Memtest address vs. BadRAM address

[Marturion]

Bad news: I have a few bytes of bad memory.

Good news: BadRAM is now included in Ubuntu (i'm running 10.10)

Bad news: There currently seems to be a bug in Memtest+ (4.10 and 4.20) when choosing "BadRAM patterns" as your error reporting mode.

So my question is this...

The GRUB_BADRAM parameter in Grub2's configuration (/etc/default/grub) seems to expect a format of "0x00000000" for the bad memory address to be excluded. Memtest is giving me a "failed address" of "0000b609f90"

How should I enter that address into the GRUB_BADRAM parameter?

0x0000b609f90? 0x0b609f90? Or am I way off?

My guess is that for someone more familiar the syntax of memory addresses, this is a no brainier. Which might explain why I've had a hard time finding an answer with all of my googling.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[fabricator4]

Neither I think. It seems to require a memory address / mask pair as given by the memtest86+.

I haven't done it but there's some information here.

You should probably remove the offending stick of memory and clean the socket and the contacts on stick then re-insert (careful of static, use a strap etc) and then run memtest86+ several times from cold to hot. If the memory addresses come up bad in the same location every time, then you can use this address/mask information in badram.

Chris

[Marturion]

Neither I think. It seems to require a memory address / mask pair as given by the memtest86+.

I haven't done it but there's some information here.

You should probably remove the offending stick of memory and clean the socket and the contacts on stick then re-insert (careful of static, use a strap etc) and then run memtest86+ several times from cold to hot. If the memory addresses come up bad in the location every time, then you can use this address/mask information in badram.

Chris

Thanks for the response Chris, unfortunately the ram in question is integrated into the motherboard (laptop).

In my searching, I've run into the same grub documentation link you posted, but I'm afraid I still don't quite understand what information from Memtest+ I should enter as the memory address / mask pair.

For example, the information I have from Memtest+ is
Failing address: 0000b609d50
Good: fffffbff
Bad: ffff7bff
ERR Bits: 00008000

How should I (or can I?) translate that into the GRUB_BADRAM parameter located in /etc/default/grub ?

[sydbat]

unfortunately the ram in question is integrated into the motherboard (laptop).

There should be a service port door to install more RAM on the bottom of your laptop. This is where you will find your existing RAM and be able to R & R it.

What make / model is your laptop? Googleing it should bring up a manual that will show you how to do it.

[Marturion]

There should be a service port door to install more RAM on the bottom of your laptop. This is where you will find your existing RAM and be able to R & R it.

What make / model is your laptop? Googleing it should bring up a manual that will show you how to do it.

It's a Toshiba Satellite A70

Yes, there is service door and an extra socket to include more RAM, but there is also integrated RAM on this particular model and unfortunately that's where the bad memory exists.

Thanks anyway though!

[sydbat]

It's a Toshiba Satellite A70

Yes, there is service door and an extra socket to include more RAM, but there is also integrated RAM on this particular model and unfortunately that's where the bad memory exists.

Thanks anyway though!

Dude, that sucks. I do not know if you could even disable integrated RAM. Maybe a BIOS setting? Of course, you would have to have other RAM installed first.

[Marturion]

Dude, that sucks. I do not know if you could even disable integrated RAM. Maybe a BIOS setting? Of course, you would have to have other RAM installed first.

Yeah, not with this BIOS. That's one reason why Ubuntu is such a great option for this laptop - it'll keep it out of a landfill.

But first I need to learn how to properly place the information I got from Memtest+ into the "GRUB_BADRAM" parameter in /etc/default/grub

[hansolo4949]

Did you look in the ram door and see if there were any sticks if ram in there? I have NEVER heard of motherboards with integrated ram before, except for ones with integrated graphics, and even then, that is just ram fir the graphics card.....strange.

[Marturion]

Did you look in the ram door and see if there were any sticks if ram in there? I have NEVER heard of motherboards with integrated ram before, except for ones with integrated graphics, and even then, that is just ram fir the graphics card.....strange.

Well, I guess you have now.

I've had the board out in order to clean and re-seat the heatsink (and apply fresh thermal grease). So, I can verify there's no other (easily) removable memory.

And though I do have some previous experience successfully soldering chips to a main-board, I really don't want to go that route in this case.

[Marturion]

For now, I'm going to attempt using memmap based on the information

here:
http://gquigs.blogspot.com/2009/01/b...ory-howto.html

and

here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1342957

However, I would still be interested in the answer to my original question regarding Memtest+ and BadRAM if there's anyone who knows.

Thanks again everybody for your suggestions and friendly assistance.