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Apple Hardware Test pass : Memtest 86+ Fails

D

dogbait

macrumors regular
Original poster
After experiencing a kernel panic I ran the Apple Hardware Test and experienced no errors, but Memtest 86+ threw a huge number of errors.

Is there anything else I should try to confirm whether my memory is bad?
 
Thanks.
I have a drive that's been clicking a lot on startup and sometimes isn't recognized by the OS.
I suspect that it's faulty but am curious to know whether it might be the drive itself or the bay that it's in.
Would Apple hardware test identify this sort of problem?
 
Eraserhead said:
Your memory is definitely bad.
Click to expand...

Why would Memtest86+ pick up errors in the first few minutes but Rember pick up nothing after an hours?

Here are my memory temps while stress testing (Celsius):
 

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dogbait said:
Why would Memtest86+ pick up errors in the first few minutes but Rember pick up nothing after an hours?

Here are my memory temps while stress testing (Celsius):
Click to expand...

your mem temps are a little high on load. Mine peaked at only around 70+ deg cel.

And your CPU cores are running rather cool. 😉
 
Sage Harupyuia said:
your mem temps are a little high on load. Mine peaked at only around 70+ deg cel.

And your CPU cores are running rather cool. 😉
Click to expand...

There are four threads of CPUTest resulting in all four cores being loaded.

Low temps could be because the fans went higher to cool down the high memory temps and as a side effect have reduced the CPU temps to below normal?


Eraserhead said:
Whats that?
Click to expand...

Open source memory testing application for OS X:
http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

Running it at the moment, it's really pushing the temperature of my RAM up high!
 
I can assure you that the RAM failing will be almost always the SOLE cause of kernel panics.

When I first got my Mac Pro... I went through a week of HELL with Kernel Panics, lock-ups, craziness... I thought maybe I got a bad machine :-((

Turns out the APPLE RAM was bad... got it replaced... did a fresh install... and now 2 weeks later???

Not a SINGLE lock-up... everything has been incredibly solid.

Trust me. It's the memory.
 
you dont happen to have Windows installed on your system do you?

the memtest program for windows (XP for me atleast) seems very robust and accurate.


however not sure if that would work in your situation.


goodluck.
 
AppleNewton, from what I hear the memtest program for Windows is based on mestest86+ (as is memtestosx) as well, I suppose they're all nearly as good.

On to some good news, I just completed twenty passes of Rember (a GUI version of memtestosx) and no problems found with my memory.

I have 8GB more winging its way to me from OWC so at least I know how to test that now!
 
crucial

Can confirm this. Memtest86 spew out 500+ errors in under 10 minutes on a pair of 2GB Kingston RAM. They've been running solidly for two months in a MBPro 15".

When I ran it on a new pair of crucial 2GB sticks, it found around 20 errors in 20 minutes. I think there's something fishy here... And I think I just wasted a CD-R.
 
I don't know anything about the accuracy Memtest86, but if you had just the one kernel panic I wouldn't, um, panic. However if the kernel panics continue, I'd take that failure report far more seriously.
 
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