Performing a Memory Test
Modern computers contain a significant amount of memory, and it isn’t easy to know whether the memory is usable. Because of the way that Windows manages memory, it’s impossible to test memory correctly in Windows. A few products on the market try, but the results are probably inaccurate or memory isn’t fully tested. Windows Server 2008 comes with a new memory testing diagnostic that you can access from one of three locations:
✦ The Control Panel
✦ The boot menu
✦ The CD diagnostics
The diagnostic behaves about the same no matter where you access it. To access the memory diagnostic from within Windows, open the Control Panel and double-click the Memory Diagnostics Tool entry within the Administrative Tools folder. To start the diagnostic at the boot menu, press Tab, select the Windows Memory Diagnostic option from the Tools menu, and press OK. When you start the Windows Memory Diagnostics tool from the CD or from within Windows, it displays a dialog box where you choose between performing the test immediately or waiting until the next time you boot the machine.
Performing the test immediately is the preferred option when you suspect that your system is having memory problems. Starting the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool from the boot menu begins the test immediately. If you’re starting this test from the CD, don’t boot from the CD when you want to run the test. The test starts when you attempt to boot from the hard drive. Of course, this means you have to have a bootable partition on the hard drive and that this isn’t one of the diagnostics you can run exclusively from the CD.
All you can do is start the test from the CD when you can’t start it for whatever reason by using the boot menu or directly from Windows. When the test begins, you see a Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool screen. Windows isn’t booted at this point, so you can’t do anything with the machine. You can use the default settings for most situations. However, if you want a faster or more comprehensive test, press F1 to enter the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool – Options window, where you can set any of these options:
✦ Test Mix: Determine the tests that Windows runs on memory. Extended tests can help you locate even subtle memory problems, but they require a significant amount of time. Basic tests are good for a very quick check when you want to verify system health.
✦ Cache: Enable or disable the memory cache. The default setting uses the configuration found in the BIOS settings for your machine. In general, you want to use the Default setting unless you have a reason to suspect that the cache is damaged.
✦ Pass Count: Define the number of times that the test runs. The default setting of 2 finds most problems. You can miss intermittent problems by using a value of 1. The settings let you run the tests up to 99 times, which is probably overkill.
Configure the settings you want to use and then press F10. The Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool screen displays the test progress for you. When the test completes, your machine boots as normal. If you started the test from the boot menu or within Windows, you see in the notification area a status message from the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. Click the associated Notification Area icon to remove the message. If you start the test using the CD, you don’t see the status message when you boot Windows — you need to watch the test as it runs.
Performing a Windows Complete PC Restore
At some point, your server will experience some type of major hard drive failure and won’t boot. Yes, you can keep track of the event log, configure the hard drive’s Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) capability in the BIOS configuration, and run your own diagnostics, but sometimes the hard drive will fail even with all this vigilance in place.
In addition, bad configurations, viruses, adware, and other issues can force you to perform a complete restore of your hard drive to get the system back into a usable state. Of course, all these issues point to the need for a good backup Assuming that you have a good backup, you can restore it using either the standard approach or the Windows Complete PC Restore option of the System Recovery Options dialog box, shown below Figure . Starting the restoration by using the CD ensures that any virus, adware, or other type of nefarious software isn’t running when you begin the restore, which tends to ensure that the restoration process will succeed as expected. In addition, you must use the CD approach when the hard drive fails completely.
Using the Command Prompt
Boot CD: You can use the boot CD to open a command prompt that doesn’t have any access to any operating system resources but can perform tasks without any operating system interference. This option is the best one to use for low-level tasks. For example, you use this option to replace operating system files or repartition the disk. However, this option may not be available when the hard drive relies on BitLocker encryption. Yes, you can still open the command prompt, but the BitLocker encryption prevents you from performing any useful tasks.
✦ Boot menu: Using the boot menu option provides a command prompt that includes some operating system functionality but none of the normal drivers. The system has booted into Safe Mode. All the normal paths are in place, but you may notice that some devices are unavailable. Use this option when you need to perform diagnostics with command line utilities. For example, you can verify that the system has specific services running. You can start or stop services to observe their effect on the system and determine whether a particular service is causing the system to fail.
✦ Within Windows Server 2008: When you open a command prompt from within Windows Server 2008, you normally have full access to the system features. In addition, you can work with all the normal drivers loaded and services running. Use this option when you want to perform configuration or other maintenance tasks at the command line. Be aware, however,that the operating system may actually hide some system features from view.
