is what refuses to go away
> when you do not believe in it
>
>
> On 6/19/2012 2:02 PM, Francisco Tapia wrote:
>
>> LOL,
>>   well Ram is fast, and it doesn't take that long to run a test (be it
>> 64gb
>> or not) the cycle test is what can take some time, but a few hours would
>> suffice for letting you know if there are any errors.  you only really
>> need
>> to do the full cycles if you want to ensure that it's fully burned in,
>> something you've already taken care of.
>>
>> http://forum.notebookreview.**com/notebook-dummy-guide-**
>> articles/142746-testing-your-**ram-memtest86.html<http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebook-dummy-guide-articles/142746-testing-your-ram-memtest86.html>
>> (steps for memtest+)
>>
>> Memtest86+ is very easy to use. All you need to do is:
>>
>>    1. Download the file. I'm going to walk through using the "Pre-Compiled
>>
>>    Bootable ISO (.zip)" file. You can get that from this
>> page<http://www.memtest.org/#**downiso <http://www.memtest.org/#downiso>>
>>    .
>>    2. Unzip the file. There's only 1 file in there, called
>>    "memtest86+-X.YY.iso"
>>    3. Burn the ISO file to CD. This is the potentially tricky part. An ISO
>>
>>    file is a disc image, and cannot be burned directly to a CD. Your CD
>>    recording tool should have an option like "Burn image to CD" or
>> something
>>    like that. If you can't find it, you can try the free ISO
>> Recorder<http://isorecorder.**alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.**htm<http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm>
>> >powertoy.
>>
>> After you burn the CD, if you put it back in the drive and see
>>    the file "memtest86+-X.YY.iso" listed, you've done it wrong
>>    4. Shut down your computer completely, then unplug it. *DO NOT DO THIS
>>    IN SLEEP OR HIBERNATE MODE!!!*
>>    5. I recommend testing the modules one at a time, so if one is bad,
>> it's
>>
>>    easy to know which one! Take out all but one of the RAM modules.
>>    6. Plug in the computer, put the CD in the drive and reboot. Make sure
>>
>>    it boots off the CD, not the hard drive. You should see a blue screen
>> with
>>    a green bar on the top that says: "Memtest86+". There are screen shots
>> on
>>    the memtest86+ web site <http://www.memtest.org/#**screen<http://www.memtest.org/#screen>>
>> so you can get
>>    an idea.
>>    7. Now, you wait for the test! The test will *run forever* until you
>>
>>    stop it. You should run it for at least 1 full pass, more if you have
>> the
>>    time.
>>    8. Once the test is done for that RAM module, shut down, unplug, take
>>
>>    out the module you just tested, put in the new one, and test again.
>>
>>
>>
>> so not a lot of time, and iirc the test will tell you wich bank failed if
>> there is an error (but if you don't know your board well enough testing
>> one
>> at a time will save headaches).
>>
>>
>>
>> -Francisco
>> http://bit.ly/sqlthis   | Tsql and More...
>> Let Apple know you want turn by turn on your iPhone 4!
>> https://plus.google.com/**112803888444646122406/posts/**HmQej9pHZQM<https://plus.google.com/112803888444646122406/posts/HmQej9pHZQM>
>>
>> <http://db.tt/JeXURAx>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 9:54 AM, jwcolby <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>**
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Yea, and I am going to do that.  With 64 gigs of memory it will be more
>>> than "a few hours"!  ;)
>>>
>>> It may be that the problem was a SSD which died Monday morning.
>>>
>>>
>>> John W. Colby
>>> Colby Consulting
>>>
>>> Reality is what refuses to go away
>>> when you do not believe in it
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/19/2012 9:17 AM, Francisco Tapia wrote:
>>>
>>>  if you have some time, you can test the RAM easily by just downloading
>>>> the
>>>> memtest application to a cd rom boot to it let it run for a few hours,
>>>> if
>>>> it's ram related it'll show up in the monitor.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.memtest.org/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -Francisco
>>>> http://bit.ly/sqlthis   | Tsql and More...
>>>> Let Apple know you want turn by turn on your iPhone 4!
>>>> https://plus.google.com/****112803888444646122406/posts/****HmQej9pHZQM<https://plus.google.com/**112803888444646122406/posts/**HmQej9pHZQM>
>>>> <https://plus.**google.com/**112803888444646122406/posts/**HmQej9pHZQM<https://plus.google.com/112803888444646122406/posts/HmQej9pHZQM>
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>> <http://db.tt/JeXURAx>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 7:53 AM, jwcolby <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>*
>>>> ***
>>>>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  My SQL Server blue screens about once a month or so.  It does not
>>>> appear
>>>>
>>>>> to be heat related, or at least CPU heat related as I have top flight
>>>>> HSFs
>>>>> which hold the temps below 35 C.  The temps in the case stay around
>>>>> that
>>>>> temperature or below.  The blue screens appear to be SQL Server
>>>>> related,
>>>>> as
>>>>> they seem to be triggered by my doing something in SSMS.  This last
>>>>> time
>>>>> I
>>>>> started an update query and it immediately blue screened, by which I
>>>>> mean I
>>>>> clicked start (the query) and the blue screen occurred.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is an AMD dual cpu server, both CPUs populated.  32 gigs ECC RAM
>>>>> on
>>>>> each side.  Being a server there is no overclocking.  There is a lot
>>>>> going
>>>>> on hardware wise however.  I use an Areca 16 port RAID controller,
>>>>> RAID 6
>>>>> arrays built from 1 tb WD black drives.  I am using SSDs to create a
>>>>> Raid1
>>>>> array hosting several of my Read Mostly databases.  The specific update
>>>>> that caused the blue screen was not on SSD however, it was on the Areca
>>>>> rotating media raid 6.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am at a loss on how to troubleshoot.  It "feels" like it must be a
>>>>> memory problem, and yet the memory is ECC.  Perhaps I have a bad DIMM
>>>>> which
>>>>> just flakes out.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> John W. Colby
>>>>> Colby Consulting
>>>>>
>>>>> Reality is what refuses to go away
>>>>> when you do not believe in it
>>>>>
>>>>>
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