[U-Boot] regarding RAM Test

[York Sun <yorksun@freescale.com>]

On 12/02/2013 10:20 AM, Beagle Board wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I wanted to perform a RAM test in u-boot for my DM8148 board. I've used the
> "*mtest*" command present in u-boot.
> But its taking ages and it looks like a never ending test.
> 
> So guys can anyone point me a way to test maximum RAM memory.
> Here why i'm asking maximum is if I try it from kernel level then some
> amount of RAM will be used up by kernel as well as other applications.
> 
> Any thoughts in this regard will be of great help.
> 

Just my 2 cents.

Memory testing has two targets. One is to confirm hardware connection.
For this, we have walking 1 test, address test, etc. You can catch
cross-talk, or other "hard" issues. I use POST memory test for this purpose.

The other target is to confirm timing configuration. I found memory test
algorithm is not helpful for this one. I never found any error with
software testing when there is a timing issue. My solution is to rely on
ECC detection and run some memory extensive tests and check ECC status.
The tests I use includes booting Linux, run lmbench, run md5sum on
ramdisk with know files filled with random data and checksum.

Hope this helps.

York