How to Run Memtest in Ubuntu


Any computer system needs RAM, often known as random access memory. If you are setting up a new Ubuntu environment or VPS (Virtual Private Server) and are unclear of the internal memory characteristics of your system, such as how much RAM is installed and consumed on your system, you can quickly test all information about your computer’s memory with the freeware utility memtest. Memtests are memory test tools created to check for faults in the RAM of your computer. 86+ memtest programs are preinstalled in the majority of Linux variants, including Ubuntu 20.04. You can make a portable test drive from the USB to boot from and run the memtest if your distribution does not come with memtest software. This tool reads data, compares, and writes test patterns for memory addresses.

You will learn how to run memtest in Ubuntu 20.04 in this article. The command-line utilities for memtester, which can be used to verify RAM problems, will also be covered in greater detail in the article.

Pre-requisites

Ubuntu 20.04 must be set up on your computer in order to run the memtest demonstrated in this article, and the GRUB menu should have the memtest86+ option available.

How to Run Memtest86+

In contrast, Ubuntu makes doing a RAM test simple. Follow these instructions to run a memtest on your Ubuntu 20.04 machine.

Step 1: Open the GRUB menu

Memtest86+ operates without an operating system, as you might know. As a result, Ubuntu must give you access to the GRUB menu. In order to access the GRUB menu, hold down the “Shift” key as you power on or restart your computer. When the system is initiated, the following window will appear:

GRUB menu

Step 2: Selection of Memtest86+

The GRUB menu will provide the following list of choices. Choose the “Memtest86+” option, which is indicated in the figure below, using the arrow keys:

Choose the "Memtest86+" option

To start the Memtest86+ software, press the “Enter” key.

Step 3: Perform a quit test

The test will begin automatically on your computer and run until you use the Esc key to end the ongoing procedure. The test should always be taken for a perfect score. The information related to the test is highlighted in the output pane.

Perform a quit test

The memtest has now been successfully run on your Ubuntu system. This is a game-like way to see if your system restarts or if any faults are found. It is advised to perform the memtest multiple times because occasionally a mistake may not be discovered until the second pass. Depending on the amount of memory that is installed on your machine, each run can take several hours or even days to complete. In order to get the best results, it is advised to administer the memory test at the end of the day. Running the test over the weekend can be a good idea if your system has a lot of memory and crashes rarely. If your memory uses Error Correcting Code (ECC), errors can be produced with just one pass. It will automatically fix every mistake. In this situation, if you have the time, we advise that you run a second pass at error detection.

Test your memory utilizing the Memtester Tool

You can use the command-line tool Memtester to check RAM for issues.

Setup Memtester

On the Ubuntu operating system, the memtester tool is not by default installed. However, you can do so by issuing the command shown below as sudo:

$ sudo apt install memtester
install memtester

Look for Errors Using Memtester

You can execute the memtester command to check your system for RAM issues once memtester has been installed. To execute the memtester command, use the syntax shown below:

$ sudo memtester size iteration

In the command above, the terms “size” and “iteration” refer to the amount of memory you want to allocate and the number of passes, or iterations, you want to execute the program to check for problems.

For instance, the syntax of the aforementioned command will change to the one shown below when running a memtester command with a memory capacity of 200 M for 1 iteration:

$ sudo memtester 200M 1
execute the memtester command

Conclusion

You learnt how to run Memtest86+ on Ubuntu 20.04 from the information in this article. In the event that your system has frequently crashed, this function may be helpful. You should run a memtest first, before reporting any bugs. Additionally, you discovered how to use the memtester command-line tool to do a memory test. The information in this article should have enabled you to run a memory test on your own PC.

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