On 10/01/12 19:56, Jean Delvare wrote:
Hi Basil,
On Tuesday 10 January 2012 03:20:43 am Basil Chupin wrote:
I had the need to go to the memtest86.com site to grab a copy of the test to check the condition of my RAM Note that memtest86+ (from memtest.org) is packaged for openSUSE. Just install it and it will show in your boot menu.
You mention memtest.org as the source of the tester in openSUSE which may explain why the copy I downloaded of memtest86 is version 4.0a which is claimed to be the latest version (released 20 August 2011), and it came from memtest86.com and not memtest.org. All very confusing to say the least :-) . My confusion continues below......
and came across a patch for the kernel which purports to use a feature of the kernel to map bad RAM bytes and not use them thus avoiding the need to replace RAM (perhaps unnecessarily). The patches do not go beyond kernel 2.6.x. I was wondering if this patch is now automatically built-in into the kernel and patching the kernel is therefore no longer necessary (I am using kernel 3.2 for example)? Anybody know the answer, please? It would be easier to answer the question if you would point us to the patch in question.
I was going to supply an URL but the memtest86.com site doesn't have a different URL for its different pages and the one which would be relevant only takes you back to the memtest86.com site......It's easier if you looked for yourself :-) . The URL is: http://home.zonnet.nl/vanrein/badram
My wild guess is that the patch still applies to current kernels. There was no architectural change between 2.6.39 and 3.0, it's really only a marketing (or convenience) move. As people did not expect it to happen, there are still many references to "kernel 2.6.x" left, which really mean "kernel 2.6 or later".
I am no expert so I shall leave it up to you to work this one out :-) . (My confusion was further confused when I looked at memtest.org which appears to have been evolved from memtest86.com - but then, memtest86 v4.0a was only released last August.......) BC -- What religion were Adam and Eve? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-kernel+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-kernel+owner@opensuse.org