I'm going to disagree a little bit with Bob on this.  We had an issue
recently with a Gateway machine that was having intermittent problems with
Windows 2000.  Lockups and the like.  It loaded 95 and 98 without too much
trouble, but the user experience some problems with these as well.  It
wasn't until we ran QAFE on the system that we discovered it was the latency
timer on the motherboard that was working intermittently.  We actually had
to run the tests through several times to discover the problem was
intermittent.

I think diagnostic software can come in very handy on occasion.  I have used
Troubleshooter as well with success.  It set me back about $300.00, and I
can't remember what I paid for QAFE, but these are the two I use.  If you
buy the whole Troubleshooter package it comes with feedback plugs for serial
and parallel cables, a Post-It card, and a few other nifty things, but I
didn't have the money at the time to get the whole thing.

Kyle

From: "Bob Wright" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2000 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Diagnostic Software


> At 12:57 PM 06/06/2000 , Rob Elsworth wrote:
> >What do you folks use for diagnostic software when trying to
> >troubleshoot hardware problems?

<<snip>>

> The good ones are fairly expensive...   the cheaper ones are not very
> effective.  Products like Micro2000's Microscope is annoying due to
> the copyright protection on the floppy disk.  Personally, Ram testing
> is a good function for diagnostic software, but over and above that
> these products often miss many small problems until they become major
> issues.
>
> I used different diagnostic software packages regularly for a long time
> and finally discontinued.   I found that the software took more time to
> use than just a practical sense approach to troubleshooting a PC.  There
> is nothing that a diagnostic software package can do, except possibly
> Ram testing, that will save the average PC technician an time.
>
<<snip>>

>       Bob Wright
> The NOSPIN Group

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