Test Software for New Thinkpad to find defects

[banix88]

I am about to received my new thinkpad T42, and i am trying to put together a list of software programs that i could run to help my find any defects and verify that the correct hardware is present and working.

Could people please advise me on what software they use or have heard of that would help perform benchmarks, stress tests, graphics card analysers, network card testers, diagnostic suites, dead pixel testers etc...

(In fact i would also like to know what software do PC magazines and Reviewers use to assess the different notebooks on the market... I could collate a list and post it back once i have a resonable set of replies)

[lfeagan]

Memtest86+
Sisoft Sandra
Prime95
3dMark2001/2003/2005
PassMark BurnInTest
Hagel DU Meter
IO Meter (formerly Intel IO Meter)
Sysmark 2004
CPU ID


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Please Help Lance with his printer decision:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=5665
Thanks guys Smile

[barras]

I'd recommend the Ultimate Boot CD, it's got almost every useful utility out there. It's got memory tester, Hard Drive testers (IBM's DFT) and other utilities. Mostly low-level stuff, but it's really good for testing.

It's free too. Well worth the download.

Link: http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html

[k3vb0t]

Can we sticky this thread? This is a group of excellent programs most users should run, in my opinion. I haven't even used them all yet!

[lfeagan]

I use everyone of these programs everytime I get a new system to spec it out. I am one of those [H]ardOCP guys Anyways, I will say that one of my favorite tests is Prime95. It has always been able to generate the highest thermal load of any of the test programs I use. (Though Burn In Test can often equal it.)

On another, related, note, I have this nagging feeling that I/we should like overhaul the FAQ and organize it by category and put in current info. A lot of the questions on the forums seem to get asked over and over and over.... I find the current flat structure of the FAQ to not be conducive to using it and reading through it all. Thoughts/ideas? I just hate having to sticky things like this as it really belongs moreso in the FAQ is all. We have a lot of great experience here and the fact that the same questions get asked over and over again causes search queries to have 50 hits with bits and pieces of answers and all sorts of other things like that. I understand why neophytes to the forums are likely floundering at finding info as the current search might returning and overwhelming number of hits. If nothing else, we should have one top level stick thread with the answer to a THE best thread answering the common questions we get asked all the time. That might help people out.

[BillMorrow]

please feel free to start it..

if need be we can use links to thinkpads.com and store the info there..

[JaneL]

>On another, related, note, I have this nagging feeling that I/we should like overhaul the FAQ and organize it by category and put in current info.
>

Have at it. It won't offend me. We needed a FAQ; I provided a skeleton from one used elsewhere; others updated it as needed for this forum. It really should be a living document, and the beautiful thing about the Internet is that it's pretty much a DIY environment. There's already a Wiki somewhere (I seem to have lost the link to it right now). Maybe hook up with those guys somehow?