[luau] MemTest86: Testing your memory, the Open Source way

Warren Togami warren at togami.com
Fri Mar 15 11:10:20 PST 2002


I remember this tool!  You compile it and it spits out a binary that you can
either boot from LILO or GRUB just like a kernel image, or you can raw copy
it to a floppy disk and boot it that way.  It does rigorous tests on your
memory, and if any defects are detected it spits out memory addresses that
you can give to the Linux badmemory patch that will allow you to run a
system with bad memory by skipping the bad areas (well, not a good idea for
an important system).

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/03/15/1549246&mode=thread

You are probably used to seeing the memory test that occurs when you boot
most PCs. This proves that your machine has good memory, right? Well, not
exactly. The memory test a PC performs is quite basic: it will turn up gross
failures in memory. Unfortunately, it does not do much to reveal subtle
problems. To do that, the PC would need to do an extensive memory
evaluation. Your machine won't do it, but Memtest86 will.
Memtest86 is a stand-alone program that allows you to thoroughly exercise
the memory on your machine. It requires no operating system or human
intervention and can boot from a floppy or hard drive partition. And, if
that's not enough to interest you, it is distributed under the GNU General
Public License.
(continued in article)




More information about the LUAU mailing list