Thinkpads Forum

I am trying to use Memtest86+ v1.65. This is my first laptop, a Thinkpad 600X I bought used and I am wanting to check the RAM Memory Modules I am buying for it.

It works great booting it up on it on my desktops, but in my Thinkpad 600X (and in a friend's Thinkpad 600e that I managed to test it in to see if it was just my computer doing this) it comes up with a black screen and begins printing "8000" to the screen like this:

8000
8000
8000
8000
etc.

So, there is no GUI screen like when I boot up on it from a desktop.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on, what I am doing wrong, and how to get it running correctly on my laptop?

Thanks!

I have received a message similar to what you describe when booting memtest86+ off of a floppy a couple of times, but I think the problem was a dirty disk and/or bad connection of the external floppy drive. I use the 600-series external floppy bay connected directly to the 600X laptop, or through a port replicator for the T2x systems.

I would say make another floppy (or CD) and see if the problem reappears. memtest86+ should run without any problems as long as you can sucessfully boot the laptop.

another possibility is that you are using a program that is too "current" for the laptop it is running on.

The current (actually old but current) version of Memtest86+ is "only" 15 or 16 months old. Your laptop is older, MUCH older.

It might be worthwhile to find the website for memtest86 (not "plus") which has the earlier code on it and find a version that is from the era when your laptop was produced. Perhaps a floppy made with a program from the right time period will work when the more current one will not.

That shouldn't be a problem. I've been using memtest86+ v1.65 on my 600Es without any problems. Yes, there was an update released a couple of weeks ago (v1.70) but I've only used it on a T23 I believe. What the OP describes was something I saw only a couple of times when booting from a floppy. The error did not repeat once I turned the system off, re-loaded the floppy in the drive and booted again.