How to perform a RAM memory test in Linux?

Has it happened to you that your computer is slower than normal? One reason could be that the RAM is not working. You use Linux as the main operating system of your computer, we teach you how to test the functioning of your RAM card.

What are the advantages of the RAM test

First of all, you should know that you can use a very effective utility for that test, its name is “MEMTESTER” . This utility will test from the operating system, in this case Linux, what the effort of your RAM is . You must be logged in as root in order to run this utility, which forces you to close memory before closing.

Once the RAM has been scanned , it will throw an exit code and in this way you will be able to know if the memory is working properly and, in the opposite case, it will throw an error code that the test failed.

How to test your RAM

Now we are going to show you how to test your RAM , you need to be aware of every action and surely you can do it safely and quickly .

Insert a Konsole or Terminal window

The Konsole programs or as it is also known, terminal programs can be found by right clicking on the desktop is the main program menu.

Enter the “Memtester” command

By entering this command, you can check whether this utility is installed on your computer or not

Install “Memtester”

You need to install it from the software repository in case it is not installed. There are some exceptions , for example, for users of Linux Mint or Ubuntu , must enter the following command in your Konsole: “sudo apt-get install memtester”. If you are a Fedora user, you need to enter the following command: “yum install memtester”.

Log in as root

As we said before, to access the “memtester” application, you need to do it as root . The correct way is by typing the following command: “su-“ . If you are a Linux Mintm or Ubuntu user , you must enter the following command: “sudo”, just before entering the memtester command.

Test the RAM

To start the scan or the memory test it is necessary to enter the following command : “memtester 100 5”. The 100 is not a fixed number, it varies based on the RAM capacity, just like 5 you can replace it with the number of times you want to test.

Check the test results

To view the test result, you must enter the following command: “echo $” If the result is “O”, it means that the memory is in good condition, without any damage. Other possible results are: “xo1”, which means memory block or allocation error; It may also appear “xo2”, which means error while performing the pasted address test, and finally “x04”, which means error during any of the other tests performed.

End the root session

To log out of the root session on Konsole, you need to type the following command: “exit”.

Advantages of the RAM test

As you have noticed, it is very quick and easy to perform this test. By knowing the state of RAM, you will know which uses to use for your computer and what changes you need to make to your configurations to optimize the use you give it.

There are really a lot of functions you can do from your console or terminal program, in Ubuntu. You can keep learning everything you can do on your PC.

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