PDA

View Full Version : Hardware diagnostic software - Intel/Windows



Jim Laumann
03-24-2015, 1:18 PM
All

I've got a HP system at home which is 4 yrs old, and beginning to have "issues"....has trouble booting, or crashes (blue screen) and then has boot issues. Running Win 7. 10M real memory, and a 1.5Tb drive, and a AMD processor.

Anti Virus (Kaspersky) is up to date and indicates the system is clean. Problem started approx. two weeks ago, and is intermittent.

I'm looking for a recommendation on some hardware utilities - one which I can exercise the drive and memory - which seems to be the likely candidates.

Thanks

Jim

Brian Hale
03-24-2015, 2:18 PM
Windows has a couple built in you can try

Open windows Explorer
Right click the drive in question and choose properties
Select tools

Should be 3 different tolls to try if I remember correctly

......... That's where I'd start

Brian:)

David Bassett
03-24-2015, 2:47 PM
If the built in stuff doesn't solve your problems, search for Memtest86 (or Memtest86+, I haven't kept track of their politics.) Get the most current from a reputable download site and run it over night. It is designed to test your memory, but has the reputation of beating up your CPU, cache, etc. pretty well too. It won't tell you anything about your disk or about the state of you OS install ("bit rot", etc.) but can id or fairly conclusively eliminate memory problems.

Dan Hintz
03-25-2015, 6:25 AM
If the built in stuff doesn't solve your problems, search for Memtest86 (or Memtest86+, I haven't kept track of their politics.) Get the most current from a reputable download site and run it over night. It is designed to test your memory, but has the reputation of beating up your CPU, cache, etc. pretty well too. It won't tell you anything about your disk or about the state of you OS install ("bit rot", etc.) but can id or fairly conclusively eliminate memory problems.

I'll second this one. Memory rarely fails, but when it does, flakiness is a direct result. I have had two systems slowly go belly up due to bad memory chips.

Jim Matthews
03-25-2015, 7:07 AM
Not for nothing, but have you vacuumed the interior of your PC in four years?
Heat is the mortal enemy of discrete electronics.

Dust traps heat.

Larry Frank
03-25-2015, 7:37 AM
I agree that heat can cause a problem. But I would not vacuum due to potential static issues. Instead, you can use canned air to blow dust out . Be careful if you have a fan on the cpu, as you can damage the fan or fins with too hard a blast.

Hopefully, you have previously backed up your computer.

Myk Rian
03-25-2015, 7:38 AM
Not for nothing, but have you vacuumed the interior of your PC in four years?
Heat is the mortal enemy of discrete electronics.

Dust traps heat.
Not to mention cat hair. Do you have pets?

Curt Harms
03-25-2015, 8:34 AM
I've used compressed air. Just don't go nuts - set the pressure to what seems reasonable. Use a pen or something to hold the fans still. You could alternate memory sticks - sometimes simply reseating will fix random issues. Memtest X86+ is good but I don't know that it would check for connector issues. Disconnecting and reconnecting drive cables won't hurt either. I've had problems with the wide IDE ribbon cables in the past, I don't know that the narrow molded SATA cables would be prone to connector problems like the ribbon cables were.

Curt Harms
03-25-2015, 8:42 AM
not to mention cat hair. Do you have pets?

309922

:)

Jim Laumann
03-25-2015, 1:04 PM
Update....

No pets in the house....so no hair other than human

System was backed up FRiday night and current, until last night, when wife insisted she had to look at email.

Our last system had a memory stick go bad, we got all kinds of crazy dumps/program failures for weeks. Sent them all off to Microsoft w/ a tool Win XP had. Microsoft finally spotted something which said to them 'bad memory'. They provided a downloadable memory test utility, ran it, it spotted the bad stick - got it replaced, no more problems. Hence the reason I asked about it...

Cleaning out the dust - good thought - will do so.

Can reseat cables, etc.

Chkdisk is running as I key this - been running since about 7.45 last night - its about 50% done (stage 5 - cluster check). Stages 1-4 reported no errors.

More tonight or tomorrow....

Thks

Jim

Pat Barry
03-25-2015, 1:26 PM
Update....

No pets in the house....so no hair other than human

System was backed up FRiday night and current, until last night, when wife insisted she had to look at email.

Our last system had a memory stick go bad, we got all kinds of crazy dumps/program failures for weeks. Sent them all off to Microsoft w/ a tool Win XP had. Microsoft finally spotted something which said to them 'bad memory'. They provided a downloadable memory test utility, ran it, it spotted the bad stick - got it replaced, no more problems. Hence the reason I asked about it...

Cleaning out the dust - good thought - will do so.

Can reseat cables, etc.

Chkdisk is running as I key this - been running since about 7.45 last night - its about 50% done (stage 5 - cluster check). Stages 1-4 reported no errors.

More tonight or tomorrow....

Thks

Jim
Our test technicians frequently used a hot air gun to locally heat areas of the computer board, cables, etc to force problems as a diagnostic tool or alternatively blast areas with cold (freeze spray). The idea was to find a sensitive spot to help localize further investigation. This can help isolate a bad circuit area and point you to a possible conenctor or solder joint problem (yes - they can/do go bad over time)

John Huds0n
03-25-2015, 1:35 PM
Run the system file checker and see if any critical files are corrupted
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-run-system-file-checker-analyze-its-logs-in-windows-7-vista

Here is a free utility that will really stress the hardware. You can check the graphs to see if the cpu is overheating for example and check the power output of the power supply
http://www.ocbase.com/

Check your event viewer
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/open-event-viewer#1TC=windows-7

Myk Rian
03-25-2015, 2:45 PM
I've had high dollar power supplies cause those problems.

