Adding memtest86+ as boot entry

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi,

IIRC installing memtest86+ was enough in order to have it as a boot option in GRUB2. However today I installed it on this Leap 15 system and it doesn’t show up after reboot. At the same time I see:


# ls -l /boot/memtest.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 182704 Feb 19  2018 /boot/memtest.bin

which is strange (considering the date)

So how can I have memtest86+ as boot entry?

#2

Does your system UEFI boot? I don’t think anyone ever made a memtest86+ that works via UEFI. I use memtest86 instead via custom.cfg:

menuentry "memtest86 7.4 EFI" {
	search --no-floppy --label --set=root P01ESPPART
	chainloader /mt74x64.efi
}
#3

Yes.

I don’t think anyone ever made a memtest86+ that works via UEFI.

If I read correctly its version history it works with UEFI.

#4

memtest86+ != memtest86

#5

I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for the info.
I see /usr/share/doc/packages/memtest86+/README says:


For updates go to the Memtest86 web page:

        http://www.memtest86.com

but :


# rpm -qi memtest86+ | grep URL
URL         : http://www.memtest.org

The same README also suggests:


  To boot from a disk partition via Grub
   1) Copy the image file to a permanent location (ie. /boot/memtest.bin).
   2) Add an entry in the Grub config file (/boot/grub/menu.lst) to boot
      memtest86.  Only the title and kernel fields need to be specified.
      The following is a sample Grub entry for booting memtest86:

        title Memtest86
            kernel (hd0,0)/memtest.bin

However /boot/grub/menu.lst doesn’t exist. Should I create /boot/grub2/custom.cfg instead? Also what should the entry be, considering that /boot is on /dev/sdd4?

And one more question (which I may change the need for all that): I am actually looking for a FOSS rawhammer test. I am not sure if memtest86+ supports that. What would you suggest?

#6

Hi
Just mount the usb image and extract the bootx64.efi and rename to say memtest86.efi, then down in /boot/efi/EFI;


su -
mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/memtest
mv <path_to_efi_file>/BOOTX64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/memtest/memtest86.efi
efibootmgr -c -L "memtest86 7.5" -l "\\EFI\\memtest\\memtest86.efi"

Then at boot time, just select you F12 (or which ever key to get to the boot menu, F9 on my HP setups) and select the efi file… Seems to me it will be a bit easier this way than maintaining a grub entry…

Note: secure boot will probably need to be off, since not sure it they have the efi file signed ($$).

#7

memtest86 supports secure boot according to the feature list on their site.

#8

What are you talking about? I don’t have a usb image.

#9

Hi
On the download site, only saw a USB or ISO image to download… is there a separate download somewhere for the efi file?

#10

There was a discussion of this in an earlier mailing list thread:

TW Grub EFI menu & memtest86+

#11

Yes memtest86+ is for Legacy booting, memtest is for both…

#12

No idea. I installed it through:


# zypper in memtest86+

and I hope I don’t need to download anything additional. Need I?

Thanks for this link. I see the questioner lists a number of things which worked for him but I wonder how to use this info. It is difficult for me to find the answer through pages of other info.

Looking for similar filenames on my system I find only files with quite old dates which is telling me they may have nothing to do with the recent installation of memtest86+ but may be leftovers from something in the past:


# find /boot -exec ls -l {} \; | grep -iE "bootx|memtest"
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  182704 Feb 19  2018 memtest.bin
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 660928 Feb  3  2015 memtest.efi
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 660928 Feb  3  2015 /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/memtest.efi **(why in Microsoft?)**
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 43584 Apr 12  2011 memtest.efi.mui
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 43584 Apr 12  2011 /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-US/memtest.efi.mui **(why in Microsoft?)**
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 672640 Nov 21  2010 bootx64.efi
-rwxrwxr-x 1 root root 672640 Nov 21  2010 /boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 182704 Feb 19  2018 /boot/memtest.bin

So what should I do?

#13

Hi
Microsoft distribute by the looks, probably part of their setup, I see it here too, never ran it…

Like was indicated, memtest.bin is not for a UEFI system, AFAIK memtest86+ from the repositories is LEGACY booting only.

The other versions look all old, you could try selecting and see what happens…

As I indicated, what works for me is downloading the 7.5 free version USB, mount and extract the efi file, copy and manually add to the efi nvram as a boot option via efibootmgr.

#14

As in beer? :slight_smile: I can’t find any link to the source code.

#15

Hi
No source, it was sold to PassMark…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86

#16

I prefer not to boot from it then.

#17

On Tue 28 Aug 2018 11:06:03 PM CDT, heyjoe wrote:

malcolmlewis;2878655 Wrote:
>
> No source, it was sold to PassMark…
I prefer not to boot from it then.

Then you will need to head of to the memtest86+ forums and see what
their plans are for efi boot and support for your required test.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
SLES 15 | GNOME Shell 3.26.2 | 4.12.14-25.13-default
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