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Diagnostic Tools for Testing 2nd Hand Machines?

Posted by Cliff on from the run-it-thru-its-paces-before-you-buy-it dept.

tom asks: "Buying second hand computers you always run a risk. I was wondering if the slashdot readers could suggest a toolbox of (preferably small) tools that you could take along with you on one or two floppy's so you could run some diagnostics on machines you would consider buying. I'm thinking of the checkdisks, benchmark programs, soundcard checks, USB checks etc."

9 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Bootable Linux by pythorlh · · Score: 3, Informative

    Maybe one of href=http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/08/04/0 00205&mode=nested&tid=106

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    1. Re:Bootable Linux by DasBub · · Score: 2, Informative

      For the Copy & Paste impaired:

      Knoppix, a feature-rich GNU/Linux distro that boots from and lives on a CD.

  2. Well now. by Neck_of_the_Woods · · Score: 3, Informative

    The best bet that I have found with buying systems that are used, in bulk is just to go ahead and assume that they are all broke. Assume nothing is going to work right, and factor in how much it is going to cost you in time to get something working and if it is worth it. I had the luck of running up on about 20 p2 systems a year back and purchased them for 30 bucks each, assuming that everything in them was hosed and the most I could get out of them was one or 2 parts on average. I got more on most, 1/2 had failed drives was the biggest problem. Followed by hosed motherboards. All in all I got about 12 full systems out of the 20, and gave them away like candy to people I knew that needed them. Ended up keeping 3 for myself. It all ended well, but assume they are hosed and you will not end up on the short end.

    Good luck,

    --
    Neck_of_the_Woods
    #/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
  3. memtest by kraf · · Score: 2, Informative

    see subj.

  4. Your brain - then some very basic tools by ivan256 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't know about it fitting on a floppy disk, but the best thing you can bring along is in your head already. Base the price you're going to pay on what the terms of the deal are. As is, no refunds? Assume they're all broken, and price accordingly. Guaranteed working? For how long? Again, base your price mainly on the terms, not on the equipment.

    After that, there are some simple things you can do to find out what you're getting, assuming they'll let you test every unit. I've written some shell scripts the I've got in an initrd with busybox that I burned to a CD that tells you if the machine can boot, and if so, what hardwhere is in it. It looks for PCI devices, SCSI disks, IDE disks, memory... Basically any info you can pull out of proc. It formats it all nicely on a single screen, so you don't need to type anything, and you spend 45 seconds at a machine max. There's no need for a full OS with apps, or a bootable distribution. I have a single floppy version as well, but it won't find every SCSI device. If you'd like a copy, send me an e-mail.

  5. Re:memtest86 by josepha48 · · Score: 3, Informative
    dmesg has this kind of output. Also on a LInux distro you can look at the /proc filesystem. /proc/pci tells all sorts of info about the PCI bus and what is attached. It tells the Bus, device, function, USB stuff, Ethernet stuff, etc. All devices on pci. Alternatively you could use lspci as well. Below is the output of lspci:

    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX - 82443BX/ZX Host bridge (rev 03)
    00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX - 82443BX/ZX AGP bridge (rev 03)
    00:04.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
    00:04.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
    00:04.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
    00:04.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
    00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX (rev 10)

    If the CPU was bad the system would probably not boot. I have not heard of to many intel CPUs being bad, but I'm sure a

    --

    Only 'flamers' flame!

  6. Re:Well.... by Nynaeve · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hard drive testing programs:
    IBM -- Drive Fitness Test
    Maxtor -- Powermax
    Western Digital -- Data Lifeguard Tools Utilities: DLGDIAG
    Seagate -- SeaTools
    Fujitsu -- Diagnostic Tool
    NOTE: Some of these tools may work with all drives, but this (free) collection should cover quite a few drives.

  7. Re:For old machines, use old software. by Deagol · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sorry for the self-reply! The util was called PC-CONFIG, and it's at http://www.holin.com. Great package. It's shareware, though. The prices are reasonable, however.

    --
    Method of processing duck feet
  8. Re:SETI@home by Fweeky · · Score: 4, Informative
    SETI will bring the CPU to the limit. If it's overclocked and/or badly cooled or otherwise unstable, you'll see that quickly.
    Better to use a dedicated util for this, like CPUBurn, which will exercise the CPU as much as possible to generate heat and verify everything's still working.

    Just because SETI/RC5/etc push CPU usage to 100%, doesn't mean they fully exercise all the various units on the CPU, or even that they'll notice if a bit flips here or there.