Dan Hintz
03-25-2015, 4:04 PM
I've had high dollar power supplies cause those problems.

This, too... lost two to this in the last 5-6 years. Doesn't really give me much confidence in the "high-end" supply manufacturers :-/

Chuck Wintle
03-25-2015, 4:12 PM
I agree that heat can cause a problem. But I would not vacuum due to potential static issues. Instead, you can use canned air to blow dust out . Be careful if you have a fan on the cpu, as you can damage the fan or fins with too hard a blast.

Hopefully, you have previously backed up your computer.
i will second this recommendation...canned air and carefully blow the dust from the cpu fan, th e power supply etc. what I ahve noticed about canned air that it gets very cold quickly so i tend to do short blasts so i do not freeze any component of the computer.

Jerome Stanek
03-25-2015, 4:26 PM
Try popping the ram and use an eraser to clean the contacts

Phil Thien
03-25-2015, 4:30 PM
First I always do a visual inspection, looking for bad caps. Any capacitor where the top isn't perfectly flat is a concern. If I find any, I make the decision (before going any further) whether I'm going to swap those caps, or not. In fact, I just had to swap four on an OptiPlex 745 this morning.

Next, I run mhdd or hdat (you can find them on the ultimate boot CD) and check for any smart problems on the drives. Any reallocations or pending reallocations or any other SMART trouble will have me deciding whether the machine is worth a new drive. I really prefer mhdd because I can do a timed read of each sector. If I see some real slows developing, it indicates something going wrong with either the drive's media or heads. You can often figure out which by the pattern. Mhdd runs on legacy controllers, newer machines may not run it. I'll often toss the drive into an older machine I keep just for this purpose, just so I can run the thing (it is that handy).

Now I run memtest. It isn't foolproof. I have had machines that will pass 20-30 iterations and still crash. But it is a good start. I run it overnight, typically.

Forth, I run something like bluescreenview (actually I run a debugger but most people should run bluescreenview). If you don't have the codes mesmerized, you can google them. You can get a pretty good indication of what is going on if multiple crashes point to the same file (for example, a display driver).

If all that looks good, I'll toss a temporary drive in a machine and do a clean install of Win7, update the drivers, and see how that behaves. If that works, I'll run burn-in test from PassMark.

If the machine makes it through all that, but reinstalling the original drive leads to problems, I'll typically start uninstalling carp like utilities, avirus software, etc., and see if I can get it stable.

BTW, I blow machines out with a leaf blower, outside. The one I'm using these days is a rechargeable Ryobi (not too much CFM). But I've used a 120v Toro, I'm just careful not to blow the fins right off the fans.

Phil Thien
03-25-2015, 4:33 PM
Try popping the ram and use an eraser to clean the contacts

Nah you really shouldn't use erasers. They have binders in them that can cause problems. A little denatured alcohol on a clean cloth is a better idea.

Phil Thien
03-25-2015, 4:34 PM
This, too... lost two to this in the last 5-6 years. Doesn't really give me much confidence in the "high-end" supply manufacturers :-/

Yeah me three on that. I get guys that bring their Newegg dream machines in, complete with 1000+ watt power supplies that don't work correctly.

I honestly don't understand why they suck so bad.

Phil Thien
03-25-2015, 4:36 PM
Our test technicians frequently used a hot air gun to locally heat areas of the computer board, cables, etc to force problems as a diagnostic tool or alternatively blast areas with cold (freeze spray). The idea was to find a sensitive spot to help localize further investigation. This can help isolate a bad circuit area and point you to a possible conenctor or solder joint problem (yes - they can/do go bad over time)

Just be careful with hot-air guns, they can generate enough heat to liquefy the solder. I often use heat guns to move surface-mount components between boards.

Dan Hintz
03-27-2015, 7:34 AM
Try popping the ram and use an eraser to clean the contacts


Nah you really shouldn't use erasers. They have binders in them that can cause problems. A little denatured alcohol on a clean cloth is a better idea.

Also, any good RAM should have gold-plated contacts, which will not oxidize (the purpose of the eraser).

Curt Harms
03-27-2015, 7:34 AM
Just be careful with hot-air guns, they can generate enough heat to liquefy the solder. I often use heat guns to move surface-mount components between boards.

hair dryer, maybe? Shouldn't be as hot. Thanks for the heads-up on the no eraser, that's what I've used.

Phil Thien
03-27-2015, 9:35 AM
Also, any good RAM should have gold-plated contacts, which will not oxidize (the purpose of the eraser).

Yeah I never see any oxidized contacts on RAM.

But what I do see is hand grease and other stuff.

I had a guy bring in a PC once that he had assembled himself. It looked as if he had consumed a giant bag of potato chips during the assembly process, and everything he touched was oily/greasy. It didn't really cause any problems at that point, but I imagined it may down the road. I'm not exaggerating I saw nearly complete handprints on parts of the sheet metal, and greasy fingerprints everywhere.

A month ago a local university brought me a Dell server that was throwing a code during POST (Power-On-Self-Test). The code indicated a bad power supply (redundant supplies). I checked the service tag and the unit was sold with a single CPU (now there were two) and half the RAM that was now installed. So I pulled the chips and RAM and cleaned everything with wipes, reinstalled, and she started up fine. One of the CPU's did have something on it, so I also cleaned the sockets.