Mysterious RHEL 4 crash

[m.roth2006 at rcn.com]

>Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:06:41 +0200
>From: "Grazyna Rymaszewska" <grazar at gmail.com>  
>
>Could you explain what is 'memtest86', please!!!
>I have the same trouble: rebooting server with nothing in message log.
>And I don't know how to find 'memtest86' in my RedHat4.

Try googling on it? You might find, oh, about 641,000 hits.... It tests system memory (but *not* the video card!). You cannot run anything else while it's running: you boot from the floppy or cd (the Knoppix live cd comes with it as a boot option), and you let it run. Overnight is a good time, though if you're really in a hurry, maybe two hours. It will let you know if there's harware errors in your memory.

You *should* have it in your toolbox as a sysadmin.

BUT IT WON'T DIAGNOSE THE VIDEO CARD! 

      mark