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

[Jeff Mings]

I just "discovered" memtest86 - it's wonderful - helped me solve memory 
problems on two machines.  HIGHLY recommended. 

-Jeff Mings



On Friday 15 March 2002 09:10 am, you wrote:
> 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)
>
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