"Specific" command for memtest in terminal????

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Level 1

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"Specific" command for memtest in terminal????

What is the "specific" command for memtest in terminal????

I've downloaded the 4.22 version of memtest installed okay and I can't get it to run.

I have a G4 MDD. Os is Tiger 10.4.11 I've run applejack countless times, Onyx as well, have corrected permissions and run disc repair as well

and I still have slowed up beachball frozen processing!!! across all my hard drives. Windows stall all my other open programs with a beachball then 14 seconds later it lets it allgo and the window opens. Every time after start-up. Any new window or program I open does same. After it's been initially clicked on, most windows open normal speed. This is excruciating. I've had this machine optimized professionally, and it was good for couple of weeks then it started slowing down processing again.

I thought to check the ram, but cannot run the memtest program!

What is the command sequence font per font and spaces to use in terminal?

Or how do I check if it's even recognized by my machine? I have used rember which came back okay, but, I know that it can't test the ram currently in use.

I've downloaded and checked memtest when installing applejack and also dwnloaded it seperately, but no go.

I would welcome advice and direction.

Thank you

E

G4, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on May 30, 2011 10:54 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

May 30, 2011 11:43 PM in response to aztcqn

It's best to run it in Sigle user mode just like AJ...

http://www.command-tab.com/2008/01/11/how-to-test-ram-under-mac-os-x/

But...

The Memory test can really only be trusted if it finds a problem, not if it doesn't find a problem. 😟

Memtest OS X...

http://www.memtestosx.org/joomla/index.php

Rember is a freeware GUI for the memtest ...

http://tech.kateva.org/2005/10/rember-freeware-memory-test-utility.html

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Answer 2

aztcqn Author

Level 1

10 points

May 31, 2011 2:06 AM in response to BDAqua

Hi BDAqua,

I have downloaded the app in applejack and as it's own seperate app, as well as with the GUI rember.

I am keen on using the memtest in the command line, but what should I type to get it to run?

I typed

./memtest all 3 -L

.....and I get....nothing. Mac responds there is no command. What should I type to get it to run?

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

May 31, 2011 6:02 AM in response to aztcqn

Depends the location.

There IS a read me and how to use it included.

Also, sLCC / LCC has memtest

Run Memtest in terminal. You can have dozens of windows and concurrently run 200MB chunks for 4-14 loops.

AHT and Memtest are not going ot be perfect. Reason you feel the need?

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Answer 4

May 31, 2011 6:09 AM in response to aztcqn

Have you checked the system profiler to see if all installed RAM is being recognized? Look at this link: Testing RAM @ http://guides.macrumors.com/Testing_RAM

Do you have your Install/Restore discs that came with you Mac? It includes an Apple Hardware Test. (Install the disc in your disc drive & depress the Option key at startup. Then select AHT.) Running the Apple Hardware Test in Loop Mode is an excellent troubleshooting step for finding intermittent hardware problems. It is especially useful when troubleshooting intermittent kernel panics. If Loop Mode is supported by the version of the Apple Hardware Test you are using, you run the Extended Test in Loop Mode by pressing Control-L before starting the test. Looping On should appear in the right window. Then click the Extended Test button.The test will run continuously until a problem is found. If a problem is found, the test will cease to loop, indicating the problem it found. If the test fails, be sure to write down the exact message associated with the failure.In some cases, RAM problems did not show up until nearly 40 loops, so give it a good run.

Other things that can cause slowness are an almost full hard drive & excessive amounts of files on your desktop.

BTW In your text you say you are running OS 10.4.11, however, your profile says 10.4.7.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

May 31, 2011 6:45 AM in response to aztcqn

Disk Warrior + SuperDuper

Plus a new hard drive

I've never seen or heard where AJ or Onyx (or any cache cleaner) will do more than help prevent, or if you just had first freeze, let you run fsck on startup (instead of doing a more thorough disk repair from your alternate boot drive).

Got distracted on the whole RAM test.

Yes, Bad RAM is nasty and can cause "GIGO" and all kinds of nastiness and bad cache and prefs and other problems.

Good habits though for preventative system maintenance go a long way with use of DW+SD.

A disk drive with 20% free will suffer performance, fragged free space; I tried to keep to 40% or more free on boot drive, even when using a small 80GB model (WD Raptor) or OEM Apple 80GB MDD G4.

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Answer 6

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

May 31, 2011 7:37 AM in response to aztcqn

From the manual:

Memtest is best run in OS X's single-user mode. In this mode, nearly all of the installed ram can be tested whereas under the full OS, a considerable portion of memory is tied up by OS X processes and the Quartz window manager. This is especially true in MacOS releases later than 10.3.5. Running memtest in single-user mode maximizes the effectiveness of the memory test.

Regarding Terminal:

Memtest can also be run from a terminal window in a fully-booted OS X environment (multiuser mode). However, considerably less memory will be free for testing making the results less reliable.

As far as "Specific" command for memtest in terminal????", see the section of the user guide entitled:

VALID COMMAND-LINE ARGUMENTS

The command

$ /Applications/memtest/memtest all -L 3

will use log file, test all memory, and run 3 passes.

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Answer 7

May 31, 2011 7:37 AM in response to The hatter

The hatter wrote:

Disk Warrior + SuperDuper

Plus a new hard drive

Concur. If there is a memory problem, the prevalent symptom would be the ubiquitous Kernel panic. That's because an instruction fetch of garbage usually will cause something to happen that raises a fatal exception.

You might take a peek at the startup diagnostics in System Profiler to see if something has been marked failed, like cache memory, for instance, as that can slow things down a bit.

