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Suggestions for POST Diagnostic Cards?

Posted by Cliff on from the determining-your-computer's-health dept.

antis0c asks: "I have a number of PC's of mine, and family that have stopped working, or caused other odd unknown failures such as 4 different harddrives, different brands, all becoming physically damaged in the same computer. General fixing is as easy as removing some hardware until the problem goes away, then putting it back until it comes back, thus narrowing down to the single problem hardware. However more tricky problems require a POST Card. I've never purchased one before and I think I could get more use out of older hardware if I did, and I was wondering if the Slashdot community had any suggestions and comments on the various brands out there such as POSTmortem, MSD PostCodeMaster, and PC Engines. Thanks."

6 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Get the first one by BoneMarrow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just go out and buy the 'first POST' card you see.
    Damn, it's just too easy.

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    Unfortunately, no one can be told what my sig is...
  2. POST by kruetz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ahh yes, POST cards. Points Out Stuffed Technology. Before they came in card form, it used to be a little midget in your computer (mind you, back then computers filled entire nations, so they were actually giants) and they'd run around saying "Oooh, look at that! It's stuffed!", for which we'd be forever grateful.

    If you can pick up one of these, you'll save yourself tonnes, because POST midgets are cheap, reliable and they feed and clothe themselves. Mind you, when they get bored they start to play with your hardware, so remember to keep a cattle prod close by.

    So which brand to get? Choose one that's polite, friendly, doesn't smell to bad (it can get hot in there, people, and they don't like having cooling fans strapped to their heads) and knows his shit. There's nothing worse than a POST midget who insists that "Houston, we have a problem. The red light is flashing" whenever you read data from the hard disk.

    --

    This sig intentionally left bla... dammit!
    Who's got the whiteout?
  3. Re:The single biggest cause of problems... by BenTheDewpendent · · Score: 2, Funny

    I always thought the cause of problems was supid users doing stupid things.

    If the board is breaking harddrives. I say get a PCI IDE controller and stop using the onboard IDE controller.

  4. Four hard drives die in the same PC? by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 2, Funny

    What are you doing with this machine? You're not putting DRM-enabled drives into your Kazaa server are you?

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  5. This is creepy by trentfoley · · Score: 2, Funny
    "I have a number of PC's of mine, and family that have stopped working,...

    And, how are we related?

  6. Is this really what you're looking for? by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let me get this straight, you want a good POST diagnostic card packed with all the latest features?

    So, what your really looking for are POST cards from the edge?

    No thanks required. No, really.

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg