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PCI Express Status Test

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:04 pm
by ibbo
Hi, guys:

I just ran a regular diagnostic with PC Doctor 5 on my x60 (69U) and apparently the 'PCI Express Status Test" for the 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter (Network Card) failed. The wireless works fine- I'm able to seek out and connect to different networks.

Any idea what this is? Is this something I should try to get warranty service on?

-Jon

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:11 pm
by lev
Looking at the PC Doctor help, what it is, is that it looks at the PCI Express Device Status Register (DSTS), of which bit 2 is the Fatal Error Detected (FED) bit. This is described in the intel chipset documentation in section 18.1.26 (page 654). Available here:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipset ... 701302.pdf

I haven't read the PCI express specifications to know exactly what this means, but it sounds bad. Apparently it's described in the PCI Express Base Specification 1.0a section 6.2.2, and Fatal errors render the entire link and related hardware unreliable until they have all been reset (as opposed to Non-Fatal Errors, which just indicate that a particular transaction failed).

Sounds bad. Is this PC Doctor result repeatable after a reboot? Either way, I'd call tech support.

Lev

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:21 pm
by lev
I take it back. Take a look at "hints and tips" on the lenovo support website. There's a document about this issue: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-63386

It states quite clearly that this is not considered to be a problem.
Symptom
When PC-Doctor for Windows runs tests on the ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter or ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter, the PCI Express Status Test may show Failed.

Affected configuration
The following ThinkPad systems running Windows XP and is equipped with either the ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter or ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter, may be affected by this symptom:
ThinkPad T60, T60p
ThinkPad X60, X60s
ThinkPad Z60t
Solution
No solution. Although PC-Doctor for Windows may report Failed, communication over wireless LAN will operate normally. The adapter is not considered defective based on this test.

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:43 am
by amgdoc
Mine shows the same results. I have no problems.

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:35 am
by ibbo
Thank you Lev, your posts were very helpful. Thank you for investigating the problem. It's people like you that make this forum so friendly and helpful. :D