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Downloaded the Ubuntu 16.04.2 .iso install disk and flashed it onto a USB stick.

Booting on the USB stick, there is no memtest86+ option (along with "Try Ubuntu").

Is there a way to add it to the install options?

(it's for a UEFI boot PC running normally Windows, its owner does not want to install Ubuntu. "memtest86+" is completely free (unlike "memtest86"), but is quite old, and does not offer a UEFI boot - this is why having it within the Ubuntu options makes things easier)

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  • 1
    unlike "memtest86". The PRO version is not free. But you want "MemTest86 v7 Free Edition" ... and that one is (as it says in the name)
    – Rinzwind
    May 23, 2017 at 7:00
  • Note: one of the error messages I see when I run sudo update-grub is Memtest86+ needs a 16-bit boot, that is not available on EFI, exiting. That's the Google search that brought me to this question.
    – Gabriel Staples
    Jun 3 at 21:02

5 Answers 5

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Memtest86+

Edit 1: {

Memtest86+ version 6 (and newer) can be downloaded as a standalone zip file, which contains an iso file. This iso file can be cloned directly into a USB drive to make a bootable memtest86+ system and it works both in UEFI mode and the old BIOS mode alias legacy mode.

www.memtest.org

}

Edit 2: {Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster) has memtest86+ version 6 now. Thanks to TomásFox for this update.}

Older versions of Memtest86+ do not work in UEFI mode because they are 16-bit programs. But if you can boot the computer in BIOS (CSM, legacy) mode, they work.

See: Where is the memtest option on the Ubuntu 64-bit live CD?.

Memtest86

There is another version, the 'original' but now not FOSS version memtest86, and it works in UEFI mode. There is a commercial version and a free version (no cost, but not open source code).

See: www.memtest86.com/download.htm.

Adding newest freeware memtest86 to UEFI Grub2

Here is a great tutorial on how to add the freeware memtest86 to UEFI Grub2. It's especially useful if you are working on a remote machine, and inserting a physical usb is out of the question.

See this Ubuntu oriented tutorial.

See this example of doing this on a remote server, but based on the above tutorial.

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  • Thanks, used the free memtest86, but it doesn't have options available, like using multi-cores. So the 86+ is more appealing, will try to install this one later on, on a live support.
    – Déjà vu
    May 23, 2017 at 7:27
  • @ringø, You might find it convenient to [extract and] clone memtest86+ from this compressed image file, phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/compressed-images/…
    – sudodus
    May 23, 2017 at 7:33
  • 2
    Linux can do memtest unix.stackexchange.com/a/439769/105120
    – user1133275
    Jan 4, 2021 at 20:04
  • 1
    Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster) now has memtest86+ version 6. I already had Ubuntu installed, so I temporarily changed the repo sources to Lunar and then just updated memtest86+. Can't remember if I run update-grub, but now I have memtest in the boot entries and it works just fine.
    – Tomás Fox
    Jan 24 at 14:48
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    @TomásFox, Thanks for this heads up :-)
    – sudodus
    Jan 24 at 16:52
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Is there a way to add it to the install options?

No.

Best alternative: create a live boot memtest usb/dvd. You can create it from Linux, Mac or Windows (basically they provide an installer for all three but the software itself is identical).

For UEFI you need the MemTest86 v7 Free Edition version (link below downloads that one). Instructions for the USB version (there is also a DVD version and a floppy disk version at the links above):

Create a bootable USB Flash drive:

  • Download the Linux/Mac MemTest86 USB image.
  • UN-tar the package (tar xvzf MemTest86-*-usb.tar.gz). An image file and a
  • README file will be created in the current directory. Follow instructions in the README to write the USB flash disk.

Pretty generic.

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  • 1
    Thanks, used the free memtest86, but it doesn't have options available, like using multi-cores. So the 86+ is more appealing, will try to install this one later on, on a live support.
    – Déjà vu
    May 23, 2017 at 7:26
  • 2
    memtest86 v5+ does have multicore but it is unstable. You can use it but it crashes more often than it finishes
    – Rinzwind
    May 23, 2017 at 8:00
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PCMemTest (Ubuntu 22.04)

Use PCMemTest. Since Ubuntu 22.04 the PCMemTest is available from the Ubuntu repository. PCMemTest is a fork of MemTest86+ and it works fine on UEFI too. As it is part of Ubuntu it is the easiest to install:

sudo apt install pcmemtest

And in the next boot it should appear in the grub boot menu (just like you used memtest86+ before).

Memtest86+ (Ubuntu 23.04 and above)

sudo apt install memtest86+

The memtest86+ version 6 and above supports UEFI. (And this is actually based on the above mentioned pcmemtest code.)

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According to this discussion it can't run in UEFI mode because it's a 16-bit program.
If available, booting the live USB (or DVD) in Legacy/CSM (AKA "BIOS mode") should bring the memtest86+ option you want to the live menu.

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  • Thanks, used the free memtest86, but it doesn't have options available, like using multi-cores. So the 86+ is more appealing, will try to install this one later on, on a live support.
    – Déjà vu
    May 23, 2017 at 7:29
1

Memtest86 works in UEFI mode. It has a free variant but is not open-souce.

Download the iso from https://www.memtest86.com/tech_booting-cd-dvd.html

Burn it to usb drive (I used etcher).

Now restart your machine and boot from the usb drive.

P.S.

Diagnosing RAM with tools most of the time do not work. I ran Memtest86 for 5/6 hours. It reported that the RAMs do not have any issues. Then I took out the RAMs i doubted and the system started running smoothly.

Just keep one RAM and remove others. Then run your machine for a while and check if there is any issue or not (remember, the issues can be very subtle, for example keyboard does not work for 1-5 seconds every once in a while). If there is no issue then it is a good RAM. Then check ram 2,3...n.

Again if you find a faulty RAM, then maybe the RAM is not fault but the slot where it is attached.

Please note that all RAMs and slots can be good but if there is a miss match (bus speed or brand) then it can cause issues. So, you have to make sure that combinations also work. For example, use same brand and same bus speed RAMs together and test the machine for a while (remember, the issues can be very subtle). Then attach another brand / bus speed RAM and test for a while. Then maybe enable XMP and test for a while.

So, hopefully now you understand why it is better to diagnose RAMs physically than with tools.

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