How to use Memtest86?

[WacoTaco]

How do you use memtest86?

 

[Mondoman]

Download either a floppy image or a CD image from the net. Create a floppy or CD from the image. Boot your system with the floppy or CD. Run memtest86+.

 

[WacoTaco]

ok just run it and i dont have to set anything?For how long it needs to be ran and how do i know if there were any errors?

 

[Mondoman]

Run at least one full cycle (may take an hour or longer); overnight is probably best. Errors will show up in red and be obvious. The count of errors in the error column will also be bigger than 0.

 

[WacoTaco]

and how do i select the cycles?

And also i extracted the file and i used nero 7 and chose the option cd-rom boot able and burn the whole iso file but i restarted my pc and nothing it just restarted

Did i do anything wrong?

 

[Mondoman]

You shouldn't have to choose a bootable CD rom in Nero, just use the create CDROM from ISO image (or whatever the choice is).
OK, when you start Nero, cancel out of the initial dialog. Then, go to the File menu and choose Open...
Using Open, open the .iso file.
It should then show you the Burn Compilation dialog and away you go.

 

[Sagekilla]

That and make sure you're booting from the CD when you reboot your machine. If you have the disc in your computer already burnt, it won't do anything unless you tell it to boot from the CD instead of your hard drive.

 

[chogo]

Using Nero 6.x, under the Recorder menu, chose Burn Image and select the iso file that you downloaded.

You also need to go into your BIOS and change the boot options so that it will boot from CD-Rom before harddisk.

Memtest will cycle continuously by default until you press the Esc key to end it. The available commands are listed at the bottom of your screen.

You should let it run for at least 2 complete cycles (last test number is eight). Time to run a complete cycle depends on the speed of your CPU (for my 3GHz P4, it takes about 15mins to do a cycle).

 

[Mobius]

DUH.

You need to open your BIOS and allow "Boot From CD-ROM" and set it as the first boot device.

When you have run the testing, set it back so your HDD is #1.

 

[Sagekilla]

Using Nero 6.x, under the Recorder menu, chose Burn Image and select the iso file that you downloaded.

You also need to go into your BIOS and change the boot options so that it will boot from CD-Rom before harddisk.

Memtest will cycle continuously by default until you press the Esc key to end it. The available commands are listed at the bottom of your screen.

You should let it run for at least 2 complete cycles (last test number is eight). Time to run a complete cycle depends on the speed of your CPU (for my 3GHz P4, it takes about 15mins to do a cycle).

Something seems horribly wrong here, 15 mins for a cycle? I have an Opteron 170 and it takes at least an hour to do a cycle. Some of those tests are insanely long. Even my dad's old dell (P4 2.66) takes over an hour to do them

 

[Chil]

He must have only 512MB of RAM for a complete cycle to be 15 mins. My machine takes around 40 mins per cycle.

 

[WacoTaco]

any more suggestions?

 

[jrnyfan]

burning to a cd is a good waste of a cd IMHO but to each his own, don't get me wrong.

I use a blank floppy and just place everything on there then change the boot order in the BIOS to my floppy drive and let it run.

While one pass will tell you somethings, memtest tests your whole system and its performance in writting information to the RAM. Memtest, to make sure your system is running ok, should be run at least overnight and if possible for 24 hours. While it will help you determine which stick of RAM is causing you the problem, if your issue is a bad northbridge or perhaps a bad DIMM itself you won't be able to localize the problem, all you will find out is that your RAM is ok after numerous combinations and numerous swapping of sticks of RAM. Problems can show up hours and hours into the test so that is something you might want to take into account.

Everything else said by previous posters so far though, is correct. These are just the opinions of a deranged mind that has been sullied by too many hours fighting with Corporate America's IT Dept. staffed by idiots that couldn't tell you the difference between AMD and Intel. :lol:

 

[WacoTaco]

ok and lets say i have overclocked ram that is running 672 in 1:1.

The ram is ddr2 800mhz c5

But i changed the timings to 4-4-4-12 and the time thing is on 4.i have an asus motheboard but i didnt have to raise any voltage of the ram and 4-4-4-12 seems to run good and i ran pcmark and saw points increased.Is it suppose to be like that.

 

[jrnyfan]

if it runs stable then i suppose that works. you need to stress test it and either memtest over night or a few benchmarks should be ok to let you know. I will be honest though, I don't know all there is to know about memory timings and as such I can't tell you for sure if what you are doing is the best or not but the ol' rule of thumb applies here so feel free to select a solid willow branch and beat your computer till you feel comfortable that she won't lock up on you. (ooo...bad joke)

someone else should look at your timings in that I run ddr on my asus sli-deluxe and i don't have to overclock it because it comes clocked just fine for me.

good luck and remember, when in doubt don't do it unless your buddies do it first and it works for them...that way if it doesnt you dont have to fry your machine, you can just laugh at their smoldering heap!

 

[WacoTaco]

tHNX jrnyfan and anybody else can help me with the timings?

 

[WacoTaco]

Well i burned it and just set the boot prority and the memtest ran by its self so i left it for 17 hours and 30 minutes and it saied pass 80 error 0.So that means everything is good right?

 

[jrnyfan]

that means everything is working ok as far as memtest is concerned, that is a pretty good test and i think you will be ok

 

[WacoTaco]

ok thanks

 

[BuddyGoodness]

I am trying to use memtest86 to check my ram but I cannot burn a bootable cd. I get failures with burning whether it is a simulation or a real burn.

