Memory testing boot CD for Intel Macs?

[generik]

It seems like one of the memory modules I got is faulty, so I have been trying to figure out which one of them is the dud.

However it seems like OSX does eat up quite a fair bit of memory and Rember doesn't seem able to find the fault when I am running on one stick (it is probably used up by some block of code that has yet to run yet!)

Is there such a thing as the equivalence of memtest86 for Macs? Or even better will memtest86 even boot on a Intel Mac, now that it supports BIOS?

 

[superbovine]

It seems like one of the memory modules I got is faulty, so I have been trying to figure out which one of them is the dud.

However it seems like OSX does eat up quite a fair bit of memory and Rember doesn't seem able to find the fault when I am running on one stick (it is probably used up by some block of code that has yet to run yet!)

Is there such a thing as the equivalence of memtest86 for Macs? Or even better will memtest86 even boot on a Intel Mac, now that it supports BIOS?

good question.

for terminal:
http://www.memtestosx.org/

for gui (in beta):
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24508

 

[CanadaRAM]

What happens when you boot from the OSX DVD and run Hardware Test?

 

[generik]

What happens when you boot from the OSX DVD and run Hardware Test?

I suppose it isn't as good.

AHT does have quite a hefty memory footprint since it runs on OSX. I'm trying to get something that runs in like 1mb of ram and leaves the remaining 999mb free for testing

 

[superbovine]

I suppose it isn't as good.

AHT does have quite a hefty memory footprint since it runs on OSX. I'm trying to get something that runs in like 1mb of ram and leaves the remaining 999mb free for testing

*scratches his head*
Maybe try barking up a "live" linux on cd or thumb drive or just something along those lines. i am sure you can stick a memory test utility from the linux world on there. that should be a small enough to get the results you want.

you could do it the hard-way and just remove modules until you figure which on it is.

 

[Nermal]

Or even better will memtest86 even boot on a Intel Mac, now that it supports BIOS?

I just tried to use the copy that comes with SuSE Linux. I inserted the CD and chose it in Startup Disk, and successfully got to the SuSE menu. I selected Memory Test... and it crashed

 

[superbovine]

I just tried to use the copy that comes with SuSE Linux. I inserted the CD and chose it in Startup Disk, and successfully got to the SuSE menu. I selected Memory Test... and it crashed

damn endians!

 

[mrichmon]

AHT does have quite a hefty memory footprint since it runs on OSX. I'm trying to get something that runs in like 1mb of ram and leaves the remaining 999mb free for testing

If you have two sticks then put stick A in slot 0 and stick B in slot 1. Run the memory test. If there are no errors then put stick A in slot 1 and stick B in slot 0. Run the memory test. If there are no errors then both sticks are fine.

OS X and AHT will end up residing in the memory stick in slot 0 in each case. This means that each time you run the memory test then you will be mostly testing the stick in slot 1. But in the middle you switch the sticks around.

You might find that both sticks are fine. In which case it is likely to be a problem with the logic board.

 

[generik]

Anyway I discovered this, I downloaded a copy of the x86 version of memtest on an ISO image, burnt it into a CD, and lo and behold, it actually appears as a "foreign OS" in the Startup Disk part of System Preferences!

Unfortunately it wouldn't boot up, froze during the process.. urgh!

Either way, yeah, this is really tricky to test

 

[TH-Gunner]

Sorry for the necropost, but I just booted from the Fedora installation DVD (both 64-bit and 32-bit), and I'm able to run the installer and run memtest86. Memtest86 shows errors for ALL 3 of my memory modules (2GB and the two stock 512MBs), so I'm in the process of finding out whether it's an incompatibility with the whole EFI/BIOS thing, or if I REALLY have 3 bad sticks.