Memory Testing
Modified: 20-Jun-2001
alexj@ihug.co.nz
Software failures or crashes can often be traced back to faulty
hardware, rather than faulty software. This is particularly true for operating
systems such as Linux and FreeBSD, where C compilers are commonly used
to build binaries from source code. Faulty memory can often be the cause
of the C complier exiting with an error signal. In the case of gcc, it
is often signal 11. The Sig 11 FAQ explains this in greater detail and
leads to the question of how to test your PC's memory. Memtest86 is a tool
for testing x86 computer memory systems.
