MemTest86 7.2 Pro Edition
MemTest867.2ProEdition|22.6MB
Memtest86isconsideredbythemajorityofthehardwaretestingcommunitythenumberoneapplicationwhenitcomestodefectiveRAMsticks.TheanswertothequestionregardingtheworkingstateoftheinstalledmemorymodulescomesfastwithMemtest86andthatiswhatmattersthemostbesidesthecertaintyoftheverdict.

Therearemanygoodapproachesfortestingmemory.However,manytestssimplythrowsomepatternsatmemorywithoutmuchthoughtorknowledgeofmemoryarchitectureorhowerrorscanbestbedetected.Thisworksfineforhardmemoryfailuresbutdoeslittletofindintermittenterrors.BIOSbasedmemorytestsareuselessforfindingintermittentmemoryerrors.

RAMchipsconsistofalargearrayoftightlypackedmemorycells,oneforeachbitofdata.Thevastmajorityoftheintermittentfailuresarearesultofinteractionbetweenthesememorycells.Oftenwritingamemorycellcancauseoneoftheadjacentcellstobewrittenwiththesamedata.Aneffectivememorytestattemptstotestforthiscondition.Therefore,anidealstrategyfortestingmemorywouldbethefollowing:
Writeacellwithazero.
Writealloftheadjacentcellswithaone,oneormoretimes.
Checkthatthefirstcellstillhasazero.

Itshouldbeobviousthatthisstrategyrequiresanexactknowledgeofhowthememorycellsarelaidoutonthechip.Inadditionthereareaneverendingnumberofpossiblechiplayoutsfordifferentchiptypesandmanufacturersmakingthisstrategyimpractical.However,therearetestingalgorithmsthatcanapproximatethisidealandMemTest86doesjustthis.

StartingfromMemTest86v5,thecodewasre-writtentosupportbootingfromthenewerUEFIplatform.UEFIisabletoprovideadditionalservicesthatisunavailableinBIOS,suchasgraphical,mouseandfilesystemsupport.

SystemRequirements:
UEFIorBIOSplatformfirmware
Windows,Linux
CDorUSBFlashDrive

HomePage-http://www.memtest86.com