[GLLUG] Memtest86+

[STeve Andre']

On Thursday 23 October 2008 21:17:42 Michael George wrote:
> I have a question for you hardware-diddlers out there.  I bought 1GB of
> PC133 SDRAM for a Mac.  I got Crucial and it was highly rated (by a
> whopping 4 people) on newegg.com.
>
> I put it into an ASUS A7V system to test it.  I have a 256MB PC133 DIMM
> that works fine and tests fine with Memtest86+.  However, when I put
> either of the 512MB DIMMs into the system and run the test, it will fail
> on test #8.  It seems a rather odd coincidence for both of them to fail
> the same test, but the 256 passes just fine.
>
> I'm running Memtest86 on one of the DIMMs in a different slot on the
> mobo to see if that might have something to do with it, but it seems
> unlikely as the 256 tested just fine.
>
> Is there perhaps some idiosyncrasy of which I may not be aware that
> could be causing this?  I don't want to RMA this RAM only to find that
> the test was flawed, not the memory...
>
> Thanks!

Most likely the mac memory is a little bit different than memory for
that asus motherboard.  Memtest runs, but fails at a certan point
leading me to believe some subtle difference like cas or ras rates
are just enough different that memtest is able to find a problem.

I'd stuff the memory in the Mac and do stuff and see what happens.

If you are really curious about this, I'd get the specs for the memory
you have now, and what they say is needed for the assus board, and
check every spec.  Even then, there might be something a little
different.

The only time I've had a problem with Crucial is getting memory
for a mac laptop.  I'm not sure what Apple is doing..

But put it in the mac and see what happens.

--STeve Andre'