Comments on: Troubleshoot your misbehaving Mac with Apple’s Hardware Test

By: Will

Will — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:05:41 +0000

Been running the extended test on a Mac mini with 4gb of RAM for about 30mins now.
I wish this comp had the luxury of those 10min extended times yall are talking about. XD

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:24 +0000

With the hardware test being located on the Mac install Disc, do I need to make a full backup of the contents of my computer prior to running the test? Thanks in advance…

By: Eddy Stein

Eddy Stein — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:42:34 +0000

This test has been testing the RAM for 37 minutes now, and counting. This machine only has 1 GB of DDR RAM. I may have to abort the test manually (no error message so far).

By: Serge

Serge — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:03:33 +0000

@ John: You can safely walk away from the extended test while it’s in progress, it won’t prompt for anything during the test. But it usually doesn’t take that long, 20 minutes would be long, referring to the 20 minutes it took for the Mac Pro with 4 gb of memory. Usually takes more like 5-10 minutes on average.

By: John

John — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:22:21 +0000

Hi can someone tell me when doing an extended test (or basic test) can you just click start and walk away from the computer and come back when the test is over or will the test ask you for prompts so you have to be infront of it while it does the test ? regards john

By: Tom Eubanks

Tom Eubanks — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:44:58 +0000

Have got all sorts of strange pixilated patterns on screen.

Ran hardware test an video ram gave error code disp/13/2.

How bad is my problem?.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:55:28 +0000

@ Ben: yes, is normal, it’s the video test, just wait and it will turn back to normal….

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:35:59 +0000

I just ran the hardware test, and when it got to testing the video ram, a strange multi-colored pattern overtook the screen. It scared me and I aborted the test. Is this normal?

By: Cathy Kratovil

Cathy Kratovil — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:30:42 +0000

Sure hope you guys are still following this discussion. I’ve downloaded the Apple Hardware test for iBook, have a tangerine clamshell iBook running OSX.3 and having problems with the Airport card, computer not recognizing, telling me it’s not installed. I would like to run the hardware test to check the Airport drive, if that’s possible prior to sending back the card, taking the chance that the card is O.K. and being charged a fee for this. Any suggestions are helpful. Just really want to use this for a wireless connection because I was down for an entire week, thanks to Verizon’s inability to service it’s customers in timely manner. I’m a graphic designer and depend on my Internet connections. Thought this would be a quick fix, as opposed to running to the local library, waiting to use their system, dealing with screaming kids (by the way — what happened to the idea that the library is supposed to be a quiet place???), only having 45 minutes to do 8 hours of work, etc. blah so-on ….

Cathy

By: John

John — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:38:36 +0000

Thanks… it’s hard to find information on this utility out on the web. One difference for iMac G5s is that you hold down “option” instead of “d” at boot.
Thanks too to Charles… I was wondering why the fans went crazy!