Pc-Check ®

Diagnostic Software

022008MPCCV6.20
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Copyright © 1988 - 2008, Eurosoft (UK) Ltd, All Rights Reserved.

No reproduction of any kind, in part or whole, is allowed without

the express and prior written approval of the company, its authors or
publishers.

DISCLAIMER

Eurosoft (UK) Ltd has endeavoured to meet all technical areas associated
with the products in this manual. Any changes, omissions or errors are
of no liable consequence, actual or otherwise to the company, its authors
or publishers. Further, any changes to the products or documentation
may take place at any time without obligation of Eurosoft (UK) Ltd,
to notify any person of these changes.

Products mentioned or noted in this document are for identification

purposes only and may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of
their respective companies or owners.

©Eurosoft (UK) Ltd. 1988-2008. Pc-Check, QA+ and QAPlus are

registered trademarks of Eurosoft (UK) Ltd. Amberstone, Boot2Test,
PC Builder, QA+Win32, QA+FE Service Center, ZeroData, Virtual
QA+, Virtual Pc-Check, CD-Check, Preferred POST Board, USB
Preferred Port Plug, SIBs, CDT, DVDT, EuroBIOS, EuroDOS are
trademarks of Eurosoft (UK) Ltd. All other product trademarks are
recognised as belonging to their respective owners. Windows is a
registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and
other countries. Products or information may change without notice.

Pc-Check is Copyrighted by Eurosoft (UK) Ltd.

Intellectual Property solely owned by Eurosoft (UK) Ltd.

Design & Copyright © 2008 Eurosoft (UK) Ltd.

Published by Eurosoft (UK) Ltd 2008. All rights reserved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Floating point arithmetic in Pc-Check is implemented via “SoftFloat”.

 Contact Information

Eurosoft (UK) Ltd.

Head Office
3 St. Stephen’s Road
Bournemouth
Dorset BH2 6JL
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)1202 297315
Fax +44 (0)1202 558280
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.eurosoft-uk.com

Eurosoft (US) Inc.

North American Sales Office
Suite 101, 69 Governor Street
Providence, RI 02906
USA
US Toll Free Tel +1 (888) 980-9595
International Tel +1 (401) 751-9595
Fax +1 (401) 751-0088
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.eurosoft-us.com

Information & Sales

Europe [email protected]
United States [email protected]

Support
Europe [email protected]
United States [email protected]

Visit our website for fast on-line sales and the latest news
about the best Eurosoft solutions for you. Thank you!

Please contact your nearest Eurosoft office should you require

additional software, accompanying manuals, or site license.
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

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 Contents

Contents

Section 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................... 1.1

Section 2 GETTING STARTED WITH Pc-Check®.............. 2.1

2.1 Package Contents................................................................................ 2.1
2.2 Important Notes on running Pc-Check® ............................................. 2.1
2.3 Program Diskette Generation ............................................................. 2.3
2.4 Loading Pc-Check® Self-Boot............................................................ 2.3
2.4.1 Configuring the Boot Sequence ......................................... 2.3
2.4.2 Loading Pc-Check® ........................................................... 2.4
2.5 Limitations of Self-Boot Mode .......................................................... 2.5
2.6 Overview of Running Mode Options ................................................. 2.5
2.6.1 Interactive Mode ................................................................ 2.5
2.6.2 Command Line Mode ........................................................ 2.5
2.7 Menu Controls .................................................................................... 2.6
2.8 Advanced Start-Up Options................................................................ 2.6
2.9 Errors and Failures.............................................................................. 2.7

Section 3 COMMAND LINE OPERATION ......................... 3.1

3.1 Overview ........................................................................................... 3.1
3.2 The Command Line File ..................................................................... 3.1
3.3 Command Line Switches .................................................................... 3.2
3.4 Command Line Example ...................................................................3.11
3.5 Creating Command Line Files.......................................................... 3.12
3.5.1 Options ............................................................................ 3.12
3.5.2 Advanced Start-Up Options ............................................ 3.12
3.5.3 Start-Up Options (System Information Menu) ................ 3.14
3.6 Creating Self-Boot Batch Jobs ......................................................... 3.14

Section 4 SYSTEM INFORMATION MENU....................... 4.1

4.1 System Overview................................................................................ 4.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

4.2 Hardware ID Image Menu ................................................................. 4.1

4.2.1 Write System HII as XML File.......................................... 4.2
4.2.2 Compare System HII with XML File ................................ 4.2
4.2.3 Write System HII as TXT File ........................................... 4.3
4.3 System Management Information ...................................................... 4.3
4.4 PCI Bus Information........................................................................... 4.4
4.5 IDE Bus Information .......................................................................... 4.4
4.6 PCMCIA/CardBus Information.......................................................... 4.4
4.6.1 PCMCIA Host Adapter Information .................................. 4.5
4.6.2 PCMCIA Socket Information ............................................ 4.7
4.6.3 PCMCIA Card Information ............................................... 4.8
4.7 Interrupt Vectors ............................................................................... 4.10
4.8 IRQ Routing Information ..................................................................4.11
4.9 Device Drivers ...................................................................................4.11
4.9.1 Pc-Check Self-Boot ..........................................................4.11
4.9.2 Pc-Check under full DOS ................................................ 4.12
4.10 APM Information ............................................................................. 4.12
4.10.1 Select Device ................................................................... 4.12
4.10.2 Change Power State ......................................................... 4.13
4.10.3 View Power Status ........................................................... 4.13
4.10.4 Indicate CPU Usage ........................................................ 4.13
4.10.5 Get PM Event .................................................................. 4.14
4.10.6 Change Interface Mode ................................................... 4.15
4.11 I/O Port Browser............................................................................... 4.15
4.11.1 Output Device .................................................................. 4.16
4.11.2 I/O Search Start ............................................................... 4.16
4.11.3 Show Active Ports Only .................................................. 4.16
4.11.4 Accept Settings as Shown Above .................................... 4.16
4.11.5 I/O Port Browser.............................................................. 4.17
4.12 Memory Browser .............................................................................. 4.17
4.13 Sector Browser ................................................................................. 4.18
4.14 CPU Frequency Monitor .................................................................. 4.19
4.15 CMOS RAM Utilities ....................................................................... 4.20
4.15.1 Save CMOS to File .......................................................... 4.20
4.15.2 Restore CMOS from File................................................. 4.20
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4.16 SCSI Utilities .................................................................................... 4.21

4.16.1 Important Information Before You Begin ....................... 4.21
4.16.2 Identify SCSI Devices ..................................................... 4.21
4.16.3 SCSI Low Level Format .................................................. 4.21
4.16.4 Assign SCSI Bad Blocks ................................................. 4.22
4.17 Text File Editor ................................................................................. 4.25
4.18 Start-Up Options ............................................................................... 4.26

Section 5 ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC TESTS .................... 5.1

5.1 Processor Diagnostics ......................................................................... 5.1
5.2 Memory Diagnostics .......................................................................... 5.3
5.2.1 Test System Memory ......................................................... 5.4
5.2.2 Test Module ....................................................................... 5.4
5.2.3 Test Range ......................................................................... 5.4
5.2.4 User Pattern Test ................................................................ 5.5
5.2.5 Test Cache Memory ........................................................... 5.5
5.2.6 Benchmark Memory .......................................................... 5.5
5.2.7 Cache Profiler .................................................................... 5.5
5.2.8 Module Details .................................................................. 5.5
5.2.9 Test Video Memory ........................................................... 5.5
5.2.10 Set Test Set ........................................................................ 5.6
5.2.11 Set Test Reps...................................................................... 5.6
5.2.12 Set uTL Test Time.............................................................. 5.6
5.3 Motherboard Diagnostics ................................................................... 5.7
5.4 Floppy Disk Diagnostics .................................................................... 5.9
5.4.1 The Select Drive Menu .................................................... 5.10
5.4.2 The Test Settings Menu ................................................... 5.10
5.4.3 Read Test ..........................................................................5.11
5.4.4 Read Verify Test .............................................................. 5.12
5.4.5 Non-destructive Write Test .............................................. 5.12
5.4.6 Mechanics Stress Test ...................................................... 5.12
5.4.7 Write Protect Test ............................................................ 5.13
5.4.8 View Error Log ................................................................ 5.13
5.5 Hard Disk Diagnostics ...................................................................... 5.13
5.5.1 Menu Layout ................................................................... 5.13
5.5.2 The Hard Disk Tests Menu .............................................. 5.13
5.5.3 The Select Disk Menu ..................................................... 5.14
5.5.4 The Test Settings Menu ................................................... 5.14
5.5.5 Check Performance.......................................................... 5.19
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

5.5.6 Read Test ......................................................................... 5.20

5.5.7 Read Verify Test .............................................................. 5.21
5.5.8 Non-Destructive Write Test ............................................. 5.21
5.5.9 Destructive Write Test ..................................................... 5.22
5.5.10 Mechanics Stress Test ...................................................... 5.22
5.5.11 Internal Cache Test .......................................................... 5.23
5.5.12 SMART Test Menu .......................................................... 5.23
5.5.13 View Error Log ................................................................ 5.25
5.5.14 The Utilities Menu ........................................................... 5.26
5.6 CD-ROM/DVD Diagnostics ............................................................ 5.27
5.6.1 Configuration requirements ............................................. 5.27
5.6.2 Select CD/DVD Device ................................................... 5.28
5.6.3 CD/DVD Transfer Test .................................................... 5.28
5.6.4 CD/DVD Random Seek Test ........................................... 5.28
5.6.5 CD/DVD Tray Test .......................................................... 5.29
5.6.6 Audio CD Disc Player ..................................................... 5.29
5.6.7 CD/DVD Test Disc Read ................................................. 5.29
5.6.8 DVD Laser Refocus Test ................................................. 5.30
5.7 ATAPI Devices ................................................................................. 5.30
5.7.1 Linear Read Test .............................................................. 5.30
5.7.2 Non-Destructive Write Test ............................................. 5.31
5.7.3 Random Read/Write Test ................................................. 5.31
5.7.4 ATAPI Device Test Results ............................................. 5.31
5.8 TPM (Trusted Platform Module) ...................................................... 5.31
5.9 Serial Port Diagnostics ..................................................................... 5.31
5.9.1 Serial Port Selection Menu .............................................. 5.32
5.9.2 Serial Port Tests Menu ..................................................... 5.32
5.9.3 Select Another Serial Port ............................................... 5.33
5.9.4 Run All Serial Port Tests.................................................. 5.33
5.9.5 Serial Port Line Control Test ........................................... 5.33
5.9.6 Serial Port Handshake Test .............................................. 5.33
5.9.7 Serial Port Loopback Test ................................................ 5.33
5.9.8 Serial Port Internal FIFO Test.......................................... 5.33
5.9.9 Serial Port Internal Loop Test .......................................... 5.34
5.10 Parallel Port Diagnostics .................................................................. 5.34
5.10.1 Parallel Port Selection Menu ........................................... 5.34
5.10.2 Parallel Port Tests Menu .................................................. 5.34
5.10.3 Select Another Parallel Port............................................. 5.35
5.10.4 Run All Parallel Port Tests............................................... 5.35
5.10.5 Parallel Port Controller Test ............................................ 5.35
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5.10.6 Parallel Status Port Test ................................................... 5.35

