Is this a sign of memory going bad?

[Matt Emmerton]

> Chuck Robey wrote:
> > On Thu, 25 Nov 2004, Haulmark, Chris wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Someone broke the silence:
> >>
> >>
> >>>On Thu, Nov 25, 2004 at 04:05:53PM -0500, Lowell Gilbert wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>Jonathon McKitrick <jcm at FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> writes:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>This is what I get from make buildworld.  I've gotten signal 10,
> >>>>>11, and now 5.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Is this bad memory?
> >>>>
> >>>>That's a reasonable guess, but the only way to tell for sure is to
> >>>>test it.
> >>>
> >>>Is there a port to do this, or do I have to take it out and take it
> >>>somewhere else to get it tested?
> >>>
> >>>jm
> >>
> >>sysutils/memtest in the ports.
> >
> >
> > I don't want to embarrass anyone here, but something needs to be said.
> > Note this next sentence carefully: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A WORKING
> > MEMORY TEST PROGRAM!!!
>
> What about the BIOS RAM test? I mean the counter that you can interrupt
with
> the ESC key, at the beginning of the boot process? Will that reliably
indicate
> problems with the RAM, or is that test also rubbish?

That just tests that the RAM is accessible (ie, electrical interface is
sound).

--
Matt Emmerton