Simple memory test program

This is a very old issue, Nvidia appears to be dragging their feet or this is exclusively an Asus GTX problem. The Memory Diagnostics Tool will run automatically when you restart Windows. Once the test is completed, Windows will restart automatically. If the tool detects errors, you should contact your computer manufacturer for information about fixing them, since memory errors usually indicate a problem with the memory chips in your computer or other hardware problem. MemTest86 is the original, free, stand alone memory testing software for x86 computers.

If an address line has a wiring problem, the contents of two memory locations may appear to overlap. In other words, data written to one address will actually overwrite the contents of another address instead.

This happens because an address bit that is shorted or open will cause the memory device to see an address different than the one selected by the processor. Another possibility is that one of the control lines is shorted or open. Although it is theoretically possible to develop specific tests for control line problems, it is not possible to describe a general test for them. The operation of many control signals is specific to either the processor or memory architecture.

Fortunately, if there is a problem with a control line, the memory will probably not work at all, and this will be detected by other memory tests. If you suspect a problem with a control line, it is best to seek the advice of the board's designer before constructing a specific test.

A missing memory chip is clearly a problem that should be detected. Unfortunately, due to the capacitive nature of unconnected electrical wires, some memory tests will not detect this problem. For example, suppose you decided to use the following test algorithm: write the value 1 to the first location in memory, verify the value by reading it back, write 2 to the second location, verify the value, write 3 to the third location, verify, and so on.

Since each read occurs immediately after the corresponding write, it is possible that the data read back represents nothing more than the voltage remaining on the data bus from the previous write. If the data is read back too quickly, it will appear that the data has been correctly stored in memory-even though there is no memory chip at the other end of the bus!

To detect a missing memory chip the test must be altered. Instead of performing the verification read immediately after the corresponding write, it is desirable to perform several consecutive writes followed by the same number of consecutive reads. For example, write the value 1 to the first location, 2 to the second location, and 3 to the third location, then verify the data at the first location, the second location, and so on.

If the data values are unique as they are in the test just described , the missing chip will be detected: the first value read back will correspond to the last value written 3 , rather than the first 1.

If a memory chip is present but improperly inserted in its socket, the system will usually behave as though there is a wiring problem or a missing chip. In other words, some number of the pins on the memory chip will either not be connected to the socket at all or will be connected at the wrong place. These pins will be part of the data bus, address bus, or control wiring.

So as long as you test for wiring problems and missing chips, any improperly inserted chips will be detected automatically. Before going on, let's quickly review the types of memory problems we must be able to detect. Memory chips only rarely have internal errors, but, if they do, they are probably catastrophic in nature and will be detected by any test. A more common source of problems is the circuit board, where a wiring problem may occur or a memory chip may be missing or improperly inserted.

Other memory problems can occur, but the ones described here are the most common. By carefully selecting your test data and the order in which the addresses are tested, it is possible to detect all of the memory problems described above. It is usually best to break your memory test into small, single-minded pieces. This helps to improve the efficiency of the overall test and the readability of the code.

More specific tests can also provide more detailed information about the source of the problem, if one is detected. I have found it is best to have three individual memory tests: a data bus test, an address bus test, and a device test.

The first two tests detect electrical wiring problems and improperly inserted chips, while the third is intended to detect missing chips and catastrophic failures. As an unintended consequence, the device test will also uncover problems with the control bus wiring, though it will not provide useful information about the source of such a problem. The order in which you execute these three tests is important. The proper order is: data bus test first, followed by the address bus test, and then the device test.

That's because the address bus test assumes a working data bus, and the device test results are meaningless unless both the address and data buses are known to be good. If any of the tests fail, you should work with the board's designer to locate the source of the problem. By looking at the data value or address at which the test failed, he or she should be able to quickly isolate the problem on the circuit board.

The first thing we want to test is the data bus wiring. We need to confirm that any value placed on the data bus by the processor is correctly received by the memory device at the other end. The most obvious way to test that is to write all possible data values and verify that the memory device stores each one successfully.

However, that is not the most efficient test available. A faster method is to test the bus one bit at a time. The data bus passes the test if each data bit can be set to 0 and 1, independently of the other data bits.

A good way to test each bit independently is to perform the so-called "walking 1's test. The name of this test comes from the fact that a single data bit is set to 1 and "walked" through the entire data word. The number of data values to test is the same as the width of the data bus.

This reduces the number of test patterns from 2n to n, where n is the width of the data bus. Since we are testing only the data bus at this point, all of the data values can be written to the same address. Any address within the memory device will do.

However, if the data bus splits as it makes its way to more than one memory chip, you will need to perform the data bus test at multiple addresses, one within each chip. This QuickMemoryTestOK tool was created based on user request, here I have put my stuff into it and equipped it with a few extras.

According to personal needs and the ideas of the users of this Windows tool is still extended. Have fun with this nice Windows tool, which will spare you a few simple steps under Windows. With under KB a very small software, which is not wasting space on the hard disk, can be deleted at any time. To conclude, Prime95 is a really capable software and you can reliably use it to examine your RAM.

Check Out Prime95 Free. It also uses multi-threaded memory and cache paging to examine RAM bandwidth and latency issues. On top of it, the application also offers you a benchmark score so you can compare your RAM capability to other PCs as well. All in all, AIDA64 Extreme is a great application for general users and you should definitely give it a try.

The application has been developed by Google and they have released this tool under the Apache 2. The software can easily be installed through the terminal by executing the following command: sudo apt-get install stressapptest. You can also define your own parameters like this:.

If you want to learn more about stress testing RAM on Linux and its other distros then head over to this guide. So testing the RAM before fixing the software would be a better way to deal with the problem.