Here is the nero log file, this happens every single time:
AutoRun : 1
Excluded drive IDs:
WriteBufferSize: 83886080 (0) Byte
ShowDrvBufStat : 0
BUFE : 0
Physical memory : 1023MB (1048044kB)
Free physical memory: 566MB (580024kB)
Memory in use : 44 %
Uncached PFiles: 0x0
Use Inquiry : 1
Global Bus Type: default (0)
Check supported media : Disabled (0)

12.1.2007
CD Image
2:39:19 AM #1 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 2868
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D
Buffer underrun protection activated

2:39:19 AM #2 Text 0 File Reader.cpp, Line 127
Reader running

2:39:19 AM #3 Text 0 File Writer.cpp, Line 122
Writer PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D running

2:39:19 AM #4 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3153
Turn on Track-At-Once, using CD-R/RW media

2:39:43 AM #5 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 259
Last possible write address on media: 359845 ( 79:59.70)
Last address to be written: 449 ( 0:07.74)

2:39:43 AM #6 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 271
Write in overburning mode: NO (enabled: CD)

2:39:43 AM #7 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 2316
Recorder: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D;
CDR code: 00 97 26 66; OSJ entry from: CMC Magnetics Corporation
ATIP Data:
Special Info [hex] 1: D0 00 98, 2: 61 1A 42 (LI 97:26.66), 3: 4F 3B 47 (LO 79:59.71)
Additional Info [hex] 1: FF FF FF (invalid), 2: FF FF FF (invalid), 3: FF FF FF (invalid)

2:39:43 AM #8 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 433
>>> Protocol of DlgWaitCD activities: <<<
=========================================
Insert the disc to write to.
(Medium in drive: Unknown. Medium required by compilation: CD-R/RW.)

2:39:43 AM #9 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 830
Setup items (after recorder preparation)
0: TRM_DATA_MODE1 (2 - CD-ROM Mode 1, Joliet)
2 indices, index0 (150) not provided
original disc pos #0 + 450 (450) = #450/0:6.0
relocatable, disc pos for caching/writing not required/not required, patch infos
-> TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048, config 0, wanted index0 0 blocks, length 448 blocks [PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D]
--------------------------------------------------------------

2:39:43 AM #10 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1043
Prepare recorder [PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D] for write in TAO
DAO infos:
==========
MCN: ""
TOCType: 0x00; Session Closed, disc not fixated
Tracks 1 to 1:
1: TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048/0x00, FilePos 0 307200 1228800, ISRC ""
DAO layout:
===========
__Start_|____Track_|_Idx_|_CtrlAdr_|_RecDep__________
-150 | lead-in | 0 | 0x41 | 0x00
-150 | 1 | 0 | 0x41 | 0x00
0 | 1 | 1 | 0x41 | 0x00
450 | lead-out | 1 | 0x41 | 0x00

2:39:43 AM #11 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 1111
Removed 2 run-out blocks from end of track 1. Length: 450 -> 448.

2:39:47 AM #12 Phase 24 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1832
Caching of files started

2:39:47 AM #13 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4040
Cache writing successful.

2:39:47 AM #14 Phase 25 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1832
Caching of files completed

2:39:47 AM #15 Phase 28 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1832
Speed measurement started

2:39:48 AM #16 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 2609
Verifying disc position of item 0 (relocatable, no disc pos, patch infos, orig at #0): write at #0

2:39:48 AM #17 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 228
all writers idle, stopping conversion

2:39:48 AM #18 Phase 29 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1781
Speed measurement completed: 40x (6,000 KB/s)

2:39:48 AM #19 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4106
Can only write at 4x instead of 40x,

because speed of source data is too slow

2:39:48 AM #20 Phase 32 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1832
Simulation started at 4x (600 KB/s)

2:39:50 AM #21 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 2609
Verifying disc position of item 0 (relocatable, no disc pos, patch infos, orig at #0): write at #0

2:39:50 AM #22 Text 0 File Mmc.cpp, Line 21235
Set BUFE: Buffer underrun protection -> ON

2:39:51 AM #23 SCSI -1142 File Cdrdrv.cpp, Line 1435
SCSI Exec, HA 1, TA 0, LUN 0, buffer 0x04250000
Status: 0x04 (0x01, SCSI_ERR)
HA-Status 0x00 (0x00, OK)
TA-Status 0x02 (0x01, SCSI_TASTATUS_CHKCOND)
Sense Key: 0x04 (KEY_HARDWARE_ERROR)
Sense Code: 0x1B
Sense Qual: 0x00
CDB Data: 0x2A 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x20 0x00 0x00 0x00
Sense Data: 0x70 0x00 0x04 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0E
0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x1B 0x00

2:39:51 AM #24 CDR -1142 File Writer.cpp, Line 311
Synchronous data transfer error

2:39:51 AM #25 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 228
all writers idle, stopping conversion

2:39:51 AM #26 CDR -201 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 157
Invalid write state
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D\H1 T0

2:39:51 AM #27 TRANSFER -18 File WriterStatus.cpp, Line 157
Could not perform EndTrack

2:39:51 AM #28 Phase 34 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1832
Simulation failed at 4x (600 KB/s)




Is there an alternative memory test like one I can use while windows is running? I don't have a floppy drive on my computer so that isn't an option, can anyone help me?

 

[Mondoman]

...

Is there an alternative memory test like one I can use while windows is running?

Download and run Orthos -- it's a more user-friendly version of PRIME95.

I don't have a floppy drive on my computer so that isn't an option, can anyone help me?

The problem is that having Windows running complicates things. If you have errors with Orthos/PRIME95, they could also be due to Windows problems.
I'd suggest buying a USB floppy drive ($20 or so), or burning the memtest86+ boot CD on a different computer.