Suggestions for POST Diagnostic Cards?

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."

Comments

Get the first one

[BoneMarrow]

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

POST

[kruetz]

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.

Done business w/ PC Engines

[ComputerSlicer23]

I've done business w/ PC Engines before, nice guys. He has since left the US (last I read the web site he had), so it might be a bit tricker now. They shipped me good equipment (Flash->IDE converter). Because he didn't keep stock of parts, I had to wait a couple of days to get them fabb'ed, but at least I know they weren't RMA's. To be honest, I'm getting ready to pick up a POST card from him.

That said, I have no idea how well it works, or what the delay is now that he's moved. But I'd vouch for his good guy status, and he's shipped other high quality parts to me.

The actual part is so deathly simple, it should just read I/O port 80 and put it on an LED, so I can't imagine there is a bunch of difference in quality, but that's just me. Last time I needed one, the hardware engineer in the cubie next to me just hooked up his logic analyzer and 2 minutes later I had the post code.

Kirby

POST Code Master

[ez76]

I have had good experience with the POST Code Master.

A nice touch is that the card will monitor voltage rails and test its own LED segments.

I also had the opportunity to meet the developer of the card - a nice guy.

Re:POST Code Master

[ez76]

I forgot to mention that the PCI POST Code Master can often be had for less than the $65 retail price quoted on MSD's site. Check out this eBay seller.

(I am not the seller - this is how I bought mine).

Do It Yourself

[Tux2000]

The famous german c't Magazine has instructions how to build a very simple ISA-based POST card, using only two GALs, a two-digit seven segment LED display, and 15 resistors. You can buy the programmed GALs at eMedia (order code 9503314PAL, 9,50 EUR, roughly the same in US$). The full article is available online for 0,40 EUR. (If you create a new account, you will get 1,00 EUR to play with. So basically, it is free.)

I built one POST card myself, and I never leave home without it. ;-)

heat

[(startx)]

4 drives in the same machine? damnit man, put a fan on them. Heat causes the early demise of most harddrives. You'd think after the first couple you'd have figured that out...

POST Cards

[cook9540]

Power ON Self Tests are what the BIOS conduct automatically to check the buss traffic and see if there are any tie ups. Also known as BEEP Codes, they cause the computer to beep the first time it is started up. If the computer has a working speaker you can use this function of the BIOS. It requires that you know who made the BIOS and what their BEEP Codes are. SEEN HERE: http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Not worth the money

[slaker]

I've done tech work at just about every level, and I've used several POST cards. I honestly haven't found them to be THAT reliable. Sure, it's nice to have confirmation that something is broken, instead of the result of a loose cable or an installation "oops", but I'd far rather have a memory-test card than a post card.
RAM problems can be a lot more annoying to diagnose IMO, while the times I've used POST cards, I either haven't learned anything from them, or I've gotten conflicting results from repeated uses.