memtest86

thorough real-mode memory tester

Memtest86 scans your RAM for errors. This tester runs independently of any OS - it is run at computer boot-up, so that it can test *all* of your memory. You may want to look at `memtester', which allows testing your memory within Linux, but this one won't be able to test your whole RAM. It can output a list of bad RAM regions usable by the BadRAM kernel patch, so that you can still use you old RAM with one or two bad bits. This is the last DFSG-compliant version of this software, upstream has opted for a proprietary development model starting with 5.0. You may want to consider using memtest86+, which has been forked from an earlier version of memtest86, and provides a different set of features. It is available in the memtest86+ package. A convenience script is also provided to make a grub-legacy-based floppy or image.