NMI Parity Error - here is what worked for me

[AlexanderT]

Today, for the first time, I saw the dreaded NMI Parity Error bluescreen which was already mentioned by various members on this board.

My initial reaction was to run a thorough memory check with Memtest86. After two hours running the check I decided that there is no memory error involved.

So I sat down and thought about other possible causes. My notebook is still brand new (two weeks old, running Windows Vista), and everything worked like a charm until now. What I did different today was to change one setting in the Catalyst Control Center (official Lenovo drivers, 8.33.6-070105a1): I tweaked the Powerplay feature from the default "optimal performance" to "balanced" (hoping by doing this to lower the GPU temperature by a few degrees). Anyways - shortly after that I experienced the NMI Parity Error bluescreen twice in a row in a short time.

Now the settings are back to the default ("optimal performance") and no more blue screen so far.

[nxman]

I had the same problem for a long time until i decided to upgrade the bios to the latest i downloaded all latest drivers from Lenovo along with a clean XP install and after that i became BSOD free
now for more than 50 days it used to happen while watching videos at metacafe & youtube.

[AlexanderT]

nxman, I agree, I am 100% sure it is a driver/bios issue (i.e. not hardware-related). My Thinkpad came with Windows Vista, and I am using the latest official drivers. Since changing the powerplay settings back to default, I haven't had a bluescreen. So I am very much sure this was the reason here.

There are later Catalyst drivers (7.2.) out not by Lenovo, but by AMD/ATI directly. I haven't tried them out yet because usually OEM vendors modify the drivers for their needs. Not sure what I would lose if I used the official drivers.

[Smalltalk80]

Thanks to AlexanderT's method I was finally able to solve the parity error that had plagued my T60 for a long time.

I bought my T60 in April and added a 1G Kingston PC25300 memory stick (the original is 1G Hynix with the same specification). The graphics driver is ATI X1400 128MB. From that time on I got random parity error BSOD (from once a week in the beginning to once every other day in June). If I only keep one memory stick (in whichever slot) there is no problem, but with two sticks there is no way to avoid it.

My driver is (8.343.0, 2/9/2007).

After I set my ATI power setting from Balanced to Maximum Performance though Vista's control panel , I haven't got any parity error in three weeks. So it seems it's probably a bug in ATI driver that causes this parity error nightmare.

Many people mention in past posts that they have parity error only when on battery. One logical thinking is that something that differs between battery mode and AC mode is causing the problem. So I believe people can try changing ATI from Maximum Battery Life to Maximum Performance in battery mode.

I'm interested to know whether other people have similar experiences. If the ATI-related problem is general, we should bring it to Lenovo's attention.