5.10.7 Parallel Port Interrupt Test ............................................... 5.35
5.11 Modem Diagnostics .......................................................................... 5.36
5.11.1 Modem Selection Menu .................................................. 5.37
5.11.2 Modem Tests Menu ......................................................... 5.37
5.11.3 Select Another Modem .................................................... 5.37
5.11.4 Change Local Baud Rate ................................................. 5.37
5.11.5 Modem Register/Loopback Test ...................................... 5.38
5.11.6 User Interactive Modem Test........................................... 5.38
5.11.7 Pc-Check Dumb Terminal ............................................... 5.38
5.12 ATA ......................................................................................... 5.39
5.12.1 Parallel ATA Test ............................................................. 5.39
5.12.2 Serial ATA Test ................................................................ 5.40
5.13 USB ......................................................................................... 5.40
5.13.1 Test USB Controllers ....................................................... 5.40
5.13.2 USB Functional Tests ...................................................... 5.40
5.13.3 USB Device Information ................................................. 5.40
5.13.4 Exit USB Tests................................................................. 5.40
5.14 Firewire (IEEE 1394) ....................................................................... 5.41
5.14.1 Test Controllers................................................................ 5.41
5.14.2 Controller Information..................................................... 5.41
5.15 Network ......................................................................................... 5.41
5.16 System Stress .................................................................................... 5.41
5.17 Keyboard Diagnostics....................................................................... 5.42
5.17.1 Verify Keyboard .............................................................. 5.42
5.17.2 Keyboard Controller Tests ............................................... 5.43
5.17.3 Key Repeat Test ............................................................... 5.43
5.17.4 Keyboard LED Test ......................................................... 5.44
5.18 Mouse Diagnostics ........................................................................... 5.44
5.19 Joystick Diagnostics ......................................................................... 5.45
5.20 Audio Tests ....................................................................................... 5.46
5.20.1 Internal Speaker Test ....................................................... 5.46
5.20.2 Real-time PCM Test ........................................................ 5.46
5.20.3 Streamed PCM Test ......................................................... 5.46
5.20.4 SPDIF Run DMA Test ..................................................... 5.47
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

5.21 Video Diagnostics ............................................................................. 5.47

5.21.1 Warning – Video Test Initialisation ................................. 5.48
5.21.2 Video Driver Information ................................................ 5.48
5.21.3 Select Modes for Testing ................................................. 5.48
5.21.4 Check Gamma ................................................................. 5.49
5.21.5 Colour Linearity .............................................................. 5.49
5.21.6 Colour Purity Test ............................................................ 5.49
5.21.7 True/High Colour Test ..................................................... 5.49
5.21.8 Alignment Test................................................................. 5.49
5.21.9 LCD Test.......................................................................... 5.50
5.21.10 Test Card .......................................................................... 5.50
5.21.11 Video Memory ................................................................. 5.50
5.21.12 Exit Tests ......................................................................... 5.51
5.22 Printer Diagnostics ........................................................................... 5.51
5.22.1 Pc-Check® Print Test ....................................................... 5.52
5.23 ACPI ......................................................................................... 5.54
5.23.1 General Information ........................................................ 5.54
5.23.2 Verify ACPI Tables .......................................................... 5.55
5.23.3 System Description Tables .............................................. 5.55
5.23.4 Show ACPI Address Ranges ........................................... 5.56
5.24 PCI Express Links ............................................................................ 5.57

Section 6 CONTINUOUS BURN-IN TEST .......................... 6.1

6.1 Immediate and Deferred Burn-In ....................................................... 6.1
6.2 The Burn-In Menu .............................................................................. 6.2
6.2.1 Load Burn-In Script ........................................................... 6.2
6.2.2 Save Burn-In Script ........................................................... 6.2
6.2.3 Change Options ................................................................. 6.2
6.2.4 Select Tests ........................................................................ 6.3
6.2.5 Perform Burn-In Tests ....................................................... 6.4
6.3 Running Pc-Check® with Beep Codes ............................................... 6.5
6.4 SIB (Status Indicator Box) ................................................................ 6.6
6.5 Post Codes and Beep Codes ............................................................... 6.6

Section 7 SHOW RESULTS SUMMARY ............................. 7.1

Section 8 WRITE RESULTS REPORT................................. 8.1

 Contents

Section 9 PROBLEM REPORTING ..................................... 9.1

9.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 9.1
9.2 Technical Problem Report Forms (TPRs) .......................................... 9.1
9.3 Technical Support Contact Information ............................................. 9.2

Appendix A RUNNING PC-CHECK UNDER DOS ................. A.1

A.1 Reasons for running under DOS........................................................ A.1
A.2 Preparing to run Pc-Check under DOS ............................................. A.1
A.2.1 Issues to be considered ..................................................... A.1
A.2.2 Implications of Extended Memory Managers .................. A.2
A.2.3 If DOS is installed on the test machine ............................ A.2
A.2.4 If DOS is NOT installed on the test machine ................... A.2
A.2.5 Implications of a need for Device Drivers........................ A.2
A.2.6 Generating and Using a Bootable DOS Diskette.............. A.4
A.3 Operational constraints ...................................................................... A.5
A.4 Running Pc-Check under DOS ......................................................... A.5
A.4.1 Loading Pc-Check ............................................................ A.5
A.4.2 Command Line Syntax under full DOS ........................... A.6
A.4.3 Command Line operation under DOS .............................. A.6

Appendix B LIST OF POWER MANAGEMENT EVENTS .. B.1

Appendix C DRIVE LETTER ALLOCATION ........................ C.1

Appendix D ADVANCED XML OPTIONS FOR HII FILES . D.1

D.1 Basic HII Facilities ............................................................................ D.1
D.2 Advanced Facilities ........................................................................... D.2
D.3 Modifying HII XML Files ................................................................. D.2

Appendix E EURODOS .............................................................. E.1

Glossary TERMS IN COMMON USE .............................. GL.1

Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

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Section 1 Introduction

Section 1

INTRODUCTION

Pc-Check is a fast, accurate and easy-to-use diagnostic tool from

Eurosoft that enables you to check completely the configuration and
reliable operation of IBM-AT-compatible PCs. Pc-Check is extremely
useful to manufacturers and repairers of PCs, informing all user levels
of the architecture and operational reliability of PC hardware. Stringent
routines test the entire PC by exercising each hardware component and
indicating those areas that fail to respond perfectly.

Note: We recommend that you run Pc-Check regularly to ensure that the
machines for which you are responsible are running reliably.

When you run the Pc-Check software on a PC, its simple menu selection
allows you to choose the tests and reports which you require. The
program can test that all the components are functioning correctly. It
provides a thorough summary of the system configuration, including
all memory areas, floppy, hard and CD-ROM/DVD drives, the nature
and address of I/O ports, type of display, and so on. You are then
guided by a menu to select the advanced diagnostic facilities that will
lead you easily and logically to the area causing problems, or to verify
hardware accuracy.

As an alternative to this fully interactive method of use, Pc-Check can

be operated in batch mode, which enables a required set of tests to be
pre-defined. These can then be run repeatedly on the same machine
from time to time, or on many different machines in a production
environment, without further user intervention.

Although this manual assumes that the reader has a good understanding
of PC architecture, it can be used equally well by those who are less
confident to determine whether a fault actually exists. The user will be
able to follow the steps shown on the test screens, and the following
chapters in this manual are arranged in the same order as the tests. When
more help is needed, this manual provides the information.

The only requirements to allow Pc-Check to test, verify and report in

detail on your PC are: a working system core and central processor

Page 1.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

unit; enough memory to load the program; a CD-ROM drive, or floppy

disk drive.

Pc-Check is supplied with all the instructions and software you need
to test your system. Loop-back and USB plugs, and a CD-ROM Test
Disc facility, are also supplied, to enable you to test peripheral ports.
Multi-layer DVD Test Discs, and additional test plugs and dedicated
CD Test Discs, are available fom Eurosoft.

Normally, Pc-Check is run in self-boot mode. Pc-Check Self-Boot

allows you to perform diagnostics without fear of interference by
memory managers, device drivers and even DOS or Windows®. You will
not need to edit your normal CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files
to bypass the utilities you normally need to run standard applications.
These are automatically eliminated and thus ensure a ‘clean’ testing
environment independent of the operating system.

Pc-Check Self-Boot runs independently of the machine’s normal

operating system so there is no need to have either a bootable DOS
diskette or a hard disk to run tests.

There are just a few special circumstances in which a full DOS

environment might be required for particular tests. Instructions on how
to operate Pc-Check under a full DOS are given in Appendix A.

Note: Pc-Check is normally shipped on removable media such as CD-

ROM. Eurosoft can provide other methods of implementation,
by separate licence, for the special requirements of some
manufacturers. Please contact Eurosoft for further details of
these specialist versions.

Pc-Check normally runs directly from the supplied CD-ROM. Provision

is made to generate a self-booting floppy diskette, if, for example, you
have purchased the CD-ROM version of Pc-Check, but the machine
under test does not have a working CD drive.

