Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
Hi,
Installing Windows is a good hardware test. Often people look at installing
windows as the end of the process and something to do only once. Windows XP
setup quite literally thrashes the living daylights out of any system and
often brings out faults. So consider running XP setup a few times and if you
do strike problems make sure you note the STOP code on screen along with
anything else you have the chance to see EG driver names - *.sys .
Having said that, running memtest86 before getting started is an excellent
defensive step. Installing mbm5 after motherboard & other drivers then
running Prime 95 keeping an eye on temps is also good.
dxdiag is a poor-mans graphics test. Anyone have an opinion on this?
defrag, scandisk.
In reality, the quality of Asus boards is very high with the failure rates
falling into two camps: Partial (EG a single COM port) being acceptably low,
and complete failure, well I have never heard of an Asus baord that would
not go at all. It is often the other components that are at issue so testing
ram is prudent. I am not suggesting to skip any facility testing (EG usb,
firewire and so on), but you could spend a lot of time setting up for this,
so perhaps write down what is important to test, and what you could live
with in the short term (EG a single com port failure). I have no idea if the
firewire ports on any of my systems work!
Fans, HDD's and PSU are the most fallable parts. PSU is usually apparent,
but the effects can be subtle and wide ranging - as you will see in this
newsgroup. Using mbm5 after windows install and testing in windows is the
acid test. Static, Heat, Shock & Vibration, Dust and Dirt are the things
that will stuff a system prematurely, so correct housing, care and
maintenance after installation are as important.
If you are looking to configure a system for high availability, then there
are other factors to consider. UPS, dual PSU would be worthwhile, driver
reliability (are they WHQL - use sigverif.exe to tell you about any non
compliant drivers) under clocking (to get a cool CPU), using fanless CPU
cooling and so on. RAID 1 disc storage... Keeping things as simple as
possible is probably the best step and doubling up on the things that can
break.
One fellow I know uses windows boot as a test: I think he uses the shutdown
command in a Scheduled Task to cause a restart after the system has gone
idle for a period - make sure you allow the system to go idle and also
yourself enough time to kill the scheduled task when done. Inspect the Event
Logs before and after.
"shutdown -r -t 120" will do a restart with a timeout of two minutes,
"shutdown -a" will abort a scheduled shutdown (XP and Server 2003 - you may
need to install the tools from the CD).
When you have done all of this, it all becomes pointless if you do not have
a firewall, av, anti scumware, crtical updates and so on. SP XP2 should be
well worth installing when it is released.
- Tim
"QZ" <nothing> wrote in message news:10euf9jhrnrpka7@corp.supernews.com...
>I will be ordering components for a new system: P4C800-E Dlx., Cosair
> PC3200, WD SATA HDD, Radeon 9800 Pro, Enermax PSU; and I
> just wanted to confirm what Error Test Programs are best at the moment. I
> have listed what I
> last remember them to be.
>
> CPU: Prime 95 or CPU Burn (for 48 hrs.)
> RAM: Memtest86
> HD: HD Tach
> VGA: 3Dmark (It is 178 MB, and since I have dial-up, are there any smaller
> programs?)
>
> For the PSU, I think only a hardware tester will work? I guess it is worth
> having.
> For the Mainboard, seeing as I won't be able to immediately test all the
> features, the vendor will be testing it for free.
>
> Please correct or add alternatives to this list, if possible.
>
> Thanks,
> QZ
>
>
>
>
>
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