MemTest86 v8.0 Beta 1 (2018-12-07 Update - Beta testing is now closed)

[keith]

(Dec 7/2018 Update) MemTest86 v8.0 has been officially released. As a result, MemTest86 v8.0 beta testing period is now over. Thank you to our beta testers for the bug reports and feedback.

Downloads
(Dec 7/2018 Update) MemTest86 v8.0 Pro and Site Edition can now be purchased from our sales page. As usual, the Free Edition is available for download on the normal MemTest86 download page. Beta downloads are no longer available.

Simplifications - No more optical drives and UEFI is mandatory

• Unlike previous versions, a single .ZIP package can now be used to create a bootable USB drive on Windows, Linux or Mac platforms. No more tar.gz packages.
• Bootable CD creation is no longer supported. Please download a previous version of MemTest86 (v7 and earlier) in order to create a bootable CD. This means no more .ISO packages.
• Dual boot and support for non-UEFI machines has been removed. So only UEFI BIOS is supported in V8. This simplifies the package.

New Features

• Added ability to save/overwrite current configuration to the mt86.cfg file. This can be done under the 'Settings' screen
• Initial support for KingTiger iMS functionality. In the medium term, this will allow bad RAM addresses to be localized and removed from service, possibly fixing memory errors caused by defective RAM sticks
• Added language support for Polish
• Added new configuration file parameter CONSOLEONLY which forces MemTest86 to run using the console only (ie. no graphics). This allows for systems without graphics support (eg. serial console)
• Added new configuration file parameter SAMESPDPARTNO to check whether the part numbers of all detected SPDs match
• Added new configuration file parameter EXACTSPDS to specify the number of detected SPD modules to match before allowing the tests to begin. This parameter overrides MINSPDS if set.
• Added options to set MINSPDS and EXACTSPDS in the main menu. This can be done by selecting 'View detailed RAM (SPD) info' in the 'System Info' screen
• Improved Test 12 test coverage by alternating between temporal/non-temporal store/load intrinsics. This change allow MemTest86 to detect some previously undetectable RAM errors.
• Added support for memory error triggering and logging for logic analyzers such as Logic Analyzer Keysight U4164A. Before the test is started, the memory address of the structure where errors are logged is displayed on screen to allow for configuration of the logic analyzer. When memory errors are detected, the pattern 0xDEADBEEF and error details are written to a predefined structure. This triggering/logging mechanism is enabled via configuration file parameter TRIGGERONERR.

Fixes/Enhancements

• Removed MemTest86 v4 (BIOS) from boot images. This means that MemTest86 will no longer be dual boot and UEFI is now mandatory to use new versions of MemTest86. On old machines with traditional BIOS, the separate stand alone V4 release will need to be used. This change was made as many users were confused by the dual boot setup, and accidentally booted the old V4 release on new UEFI systems.
• Removed MemTest86 ISO download packages. Users are encouraged to use the USB boot images which allow logs, reports and configuration files to be written to the USB drive. If CD or DVD boot is required, please use ISO images from MemTest86 v7 or earlier. The logic behind this was that all machines made in the last 10 years now support USB booting, drives are writable and they are faster.
• Consolidated download packages for Windows and Linux/Mac into one zip file. Previous a gzip (gz) file was being created for Linux & Macs. But we think all Linux distros now support the .zip file format. So there is no need for a separate package.
• Fixes to allow Memtest86 to be installed permanently in firmware by motherboard vendors
• Fixed system hang when disabling cache on CPU threads
• Memory ranges less than 1MB are no longer reserved for Bit fade test/Hammer test (test 10) due to possible memory conflict issues. In particular their is a bug in Mac UEFI firmware which results in false positives. This works around Apple's bug, but very slightly reduces test coverage.
• (Site Edition only) Changed management console report period from 3 min to 1 min. Removed reporting after the completion of every test. This reduces the load on the management console when a large number of machines are running tests at the same time.
• Added periodic resetting of watchdog timer for iPXE workaround
• Limited the maximum number of passes in the Free version to 4
• Fixed FAIL result in generated HTML report when testing was aborted without any errors.
• Added timestamp to the list of errors in the HTML report
• Fixed misaligned progress bar when running RAM benchmark test
• Updated to UDK2018
• Updated JEDEC RAM manufacture ID list (JEP106AX)
• Added SMBus (SPD) support for Intel Cannon Lake SMBus.
• Added SMBus (SPD) support for unknown Intel SMBuses
• Added ECC detection support for Intel Atom C3000 chipsets
• Fixed ECC detection support for Skylake-SP
• Fixed ECC error channel/slot number determination for Skylake-SP
• Added workaround for console mode not working for laptops with hi-res screens
• Added iMac14,2 to blacklist which set the lower address limit to 0x1000 by default
• Added ROG STRIX X370-F GAMING (BIOS version 4012) to the blacklist as first BIOS version that doesn't require blacklisting

How to report problems

Either make a post here in the forum, or send us an email at the address listed on our contact page. When reporting an error please provide as much details as possible. If you are running on a USB drive, there should be a log file that has been generated in the EFI/BOOT directory called MemTest86.log. Sending us this will be of great help. Additionally a photograph of the problem would also be useful if possible/applicable.