Note: Pc-Check is one of a range of products available from Eurosoft.

Other items include diagnostic software such as Eurosoft's
PC Builder, a complete test management suite for system
manufacturing processes and service warranty tracking.

Page 1.2
Section 1 Introduction

Contents and Index

Rather than provide an Index, this manual contains a comprehensive
Contents Section, which inherently lists every sub-section topic in the
same logical order as the items in the Pc-Check menus. Where the main
reference for a given topic has additional cross-references, these will
then be found within the text itself.

System Requirements
Pc-Check requires approximately 500KB of base memory and is
designed to operate on machines which are 100% IBM PC-AT
compatible. Pc-Check does not support XT machines. In some cases,
testing will be limited to the hardware present, i.e. certain memory tests
require a Pentium or higher processor.

Pc-Check Updates
Pc-Check is periodically updated so that it remains abreast of the latest
PC hardware innovations and enhancements. Users are recommended
to obtain these updates.

If the system under test is significantly newer than the version of

Pc-Check being used, Pc-Check will produce an advisory note,
recommending that an update is desirable. Pc-Check will continue to
work, and is not restricted in any way. If the equipment and the version
of Pc-Check are of similar age, no message is produced.

Page 1.3
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

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Page 1.4
Section 2 Getting Started

Section 2

GETTING STARTED WITH Pc-Check®

2.1 Package Contents
Confirm that your Pc-Check package was in good physical condition
when it was supplied to you.
Check the contents against the printed checklist supplied.

IMPORTANT
Promptly registering your product with us entitles
you to immediate support and provides you with the
opportunity to be notified of updates, enhancements and
special offers on maintenance and diagnostic products
from Eurosoft.

Please be certain to return your completed registration

card right away. You may go to the Eurosoft web site to
register online:

www.eurosoft-uk.com/register.htm

In the unlikely event that you receive corrupted media, please return
it to your nearest Eurosoft address, or to an authorised representative,
for replacement.
Once the software medium has been received, replacement is free of
charge within the upgrade period of one year.

2.2 Important Notes on running Pc-Check

Do not restart a system that is currently providing network services.
Do not execute Pc-Check in any operating system environment other
than EuroDOS, MS-DOS or OpenDOS/DR-DOS. Disable any Power
Management system.
The Pc-Check CD-ROM contains a file “readme.html”, accessible by
loading the medium under Windows®. It includes useful information, and
has links to a pdf version of the user manual, and to a utility for generating
a floppy diskette copy of Pc-Check. The latter can be used if no alternative
working drive or port is available on the machine under test.

Page 2.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Pc-Check is normally shipped as a version which requires its supplied

USB Preferred Port Plug to be fitted, for security control and USB port
testing. This plug (sometimes called a “dongle”) is also required when
running Pc-Check from a floppy diskette copy.

WARNING
Eurosoft USB Preferred Port Plug damage!

The Eurosoft USB Preferred Port Plug can be damaged

if the wiring to the USB port inside the computer system
is incorrect. In the event of a USB port or socket being
soldered directly to the motherboard, this is unlikely to
apply. However, it is very common to encounter additional
ports that are connected via a wired connection to a
header on the motherboard. If the connections to these
headers are not 100% correct, it will very likely damage
ANY USB device that is connected to it, including the
Eurosoft USB Preferred Port Plug.

Many USB devices such as cameras, PDAs, etc. are

very expensive items. Checking that a USB connection
is correct before installing or inserting any USB device,
including an Eurosoft USB Preferred Port Plug, is a small
sacrifice to make to save the destruction of USB equipment.

Please make sure a careful inspection is carried out

BEFORE connecting ANY USB device to such ports.

Eurosoft and its associated companies cannot be held

responsible for any damage to the Eurosoft Preferred Port
Plug. Should you damage your Eurosoft USB Preferred
Port Plug, you may purchase another one.

If your version of Pc-Check is held on a removable “program medium”

(CD-ROM / floppy diskette, etc), do not remove it while running the
program, unless you are prompted to do so for a specific test. For
instance, if you are running from CD-ROM, you will be prompted to swap
discs during the Audio and DVD Laser Refocus tests. If you are running
from floppy diskette, you will be prompted to replace the program diskette
with a data diskette for certain floppy disk tests. In these cases, replace the
program medium immediately after running the test.
Page 2.2
Section 2 Getting Started

For reasons which are discussed in Appendix C, which are caused by

the fundamental nature of PC design, the drive letter which is associated
with the floppy drive depends upon the program medium from which
you are running. To summarise: when booting from CD-ROM, the
machine’s floppy drive is the B: drive; in all other cases, it is the A:
drive. The manual will use a phrase such as “the appropriate drive letter”
to remind you of this situation where necessary.

2.3 Program Diskette Generation

If you usually run from a removable Pc-Check program medium (typically
CD-ROM), but, for whatever reason, a machine under test cannot utilise it,
you can generate a floppy diskette copy of the program, and run from that.
To do so, you need access to a fully working PC which runs Windows®,
and has a CD drive and a floppy disk drive.

Run Windows®. Insert a blank, formatted, write-enabled 1.44MB

diskette. Insert the Pc-Check CD-ROM. Locate and open file “readme.
html” (your system might open it via autorun, if enabled). This contains
a link to a utility for generating a floppy diskette copy of Pc-Check.

Clicking on the utility’s link will display a setup panel, which will
guide you through the process of creating a floppy diskette copy of
Pc-Check.

The floppy diskette copy of Pc-Check inherits the same security

protection as the original CD-ROM.

2.4 Loading Pc-Check® Self-Boot

2.4.1 Configuring the Boot Sequence

Commonly, PCs are configured to boot from removable media such as
CDROM and/or floppy disk when you switch on or reset. So, in many
cases, it should not be necessary to make any changes to system settings
in order to start Pc-Check.

However, if Pc-Check fails to load automatically, you will need to select

the boot device. If you are not familiar with how to use the BIOS Setup
to alter the boot sequence, study the information below.

Page 2.3
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Many BIOS provide a ‘boot menu’ option, commonly accessed by

pressing the F10 or F12 key. Watch carefully for a prompt soon after
the PC is started, to find out what key to press. If there is a boot menu
option which permits the selection of Floppy Disk, CDROM or USB
Drive for just one boot, there is then no need to enter the full BIOS Setup
and make changes to the configuration. Merely select the appropriate
device from which to boot Pc-Check.

If BIOS Setup changes must be made in order to boot Pc-Check, look

for ‘boot order’ or ‘boot priority’ options, in either a separate ‘Boot’ or
an ‘Advanced BIOS’ page. BIOS Setup design varies between vendors:
please consult your system documentation for further information on
how to do this.

When selecting a USB device for boot, a choice of device type might
be given: typically this should be selected as USB HDD for Flash
Memory devices.

Note: If configuration changes were necessary using BIOS Setup,

remember to reverse your changes when you have finished using
Pc-Check.

2.4.2 Loading Pc-Check®

1. Insert the medium containing Pc-Check in the appropriate drive
or socket, and switch on or reset the computer.

2. Pc-Check self-boot includes its own version of DOS, called

EuroDOS. A summary of its facilities and restrictions is given
in Appendix E.

3. Unless you require the Advanced Start-up Options (described

later), allow Pc-Check to boot normally. After a short while, you
will see the Pc-Check Main Menu.

4. Proceed with your testing, as described in the following Sections,

but take note of the Limitations described below.

A message is given if you attempt to select a menu option that

is not available.

5. When you exit Pc-Check your computer will attempt to re-boot,

so you must remove the Pc-Check program medium.
Page 2.4
Section 2 Getting Started

2.5 Limitations of Self-Boot Mode

When running Pc-Check Self Boot, the following options are unavailable
owing to the appropriate device drivers not being loaded:

CD-ROM/DVD Tests (non ATA); SCSI Utilities; and the PCMCIA

Information. SCSI hard drives can be tested by an alternative
method.

Appendix A describes how to operate Pc-Check under a full DOS

environment, in order to access these drivers, should they be
required.

2.6 Overview of Running Mode Options

Pc-Check can be run in either of two modes:

Interactive Mode runs diagnostic tests under user keyboard

control, via a series of on-screen menus;
Command Line Mode runs tests in non-interactive mode,
requiring little or no user attention.

2.6.1 Interactive Mode

When Pc-Check is booted normally, the user is presented with a menu-
driven interactive user-image. This allows access to all the available
diagnostic information and tests, which can be run directly and
selectively. Interactive mode is particularly useful for running specific
tests quickly and easily, and for gaining experience of how the various
diagnostic tests behave.

2.6.2 Command Line Mode

This mode allows the user fully to define a set of tests which can be run
on repeated occasions, or run on more than one machine, or run with
little or no user intervention. It is particularly useful for continuous
burn-in testing.

For burn-in testing, two data files are generated. One (generically called
the Burnfile) contains a specification of the diagnostic tests which are to
be performed. The other (the Command-Line file) specifies additional
parameters which control the overall running of the tests, the output
Page 2.5
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

reports required, etc. Various interactive facilities can be used to help

the user to construct these control files in advance.

Another interactive option allows a set of tests to be specified for just

a single immediate non-interactive execution.

2.7 Menu Controls

After the introductory screens, the Main Menu is displayed. You will
return to the Main Menu on completion of each option you select.

You should use the arrow keys on your keyboard to highlight your
choice and press <ENTER> to start the procedure. Instructions are given
on-screen about which keys to press. Generally: the arrow keys enable
you to highlight your choice; the <ENTER> key starts the operation;
and the <ESC> key returns you to the previous menu level.

The Main Menu contains an option “About PC-CHECK”: in addition

to version and copyright information, this panel lists those Pc-Check
components which are and are not active.

The final option is “Exit”, which prompts the user to confirm the actions
if the results have not yet been reviewed on-screen or written as a report,
before exiting Pc-Check.

Note: When you exit Pc-Check, remove any program media, and reset
your computer.

2.8 Advanced Start-Up Options

As Pc-Check starts to load, it displays an option to access Advanced
Start-Up Options, by pressing the F8 key once. This facility provides
a convenient on-screen method of specifying the Command Line
parameters used to control non-interactive and semi-interactive
operation of Pc-Check, which was briefly mentioned earlier.

