Help! Mem test software!

[eUphoria]

Im fed up with BSOD all the time - is there a downloadable program that can check if your ram is ok or if it a bit of a mess?

[dave87]

Memtest86+ is what you are looking for - download the ISO, burn to CD, put it in the drive and leave running for at leasts 24 hours

[Flewis]

24 hours?! didnt know it needed that long

[dave87]

It ensures it is completely error proof - I've had memory survive 8 or 16 hours, but fail at 23 - similar situation to when I was getting BSODs...

[GSte]

Microsoft do one you can download as well, imaginatively called 'Microsoft memory test utility' that seems to find problems quite quickly. Don't know how it compares to Memtest though

[scrandman]

Microsoft do one you can download as well, imaginatively called 'Microsoft memory test utility' that seems to find problems quite quickly. Don't know how it compares to Memtest though

A poor substitute IMO.

http://www.memtest.org/

PS. Two full passes is normally enough to determine if RAM is good or not. Length of time this takes depends on memory speed and amount of RAM installed. Takes longer with older CPUs too...

[MadduckUK]

memtest also comes on the ubuntu distro, which is mighty handy

[Clunk]

A poor substitute IMO.

http://www.memtest.org/

PS. Two full passes is normally enough to determine if RAM is good or not. Length of time this takes depends on memory speed and amount of RAM installed. Takes longer with older CPUs too...

It can tell if the ram is badly damaged, but as already mentioned, errors can happen after several hours of testing. It can also reveal problems with the way the system is set up, as opposed to actual faulty ram.

[Supershanks]

It also doesn't guarantee that your memory will run ok in windows, have seen many people run memtest86 for hours but still have issues in xp myself included . Only tests #5 & #8 really emulate memory utilisation in xp.

another tester that can be run in xp is HCI Memtest for windows this can be run with 2 instances to maximise memory coverage.

Neither are perfect - memtest86 biggest weakness is it doesn't test in an xp enviroment.

memtest for windows biggest fault - it doesnt test all your memory.

But between the 2 they'll do the job.

i'd run 8hr(overnight) memtest86 then if that's ok run the windows tester for the same time.

luck

[mike_w]

It also doesn't guarantee that your memory will run ok in windows, have seen many people run memtest86 for hours but still have issues in xp myself included .

To me, that suggests something wrong with XP rather than Memtest - in my experience, Memtest has never failed to find memory errors - of course, that's only my own experience!

[eUphoria]

Thanks for the swift replies folks - i used the xp mem tester in the end, RAM seems fine. Although my hdd crashed out last night So that didnt improve my mood!

[Supershanks]

To me, that suggests something wrong with XP rather than Memtest

any memtest is like running orthos or primme, the longer it runs the less probability there is for error. But that doesn't fully eliminate the chance of error.

to illustrate my point
consider this:-

Is my pc stable or not??

[tigerboyce]

wow thats a long test

[IntaCepta]

wow! you tested it for that long?
I would have thought if it had survived 24hrs, why wouldn't it survive upto 100hrs?

[Supershanks]

I would have thought if it had survived 24hrs, why wouldn't it survive upto 100hrs?

That's exactly the point i was tring to make.

the longer it runs the less probability there is for error. But that doesn't fully eliminate the chance of error

In other words short odds but u still get that 100-1 shot come in now & again

It's about probabilities not certainties