Also, make sure that there is plenty of free space on the boot volume to allow the page swapper (virtual memory) to work efficiently. VM size is usually somewhere between 10 and 20 GByte on my machine most of the time, and that's without much going on.

Finally, have Activity Monitor running and have the little CPU "speedometer" up and placed in a corner of your monitor so you can see what is going on during the beach ball show.

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Answer 8

aztcqn Author

Level 1

10 points

May 31, 2011 10:53 AM in response to old comm guy

My Machine:
G4 Mirror, 1,25 GHz , 2 GB (max ram) 10.4.11
Graphcs Crd- ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, VRAM 64MB
I have 3 internals HD's

Reason I want to check is my system is not only slow, but, freezes at random times. For example typing into test edit, while Firefox is open with one window. Or, I open a window in Finder and it takes 15 seconds for the request to complete, meantime all other applications freeze in those 15 seconds. Nothing works and I have 2 GB ram!
When problem started, I had a pro optimize the system - Checked all 3 HDs. found no bad sectors on any of them.
I have booted into 2 different drives and have the same problem: Beachball appears often. When opening windows in Finder, it hangs for about 10 -15 seconds. Sometimes it just stays rolling until I force shut it down. Every session it happens at some point. I don't need to shut it down every time, but, it is slow, as if a huge program is running in the background. BUT, I only have the browser open. It scrolls with a stutter often or beachball shows up when opening a new tab that is loading a page.

For the Primary Drive which is 300GB capacity:
Disk Usage - Space utilized - 141.54 GB
Space Free- 137.79GB
The Other Drive I boot into:
250GB capacity,
Space Utilized - 166.31MB
Space free 66.56GB

I'vee dumped these pref panes in Safe Boot -
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
It ran okay for a day, then it went right back to the same issue of slow-down and freezes. This happens even when there is no browser or when I use Safari.
I'm deeply frustrated, as I can't work profficiently on this machine right now, and it's the only one I have.

The memtest app is on my desktop...so is this the correct script? /desktop/memtest/memtest all 3 -L

I have super duper and I love it. Will get Disk Warrior.
I will have console and activity monitor open at all times,
Only reason I think it's possible bad ram is because the freezes are happening on my other drive as well. I get slow window beachballs when I boot into it!

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

May 31, 2011 11:22 AM in response to aztcqn

>The memtest app is on my desktop...so is this the correct script? /desktop/memtest/memtest all 3 -L

That'd be looking at the root of the drive for it I believe, I think you need to cd, (change Directory to your Users folder first), or if using Terminal then...

~/desktop/memtest/memtest all 3 -L

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Answer 10

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

May 31, 2011 11:54 AM in response to BDAqua

Also, there was "./" in the first post, maybe a typo?

If "drive b" was a clone of a, then you could have copied a problem across.

Best to use Disk Warrior in addition to or in place of Apple Disk Utility.

And when did you last reformat and restore? good idea to do yearly at least.

Run SuperDuper, but then run DU and DW against the new clone. Boot from clone and then repeat the repairs on your primary drive.

I prefer to have a 3rd Mac OS boot drive only used for repairs and maintenance, not for anything else, but which has my utilities and fully updated, just doesn't have 3rd party apps and anything that is non-essential.

Use to be that iTunes was one of the best triggers to catch memory error for some reason back when (around iTunes 8 or earlier).

MacInTouch Bad RAM

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Answer 11

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

May 31, 2011 12:32 PM in response to The hatter

Yeah, I remember running iTunes & making a big DMG used to be good memory testers. 😉

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Answer 12

aztcqn Author

Level 1

10 points

May 31, 2011 2:05 PM in response to BDAqua

Okay. Will look for OS CD/s. Sigh, I worry about losing stuff when doing a restore, eps in the middle of a project. But, seems the best thing.

I will order DW, before.

Guidance please: There us much I don't understand or have experience with and don't want to lose valuable project files.

When cleaning out and doing restore is this the same as a fresh install? SO, INW wiping out drives and re-installing OSX? Which means up-dating off the net once again? Means resetting my password as well?

What is the best way to replace all my folders and browser prefs after this? Drag in from clone and place... ...where? Don't want to create a system mess for dropping in the wrong place....

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Answer 13

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

May 31, 2011 2:19 PM in response to aztcqn

If you have anything importsant or irreplaceable, you really, really want a backup or two, especially before trying installs or repairs, (though DW is vert good).

Get a Firewire drive if possible, then...

Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Or SuperDuper...

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/

Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...

http://www.tri-edre.com/english/products/tribackup.html

>Drag in from clone and place... ...where? Don't want to create a system mess for dropping in the wrong place....

With a clone they'd be in the exact sae locations but on another drive, might be best to Use Migration Assistant on first boot of a new install to get everything back, but boot from the clone first & make certain it's good.

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Answer 14

aztcqn Author

Level 1

10 points

May 31, 2011 2:24 PM in response to BDAqua

Okay. Thanks to everyone for their input.

I really appreciate all the advice.

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Answer 15

aztcqn Author

Level 1

10 points

May 31, 2011 2:52 PM in response to aztcqn

I have 2 usb externals. A Seagate 250gb and a Hitachi 500gb.
I was told the MDD may not have enough power to keep up 3 internal hard drives, hence the freezes. The 3rd HD is 250gb and pretty much empty.

I have lost boxes with reg keys to some of the software - that's another worry.

If I migrate from a clone onto a fresh clean install, will software that has no reg keys be locked out? Or will they migrate as useable, open programs?

How does one restore project files to a fresh system?

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