Good, Affordable PC Diagnostic Software?

RebornData asks: "I do freelance computer support for small businesses, and after running into a string of hairy hardware problems, decided to buy some generic PC diagnostic software. My searches turned up numerous vendors but very few independent or reputable reviews and comparisons, so I embarked on an evaluation of my own. What I found was an industry filled with con artists, bitter feuds, and outdated products. I'm now out $400 and am wondering whether my hope of finding useful diagnostic software was a naive dream. Has anyone found something that works for you?"

"The premise of PC diagnostics software is simple: provide an easy way to test for PC hardware problems, independent of software configuration. Some hardware vendors (like Dell) provide diagnostics with their systems, but they are usually model-specific and not even all major vendors provide them. Of course there are free utilities like the well-known memtest86, but I was wanted something more comprehensive.

So I started my research, and found a variety of packages, including PC Doctor, PC Check, Microscope, PC Certify, Tufftest Pro, among many others, ranging in price from $500 to $35. Some come with associated hardware, such as loopback connectors for parallel, serial, network or USB ports, or ISA / PCI cards that will show low-level POST codes for machines that appear completely dead.

Some of the vendors provided demos, but most were severely crippled. The cheaper software tended to be outdated and incomplete, lacking support for newer hardware features. Almost all practiced high-pressure sales tactics over the phone, and I discovered that one company was actually a spinoff of another by a disgruntled former employee, resulting in a bitter, lawsuit-ridden feud.

Microscope, by Micro 2000, seemed to have the most online feedback, mostly positive, but they didn't provide a demo. After contacting their sales, they suggested that if I bought a full copy for my evaluation, I could return it in 30 days if it didn't meet my needs. Well, it turned out to be buggy and missing important features found in other, cheaper products. When I called to return the product, the salesman disclaimed all knowledge of the promise they made, and they've refused to take it back. Some further digging found that I'm not the first person to be taken in by these tactics.

I still would like to find worthwhile PC diagnostics software, but the (a) lack of independent reviews, (b) shady industry sales tactics and (c) poor performance of a 'well regarded' package leave me wondering... am I a sucker for buying into the whole concept in the first place? Can anyone point me towards a reputable vendor, or an alternative set of independent tools that will do the same job?"

Comments

Re:Sandra

[cs02rm0]

I can't stand sisoft sandra, for a variety of reasons. It reminds me of norton software with that bloaty feel.

I prefer AIDA32.

Memtest86

[Kenja]

Its free and will tell you if your memory sucks.

free memory tester

[intertwingled]

free memory tester here

memtest86

[mslinux]

Can't beat memtest86 for those hard to find memeory problems... it's free too.

http://memtest86.com/

Get your money back

[tbase]

I presume you ordered the software over the phone - mail order products are covered by a 30 day money back guarantee by law - unless they changed the laws. Call your credit card company or bank if you charged in on a credit or debit card, and dispute the charges. Although that might not be required if you call them and let them know you'll be disputing the charges if they don't issue a refund.

Re:Excellent Software

[Hel Toupee]

I worked at a small repair shop in the back of a store that sold used computers and the like. The latest version of TS(troubleshooter) that we used was 6.54. We only really used it to "test" machines that customers brought in to sell to us, and only so we had some paperwork to show the owner

The consensus in the store was that we just replace components when something wasn't working. We had a stock of "known good" parts, and swapped out till we discovered who wasn't playing nice. We also had a test machine that was "known good" to test components it. 99 times out of 100 (at least in home/home office grade hardware) replacing a defective (or even just flaky) component was the way to go. Then, if the faulty component is under warranty, we use the vendor-supplied diagnostics (mostly for hard drives) to prove the part was bad, and get it covered under warranty.

Excuse the rambling. I think the tools you use are going to depend on what the final outcome needs to be. (do you just replace the mobo if you know 2 of the PCI slots are bad, or do you need to try to fix them). Nothing beats good-old-fashioned-know-how. Get a good POST code card (I've heard a bit about a product called "PC Geiger" which contains a diagnostic PCI card and a readout panel). In my experience, most software based tools (with exception of a few, please don't flame me) are crap and just tell you what you already know. Just last week I had a SiSoft Sandra burn-in run just fine on a faulty Athlon XP 1700+.

As always, your milage may vary

Re:Low Cost

[dJCL]

Nah, less then a Gig of pron, I either don't keep it around or put it on CD more reliably then the other stuff.

About 80Gig of *** files, 10Gig was all of *** *****, 15Gig was all of ***** ******, 20Gig was a lot of ****** ***, 10Gig was some of *******, add in some ***** and some ******, maybe a few gigs of *-***** and you have my collection of random stuff...(sorry, gotta watch out for people out to get me, the *'s are not replacing any version of the idea of porn...)

And then the oil fired water heater decides to have a fit, throws a lot of soot in to the air, gums up an already meta-stable system and bang... 3 hard drive are in varied states of disrepair...

I really think now that the "-S" switch to mkfs.ext3 should be labeled the "last chance before you give up, so you might as well use it" option, it worked where fsck, tune2fs and debugfs could not...

Anyway...