This option is discussed in detail within the section of the manual

describing Command Line Operation.

Page 2.6
Section 2 Getting Started

2.9 Errors and Failures

There is an important distinction between the two problem conditions
which Pc-Check reports upon.

A Failure Message indicates that a component has failed a specific

test, implying that Pc-Check has detected a faulty component in the
machine under test.

An Error Message indicates an unexpected event due to a compatibility

issue or a lack of resources, such that a pass or failure cannot be
determined for the component under test, i.e. it does not necessarily
imply a faulty component, but rather that a test could not be performed
for some reason, which is explained in the message.

On the first occurrence of an error result, Pc-Check displays a message

advising the user of the distinction between errors and failures.

You are now ready to start testing. Look at the following sections to
find the appropriate explanations for the tests you wish to run.

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This page is intentionally left blank.

Page 2.8
Section 3 Command Line Operation

Section 3

COMMAND LINE OPERATION

3.1 Overview
Pc-Check can be run either interactively under user keyboard control, as
described in later sections of the manual, or via command line operation,
which requires either no attention, or only minimal attention (when user
acknowledgement of visual information is required).

You can run Pc-Check from the command line by providing control
information on two levels: a set of command line “switch” parameters;
and a burnfile. The command line switches control the overall running of
the tests, such as the duration of some specific tests, and the generation
and location of various output reports. The burnfile defines which
diagnostic tests are to be performed.

Typically, Command Line Operation is used to operate Pc-Check in

Continuous Burn-in mode, where the command line switches are saved
to a text file, which itself references a burn-in file.

Pc-Check assists in the construction of both these files by enabling the

required options to be defined interactively.

It is also possible to set up the command line switches for a single

“special needs” boot session, without the need to save them to a file.

Pc-Check can be run in a full DOS environment, rather than in self-boot

mode. Information is provided in Appendix A on how this method differs
from the self-boot mode of operation, together with a discussion of the
special circumstances in which you might wish to use it.

3.2 The Command Line File

As there is no command prompt available with Pc-Check Self-Boot,
the Command Line options normally have to be written to a file called
CMDLINE.TXT. The system is then re-booted to enable Pc-Check to
read and use the commands.

The CMDLINE.TXT file can be constructed and saved via on-screen

help, using any of the following methods:

Page 3.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

(i) Interactively, via the “Advanced Start-Up Options” facility,

described later in this Section. This is the most flexible
method.

(ii) Interactively, via the “Start-Up Options” facility located in the

System Information Menu.
(iii) Pc-Check’s own Text File Editor (accessed via the System
Information Menu) to define the switches manually.
(iv) The file may be also be prepared using another text editor, such
as Windows® NOTEPAD, or a DOS editor.

3.3 Command Line Switches

The command line switch parameters follow the normal DOS convention
and are defined below.

All arguments (including the name of the Burnfile) are non-positional

and case-insensitive. The argument template is as follows:

[/BB] [/BC] [/BD] [/BE Num] [/BM Num] [/BP] [/BR]

[/BS] [/CC Name] [/CR Name] [/CS Name] [/CT]
[/ET Num] [/HA] [/HB] [/HC] [/HDD Num] [/HDL Num]
[/HF] [/HI] [/HMC Num] [/HMD Num [/HS] [/HT Num]
[/IC Name] [/ID Name] [/IE] [/IF] [/IO Name] [/IS] [/IT]
[/JA] [/JF Name] [/JS] [/JT] [/JX] [/KS] [/LD]
[/MH Num] [/MI] [/MM Num] [/MP Num] [/ND] [/PD]
[/PS] [/QM] [/RA] [/RC] [/RD] [/RF Name] [/RJ]
[/RL Num] [/RM Name] [/RN Num] [/RP] [/RS Num]
/RT Name] [/SD Num] [/ST Name] [/TF] [/TP] [/UK]
[/UM] [/UP Num] [/YM Num] [/YN Num] [Burnfile Name]

Square brackets [ ] indicate optional items.

‘Name’ and ‘Num’ indicate the need to supply appropriate text and
numerical information, respectively.

Note: If no burn-in file is included with the set of command line

parameters in a CMDLINE.TXT file, then, when you reboot,
Pc-Check obviously has no information to tell it which tests
you wish to perform. Therefore it will bring up the main menu.

Page 3.2
Section 3 Command Line Operation

It will also “register” the command line options, which it has

found in the CMDLINE.TXT file, for the duration of the current
session. You can then use interactive facilities to complete your
particular requirements.

This hybrid “semi-interactive” technique can be used for a

number of purposes. For example, you can generate a fixed set
of command line switches, but with the flexibility to use them with
a variety of interactively defined tests. These tests can themselves
be run interactively or via continuous burn-in.

Alternatively, you can easily add the burnfile name to the

CMDLINE.TXT file, if it had been omitted by mistake.

These facilities are described later in the appropriate sections

of the manual.

/BB repeatedly outputs a sequence of beep codes when items

under test fail. (See “POST Codes and Beep Codes” in the
“Continuous Burn-In” Section of the manual for a definition
of each beep code.)
/BC sounds a repeated two-tone beep to indicate completion of
burn-in. This is NOT a Beep code.
/BD specifies that the system returns to the DOS prompt on test
completion. This is particularly useful when you run the tests
from a batch file. Pc-Check exits with an error level set in the
range 0 to 3 as defined below. A batch file can detect this and
initiate different appropriate action. Required if any reports
are to be generated, or if POST or SIB output is requested.
The error levels provided by /BD are:
0 everything ran, with no errors
1 everything ran but there were failures
2 burn-in was interrupted by the user
3 bad option on the command line.
/BE causes Pc-Check to abort the Burn-In testing if the number
of device failures reaches the specified value.
/BM allows an upper limit to be set for the modem baud rate for
burn-in testing. It is advised that an interactive test be used

Page 3.3
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

to establish a sensible maximum value in advance. If this

parameter is omitted, a default strategy is used, described
under “Modem Diagnostics” in the Advanced Diagnostics
Section of this manual.
/BP causes Pc-Check to output diagnostic codes to a POST (Power
On Self Test) Card during Burn-In testing. (See “POST Codes
and Beep Codes” in the “Continuous Burn-In” Section of this
manual for a list of POST Codes). You may wish to use /BD
in conjunction with /BP.
/BR causes Pc-Check to display the results summary screen
before exiting. The results report file, if specified, will have
been written before the results are displayed. Can be used in
conjunction with /BD to prevent Pc-Check from returning
to the main menu.
/BS causes Pc-Check to display diagnostic status on a SIB (Status
Indicator Box) during and after Burn-In testing. (See “SIB
(Status Indicator Box)” in the “Continuous Burn-In” Section
of this manual for more information on the use of SIBs). You
may wish to use /BD in conjunction with /BS.
/CC causes Pc-Check to use the specified colour (text attribute)
value for the highlighted item in menus. Use if you are using
console redirection to control Pc-Check, and the display for
“selected item” is not clearly visible. The value is specified
as a two-digit hexadecimal text attribute value, where the first
digit specifies the background colour, and the second digit
specifies the forground colour. Example: /CC 5F.
/CR specifies a filename from which to restore the contents of
CMOS memory on startup. Use with caution, especially if
restoring CMOS memory from a different machine, since the
current machine might then be unable to boot.
/CS causes Pc-Check to save the contents of CMOS memory to
the specified file on start-up.
/CT reboots the machine after performing CMOS save or restore
operations.
/ET in the System Stress Test, sets the threshold at which ECC
events cause failure of the memory test. Default is 10.

Page 3.4
Section 3 Command Line Operation

/HA causes Pc-Check to use only direct ATA commands for the
detection and control of hard disks. The BIOS is not used,
and some hard disks may not be listed, including non-ATA
devices. Used for special investigation of a specific issue,
under instruction. Option /HB overrides this option.
/HB causes Pc-Check to use only the BIOS interface for the
detection and control of hard disks. No direct ATA commands
are issued to devices. Information on, and test options for
hard disks may be reduced. Use if hard disk identification
information appears incorrect, especially when using
RAID.
/HC causes Pc-Check not to use EDD BIOS call ‘Set Hardware
Configuration’ to configure hard disks for maximum DMA
throughput. Use when experiencing problems with hard
drive detection or operation, especially with non-DMA ATA
devices, such as an ATA flash adaptor.
/HDD Hard Disk Device test Duration: sets the duration limit for
hard disk device tests (adaptive level). Format: [##h] [##m]
[##s]. Ignored if the time actually required for the disk tests
is less than this value.
/HDL Hard Disk Device testing Level: sets the test level for hard
disk device tests (fixed level). Entered as a number between
1 and 100, indicating the percentage coverage required. For
example, if set to 50, then only half the amount of tests will
be performed.
/HF checks the hard disk SMART log for errors before testing.
The default is that SMART logs are not checked prior to
commencing other hard drive tests during burn-in. When
this switch is present, the SMART summary error log is
checked, such that, if the log has recorded a previous failure
of the commands used by a test which is starting, the test will
immediately fail.
/HI ignores a hard disk on BIOS LUN 80h. When booting the
system from a USB flash device (or similar), the BIOS will
create an emulation of a hard disk to support the boot. This
device will then ordinarily appear in reports and diagnostics

Page 3.5
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

as if a real device, commonly failing in items such as the

Stress test. This switch suppresses the emulated drive.
/HMC Hard Disk Media Coverage: sets the level of coverage for
hard disk media tests (fixed coverage). Entered as a number
between 1 and 100, indicating the percentage coverage
required.
/HMD Hard Disk Media Duration: sets the duration limit for hard
disk media tests (adaptive coverage). Format: [##h] [##m]
[##s]. Ignored if the time actually required for the disk tests
is less than this value.
/HS allows access to PCI sub-class 6 (custom SATA). Model,
serial number and firmware information can be obtained,
and SMART testing performed.
/HT Hard Disk Timeout Value. Pc-Check’s timeout default for
hard disk operations is 2 seconds. Use to override the default
if detection problems are suspected, or operations are timing
out unexpectedly.
/IC specifies the filename of a reference image used as a
comparison with current burn-in HII. Files must be in .XML
format.
/ID specifies a filename to which to write a hardware ID image
(HII) or machine ID descriptor. Default format is .XML.
/IE Ignore ECC errors if correction of memory data is successful.
During a memory test, if the ECC has successfully corrected an
error, the memory test would normally still fail the component:
this switch allows suppression of these failures.
/IF causes the file requested by /ID to be output as text (.TXT).
/IO specifies an output filename which lists any differences
between the burn-in HII and the reference image.
/IS causes Pc-Check to ignore serial port hardware. Use if you
are using serial port hardware for console redirection or Serial
Over LAN, and Pc-Check interrupts the output.
/IT exits program after writing hardware ID image (HII).

