Can't Make Bootable USB Flash in Mac

[Waylon]

Downloaded MemTest86 and the README just opens the Terminal , which is way over my head. Are there other instructions to make the bootable Flash?

[David (PassMark)]

The instructions are here, but yes they involve typing stuff on the command line.
http://www.memtest86.com/technical.htm#linux

It is actually easier on Windows, if you have access to a Windows machine.

[billycar]

(If they want to test their Mac's RAM, why say startup on a Windows machine? Boot Camp thingy?)


This requires a good understanding of file hierarchy and using Terminal. Not too difficult, but it's not very forgiving with regards to syntax errors. You also pretty much have to retype a whole line if you miss a space or a symbol or letter... No editing like we can most other typeable places.


Add the suffix .txt to the so-called Terminal file, and change it to a readable README.txt text file.


Also, I put the .img file in my user directory, so the Terminal command at my user directory level

sudo dd if=memtest86usb.img of=/dev/disk1

Would link to it. Trying to remember what I typed there. (those were my filenames IIRC)

Note: I renamed the file to remove the hyphen, and removed the $

Picture is attached to show where the img file was moved to in my system.

==============

Here are the directions from the README.txt file for a Mac

For Mac:

1) Insert a USB drive into a USB slot.
2) Determine which device the USB drive is assigned as by opening the Terminal and typing the following command:

diskutil list

3) Unmount all volumes on the USB drive by typing the following command:

diskutil unmountDisk [device name]

4) As root, use the 'dd' command to write the image to the USB drive. For example,

sudo dd if=$USB_GPT_FREE_FILE.img of=<dev>

where <dev> is the device the USB key is assigned to. Use the base device (ie. /dev/disk1) not a partition designation (ie. /dev/disk1s1).

Warning: all data on the USB key will be lost.
Warning Warning: Make sure that the device used in the dd command above
is correct!!!
==============

Startup from a Cold Boot. A Restart didn't work for me. Hold down alt/option and select EFI as the startup point.

I didn't much further than that ... My screens went blank (disconnected), but memtest86 did start to collect data for a run.

I'm posting to another thread to try and resolve the issues as of 10/17/16:

memtest86 on Mac Pro 3,1 with ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT