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Memory test options

S

Squidmaster

Member
Hi all. Can anyone recommend a memory checker that I can use to test the memory on a new system with an i7 processor? Memtest86 doesn't seem to do the trick anymore, which I suppose is to be expected.

Thanks!
 
Ok, I already had grabbed memtest86+, but I probably made some sort of mistake. I wanted to use a USB drive to handle the bootup and test, but when I downloaded the file for "USB Key", all I could do was move the executable to the drive, which of course does nothing if I try to boot from it.

Am I misunderstanding what a USB Key is compared to my little flash drive, or is there more to it? If I need to I can go with ISO but I think I have to also find software to burn it to DVD, unless Windows Vista 64 comes with something. I'm new to the OS. As I write this I see a program called "Windows DVD Maker, but I don't know if that can work on a regular CD or not.
 
Vista does not give you the ability to burn an ISO. You need Windows 7 for that. Or a third party application.

Or you can use your USB drive. The drive you have should work fine. However, it's not as simple as copying the files onto the USB stick. You have to make your flash drive bootable (warning: that means formatting it and losing anything on it, so make a backup of any files on the USB stick you need to keep). It's really not that complicated.

I used instructions from this page: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bi [...] ide-27576/
You can find the instrucitons under the label "Making a Bootable USB Flash Drive". It's been a month since I did this but I believe I followed the instructions from steps 1 -4. After that, copy the memtest files onto the USB drive and reboot, booting from your flash drive. You may have to enter BIOS and choose USB as the first boot device, if you can't select it as a boot device during start up.
 
Fantastic. I will get this done. My comp already has flash drives as the #1 option so I'm set there. Thanks again. I'll let you know how it pans out.
 
I created the boot drive. The instructions worked great, and everything booted as intended. Then I ran memtest86+ and nothing really happened. It loaded a screen with a header and footer. There was no text anywhere but the top, where it read "memtest 86" with a flashing plus sign. Nothing ran, nothing looked like there was anything *to* run. I'm at a loss.
 
This last version worked! I tested all night and got no errors. Should I run the other test you're recommending as well, or was that just an alternative. In looking through the memtest options, it seems like I'm pretty limited in selecting meaningful differences from the standard test. A few of the options I don't understand as well, but this is probably ok.

I really appreciate your help. I'm pretty ill so the simple searches aren't generally so simple for me. Your input has gone a long way.
 
Can you be more specific about what didn't work and what did work? It will help others who come in and read this thread. - And of course I'm curious myself.

If you passed one test you're probably ok. But giving us some more details will help confirm.
 
For the total history:

Memtest86 (not plus) on a CD that worked on another, slightly older system wouldn't test past 4% of the first pass on this one.

The Windows memory diagnostic wouldn't run, and told me my installation was flawed even though this computer came straight from a store basically.

Memtest86+ using the USB version of the file and the DOS install we talked about allowed for a bootable USB drive, but the memory test just listed the name of the program with a big blank blue section underneath.

The linux install on USB with the instructions you provided worked and the overnight test, using the defaults, showed no errors. I don't really know how the passes work. I think it said 9 but I don't know if that means 9 for the whole set of RAM or 9 total divided between sticks or what exactly.

I didn't run the other recommended program, and I don't know if I should bother or not. The system still has oddities. I honestly expected the test to fail.
 
Last edited:
Squidmaster said:
I didn't run the other recommended program, and I don't know if I should bother or not. The system still has oddities. I honestly expected the test to fail.
Click to expand...

What are the other oddities? What hardware do you have? Is this a new build? What changes did you make to BIOS / standard settings?
 
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