Page 3.6
Section 3 Command Line Operation

/JA writes a journal log line for each selected component which
is found to be or appears to be absent (for example if no CD-
ROM drive is present).
/JF should be followed by the filename (and path) of a file into
which error-logging information is written during Burn-In
testing. This journal will contain a list of the tests that failed
during Burn-In, stating the device reference, if applicable,
and the pass number in which the device failed. The filename
supplied may also refer to DOS devices such as PRN for the
printer and COM1 for the first serial port. The journal can
be viewed with any text editor.
Note: A new journal file is created for each Pc-Check “session”.
If Pc-Check is used “semi-interactively” to run more than
one script in the same session, the output from all scripts run
during that session are appended successively.

/JS writes a summary of the tests to the journal at the end of

testing.
/JT logs the start and end of each test in the journal: if not
included, then only failed tests are logged.
/JX causes the journal to be written as XML format. If omitted,
journals are written as plain text.
/KS disables keyboard self-test: use if you experience problems
running the Keyboard Controller Test.
/LD disables legacy DMA testing for channels 0 and 1, to
accommodate new chipset designs which will otherwise fail.
/MH Set hundredths of a second per MB for uTL Memory Test.
Default 150 (1.5 sec/MB). See the topic “Set uTL Test Time”
in the “Advanced Diagnostic Tests” Section for further
explanation.
/MI Enables “Memory Intelligent Preservation” for all tests that
access extended memory (above 1MB). Use when extended
memory holds data which must not be destroyed by testing,
e.g. for PXE boot.
/MM causes Pc-Check to assume the presence of a Microsoft
compatible mouse on the specified COM port.

Page 3.7
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

/MP causes Pc-Check to assume the presence of a PC-compatible

mouse on the specified COM port.
/ND never disable video DMA. Use if the screen blanks during
start-up, and is not restored.
/PD causes Pc-Check to power down the PC after burn-in.
/PS assists the testing of PC-based ePoS terminals, by scanning
for additional ISA serial ports. Full documentation on this
specialist option is available on request.
/QM suppresses module mapping assumptions in the Memory
Test. Normally, Pc-Check uses information obtained from the
system, to deduce which physical addresses map onto which
memory modules, in order to pin-point which module is faulty.
Sometimes the system information is incomplete or very
obviously inaccurate: in these cases Pc-Check will attempt to
deduce the mapping if it is safe to do so. However, if the /QM
switch is set, then, if Pc-Check detects the slightest problem
with the system data, it will instead resolve all memory to one
device entitled “nnnMB accessible system memory”.
/RA modifies the operation of the /RF report generation. The
normal default is to list only the tests actually run during
Burn-In, but adding the /RA switch causes the report to list
all tests whether they are run or not.
/RC writes a report after the testing of each component in the
burn-in has completed.
Note: This option causes a significant delay between the
testing of components.
/RD omits the starting, ending and duration of burn-in on the last
page of reports.
/RF causes a summary of the system configuration and the results
of all tests to be written to the burn-in report. It should be
followed by the filename (and path) of the Burn-In tests
report file. This is the same output as you get from the ‘Write
Results Report’ when you select that option from the Main
Menu, except that the variable fields for the machine name,
tester’s name etc. are left blank (unless modified by /RM and

Page 3.8
Section 3 Command Line Operation

/RT). The filename supplied may also refer to DOS devices

such as PRN for the printer and COM1 for the first serial port.
Normally used in conjunction with /BD, to return control to the
DOS prompt. The report can be viewed with any text editor.
Note: If the filename you nominate does not already exist,
Pc-Check creates it for you. If the file does exist, then the new
data overwrites any existing data, unless /RJ is specified, in
which case data is appended to the existing file.

/RL allows the page length for the report to be specified.

/RM allows a machine name to be entered, which will be displayed
in reports and logs. Maximum of 20 characters. See Note
below for options.
/RJ causes Pc-Check to join (append) report output to existing
reports in a single file. If this switch is not specified, the
default behaviour is to overwrite existing reports: where
possible, one back-up copy of the last file to be overwritten is
saved (LASTRPT.BAK). Recommended for use with /RA.
/RN causes Pc-Check to generate the specified number of copies
of the report.
/RP writes a report after each pass during burn-in. Causes a slight
delay between passes.
/RS specifies a machine serial number which appears on reports
requested from the command line, and also as the default
serial number when a report is requested interactively.
Maximum of 20 characters. See Note below for options.
/RT specifies a user/tester name which appears on reports requested
from the command line, and also as the default tester name
when a report is requested interactively. Maximum of 30
characters. See Note below.
Note: If the name/number following /RM, /RS and /RT
contains spaces, the text string must be included in double
quotes, eg “John Smith”.

If the first character of the name/number following /RM,

/RS, /RT is ? (for example /RT ?Smith), then an interactive
window appears which allows changes to be made to, say,

Page 3.9
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

what had been specified in a default batchfile. For example,

if the default batch file includes:

/RM machine name /RS ? /RT “John Smith”

then the interactive window appears with the machine name
and tester filled in, and the serial number blank. All three
fields can then be changed.

/SD Set duration of System Stress test. Format: [##h] [##m] [##s].
/ST facilitates scripted selection of individual System Stress Tests.
Each test is specified by a single letter; multiple tests are specified
by juxtaposing letters in any order into a “word”.
C = CDROM/DVD P = Processors
M = Memory H = Hard Disks
V = Video W = Writes permitted to Hard Disk
Example: /ST VPM

/TF writes a debug trace log to a file

/TP prints a debug trace log to LPT1.
/UK causes Pc-Check to retain control of the USB system rather
than hand it back to the BIOS. Overcomes problems with
legacy devices on some system BIOSes. However, BIOS-
controlled legacy USB devices such as keyboards or floppy
drives will cease to operate.
/UM causes Pc-Check to disregard memory module mapping by
resolving all memory into a single logical memory module.
/UP sets the number of USB ports that require test plugs: 0 =
all, default = 1. The USB Functional Tests will pass only if
there are test plugs in the specified number of USB ports.
Specifying “0” requires all ports to be occupied. If this option
is omitted, a single port must be occupied by a test plug in
order for the USB Functional Tests to pass: however, all
occupied ports will be tested.
Note: Some system configurations may not physically
expose all ports.

Page 3.10
Section 3 Command Line Operation

/YM causes Pc-Check to assume that the level 2 cache size is as

specified here, in KB.
/YN causes Pc-Check to assume that the level 3 cache size is as
specified here, in KB.
[Burnfile Name]
represents the name of the script file containing the list of
Burn-In tests. This file can be generated, edited and saved
interactively, as described in the Section “Continuous Burn-
In” in this manual.

As described later, a full list of command line switches can be viewed

via the “Start-Up Options” subpanel of the System Information Menu,
or, on boot-up, via the Advanced Start-Up Options. Both facilities can
be used to generate the CMDLINE.TXT file.

Note: When Pc-Check is started with a Burn-In file, all devices

requested at the time the burn-in file was created will be tested
if they are available.

Note: The instructions for Command Line options when running under
a full DOS environment are the same as for Pc-Check Self-Boot,
except that an initial keyword PCCHECK is included. See
Appendix A for full details.

If you attempt to run Pc-Check Self-Boot with an invalid CMDLINE.

TXT file (for instance, it contains an invalid switch), you are presented
with the full list of command line switches, followed by the contents of
CMDLINE.TXT. You will then be prompted to re-boot the system. You
should use a text editor to correct CMDLINE.TXT and then try again.

3.4 Command Line Example

Suppose that you wish to generate a report containing a summary of
the system configuration and the final burn-in results, and a journal
which logs any errors. You also wish to display the final outcome on a
Pc-Check SIB (Status Indicator Box) if fitted, and exit when finished.
The main report is to be written to a file which we shall name BURN03.
RPT, and the error-logging journal is to be called ERRORS.FIL. The
burn-in file is called BURNFILE.DAT.

Page 3.11
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

This is achieved by constructing the following command:

/JF ERRORS.FIL /RF BURN03.RPT /RA /BD
/BS BURNFILE.DAT
You can use file names and extensions of your choice.

Note: If these files are to be stored in a different directory from the one
in which the Pc-Check software resides, you must give the full
path ahead of the file name.

3.5 Creating Command Line Files

3.5.1 Options
There are various ways of producing a set of command line instructions,
and generating a CMDLINE.TXT file. They can be typed directly into
any suitable text editor (including Pc-Check’s own text editor, located
via the System Information Menu) and then saved. However, Pc-Check
has interactive facilities which largely automate the process. These are
the “Advanced Start-Up Options” which can be invoked at the start of
the Pc-Check boot process, and the “Start-Up Options” subpanel of
the System Information Menu. The user-images of these two facilities
are essentially the same, although the Start-Up Options facility is more
restricted in its function.

3.5.2 Advanced Start-Up Options

As soon as the initial startup panel of Pc-Check appears, it displays an
option to access “Advanced Start-Up Options” by pressing the F8 key
once. This will immediately lead to a Start-Up Menu which provides
the ability to set command line switches, with interactive support. There
is the following choice:

Current Session

The values which are set apply only to the current Pc-Check
session, and are not saved to a file. They apply to the current
interactive session, including the Immediate Burn-In option.
This feature can be used to set up “special needs” switches for
a single session.

Page 3.12
Section 3 Command Line Operation

All Sessions

The values chosen are saved to a CMDLINE.TXT file. The file

is constructed with interactive support, rather than having to be
typed manually.

Note: The location of the CMDLINE.TXT file will depend upon the
program medium being used. For USB flash device or floppy
diskette, the file will be written to that medium by default.

For the CD-ROM version of Pc-Check, a writable floppy diskette

will have to be inserted first: a message will appear on the
screen, with reminders that a floppy diskette must be present,
and that the CD-ROM must have priority over the floppy disk
drive on reboot.

Note: For CD-ROM use, since the burnfile will also be written to floppy
diskette, you must include the full pathname of the burnfile in
the CMDLINE.TXT file. This will be drive B: for a floppy drive
running with the CD-ROM version of Pc-Check. See Appendix
C for further details.

Choosing either option will lead to the Start-Up Options Editor. All
the command line parameters are listed in alphabetical order, with a
one-line summary of their function. Navigate through the list with the
Up/Down arrow keys and Page-Up/Page-Down keys.

Highlight a required switch and press <ENTER>. A more detailed

description appears, together with the following options:

Yes Include this option in the command line.

No Omit this option from the command line. Used to remove
a switch from the current command line data.
Cancel Do not change the current status of this switch.

If “Yes” is selected, and there is an additional value required (name or

number), a panel appears which enables this argument to be inserted.
Do not include double quotes around text strings.

Each time that you press <ENTER> after setting an individual parameter,
the main parameter list reappears, with the full revised command line

Page 3.13
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

contents displayed at the bottom. Double quotes are automatically

inserted for text strings containing blanks.

When you have completed all your settings, press <Esc>. The “All
Sessions” option will give you the chance to choose whether you do
wish to save the instructions, and then Pc-Check will load the main
interactive menu.

3.5.3 Start-Up Options (System Information Menu)

The System Information Menu is described in detail in the next Section
of the manual. One of its sub-panels is “Start-Up Options”, which
brings up the same panel as has just been described under “Advanced
Start-Up Options”, which can be used as an alternative method of setting
command line switches.

Note: Unlike the Advanced Start-Up Options, the Start-Up Options

facility cannot be used to define or modify data for the
current interactive session: it can only be used to generate a
CMDLINE.TXT file for use in a subsequent Pc-Check session.

3.6 Creating Self-Boot Batch Jobs

To create a self-boot PC-Check batch job requires a CMDLINE.TXT file,
constructed as above, which includes the filename of the required burn-
in file. A full description of how to construct burn-in files is given in the
Section on “Continuous Burn-In”, but the process is summarised here.

In interactive mode, select “Immediate Burn-In Testing” or “Deferred

Burn-In Testing” from the Main Menu, and select the tests which you
require. When your selections are complete, choose the option “Save
Burn-In Script” and supply a filename, say “BURNFILE.DAT”, so
that your selections are saved. This must be the filename referenced
in the CMDLINE.TXT file. If necessary, include the full pathname of
the burn-in file.

Leaving the Pc-Check writable media in place, reboot the computer.

Pc-Check will start up and immediately execute your required tests.

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Section 3 Command Line Operation

Note: Upon completion, remember either to delete or to rename the

CMDLINE.TXT file, otherwise the tests will be repeated the next
time you run Self-Boot Pc-Check!

Note: The procedure for running batch jobs in a full DOS environment,
i.e. not via self-boot, is based on the same combination of
CMDLINE.TXT file and burnfile, with one change in syntax.
Appendix A describes the steps required to operate Pc-Check
under DOS.

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Section 4 System Information Menu

Section 4

SYSTEM INFORMATION MENU

This is the first option from the Main Menu. If you press the <ENTER>
key while the SYSTEM INFORMATION MENU is highlighted, you
will be presented with the corresponding menu screen. The subsections
on the following pages explain each option in turn.

4.1 System Overview

Pc-Check examines your machine’s configuration and produces a
summary of what it finds. Check that the reported configuration is
what you would expect, and investigate any irregularities before you
go any further.

Note: On legacy configurations, incorrect values for the total amount

of memory may be given when 286 & 386 Memory Managers
such as QEMM, Bluemax, 386MAX & LIMSIM are operating.

Note: Pc-Check lists physical hard drives, not logical volumes, so a

hard drive that has been partitioned into two volumes (C: and
D:, for example) is treated as one drive.

4.2 Hardware ID Image Menu

A Hardware Identification Image (HII) is a file, stored in a format
that is convenient for further processing, which contains a detailed
configuration snapshot of the host PC. Files can be used for inventory
records, or, if compared against previously saved images, can be used
to pinpoint configuration changes.

Selecting Hardware ID Image Menu leads to a screen which is split

into left and right panels.

Note: If you are running under full DOS instead of in self-boot mode,
the HII Menu is inaccessible if memory managers are loaded.
See Appendix A for information on how to exclude memory
managers under DOS.

The left panel gives the following general information:

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

HII can create an XML document describing your

system. This file can be viewed and printed by using it in
conjunction with the .XSL file provided with Pc-Check (HII.
XSL) and internet browsing software that imports XML.

XML Documents can be used in production to ensure

identical builds. Such a comparison can be included in
a burn-in. In maintenance they can be used to identify
components that have since been added or removed.

Note: Advanced XML Options are discussed in Appendix D.

The right hand panel is the HII Management Menu.

Note: Remember to use the full path name, including the appropriate
drive letter, if you are running from a read-only Pc-Check
program medium such as CD-ROM, and therefore using a
different drive to write or read your data. See Appendix C for
more information, which includes advice on possible problems
caused by certain legacy BIOSes.

4.2.1 Write System HII as XML File

Selecting this first option shows the selected file type of XML, and
prompts for input of a filename. Pressing escape at this time aborts
back to the menu. If the entered filename has no extension, .XML will
automatically be appended. Having entered a filename, press <ENTER>.
A central window pops up with a 0% - 100% progress bar, first showing
the progress of Hardware Identification Image capture (i.e. to memory).
The bar then resets to 0% and shows progress of file write operation.
The text changes to reflect which pass the program is on.

Note: XML HII files from versions of Pc-Check before V5.60 are not
compatible.

4.2.2 Compare System HII with XML File

You are first prompted to identify the existing XML file which contains
the original system specification, against which you wish to compare
the current machine specification. Pc-Check then obtains the current
specification, and undertakes a comparison of the two specifications.
The result, either a message confirming that they match, or a list of

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Section 4 System Information Menu

differences, is then displayed. You may press <X> or <T> to save any
difference information as either an XML or TXT file respectively.

Note: When operating interactively, if there are very large numbers

of differences between the original and current system
specifications, the on screen output might be truncated, but the
XML file will always contain the complete difference set, with
no omissions.

4.2.3 Write System HII as TXT File

This option shows the selected file type of TXT and prompts for input of
a filename. Pressing escape at this time aborts back to the menu. If the
entered filename has no extension, .TXT will automatically be appended.
Having entered a filename, press <ENTER>. A central window pops up
with a 0% - 100% progress bar. In this instance capture and write are
performed together, such that the bar moves across once only.

Note: The format of the text HII is identical to that of previous Pc-
Check versions.

Upon completion of either write operation you are returned to the HII
Management menu.

Exit takes you back to the System Information Menu, as does

<ESC>.

Note: File compare utilities such as ‘fc’ can be used to compare HII
files taken on different occasions: this will highlight configuration
changes to the PC.

Note: The TXT format is a convenient general format for users who
wish to store HII files in their own databases. Some databases
may support XML files.

4.3 System Management Information

Displays information obtained from the system BIOS for a variety of
aspects of the system. To view the information, first press <ENTER>
to clear the warning text, and then select an option from the list and
press <ENTER>.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

IMPORTANT

This information is read from text and numerical

information held in the BIOS. Unfortunately, not all system
BIOS have been updated in line with changes to actual
hardware. Experience shows that the more modern the
BIOS, the more reliable the information tends to be.
Discretion is therefore required when interpreting these
displays, but the facility is included because some of
this information is difficult to obtain elsewhere. In some
cases, there is no BIOS information at all, in which case
the following message is displayed:

“System Management BIOS extensions not found”

4.4 PCI Bus Information

The PCI Bus is scanned, and information presented about the
devices found, including: memory, I/O port usage, and any interrupt
requirements. Information about the manufacturer and type of device
is also displayed.

4.5 IDE Bus Information

This option provides parameter information for IDE devices. A sub-
menu is displayed, which lists all detected devices. Use the cursor keys
to select a device from the list. Press <ENTER> to view the information.
Press <ENTER> or <ESC> to return to the sub-menu. Then press
<ESC> when you are ready to return to the Main Menu.

IMPORTANT: Not all IDE type devices support this function.

4.6 PCMCIA/CardBus Information

To obtain any information about your PCMCIA installation at all, you
will require the software drivers for the installed or built-in (laptops) host
adapter. These are known as the Socket Services. The PCMCIA Host
Adapter Information can be displayed with only the Socket Services
loaded. Further information would also require the presence of Card
Services, software drivers that mediate between the card specific drivers
or software and the Socket Services. It is possible to have more than

Page 4.4
Section 4 System Information Menu

one host adapter: therefore it is possible to have more than one set of
Socket Services. However there is only ever one set of Card Services.
The need for drivers may preclude the ability to obtain PCMCIA
information when running Self-Boot, unless the BIOS has integrated
support for PCMCIA.

A typical PCMCIA system will feature one host adapter with two
sockets, and both Socket and Card Services.

All PCMCIA screens are aware of any ‘hot-plug’ changes made to the
configuration (primarily card insertion and removal), even being able
to indicate a change of card battery state.

4.6.1 PCMCIA Host Adapter Information

The PCMCIA Host Adapter Information Screen is split into two
sections. Information about the host adapter hardware fills the top,
while information about the Socket Services that drive the adapter fills
the lower portion. It is possible that one set of Socket Services may
drive more than one adapter and so may feature more than once at the
same level.

The menu on this screen has options for moving to the Socket
information for the currently selected adapter, and selecting the next
or previous adapter in a multi-adapter system.

Host Adapter Number

A logical number used uniquely to identify this host adapter. The order
of host adapter numbering is usually dictated by the order of installation
of the associated Socket Services.

Sockets
The logical numbering of the sockets provided by this adapter and also
in parenthesis the total number of sockets, e.g.: 1-2 (2).

