Vista integrated Memory Tester

Thanks, I did not think to mention I posted your problem anonymously, still no joy, but I will let you know if I receive a positive post just for your own information. king regards,

Hi Ideafix, Thanks for posting your solution. I see you've been on the trail of this solution for a few days. I only first read your post today. Sorry. Glad you were persistent. In case it "might' be useful… It would seem to me that Windows Memory Tester has placed itself into Scheduled Tasks and is repeating from there. Start - Control Panel - Scheduled Tasks (in XP, I realize you are running Vista and the route may be different) I don't have a Vista machine on my bench right now to check it myself. If you do discover that the route is via Scheduled Tasks and changeable from there, would you be so kind as to post back with your findings? Best Regards, Doug

Hey Doug and thanks for your input.

Scheduled Tasks was one of the first places I looked in, but the Memory Diagnostic Tool wasn't among the tasks.

I'm no pro with Task Scheduler, but I don't think that it can create tasks to run at DOS level, before windows boots, like the case is with memtest.

Although the app that is launched when you decide to run a memory test is %SystemRoot%\system32\MdSched.exe, this isn't the actual memory tester, it's just a simple exe that adds the bootsequence {memdiag} entry to BCD and then restarts the machine if you choose to do so.

The real memory tester resides in a hidden folder called boot and the app name is memtest.exe. This is not a win32 app and only runs in DOS environment. It is launched by boot manager automatically or by you manually (if you choose to force boot manager to appear by pressing the spacebar right after the BIOS POST when the screen goes black).

The only discernible place where I could find an actual entry that specifically pointed to memtest was in BCD, where there is a line that manipulates the boot sequence and points to a BCD ID called {memdiag}. Boot manager then searches the BCD for the section called {memdiag}, which appears like this:

[external image: Posted Image]

As you can see, the {memdiag} ID indicates what app should be ran, where it is located and how it should be ran.

This is what I was able to determine. I understand that this method is far from simple and a certain degree of risk is involved for people who don't know how to use BCD, so if an easier way can be found to deal with situations like this, it would surely be very welcome

Hi IdeaFix, Thanks very much for your detailed reply. You are an excellent teacher/helper. And a darn good investigator/sleuth as well! I'm very glad your joined here at WTT and hope that you decide to continue. Best Regards

I wish to thank "idealfix" for his solution that has been driving me nuts It worked You have been a life saver

kfleong,

Thank you very much for posting the compliment to member Idealfix who had not been around here for sometime, but hopefully will receive your post. Posting as you have will draw others who maybe are having the problem to find the answer.

A very Happy Festive Season to you.

regards,