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A few days back one of my computers decided to act up.
Sometimes Windows would boot and function well for some time after which applications would fail to start or crash.
Other times Windows would not boot without resetting multiple times.
Obviously, almost instinctively I attributed the trouble to Windows.
Ran a couple of scans and diagnostics and they all came out clean.
Half an hour later I was ready to bid a much wanted goodbye to all the troubles.
However, about 10-15 minutes into the session, applications started quitting unexpectedly or failed to start altogether.
It was not a Windows problem after all.
Now I was almost certain that it was a hardware issue.
Having already scanned the hard disk, I didn’t know what to check next.
Then on a random reboot I noticed the memtest86 entry on the GRUB menu.
It has always been there whenever you install Ubuntu, yet I had completely forgotten about it.
Let’s attempt to demystify some of the options that you might make use of if time demands so.
First off you should probably downloadMemtestand I would suggest burning the bootable ISO image onto a CD.
That is perhaps the easiest way to use Memtest.
when you land the CD ready, pop it in and let the computer boot from it.
Towards the bottom you’ve got the option to find the means to interact with Memtest.
Enabling the scroll lock also pauses the tests till you disable it.
it’s possible for you to choose from amongst various tests.
The detailed description of the tests and what kinds of issues they detect is availablehere.
Via the parameters menu, you might also customize the memory address range that should be tested.
In addition you could change error display options and redraw the screen.
Frankly these are the bits that you should be concerned about.
If you should probably go into the advanced options, you probably already know a lot about Memtest!
Memtest is an excellent tool to keep in your virtual troubleshooting toolbox.
A quick memory scan can either rule that out or point you towards the problem straightaway.
Let us know what you think of the Memtest computer memory test or if you have a preferred alternative.