Memory or I/O Windows

The maximum number of windows that are available to map into system
memory or I/O space that the host adapter can create and assign to its

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

sockets. For example a card featuring a serial port may have a standard
I/O range such as 2F8H-2FFH assigned to it, which would constitute
one memory or I/O window.

EDC Generators
EDC - Error Detection and Correction. Some host adapters may feature
facilities to generate this kind of logic.

Sockets Share Power Levels

Either yes or no. If the sockets share power levels, then each socket
cannot be programmed independently of the other. If the card in one
socket has specific requirements that are not matched by a card in
another, they cannot be made to operate simultaneously. Typically this
reads ‘no’.

Sockets Share Data Bus Width

This is also yes or no. Shows whether the data bus width is independently
programmable for each socket. Typically ‘no’.

Status Change IRQ

Each host adapter requires an IRQ of its own. It uses this to notify the
Card Services of events such as, primarily, a card being inserted into
or removed from a socket. The currently selected IRQ and its state
(Active or Inactive) are reported. When Inactive, the IRQ may not have
been configured and so carry a value that appears to conflict with other
hardware: this is not of concern owing to the inactive state.

Supported IRQ Options

A list of all the IRQs which the host adapter can be programmed to use
for the Status Change IRQ above.

Vendor Identification String

The string inserted by the vendor of the Socket Services which will
usually give (in the form of a copyright message) the name of the Socket
Services vendor and may also give the host adapter chipset type for
which it is designed.
Page 4.6
Section 4 System Information Menu

Vendor Revision
The vendor’s own maintained release number, to ensure that you have
the most up-to-date Socket Services version, for example.

PCMCIA Compliance
The level of the PCMCIA specification to which the Socket Services
comply. This may affect your ability to use certain cards or Card
Services.

Socket Services Entry Point

The entry point (obtained from Card Services) to which software
must go to talk directly to the Socket Services rather than to the Card
Services. When the Card Services are not loaded the INT 1AH interface
is active.

4.6.2 PCMCIA Socket Information

Only available when the Card Services are installed. The information
relates to the current configuration of the socket and so contains little
information when there is no card installed in that socket. When a card
is installed in the socket which has been either part configured by the
Card Services or completely configured by its driver, this screen gives
its configuration.

The menu on this screen has options to obtain the card information for
a card inserted into the socket, and for moving to the next or previous
socket. Note that you are not prevented from selecting this option if
there is no card: Card Services information can always be viewed.

Socket Number
The logical number of the socket. All software referring to sockets will
use their logical numbers (i.e. The card in socket 1 is ...). The order
of installation of Socket Services drivers usually dictates the order of
numbering of the sockets.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Card Inserted
Whether a card has been detected as inserted in the socket. This could
indicate for instance that the card insertion is not being detected.

Assigned IRQ
If the socket has been successfully configured for an inserted card, and
the card requested the use of an IRQ, the selected IRQ that has been
channelled to the socket is given. The IRQ will also be indicated to be
Exclusive, Shared or Time Multiplexed.

I/O Lines Enabled

The number of I/O address lines that are enabled at the socket. The
remaining address lines at the socket are unused, but the bus address
lines stop at and are decoded by host adapter logic instead. A card
requiring 8 I/O locations could take only 3 address lines and require
that the adapter perform the remaining decode by use of a memory or
I/O window.

Power
Figures are given for Vcc, Vpp1 and Vpp2. Not all cards use both the
common and programming voltages. Note that Vpp1 and Vpp2 display
the current state, which may be under the control of client drivers, and
therefore might indicate other than the expected value.

Memory and I/O Windows

This list of memory and I/O windows shows what memory type (i.e.
main memory or I/O) and the data size that is transferred (either 8 or
16 bit). The address and size of the window are also given.

4.6.3 PCMCIA Card Information

The menu on this screen has options to move to the next or previous
socket to view cards in other sockets. On some systems, some minor
confusion can occur since some ISA-PCMCIA adapters place socket
1 at the rear of the computer and socket 2 at the front. Socket 1 is the
default socket when the PCMCIA information is first invoked within

Page 4.8
Section 4 System Information Menu

Pc-Check and so the socket number must be changed before cards

inserted at the front of the machine are visible.

Socket Number
You are currently viewing information for socket number n (see
PCMCIA Socket Information).

Card Type
A broad indication as to the general classification of the currently inserted
card. Examples are ‘Fixed Disk’, ‘Memory’ or ‘Serial Device’.

Common Memory / Attribute Memory

Every card contains at least a small amount of memory. Depending
on the card type and design, one or both of two distinct memory areas
will exist: common memory and attribute memory. These often have
different physical memory types. The attribute memory stores the Card
Information Structure (CIS). The CIS contains useful information about
the card, including the physical characteristics of the common and
attribute memory. Some designs place the CIS in common memory,
or omit information from the CIS such that no attribute memory type
can be shown. An example of a memory configuration might be a 4MB
flash card, with 150ns access time and the CIS placed in common
memory. The common memory would be shown as 2x2MB (4MB),
Flash (150ns).

Power Required
The power configuration that the card requests in its CIS. If any of
the power options are not specified within the CIS, they are shown as
‘default’. The PCMCIA Socket Information gives the levels that are
actually being used, which should tally with the appropriate PCMCIA
PC-card specification.

Backup Battery
Some memory cards require a battery for data retention. The state of this
battery is shown to be either good, low or bad. If the battery is low, it
should be replaced to ensure data will not be lost - if it is bad then data

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

loss will have occurred. If no battery is fitted to the card or the state of
the battery is not readable, then the entry will read ‘none’.

CIS Level 1 Version

The version information from the Level 1 Version / Product Information
Tuple in the CIS. With appropriate knowledge, this value can be used
to determine if a card is suitable to use with the installed versions of
the PCMCIA software.

Vendor Identification String

The vendor identification string from the CIS gives the card’s
manufacturer, a description of the card itself, and may also give some
kind of product identification.

Items beyond this point refer to Card Services Information.

Vendor Identification String

The identification string returned from Card Services, which gives the
vendor of the Card Services in use on the system.

PCMCIA Compliance
The level of PCMCIA PC-Card Specification to which the Card Services
software is compatible. Certain PCMCIA cards may specify a minimum
level of compliance.

Vendor Revision
The vendor’s own revision number for the Card Services software. You
can use this to ensure that your Card Services are up-to-date.

4.7 Interrupt Vectors

The Interrupt Vector Information screen lists the software interrupt
vectors with the interrupt number in hex and decimal, the vector
that the interrupt is pointing to in “segment: offset” notation, plus a
description of what the vector is normally used for (e.g., divide-by-
zero interrupt).

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Section 4 System Information Menu

There is more data than the screen can display all at once so you may
use the cursor or the PgUp/PgDn keys to scroll beyond the normal
display limits. These instructions are given on the bottom line of the
display when they apply. Press <ESC> to exit back to the System
Information Menu.

4.8 IRQ Routing Information

Displays the devices which are attached to the 16 system IRQs and
which loaded program or device driver is in control of them.

IRQs which are enabled are marked “Active: YES”, otherwise “NO”.
Vector shows the memory location where the interrupt is serviced, and
(for the DOS version of Pc-Check only) Owner contains the name of
the controlling program or device driver. This information is followed
by a list of devices. The devices whose IRQs are detected include:

Serial Port, Parallel Port, Hard Drive, Floppy Drive, CD-ROM/

DVD Drive, Mouse, Soundcard, Network card, ATAPI, and any
devices on the PCI bus.

All of the standard AT devices are also confirmed on the display and
their active status noted. These are:

System Timer, Keyboard, Cascade, Real-Time Clock, Co-Processor.

To detect to which IRQ each parallel port is attached requires that a

Pc-Check loopback plug is inserted in each parallel port.

In order to detect the used IRQ of some devices, e.g. a network card,
the relevant driver may need to be loaded. Therefore the usage data
may be incomplete if the appropriate programs are not present.

4.9 Device Drivers

The information displayed differs between Pc-Check running in self-
boot mode, and Pc-Check running under full DOS.

4.9.1 Pc-Check Self-Boot

The “About PC-CHECK” panel is displayed, listing Pc-Check’s own
device drivers, indicating which are and are not loaded.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

4.9.2 Pc-Check under full DOS

The Device Driver Information option lists the currently installed
device drivers with the memory location of the driver, technical
characteristics, the standard DOS name and a short description, e.g.
“First Serial Port”.

Devices that are recognised by Pc-Check are described briefly in the

comment column.

Your system may have more device drivers than can be listed on one
screen. In this case you may use the <ENTER> or PgUp/PgDn keys to
swap between the two pages.

4.10 APM Information

Displays a variety of Advanced Power Management information, the
screen being divided into two parts. The left-hand side provides a general
information panel, and the right-hand side initially displays a menu with
the following facilities: Select Device; Change Power State; View Power
Status; Indicate CPU Usage; Get PM Event; Change Interface Mode.
WARNING

The behaviour of Advanced Power Management facilities

is heavily dependent upon BIOS design, and what works
in a particular way for one manufacturer may not do so for
another. Also, a number of functions are interconnected.
Highly experienced users will be aware of these difficulties,
but others are advised to exercise caution. Particular care
should be taken with the “Change Power State” option,
because it is possible to power down the entire system,
perhaps losing previous test results in the current Pc-
Check session. Therefore, unless the exact behaviour of
a machine is known, it might be advisable to carry out
“Change Power State” tests in a different session.

4.10.1 Select Device

Leads to a sub-menu allowing power management for all devices or
individual devices to be examined. The menu items are: All devices;
Display; Secondary Storage; Parallel Ports; Serial Ports; Network
Adapters; PCMCIA Sockets. Should the user wish to select an individual
Page 4.12
Section 4 System Information Menu

device rather than the default option of “All devices”, the user is
prompted to supply the device unit number: failure to do so correctly
will produce an error message.

4.10.2 Change Power State

IMPORTANT

Read the warning notice at the head of this APM section

of the manual carefully before using this option.

A menu allows setting of the following power states to be tested: APM

Enabled; Standby; Suspend; Off.

Selecting APM Enabled when it is already in use produces an

appropriate error message. If Standby, Suspend or Off are invoked, a
warning message such as the following is displayed:
!! CAUTION !!

