Thinkpads Forum

Hi All,

I'm getting a new 2623-D3U T60 delivered today. I want to do a great job testing out and burning in my new laptop.

What's the best (or your favorite) software/method/way to torture test and burn-in a new laptop?

And any other "here's how to do it/set it up right from the start" advice or words of wisdom are very much appreciated!!

Thank you very much!!

Louis

SiSoftware Sandra has been around for awhile and is popular for benchmarking and burn-in. http://www.sisoftware.net/

EDIT: [I had to leave for a few minutes.] The most important thing for you to do when you get your new ThinkPad is to burn a set of Product Recovery Discs for yourself - before you need them. Go to Start > All Programs > ThinkVantage > Create Recovery Media > Product Recovery. You can use all CD's, but the preferred method is to use a CD for the first disc, and a DVD for the second. The first CD is bootable. Use quality media, as the software only allows you to burn one set. If you restore to Factory Contents later, you get the option to burn a set again.

To burn in and test computers that I've built, I use Prime95 to burn in the CPU(you run the program twice at the same time if you have a dual core or dual channel processor to burn in both "sides"), then use Memtest to test the memory and maybe run one of the 3DMark programs to see how your computer benchmarks out.
The Recovery Disc idea sounds pretty good, too.

Edit: Just a doggone minute. After what the Cards have been doing to the Padres the past couple seasons, I shouldn't be such a nice guy.

my choice to burn in a system is Stanford's Folding@Home project.

2 instances of the dos client so both cores run 100% is what Im using. Actually been running this program for over 2 months since i got my system with the cores running about 64-66ºC on my Z61m.

Stanford's Folding@Home project is also helping humanity to cure diseases. http://folding.stanford.edu for details.



T

As it appears that IBM also has a DOS version of PC Doctor for the T60, my vote would be for that program. If it works like the ones I use for the 600X and T2x series, you can run a full set of diagnostics (system board, memory, hard disk, optical disk, ports, etc.) and specify how many loops through the entire sequence you want. Go to:

IBM Software for T60, T60p

to download this progrram.

edit: There is also memtest86+, a slightly updated version of the original memtest86 program. It is available at:

http://www.memtest.org/

The free Ultimate Boot CD contains numerous programs for testing a computer: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com

Thank you all VERY much!! I really appreciate the links and suggestions. They are a big help..

Take care,

Louis