Recommended Diagnotic Programs

Can anyone recommend a decent hard drive diagnostic program and also a memory one. I have finally whittled my crashing problems down to one of these two (also maybe PSU but I`m no sure how I can test that as I do not have access to another one or spare PC) and I want to test them thoroughly. Are there any programs out there that are speedy as well as reliable? The ones I tried seem to never finish the test and there are no indications of time left etc...

Jason.

Check out ctramtst for a RAM-Checker. Needs a DOS-Floppy to boot with, but is able to check the whole ram (by loading itself into Video-Memory).

also memtest (free, search the internet) can be put onto a bootable CD-ROM, in fact I think it comes with a premade .iso file.

Any idea as to how long those programs take to do their magic? Are we talking hours? I have 512mb which will obviously be an important factor in the length of the test.

It is really annoying not being able to do anything serious on your computer through fear of it crashing all the time and not knowing why it is doing so :(

Jason.

well memttest runs loads of tests but you can normally spot duff RAM after about 1 minute due to the errors appearing. If your problem is more subtle/intermittant you may need to run it for longer will the full tests.

I remember running it for 3 hours last time I tried and still didn`t know if it was going to end anytime soon. It would be nice if the programmers filled you in on these things in the docs. Still, I didn`t have any errors then so hopefully all is well there.

Jason.

Those intermittant crashes are really hard to pin down - is there any sequence of events that normally triggers the crash or is it just random ? - could it be heat related ?
With faulty PSU's I have found that the machine just powers off rather than crashing but you never know.
Try using winconfig to remove everything on startup - maybe its some driver issue.
Good luck and I hope you get it sorted soon.

What board/chipset do you have? has it always behaved like that or is it a new thing?

Check the processor and gpu temperatures. Check the power lead fuse and fuse holder signs for arcing. Dunno what processor you have - but check the output is at least 350 watts - and even then - if the PSU is made by, say, Suntech or is some other piece of cheap generic rubbish then swap it out as a matter of course esp. if it was recycled from an older box. Check the PSU, hard drives and RAM to see if they are hot. Does removal the cover improve reliability?

Clean the RAM connector strips and reseat those chips. If multiple chips are present are they identical? Mismatched chips are a pain.

A few component manufacturers (Maxtor for instance) provide diagnostic software that can be useful. So it can be worth a wander thru their websites.

Is your BIOS current? Sometimes RAM and BIOS can be incompatible and a later BIOS may resolve the issue.

I thought that MemTest was fantastic. It found faulty RAM that other test software failed to detect despite running them for several hours. Yaaay!

Once I think, deleting the windows swapfile. Bliddy thing.

If diags 'lock up' then corruption of the CMOS may be responsible. Usually it is possible to reset CMOS to factory default by moving a specific jumper on the motherboard and then putting that jumper back to it's original position. If you reset the CMOS be aware the BIOS will often need some manual adjustment to allow full operation and performance the PC. If you find yourself here twice then it's as well to have the latest BIOS revision on bootable media along with the update software. Fit a new BIOS backup battery esp. if changing the PSU in relation to a fault.

Often the fault was a corrupted OS that would spontaneously implode. Format and restore would correct the issue. If the PC can run a variety of diagnostic software reliably that may point to a corrupted OS.

If all else fails then it may be the processor/board.

Whatever has caused the OS to repeatedly crash - whenever that gets fixed its a good to format/restore the box as crashes sometimes cause the OS to corrupt making it look like the fault is still present, or other faults may become manifest.

Good luck.

To make matters worse I have just tried to use my floppy drive, after a long time I must admit, and now that seems to not work either. It tries to read the disk but after about 30 secs it says "disk not formatted." I have tried several disks with things on them and also tried formatting blank ones but it`s not working :( Any ideas as to what may be causing this problem? Maybe it just needs cleaning, can you get floppy disk cleaners?

Jason.

It's probably easier to get a new drive for like peanuts from EBAY.

I know but it`s annoying me.

Jason.

Check that the floppy is connected to the correct terminator (if the data cable has two terminators try using the other one). Check that the data cable is correctly inserted at the drive and motherboard ends. Ensure that the Floppy is correctly defined and enabled in BIOS.

Something else:
XP and 2000 have a setting to automatically restart upon certain errors. If you disable that, you may end up with more diagnostic info in the case of a crash.
Also, it's wortk looking in the even viewer (eventvwr.exe) and see if there are any problems listed around the time of your crashes, that can also help you locate the problem.

Well I`ve been running for about a week now without service pack 2 and haven`t had any problems so far (touch wood) so I am starting to believe that was the cause in some way.

Do you guys all run sp2 successfully? Thinking about it I started getting problems around the time I first installed it.

Now I`m not sure what to do as I would feel better if it was running for security reasons.

Jason.

I have come across machines that don't like SP2. Usually, if you have reloaded XP from scratch then it should be fine to load SP2.