Software for Diagnosing Memory Problems
To help determine if a system problem is caused by hardware or software issues several diagnostic tools are available, depending on your operating system. The Windows® Memory Diagnostic tool is built into Windows Vista and later, is simple to use and provides a great first step for narrowing down the problem. Microsoft® support features walkthroughs for using their testing utility depending on your Windows version.
If you are using another operating system, we recommend Memtest86+® to determine if memory is causing issues.
Rember is a free front-end for the Mac OS X® operating system to run an OS X variation of Memtest easily and quickly, available for download here.
Otherwise, Memtest86+ is a standalone memory testing program that can test your memory independently from the operating system to eliminate the possibility of drivers or other software causing the errors.
How to use:
- Memtest86+ can be downloaded free of charge here
- Click the link Download the zip file (Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO) and extract the contents
- Use your preferred CD burning or .ISO management software to create a CD or bootable USB drive from the downloaded ISO file. Please note that simply copying the ISO file to the media will not work. The ISO file is a disk image and is used by the burning software to create the Memtest86+ disk. For more information how to do this consult the burning software's documentation. Leave the CD or USB drive in place and restart the system
- When your system reboots the system will auto-load Memtest86+. This software will then start to test the memory and report if it finds any errors. If the disk fails to load and the operating system continues to load as normal please make sure that the CD-ROM/USB device is set as the first boot device within the system BIOS
- When Memtest86+ is running, it will run through various different tests. After it has finished the tests it starts all over again in a continuous loop. To exit Memtest86+ and allow the system to boot remove the CD/USB drive and press Escape (ESC)
If any of the above tools show errors then the memory might have developed a fault or is incorrectly setup in the BIOS, and our support options can assist you in further troubleshooting or a warranty replacement of parts. If no errors are reported, the problem could be driver or software related; please update all hardware drivers or in the worst-case scenario reinstall the operating system.