From: jack_h_ostroff AT groton DOT pfizer DOT com (Jack Ostroff)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Possible hardware/memory errors (was Re: I'm going slightly mad!!)
Date: 25 Feb 1998 14:53:58 GMT
Organization: Pfizer Inc, Central Research, Clinical Systems Development
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Sender: ostroj AT groton DOT pfizer DOT com (Jack Ostroff)
Message-ID: <6d1ba7$1c51@mascagni.pfizer.com>
References: <199802250048 DOT QAA28497 AT adit DOT ap DOT net> <6d0sik$b4n AT freenet-news DOT carleton DOT ca>
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[posted, but not emailed]

In article <6d0sik$b4n AT freenet-news DOT carleton DOT ca>, 
 ao950 AT FreeNet DOT Carleton DOT CA (Paul Derbyshire) writes:
> 
> Nate Eldredge (eldredge AT ap DOT net) writes:
> > Weird, irreproducible problems like this are often the sign of some kind of
> > hardware failure. The first thing that comes to mind is bad memory. I'd
> > suggest testing it somehow (maybe someone will follow up and recommend a
> > tester), and replacing it if there is a problem. You might want to back up
> > your data in the meantime.
> 
> A tester? He probably already has one, in his BIOS. Nearly all computers
> I've seen (especially with 32 megs of the stuff) do a memory test at
> bootup, of the RAM, CPU caches, and sometimes video memory also.
> 
> Other possibilities [snipped...] including viruses, bad disk sector, other

I would not consider the memory testing during POST (Power On Self Test - the
BIOS tests which run when you turn the beast on) as being more than cursory.
I believe they really just check for the existance of one in (eight, sixteen,
..., ?) addresses, just to see how much memory is present, and that there are
not any gaping holes.   It certainly does not do full testing with multiple
write/reads to every byte/word.

If you want this sort of testing, you need something better, and I don't 
know of any.  Years ago, I saw one from HP, which was pretty good, but only 
available to HP engineers.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I may start
hunting.

Jack
jack_h_ostroff AT groton DOT pfizer DOT com