Arch Linux

cfr

Member

From: Cymru

Registered: 2011-11-27

Posts: 7,132

[unsolvable in EFI] Cannot run memtest from grub2

I would like to run memtest on some new memory I just installed. I have memtest86+ installed and grub2 correctly shows the memtest option in the menu. However, it reports that it is unable to find the command linux16.

Googling/searching suggested that a menu entry including

insmod bsd
netbsd /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin

might work. That was on the gentoo wiki covering grub2. However, grub can't find netbsd either.

Booting into the grub2 shell suggested that knetbsd might be a good substitute. grub2 did find this but it immediately gave the error mentioned on the gentoo wiki for this method:

error: invalid a.out header

and gentoo's plan B is identical to arch's plan A i.e. use linux16 which I don't seem to have.

So I tried substituting linux for linux16 but then I get an error complaining that the zImage is not 32 bit. (I'm not surprised this didn't work - it was just the closest command to linux16 I could find so I figured I might as well try it.)

Can anybody suggest how I might run memtest from grub2? I am using the x86_64 Arch and booting in UEFI. I cannot boot Arch from the hard drive in bios mode.

Edit: I realised that I could run memtest from an Arch Live USB key and that's what I'm doing. But I would like to fix it to work from the hard drive for future use.

Reference: http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Grub2#Memtest86.2B_Entry

Last edited by cfr (2011-12-07 17:40:50)

---

CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

lilsirecho

Veteran

Registered: 2003-10-24

Posts: 5,000

Re: [unsolvable in EFI] Cannot run memtest from grub2

What error do you get when trying to boot in bios mode?

---

Prediction...This year will be a very odd year!
Hard work does not kill people but why risk it: Charlie Mccarthy
A man is not complete until he is married..then..he is finished.
When ALL is lost, what can be found? Even bytes get lonely for a little bit!     X-ray confirms Iam spineless!

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: [unsolvable in EFI] Cannot run memtest from grub2

Does this help?

https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/22993

---

Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

the.ridikulus.rat

Member

From: Indiana, USA

Registered: 2011-10-04

Posts: 765

Re: [unsolvable in EFI] Cannot run memtest from grub2

memtest will not work in grub2-uefi . This is because uefi does not support launching 16-bit binaries and memtest is a 16-bit binary. Thats also the reason why there is no linux16 command/module in grub2 uefi (this is intentional, not a bug).

---

AUR | GitHub | Gitorious | Bitbucket

Lenovo Thinkpad E430

cfr

Member

From: Cymru

Registered: 2011-11-27

Posts: 7,132

Re: [unsolvable in EFI] Cannot run memtest from grub2

Ah, thank you. Is there an alternative?

Is it a bug that etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ is installed with the EFI version of grub2? (It is included in the files common to the BIOS and EFI versions.) It seems misleading because it means that grub2 happily includes memtest in its menu even though it cannot run it.

---

CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L