Testing machine without drive

[seaweedsl]

Ocasionally I buy laptops from long distance and have them shipped to my father's office for holding until I pass through, sometimes months later.

I generally buy from trusted sellers, but I know it's wise to test a machine right away in case something was missed (caught one stuck in USB 1.1 once) or damaged in shipping.

My dad has a tech there that can do that for me. When the notebook has a hard drive and Windows installed, I have a list of things to test.

But this time, I have no Windows, no HD.
I'm thinking of having him download PCDoctor DOS for testing.

Is this my best option or does anybody have another suggestion? A Linux distro? I know nothing about Linux except I saw somewhere once that it can be run off of a CD for testing. But I want to test the machine, not get him involved in fixing an OS.

Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks.
Steve

[rkawakami]

PC Doctor for DOS, along with memtest86+ works for me. If you don't bother to install a HD and verify that the system can read/write from it, then you're taking some chances. It might be wise to buy a small, cheap drive and keep it on hand for just these cases. I'd buy one that is supported by a drive diagnostic program from the manufacturer. Namely, DFT for Hitachi/IBM drives, Seatools for Seagate, FJDT for Fujitsu drives, etc. Maybe it's just me, but I also use PC Doctor to test out the serial and parallel ports using loopback plugs, both directly on the ports built into the laptop and on a port replicator if the system supports one. Same goes for the external monitor and any communication ports (ethernet and modem).

Using a Linux "live CD" can help in determining if the hardware works. But as you suspect, that might introduce more technical support in figuring out if the Linux distribution is the cause of any suspected problem or the hardware actually being at fault. My philosophy is to use no high-level operating system (like Windows or Linux) in debugging the hardware, unless there's no other way. Case in point: since PC Doctor does not provide for testing of USB ports or PCMCIA slots, I boot into Windows and attach a couple of devices (USB thumb drive, mouse, etc. and PCMCIA flash adapter cards).

[seaweedsl]

Thanks Ray.
I was just running through PC-doctor DOS and Windows. The DOS boot disk looks like a great tool for machine tests.
I like the Windows version too, comes with a nice information module that will replace Everest.

But the DOS version can't test USB ? Missed that. I wonder if there's some program you can load on a USB key, or what. These Thinkpads can boot to USB, right?

As far as having a test drive, I have a couple spares here in S. Mexico, but the laptop is in Houston. So, have to ask for remote testing as a favor once in a while. Can't ask for too much...and I don't think of the IDE as something that tends to fail...like USB. Or is it?

Is memtest86+ also needed? PC doctor seems to test memory..

Thanks for confirming that I don't need to get into an alternative OS for testing. DOS is good.

[rkawakami]

Well, the only reason why I prefer memtes86+ over the memory diag in PC Doctor is that I know exactly what kinds of tests are being run in memtest86+. It's open-source software, the memory patterns are basically the same ones that have been used quite extensively in the memory testing industry and our applications group at work conducted a correlation study several years ago with memtest86+ against our multi-million dollar memory testers and found a good match in fault coverage.

I think that most Thinkpads can boot from USB. I've placed a copy of the three diskettes used for X22 systems onto a thumb drive and use that to check out those systems. Sometimes I can't be bothered with mounting those X2 systems into a media slice just to get a diskette or optical drive . PC Doctor does contain a couple of USB tests but the most important one (to me any way) is the USB Port External Loop test. That particular diagnostic requires the use of a rare interface cable that goes between the USB and parallel port. I've been looking for one for years but have not found an inexpensive one yet, nor any documentation to build it myself. Same goes for the PCMCIA external interface. So that's why I am forced to use Windows to check those two ports.

It's probably rare that one would find a problem with the IDE interface in a laptop, but I'm sure that it happens from time to time. Over the years I've run across a couple of Thinkpads which have been described by their eBay sellers that supposedly won't boot a known good drive. Are they correct in blaming just the IDE interface? I can't say but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

[seaweedsl]

Thanks again, Ray. Appreciate your input. I think I'm gonna look into booting from USB someday just for fun. Trinity Rescue Kit looks interesting.

And getting XP onto a USB drive looks like a possibility too.

For now, a run through with PC-doctor should be fine. I really have no doubts with this particular machine, just trying to be smart.