Modern computers contain a significant amount of memory, and it isn’t easy to know whether the memory is usable. Because of the way that Windows manages memory, it’s impossible to test memory correctly in Windows. A few products on the market try, but the results are probably inaccurate or memory isn’t fully tested. Windows Server 2008 comes with a new memory testing diagnostic that you can access from one of three locations:
✦ The Control Panel
✦ The boot menu
✦ The CD diagnostics
The diagnostic behaves about the same no matter where you access it. To access the memory diagnostic from within Windows, open the Control Panel and double-click the Memory Diagnostics Tool entry within the Administrative Tools folder. To start the diagnostic at the boot menu, press Tab, select the Windows Memory Diagnostic option from the Tools menu, and press OK. When you start the Windows Memory Diagnostics tool from the CD or from within Windows, it displays a dialog box where you choose between performing the test immediately or waiting until the next time you boot the machine.
Performing the test immediately is the preferred option when you suspect that your system is having memory problems. Starting the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool from the boot menu begins the test immediately. If you’re starting this test from the CD, don’t boot from the CD when you want to run the test. The test starts when you attempt to boot from the hard drive. Of course, this means you have to have a bootable partition on the hard drive and that this isn’t one of the diagnostics you can run exclusively from the CD.
All you can do is start the test from the CD when you can’t start it for whatever reason by using the boot menu or directly from Windows. When the test begins, you see a Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool screen. Windows isn’t booted at this point, so you can’t do anything with the machine. You can use the default settings for most situations. However, if you want a faster or more comprehensive test, press F1 to enter the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool – Options window, where you can set any of these options:
✦ Test Mix: Determine the tests that Windows runs on memory. Extended tests can help you locate even subtle memory problems, but they require a significant amount of time. Basic tests are good for a very quick check when you want to verify system health.
✦ Cache: Enable or disable the memory cache. The default setting uses the configuration found in the BIOS settings for your machine. In general, you want to use the Default setting unless you have a reason to suspect that the cache is damaged.
✦ Pass Count: Define the number of times that the test runs. The default setting of 2 finds most problems. You can miss intermittent problems by using a value of 1. The settings let you run the tests up to 99 times, which is probably overkill.
Configure the settings you want to use and then press F10. The Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool screen displays the test progress for you. When the test completes, your machine boots as normal. If you started the test from the boot menu or within Windows, you see in the notification area a status message from the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. Click the associated Notification Area icon to remove the message. If you start the test using the CD, you don’t see the status message when you boot Windows — you need to watch the test as it runs.
Performing a Windows Complete PC Restore
At some point, your server will experience some type of major hard drive failure and won’t boot. Yes, you can keep track of the event log, configure the hard drive’s Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) capability in the BIOS configuration, and run your own diagnostics, but sometimes the hard drive will fail even with all this vigilance in place.
In addition, bad configurations, viruses, adware, and other issues can force you to perform a complete restore of your hard drive to get the system back into a usable state. Of course, all these issues point to the need for a good backup Assuming that you have a good backup, you can restore it using either the standard approach or the Windows Complete PC Restore option of the System Recovery Options dialog box, shown below Figure . Starting the restoration by using the CD ensures that any virus, adware, or other type of nefarious software isn’t running when you begin the restore, which tends to ensure that the restoration process will succeed as expected. In addition, you must use the CD approach when the hard drive fails completely.
Using the Command Prompt
Boot CD: You can use the boot CD to open a command prompt that doesn’t have any access to any operating system resources but can perform tasks without any operating system interference. This option is the best one to use for low-level tasks. For example, you use this option to replace operating system files or repartition the disk. However, this option may not be available when the hard drive relies on BitLocker encryption. Yes, you can still open the command prompt, but the BitLocker encryption prevents you from performing any useful tasks.
✦ Boot menu: Using the boot menu option provides a command prompt that includes some operating system functionality but none of the normal drivers. The system has booted into Safe Mode. All the normal paths are in place, but you may notice that some devices are unavailable. Use this option when you need to perform diagnostics with command line utilities. For example, you can verify that the system has specific services running. You can start or stop services to observe their effect on the system and determine whether a particular service is causing the system to fail.
✦ Within Windows Server 2008: When you open a command prompt from within Windows Server 2008, you normally have full access to the system features. In addition, you can work with all the normal drivers loaded and services running. Use this option when you want to perform configuration or other maintenance tasks at the command line. Be aware, however,that the operating system may actually hide some system features from view.
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