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-   -   Does anyone have tips for using memtest86? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/does-anyone-have-tips-for-using-memtest86-4175499799/)

abefroman 03-28-2014 10:10 AM

Does anyone have tips for using memtest86?
 
Does anyone have tips for using memtest86?

All the ram is testing good, 6 DIMMS.

But I know at least 1 is bad, because the box it was in would lock up after 10-20 minutes, and after I replaced all 6 DIMMS, it stopped doing that.

Why is memtest86 reporting it good?

I seems some dimms are taking longer to test than others (they are all the same size). Could the one that takes the longest to test be the bad one?

Should I test them one at a time, or do 2 or more at a time?

Anything else I can look for? Or anything else I can use to test it?

TIA

jefro 03-28-2014 04:22 PM

Some ram needs to be in pairs or even triple sets. They work differently single versus multiple and could fail one way and not the other way.

You have to run memtest for a day or so to get better results. '

Your logic isn't exactly correct. One could have perfect ram and an OS fails on it. Changing ram may seem to fix it but there is a lot more going on than meets the eye.

Try a few different versions of memory diagnostics too.

In some cases the default memory test options don't include things like or does include ecc or such.

Swapping out a ram may help reset the ram or the ram controller too so we don't have report on retesting to prove.

Parts and boards are kind of a bad sales scheme. A board may say it can use XWY's brand of ram but really you can't be sure of anything. Ram could be different version, batch or such. Motherboard may have cpu or power supply issues. Really can't tell.

Does ram work in bios failsafe or default settings?

abefroman 03-28-2014 04:30 PM

Thanks for the tips, does memtest stop once it finds an error?

It seems to reboot itself and then boot from the CDROM and run the test again, after its done.

rknichols 03-28-2014 07:54 PM

It shouldn't reboot. Once memtest86 completes all tests in a pass (with or without errors) it should just start another pass. A spontaneous reboot suggests a problem in the memory occupied by the program itself.

abefroman 03-28-2014 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknichols (Post 5143077)
It shouldn't reboot. Once memtest86 completes all tests in a pass (with or without errors) it should just start another pass. A spontaneous reboot suggests a problem in the memory occupied by the program itself.

That was my bad, I did option 2 which is only 1 pass.

nigelc 03-29-2014 05:20 AM

Memtest just reports errors. When it gets past the bad spot it reports nothing until gets to same, bad location and the errors get reported again. etc.


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