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I don't have a solution to your USB boot problem, but until then why don't you keep a copy of the ultimate boot CD around. It'll be a good stopgap measure as long as the machines you work on have a CDROM drive.

The new 3.0 release of the excellent Ultimate Boot CD has Ettercap included with the INSERT live CD. If you're a Windows user, it's an easy way to boot into Linux and try it out without having to worry about compiling and what not.

There's a DOS mode virus checker, some RAM checkers, Linux rescue boot disks, partition tools, HD wipers, and all kinds of good stuff.

Hell, you may consider putting the compressed ISO on your key, 'tis only 57MB.

The Ultimate Boot CD

This CD and the Open CD are about all you need to get your friends computer working in tip top shape.

http://ubcd.sf.net/

> What I think would be really interesting would be multiple LiveCD distros on one CD

Try Ultimate Boot CD.

Really, a great tool, includes a _load_ of hardware testing tools (like vendor tools for harddisks, memtest, etc.).

I too have seen memtest fail to find bad memory, but only once so far. (I switched out memory and since then, no problems.) Also keep in mind, that due to the way it works, memtest errors could be power supply, motherboard, or CPU related in addition to memory related.

I've also seen the hd tests fail to spot a hard drive that was bad too. I spent over a week on one of them trying to figure out why it kept having problems. Since it was in my possession, I didn't have to worry out the cleaning crew causing the problem (see this story under neat idea..)

I've come to the conclusion that there is NO test that can say if the hardware is good, only tests that can say its bad. Between memtest and knoppix (and the hd tests), I can USUALLY spot faulty hardware quickly, but every so often..GRRRR

BTW, I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but the ultimate boot CD (free!) contains lots of useful tools all on one CD. These include memtest, and the various hd manufacturer's tests.

If you come to a computer that needs work and you boot into a Knoppix CD you get...a desktop. On the other hand if you boot on to something like the ultimate boot cd you get a nice menu broken down by category of things like "File system utilities", "Memory Tests", and "Hard drive cloning". I just don't see how Knoppix can compare to that. I'm willing to listen though, if you care to explain what makes it so great for this.

I've found this this to be both useful and FREE. May not have all of the tools you're looking for, but it's an excellent place to start.

I use the ulitmatebootcd. It consolidates several good boot floppy images onto one cd, including many free hardware diagnosis programs.