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Memory Testing

lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
Just ordered 2GB module from OWC for my 24" Intel 2.4GHz iMac to bring the machine up to 3GB total.

Some of the literature strongly suggests testing the newly installed memory immediately after installation.

Would greatly appreciate advice from those of you who have already done this. Is there a "best" test method?
If so, is it difficult? I have lots of electronics experience, but I am new to the Mac.

Thanks in advance . . . . .
L
 
lugesm said:
Just ordered 2GB module from OWC for my 24" Intel 2.4GHz iMac to bring the machine up to 3GB total.

Some of the literature strongly suggests testing the newly installed memory immediately after installation.

Would greatly appreciate advice from those of you who have already done this. Is there a "best" test method?
If so, is it difficult? I have lots of electronics experience, but I am new to the Mac.

Thanks in advance . . . . .
L
Click to expand...

After installing the RAM, you can run the Apple Hardware test
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081

Make sure to run the Extended Testing...it will take longer, but worth it.

Then I would also recommend downloading Rember:
http://www.kelleycomputing.net:16080/rember/

You can run a few passes of that with as much RAM allocated as possible.

These will help test the memory.

But to be honest, the best test is just using your system.

When I got my new memory, one of the things I did was a massive iPhoto import (over 13,000 images). This tested the memory great. On my first set it showed lots of ECC errors in the System Profiler when doing that import, while the Apple Hardware test and Rember didn't show anything.

-Kevin
 
Gavin,

I have read the item you reference, but I wanted to read the experiences of others taking the same path. Personal experience of others is always valuable, and I have found most members here both helpful and resourceful.

Regards,
L
 
I recently purchased memory from OWC for my Mac Mini and wanted to test it out and I would suggest more that simply running Rember.

I did the AHT, and it found a problem with the memory. Reinstalled, no problem found. That's why I decided to really push the machine, basically trying to make it fail since it had already shown potential for being defective. The machine had also locked up while using MacTheRipper.

Next I ran Rember and CPUTest at the same time. The bad stick held up fine when only running Rember, but when running alongside CPUTest it seemed to act differently and I started getting kernel panics. Reinstalled factory memory and the same process yields just a bogged down machine.

They replaced the memory without any question and I've had no problems since, but I think it's worth it to really push the whole machine hard when testing. As kbmb said, do something intensive. A big import of photos, or ripping a DVD while working on other stuff in the background... If it holds up when you're trying to make it crash then you can be sure (or I was) that everything was in working order.
 
Downloaded "Rember" and ran a test on my existing, original 1GB in this 24" Intel iMac.

The test is very easy to use, and it indicated no problems.

I downloaded "memtest" but was reluctant to try it, as it appeared to be the Mac equivalent of DOS on the old PC machines.
Can "memtest" get the user into trouble from which recovery is difficult or impossible?
 
Another option is http://www.memtest86.com/ , which should run fine from a cd (but only on intel Macs). It doesn't touch the hard drive at all, so it should be perfectly safe.

It may, however, be a bit harder to use.
 
Received a 2GB memory module for my 24" iMac yesterday afternoon from OWC.

Installed without incident.

Restarted computer and everything seemed to run fine.

Ran 3 cycles of Rember and the end result was "all tests passed."

Ran a second set of 3 cycles with Rember this morning with the same results, "all tests passed."

I am assuming that the memory is okay based on these test results.

Will I need to retest at some point in the future to determine if the memory has started losing bits or bytes with age?
 
lugesm said:
Received a 2GB memory module for my 24" iMac yesterday afternoon from OWC.

Installed without incident.

Restarted computer and everything seemed to run fine.

Ran 3 cycles of Rember and the end result was "all tests passed."

Ran a second set of 3 cycles with Rember this morning with the same results, "all tests passed."

I am assuming that the memory is okay based on these test results.

Will I need to retest at some point in the future to determine if the memory has started losing bits or bytes with age?
Click to expand...

For the most part, yes, it looks as if the memory you got is fine.

I will say that the best testing will be done by just 'using' your machine and pushing the memory. If you do any CPU intensive apps, run them and see how things go.

Your memory should not degrade over time, it's either bad or not now.

-Kevin
 
CanadaRAM -

You are correct. But . . . . I think that I read somewhere that Rember does not include the latest version of "memtest."

I used Rember, because I am new to the Mac and wasn't confident in attempting to use a program without a GUI.

L
 
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