HW Diagnosis software recommendations

[Admiral Huddy]

Can anyone recommend a decent software package that can peform a series of hardware checks... Freeware would be even better as it will need to be installed and uninstalled on various PCs.

Thanks

[Daz]

I've never used such an application, but surely anything based purely on software must be completely unreliable. The only data available to it would be that which Windows has, so I cant imagine it wouldn't tell you anything more than what you see in device manager.

The 2 exceptions I can think of are manufacturer specific apps (in which case there would be no 1 magic application), or vendor specific systems management solutions (the likes of Dell and HP install in their systems).

Basically, if there was a magic application out there that would tell you what's wrong with your system, any system, surely everyone would know and use it? :)

[Admiral Huddy]

ah.. This is right .. i stumbled across HP PC doctor and wondered if there was a tool that just did a few basic checks that everything is working as expected... like HDDs, CPU motherboard.. I ran it on a PC this weekend just gone and it was quite comprehensive.

I just wondered if there was something I could introduce to the PC health check service as a basic check?

[Matblack]

I used to use Sisoft Sandra

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=news&location=xi_sp1_release&langx=en&a=

MB

[Dr. Z]

Running something like sisoft sandra would possibly flag up any errors or whatever?

[Matblack]

Running something like sisoft sandra would possibly flag up any errors or whatever?

You think?

;)

MB

[Admiral Huddy]

it's been years since i've used that...
does it do any basic Hw checks?

this is the HP software I was using..

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00041380 (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00041380)

[Matblack]

it's been years since i've used that...
does it do any basic Hw checks?

this is the HP software I was using..

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00041380 (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00041380)

List of SiSoftware Sandra Modules
Here is a list of current modules.

System Summary
Mainboard/Chipset/System Monitors Info
CPU/BIOS Info
APM & ACPI (Advanced Power Management) Info
PCI(e), AGP, CardBus, PCMCIA bus and devices Info
Video Information (monitor, card, video bios, caps, etc.)
OpenGL Information
DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound (3D), DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectInput) Info
Keyboard Info
Mouse Info
Sound Card (wave, midi, aux, mix) Info
MCI Devices (mpeg, avi, seq, vcr, video-disc, wave) Info
Joystick Info
Printers Info
Windows Memory Info
Windows Info
Font (Raster, Vector, TrueType, OpenType) Information
Modem/ISDN TA Information
Network Information*
IP Network Information*
WinSock & Internet Security Information
Drives Information (Removable Hard Disks, CD-ROM/DVD, RamDrives, etc.)
Ports (Serial/Parallel) Info
Remote Access Service Connections (Dial-Up, Internet)*
OLE objects/servers Info*
Processes (Tasks) & Threads Info
Modules (DLL, DRV) Info
Services & Device Drivers (SYS) Info*
SCSI Information*
ATA/ATAPI Information
Data Sources Information*
CMOS/RTC Information*
Smart Card & SIM Card Information*
CPU Arithmetic Benchmark (MP/MT support)
CPU Multi-Media Benchmark (including MMX, MMX Enh, 3DNow!, 3DNow! Enh, SSE(2)) (MP/MT support)
File System (Removable, Hard Disks, Network, RamDrives) Benchmark
Removable Storage/Flash Benchmark
CD-ROM/DVD Benchmark
Memory Bandwidth Benchmark (MP/MT support)
Cache & Memory Bandwidth Benchmark (MP/MT support)
Network/LAN Bandwidth Benchmark
Internet/ISP Connection Benchmark
Internet/ISP Peerage Benchmark
Hardware Interrupts Usage*
DMA Channel Usage*
I/O Ports Usage*
Memory Range Usage*
Plug & Play Enumerator*
Hardware registry settings
Environment settings
Registered File Types
Key Applications* (web-browser, e-mail, news, anti-virus, firewall, etc.)
Installed Applications*
Installed Programs*
Start Menu Applications*
On-disk Programs & Libraries*
Installed Web Packages* (ActiveX, Java classes)
System Event Logs*
Burn-in Wizard* (test computer stability)
Connect Wizard (connect to remote computers, PDAs, Smart Phones and other devices)
Combined Performance Index Wizard (overall computer performance score)
Create a Report Wizard (save, print, fax or e-mail in CIM (SMS/DMI), HTML, XML, RPT or TEXT format)
Performance Tune-Up Wizard (tune-up computer)
Environment Monitor Wizard (temperatures, voltages, fans, CPU power, cooling solution thermal resistance, etc.)
WebUpdate Wizard for automatic version updatingMB

[Admiral Huddy]

Oh ehh Mrs.. That looks pretty comprehensive.. will gave that a go tonight - Cheers :)

[Robert]

I'd just use:

Voltmeter
Everest
Orthos - run for around 8 - 12 hours
Memtest - run for a few hours
3dmark - loop it

[Davey_Pitch]

I use the Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) to run whatever tests I need from Dos, therefore ignoring any errors which may be Windows based rather than hardware. It's pretty comprehensive and has a lot of useful utilities on it :)

[Will]

Exeperience with maybe Sisoft are probably your best tools, and possibly a multimeter too. That's all I can think of really. :)

[Admiral Huddy]

DP - That UBCD looks pretty good, I gave it a try last night.

Some have mentioned a utility called Everest.. I've downloaded that for trial too..

[semi-pro waster]

Aida32 (http://www.sofotex.com/AIDA32-download_L9326.html) might do what you require, it is certainly good at identifying components although I've had no real reason to test it's diagnostics, unfortunately it is no longer being updated but it works well and is free. :)

[Admiral Huddy]

thanks chaps :)

Horra for the forums