
We recommend that you try more than one and compare their results, because one program may miss a problem that another can detect. Third-party RAM checksįor further confirmation, you can turn to third-party RAM checkers.
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Wait for the tests to complete, and your Mac will tell you about any problems with the memory.

If holding down D isn't bringing up the testing screen, try again and this time hold down Option + D, and your Mac will look online for a set of tests it can download. You may find, additionally, that the diagnostic function has been removed from your system this sometimes happens when you format the hard drive and reinstall OS X. If your system is more recent, you may find that the memory test begins automatically the newer interface has a grey or black background. The Diagnostics section varies depending on the age of your Mac and OS: on older systems (where the diagnostics page has a blue background) you'll need to select the middle tab, Hardware Tests, then put a tick next to 'Perform extended testing (takes considerably more time)' and hit the big blue Test button. Restart or boot up your Mac and hold D while it boots this will take you to the diagnostics screen. You can easily check the RAM using your Mac's built-in tests. This helps to make sure that all RAM addresses are accessible to the testing program, and thus gives you a more comprehensive set of results. Here's where dedicated memory-testing diagnostic programs come in.Īfter running the following tests, it's a good idea (if the design of your machine allows this) to swap around the RAM modules in your system and test again. The symptoms have allowed us to reach a working diagnosis, but like Gregory House MD we won't be happy until we've got confirmation of the illness.
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How to test for bad or faulty RAM on a Mac: How to test the performance of your RAM

But if it's happening a lot, it could be evidence of faulty RAM.

Triple beep on start-up: The clearest signal your Mac can give that its RAM needs to be replaced.As a general guide, look out for one or more of the following symptoms, but bear in mind that they won't appear consistently: very often a problem will only occur when a particular part of your RAM is accessed. How to test for bad or faulty RAM on a Mac: Telltale signs that your RAM is faultyīad or faulty RAM makes itself known in various ways and at various times. Unless your Mac is exhibiting specific symptoms of bad RAM - which we also cover - then we'd recommend running the RAM tests once a year or so. But before we start, bear in mind that the tests are quite time-consuming. You can check easily whether your Mac's RAM has stopped working properly, and we'll walk you through those tests in this article. Is my Mac's RAM faulty? It's behaving oddly. Is there an easy test to check if I've got bad RAM?
