memtest in system rescue

gkhar2 · Sep 21st 2022

Hi

i got an hardware update to my nas (Acer H 341 to H342 with a D510 instead of D410 intel processor and 4GB Ram instead of 2GB).

I just put my old system HD into the new system and it booted well to H342..

But now the issues started:

1. I wanted to copy my internal data drives via MC to my external USB Backup drives for backup. But after some hours the systems hangs or reboots sometimes. Not always. .

2. so i thought about issues with the network, which i could resolve already.

3. Now ithink, it could be the ram.

4. I entered "system resuce" from grub, but i am unable to find xmem86 in the x window.

any help how to run memtest86 would be highly appreciated.

regards

gkhar

ryecoaaron · Sep 21st 2022

memtest86 is in the boot menu of systemrescue.

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

I'm not seeing it either.

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

I guess it doesn't have it anymore. I will see about adding a memtest iso option that you can boot from (if it works).

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

Actually Debian made this pretty easy. Just install the memtest86 or memtest86+ package. I think I will make memtest86+ a dependency of the kernel plugin so it gets installed automatically when the plugin does. Both packages add an entry to grub.

gkhar2 · Sep 22nd 2022

Hi,

I went as root to /boot

Memtest86.bin is there.

But how can i start it?

When i do ./Memtest86.bin

I get permission denied.

Edit: saw your comment: so will just try to install the package

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

Thanks for the workaround tip.

I installed the memtest86+ package. First time I tried booting to it I got no output in my ipmi console. Looking into it I saw that ttyS0 was specified for the serial console in the grub entry. I changed that to the required for my use case ttyS1 and tried again. This time I got output but when the memtest started it got 34% into test #1 and hung. I could not escape out of it. I tried a few more times but it failed the same way.

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from gkhar2

But how can i start it?

When i do ./Memtest86.bin
I get permission denied.

You have to boot into memtest. You can't run it with a full OS running.

Quote from gderf

I installed the memtest86+ package. First time I tried booting to it I got no output in my ipmi console. Looking into it I saw that ttyS0 was specified for the serial console in the grub entry. I changed that to the required for my use case ttyS1 and tried again. This time I got output but when the memtest started it got 34% into test #1 and hung. I could not escape out of it. I tried a few more times but it failed the same way.

I've never seen memtest hang and I have been using it for 15+ years. Are you sure memtest is hanging and not your console? You could install memtest86 and see if it doesn't have the issue.

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

Not sure what is hanging. But the console works perfectly until I try this.

I tried installing memtest86 but it didn't configure grub for a serial console. So I tried patching that in by hand but it didn't work; no output on the console.

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from gderf

I tried installing memtest86 but it didn't configure grub for a serial console. So I tried patching that in by hand but it didn't work; no output on the console.

What about memtest86 over ipmi?

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from ryecoaaron

What about memtest86 over ipmi?

That's what I have been trying. The machine is headless.

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from gderf

That's what I have been trying. The machine is headless.

I thought you tried memtest86+ over ipmi and serial console and memtest86 over serial console? I was suggesting memtest86 over ipmi. I have used memtest86 over ipmi many times.

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

I tried both memtest86 and memtest86+ over ipmi. I don't use the physical serial port on the machine, it's serial over LAN (SOL) configured in BIOS to use ttyS1 (COMM2).

As I said, the ipmi console works fine until I try to boot memtest86+ over ipmi where it hangs at exactly 34% into the first test every time.

What does your memtest86 over ipmi grub.cfg entry look like?

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from gderf

What does your memtest86 over ipmi grub.cfg entry look like?

Whatever is on the older systemrescue ISOs. And it is on a Supermicro X10SL7-F. But I have also used it many times on my AsrockRack board and many, many HP DL380 G8 or Gen9 ILO adapters.

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from ryecoaaron

Whatever is on the older systemrescue ISOs. And it is on a Supermicro X10SL7-F. But I have also used it many times on my AsrockRack board and many, many HP DL380 G8 or Gen9 ILO adapters.

Here's what installing memtest86 drops into grub.cfg:

Code

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86 ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86)" {
        linux16 /boot/memtest86.bin
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86 ###

I have tried modifying it to make it look like what is there for memtest86+ by appending the console stuff, but I get no output.

Code

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86 ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86)" {
        linux16 /boot/memtest86.bin console=ttyS1,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86 ###

ryecoaaron · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from gderf

I have tried modifying it to make it look like what is there for memtest86+ by appending the console stuff, but I get no output.

That would assume the image supports that argument. Not much you can do if it doesn't.

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

Obviously it doesn't support it.

My RAM is OK so I'm not worried.

gkhar2 · Sep 22nd 2022

Hi,

just wanted to let you know, how i got it installed and what´s the result (which is bad i guess...)

First in grub i selected system recovery of the current kernel.

when the recovery had started up i installed the memtest86+ via

Code

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install memtest86+

That worked well. Now i can select memtest in grub.

But now the bad result:

this is the outcome after 3hrs running memtest86+.

i guess, i have a memory issue. Trying at the moment, to verify if it is a memory or a mainboard issue by exchange of the defective ram to a different ram, which i know worked in my old mainboard.

fingers crossed.

gderf · Sep 22nd 2022

If you install memtest86+ in OMV instead of in the running systemrescue, you will get the grub entry in OMV's grub menu.

gkhar2 · Sep 22nd 2022

Quote from gderf

If you install memtest86+ in OMV instead of in the running systemrescue, you will get the grub entry in OMV's grub menu.

Thanks, did that now additionally.

memtest in system rescue

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