For the last couple of days, I’ve been having some rather strange display/rendering issues with my browser and ChatGPT. Unfortunately, I still haven’t managed to capture a screenshot of the problem. 😅
So, naturally, I started looking for the obvious suspects.
🔧 First stop: ASUS drivers & BIOS
I checked whether there were any newer drivers available for my ASUS NUC.
Sadly… nope. The available driver package is still from the end of 2025. Nothing exciting there.
There was, however, a new BIOS update. So I flashed it and gave the system another try.
Result: BIOS updated successfully… and the rendering issues are still there. 🤷♂️
Well, at least the NUC is now running the latest BIOS. One problem solved, one problem stubbornly refusing to participate.
🧠 Time for a RAM check
That led me to the next suspect: RAM.
In the past, whenever I wanted to test memory, I usually did something very Linux-ish:
- Boot a Linux distribution or installer from USB
- Start
memtest - Wait…
- Wait some more…
- And eventually find out whether my RAM is innocent or guilty. 😄
Another option is MemTest86, which I’ve also used before by downloading the ISO and booting it from a USB stick.
🪟 But what about Windows?
Since I’m currently running Windows 11 on the ASUS NUC, I suddenly wondered:
“Does Windows actually have something like this built in?”
And apparently, yes.
It’s called Windows Memory Diagnostic and can be started with:
mdsched
Just press Win + R, enter mdsched, and Windows will offer to restart the machine and perform a memory test.
🕰️ Welcome back to 1987…
The actual test interface is… well… very retro. 😂
Windows 11 suddenly looks like it has travelled back approximately 40 years in time. For a moment, I half expected to see:
C:\>_
Maybe Microsoft simply decided that modern graphics are overrated when testing RAM.
But hey — it works.
The memory test completed successfully and, in my case, reported no memory errors.
🔍 What’s next?
So far, the RAM appears to be innocent.
Tomorrow I’ll continue troubleshooting and try a different browser. I’m currently using Firefox, so the next experiment will be Chrome.
If the problem suddenly disappears, we might have our culprit.
And if not… well, then the investigation continues. 🕵️♂️
Current status:
- ✅ ASUS NUC BIOS updated
- ❌ No newer driver package available
- ✅ Windows Memory Diagnostic completed
- ✅ No RAM errors detected
- ❓ Strange browser/ChatGPT rendering issue still unresolved
- 🔜 Chrome test tomorrow
To be continued… 🚀
Sometimes troubleshooting is just computer science’s version of detective work — except the suspects are drivers, browsers, RAM and occasionally your own sanity. 😎
