debian way to memtest86?

[Rakotomandimby Mihamina]

Hi,
My computer is seriously segfaulting during compilation (eg: kernel,
gnome, openoffice,... src.rpm)
I dont know what's going on, so I decided to test the RAM first.
Is there any "debian way" to do memtest? On some distros, I saw a
memtest entry into the bootloader. I use lilo for the moment, anyway, I
dont have floppy drive, just CDRom.

[Wayne Topa]

Post by Rakotomandimby Mihamina
Hi,
My computer is seriously segfaulting during compilation (eg: kernel,
gnome, openoffice,... src.rpm)
I dont know what's going on, so I decided to test the RAM first.
Is there any "debian way" to do memtest? On some distros, I saw a
memtest entry into the bootloader. I use lilo for the moment, anyway, I
dont have floppy drive, just CDRom.

If you have memtest86 installed
read /usr/share/doc/memtest86+/examples/lilo.conf
else
apt-get install memtest86
read /usr/share/doc/memtest86+/examples/lilo.conf
end

:-) HTH, YMMV, HAND :-)
WT

[David Christensen]

Post by Rakotomandimby Mihamina
My computer is seriously segfaulting during compilation (eg: kernel,
gnome, openoffice,... src.rpm)

I use memtest86:

http://www.memtest86.com/

You can create a bootable floppy or CD.


You should also test your hard drive. Go to you hard drive manufacturer's web
site and look for a bootable diagnostic utility.


I recently put two old drives into an older box, and they both went bad.
Someone on the BSD list suggested that I check the power supply, as it could
have caused the problem. I've seen testers at retail computer stores (CompUSA),
but I'll probably just use my digital multimeter to measure the peripheral
voltages under load.


HTH,

David

[Roberto C. Sanchez]

Post by Rakotomandimby Mihamina
Hi,
My computer is seriously segfaulting during compilation (eg: kernel,
gnome, openoffice,... src.rpm)
I dont know what's going on, so I decided to test the RAM first.
Is there any "debian way" to do memtest? On some distros, I saw a
memtest entry into the bootloader. I use lilo for the moment, anyway, I
dont have floppy drive, just CDRom.

Knoppix has memtest86 installed. You can enter either memtest or
memtest86 (check the cheat sheet to be sure) at the prompt and off you
go.

-Roberto

[James Vahn]

Post by Rakotomandimby Mihamina
Is there any "debian way" to do memtest? On some distros, I saw a
memtest entry into the bootloader. I use lilo for the moment, anyway, I
dont have floppy drive, just CDRom.

One entry in /etc/lilo.conf should look like this:

image=/boot/memtest86+.bin
label=MemoryTest
read-only
optional

It will then be selectable at the boot: prompt.