How to Test RAM with Windows Memory Diagnostic
How to test your RAM with Windows Memory Diagnostic
Bad RAM can cause a host of Windows problems: Crashing, freezing or the dreaded blue screen of death. In Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can test for defective physical memory with the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool.
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If your Windows machine is regularly crashing, freezing or giving you the dreaded blue screen of death, it could have defective physical memory. Luckily, Windows 7 through Windows 11 have a built-in tool to help you test for this.
If Windows detects that your RAM might be failing, it will automatically run the Memory Diagnostic tool when the machine boots. However, you can also run the tool yourself if you want the most immediate results.
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For Windows 10 and 11, right-click the Start icon and choose Run or click the Search icon, enter mdsched and press enter (Figure A).
Figure A
Image: Scott Matteson/Tech Republic.
Select Restart Now And Check For Problems or select Check For Problems The Next Time I Start My Computer. If you opt to restart and run the tool now, remember to save your work and close any open programs before doing so. Once the machine restarts, the tool will launch and run the memory test (Figure B).
Figure B
Image: Scott Matteson/Tech Republic
You can press F1 to change the test options or let it run with the standard settings (Figure C).
Figure C
Image: Scott Matteson/Tech Republic
The Standard test should work for most troubleshooting scenarios. Let the test run, which can take upwards of 20 or 30 minutes depending on your memory configuration.
Once the test is complete, Windows will continue to start and a pop-up will eventually appear showing the results.
You can also view the results by right-clicking the Start icon, selecting Computer Management, expanding Event Viewer, expanding Windows Logs, clicking System and then selecting the most recent log with MemoryDiagnostics-Results as the source (Figure D).
Figure D
Image: Scott Matteson/Tech Republic
If you’re lucky, you won’t see any errors. If any errors are listed, your RAM might be faulty. This may only require unseating and cleaning the memory and the related slots — compressed air works well for this — but if the issues persist, it may be time to replace your RAM.
If you have multiple RAM DIMMs, I recommend buying and then swapping each in turn before re-running the memory test to isolate the defective RAM.
You may not need to pay to replace multiple DIMMs if only one is faulty.
If all else fails and you’re not sure how to proceed, contact your machine’s manufacturer for more help.
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How to test RAM and find errors
Gaming PCs are, unfortunately, no more resistant to memory mishaps than any other type of computer.
But if you learn how to test RAM for errors, you can at least figure out the true cause of a crash or a booting error, in turn opening up the chance to find a fix (or just letting yourself know that you need to buy new RAM).
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In this guide we’ll go over a couple of different RAM testing tools, both free to download and use. The first, Windows Memory Diagnostic, is built right into Windows (including Windows 11) and offers an easy option for finding possible RAM problems. For a deeper investigation, you can also try MemTest86, which requires a bit more legwork (including some BIOS changes) but will more thoroughly search your RAM for errors.
How to test RAM using Windows Memory Diagnostic
This is your simplest and easiest option if you don’t fancy installing any other tools, as everything is built into Windows. However, you’ll need to block out some time for it; the tool itself claims its usage “might take several minutes”, but can actually take close to an hour, and you won’t be able to use your rig normally during that time.
Step 1: Open Windows Memory Diagnostic by searching for it in the Start menu’s search bar. Then, click “Restart now and check for problems”.
Step 2: Your PC will shut down and you’ll be treated to the sight of a blue screen for many, many minutes as Windows Memory Diagnostic searches for RAM issues. You can go off and do something more productive, as your input isn’t required at this stage, though it’s worth checking on it sporadically as the tool will say if it’s found a problem.
Step 3: Once the test pass is complete, you’ll return to your desktop. Windows Memory Diagnostic should apparently display its results automatically at this point, though it didn’t when I tried it. Luckily, you can find a recap in Windows’s Event Viewer.
Step 4: Right-click the Windows icon then click “Event Viewer”.
Step 5: In Event Viewer, navigate to Windows Logs > System in the leftmost pane, then look in the “Source” column for an event named “MemoryDiagnostics-Results”.
This will detail the results of the test in the pane at the bottom.
How to test RAM using MemTest86
Of all the free memory test apps, MemTest86 should be the only one you need. It runs a more thorough set of tests than Windows Memory Diagnostic and, because it boots from a USB drive, can bypass the OS entirely – handy if your crashing problems are so bad you can’t even reach your desktop.
Step 1: Head to the MemTest86 site and click “Download”.
Step 2: Extract the .zip file you’ve just downloaded and plug in a USB drive. Setting up MemTest86 will wipe everything else off the drive, so if it’s not already clean, back up its contents.
Step 3: Launch the “imageUSB” executable in the extracted folder. When asked if you want to allow it to make changes, click “Yes”.
Step 4: Select your USB drive from the list in the “Step 1” box.
In the “Step 2” section, make sure “Write image to USB drive” is selected, then in the “Step 3” section, check that the memtest86-usb.img file is selected – it should be already. Finally, click the “Write” button, then “Yes” on the next two dialogue boxes to confirm.
Step 5: After a few moments the image will have been written to the USB – you’ll know because you’ll get a big flashing, slightly GeoCities confirmation message. Hit “OK” and either restart your PC, or if you’ve used a different computer to create the USB image, plug the USB drive into the PC you want to test and boot it up.
Step 6: Your PC will default to booting Windows rather than from the USB, so you’ll need to jump into the BIOS (or UEFI, if we’re being technical) and set the USB as the primary boot device. You can do this by pressing F2, F12 or the Del key as your PC boots up, depending on the motherboard manufacturer.
BIOS interfaces can differ but they usually have a Boot menu, so navigate to this and set any USB drive partitions to the top of the boot priority order list.
You can always change this back after you’ve finished testing. Savr your changes and exit to restart.
Step 7: On restarting, your PC will load up MemTest86, which will start running automatically. It will take a while to finish the default four-pass testing run – two and a half hours when I tried it with 16GB of DDR4 – so let it do its thing, and upon completion, press any key to view the results. If you like, you can press the Y key when prompted to save a copy to an HTML file, for future reference.
Step 8: Press the X key to exit. You can choose to restart, shut down your PC or exit MemTest86, though remember that you’ll keep loading into it (rather than Windows) until you remove the USB drive or re-enter the BIOS to set Windows Boot Manager back to the primary boot option.
How do I fix RAM errors?
Sadly, not all memory errors are fixable. If there’s a serious hardware problem with one of your RAM sticks, you won’t be able to mend it with troubleshooters, and are best off just replacing it.
