Due to the growing popularity of Memtest86 (more than 200,000 downloads per month) we are being inundated with questions, feedback, problem reports and requests for enhancements. We simply do not have time to respond to ANY Memtest86 email's. Bug reports and suggestions are welcome but generally will not be responded to.
Before submitting a problem report please check the Known Problems section to see if this problem has already been reported. Be sure to include the version number and also any details that may be relevant.
With some PC's Memtest86 will just die with no hints as to what went wrong. Without any details it is impossible to fix these failures. Fixing these problems will require debugging on your part. There is no point in reporting these failures unless you have a Linux system and would be willing to debug the failure.
If you have patches, fixes or enhancemnets to Memtest86 that you would like to submit please use the following link to contact us.
Unfortunately, we are not able to respond to any questions or provide assistance with troubleshooting problems. Please read the troubleshooting and Known Problems sections for assistance with problems.
Sometimes when booting from a floppy disk the following messages scroll up on the screen:
X:8000
AX:0212
BX:8600
CX:0201
DX:0000
This is the BIOS reporting floppy disk read errors. Try re-writing the disk. If that does not work replace the disk.
Memtest86 can not diagnose many types of PC failures. For example a faulty CPU that causes Windows to crash will most likely just cause Memtest86 to crash in the same way.
Often the memory works in a different system or the vendor insists that it is good. In these cases the memory is not necessarily bad but is not able to operate reliably at Athlon speeds. Sometimes more conservative memory timings on the motherboard will correct these errors. In other cases the only option is to replace the memory with better quality, higher speed memory. Don't buy cheap memory and expect it to work with an Athlon! On occasion test 5 errors will occur even with name brand memory and a quality motherboard. These errors are legitimate and should be corrected.
Memtest86 supports all types of memory. If fact the test has no knowledge of the memory or CPU type nor does it need to. Memtest86 is able to test all types and brands of memory. If the information reported regarding chipsets or CPU's is incorrect it will not affect testing in any way. This not a problem or bug but is listed here due to the many questions about this issue.
Changes in the compiler and loader have caused problems with Memtest86 resulting in both build failures and errors in execution. A binary image (precomp.bin) of the test is included and may be used if problems are encountered.
This is a list of enhancements planned for future releases of Memtest86. There is no timetable for when these will be implemented.