Switching to Off may interrupt the operation of

Pc-Check

indicating that switching to that mode may terminate the Pc-Check

session. In particular, the combination of “All devices” and a Change
Power State of “Off” will switch the machine off, requiring restarting
via the power switch, and the loss of any test results from the Pc-
Check run. However, some machines will also power down with other
combinations of “Select Device” and “Change Power State”: hence the
above recommendation that the user should experiment with Change
Power State options first in a different session.

4.10.3 View Power Status

Provides information about AC line status, Battery status, Battery
flag, and details of battery life, for each battery in succession. Press
<ENTER> to display details of the next battery.

4.10.4 Indicate CPU Usage

A menu of two CPU Usage options is displayed: Call CPU Idle;
Call CPU Busy.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Call CPU Idle

Notifies the APM BIOS that the system is idle, causing it to take some
power-saving action. If successful, a message is displayed detailing the
action taken (the CPU clock is either slowed, or stopped for 1 clock
tick). Otherwise an error message is displayed.

If the CPU clock speed was slowed as a result of selecting “Call CPU
Idle”, re-selection of this option prior to restoring the clock speed via
“Call CPU Busy” produces the following error message:

CPU clock speed already slowed

If instead the CPU clock was stopped for 1 clock tick as a result of
selecting “Call CPU Idle”, re-selection of this option prior to selecting
“Call CPU Busy” causes the clock again to be stopped for 1 clock tick.

When the interface is disconnected (see below), selecting “Call CPU

Idle” from the “Indicate CPU Usage” menu produces an “Interface not
connected” error message; pressing <ENTER> returns to the “Indicate
CPU Usage” menu.

Call CPU Busy

Produces the following message when the clock is already operating at
full speed, for instance after a “Call CPU Idle” selection which stopped
the clock for 1 clock tick:

CPU clock already operating at full speed

If instead you select “Call CPU Busy” after slowing the clock via “Call
CPU Idle”, then if successful a message is displayed stating that the
clock has been restored to full speed. An unsuccessful call produces
an error message.

4.10.5 Get PM Event

Provides confirmation that the Operating System has been notified of an
APM-related event, unless the Interface has already been disconnected.

If there is a pending event, its name is displayed in a “Pending PM

Events” display box. Pressing <ENTER> displays the name of the next
event in the queue, or else displays the message:

Page 4.14
Section 4 System Information Menu

No more power management events pending

If instead no PM events at all were pending, the following message is

displayed:

No power management events pending

For completeness, a list of Power Management event notifications is

given in Appendix B, although not all of them are likely to be invoked
via Pc-Check. From this list it should be possible to deduce the set of
messages which should be expected for the particular combination of
options which Pc-Check is asked to perform.

4.10.6 Change Interface Mode

A menu of two items is displayed: Real Mode Connect, and Interface
Disconnect. When either option is selected, either a message is produced
indicating a successful interface connection/disconnection, or an error
message is produced indicating that the appropriate status was already
in operation.

Note: If the Interface is disconnected, several other APM options

cannot function, namely “Change Power State”, “Indicate CPU
Usage” and “Get PM Event”. An attempt to use them gives the
error message:

Interface not connected

4.11 I/O Port Browser

Displays the status of the I/O ports, locates the available ports and
detects which ports are connected.

A cautionary message is displayed, as follows:

CAUTION - PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE - CAUTION

Reading I/O register values may disrupt the operation

of some devices. Occasionally a PC may need to be
restarted. If this occurs, turn off the ‘Show Active Ports
Only’ option.

The Portmap Settings menu appears below the message.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

4.11.1 Output Device

Allows the user to change the device to which the I/O port information
is output. To toggle the output device between screen and printer, use
the cursor keys to highlight the ‘Output Device’ option in the menu
and press <ENTER>.

4.11.2 I/O Search Start

Allows the user to enter an address at which the I/O search will begin.
To change the I/O search start address, use the cursor keys to highlight
the ‘I/O Search Start’ option in the menu and press <ENTER> to select:
a flashing cursor appears awaiting your input. You may press <ESC> to
abort, or type in a hexadecimal start address that must be between 0 and
hexadecimal F9D0h to be valid. Press <ENTER> to accept the value.
Note that if you enter an address above F9D0h, it will be curtailed to
this value. After <ENTER> is pressed, the portmap menu will update
to show the new address.

Note: The address entered will be rounded down to a multiple of 8.

4.11.3 Show Active Ports Only

With this option the user may choose to view all the I/O addresses within
the selected range or only the active I/O addresses. To toggle between
settings, use the cursor keys to highlight the ‘Show Active Ports Only’
option in the menu and press <ENTER>.

4.11.4 Accept Settings as Shown Above

Allows the user to continue and display the I/O port information using
the displayed settings.

To continue, and display the I/O port information, use the cursor keys
to highlight the ‘Accept Settings as Shown Above’ option and press
<ENTER> to select. The I/O port information will then be displayed
to the selected output device.

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Section 4 System Information Menu

4.11.5 I/O Port Browser

When the I/O port information is displayed on the screen, all active
ports will be shown in YELLOW, or HIGHLIGHTED on monochrome
systems.

Contents Description
Description A short description of the I/O port
In-Use Determines if the port is active or not by displaying
‘Y’ or ‘N’
Address The hexadecimal location of the row’s first I/O port
Contents The values contained at the I/O port locations.

The following keys are valid when viewing the I/O port
information:-
 Move the current viewing area up or down 1 line
respectively
PgUp Moves the current viewing area 1 page up
PgDn Moves the current viewing area 1 page down
Home Moves to the top of the viewing area
End Moves to the end of the viewing area
Enter/Esc Exits the I/O port browser

4.12 Memory Browser

Displays the contents of memory in 512-byte blocks, either low memory
only (the first 1MB) or else all memory.

An introductory panel allows selection of address format, either

segment:offset for low memory display or else linear for all memory.

Note: All linear addresses are rounded down to the nearest paragraph
(16 byte) boundary, i.e. the last digit is rounded down to zero.

The top of the display gives the memory area currently being shown.
Pressing the key “I” brings up a Help Panel, giving navigational shortcut
keys appropriate to the selected address format. The keys common to
both Help Panels are as follows:

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

 Moves up/down 1 line

PgUp/PgDn Moves up/down 1 page
Home Moves to the start of the block
End Moves to the end of the block
+ Moves to the next 512 byte block
- Moves to the previous 512 byte block
Esc Allows a new address format to be selected

The address format-specific keys are the following:

Segment:offset address format:

O Allows a new OFFSET to be set

S Allows a new SEGMENT to be set

Linear address format:

L Allows a new LINEAR ADDRESS to be set

Press any key to clear the Help Panel before pressing your chosen key.
Segments and offsets may be up to 4 digits long, linear addresses up
to 8 digits.

Press <ESC> to return to the introductory panel allowing selection of

an address format. Press <ESC> again to exit the Memory Browser.

4.13 Sector Browser

For floppy and hard drives, displays contents per sector in hexadecimal
and ASCII, with offset. Sector locations are either given in cylinder,
head and sector (CHS) format or else as linear block addresses (LBAs).
An introductory panel allows selection of a drive.

If you select the floppy drive you will be prompted to swap the PC-
Check boot disk if you wish. If you select a hard drive which supports
disk extensions, as the majority of hard disks now do, a menu appears
allowing choice of address format (CHS or LBA). The address format
determines how much disk space can be displayed; CHS limits the
display to 8.4GB, whereas LBA removes this limit. (In the rare event of
your hard disk not supporting disk extensions, the display will default
to CHS limited to 8.4GB).

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Section 4 System Information Menu

The top of the display gives the current sector location in the relevant
address format – CHS for floppy disks and either CHS or LBA for
hard disks.

Pressing the key “I” brings up a Help Panel, giving navigational shortcut
keys appropriate to the address format. The keys common to both Help
Panels are as follows:

 Moves up/down 1 line

PgUp/PgDn Moves up/down 1 page
Home Moves to the start of the sector
End Moves to the end of the sector
+ Moves to the next sector
- Moves to the previous sector
Esc Exits to previous menu

The keys that vary are as follows:

Floppy drive or Hard drive, CHS:

C Allows a new CYLINDER to be set

H Allows a new HEAD to be set
S Allows a new SECTOR to be set

Hard drive, LBA:

L Allows a new LBA to be set

Press any key to clear the Help Panel before pressing your chosen key.
When you press <ESC> to exit the floppy drive display you will be
prompted to reinsert the PC-Check boot disk.

To exit the Sector Browser, press <ESC> when the introductory panel
is showing.

4.14 CPU Frequency Monitor

Displays the measured processor speed over time, using a choice of
three timebases. A histogram of time (vertical y-axis) against measured
processor speed (horizontal x-axis) is plotted. The time interval for
measurements is selected from a panel via the up/down arrow keys
(Note: <ENTER> is not required), and can be 2 seconds, 1 minute or
1 hour. This feature can be useful for checking processors having a

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Speedstep facility, or where there is a suspicion of thermal instability.

With a stable, single-speed system, the graphic will resemble a
rectangle.

4.15 CMOS RAM Utilities

This option leads to the CMOS RAM Utilities display. An introductory
panel contains information about the utilities, leading to a menu with
the following options.

4.15.1 Save CMOS to File

A copy of the machine’s non-volatile CMOS memory can be saved to a
writable medium. Select the option and enter the filename (see Appendix
C for the pathname drive letter, if necessary). The action takes place
immediately the option is chosen.

IMPORTANT

If you are running Pc-Check from a floppy diskette,

and writing the CMOS file to another floppy diskette,
remember to replace the program disk AS SOON AS the
Save operation with the backup diskette is completed.

Always be sure to restore saved data only to the PC from

which it was saved.

4.15.2 Restore CMOS from File

A copy of the machine’s CMOS memory can be restored. The action
takes place immediately the option is chosen.

IMPORTANT

If you are running Pc-Check from a floppy diskette, and

reading the CMOS file from another floppy diskette,
remember to replace the program disk AS SOON AS
the Restore operation with the backup diskette is
completed.

Always be sure to restore saved data only to the PC from

which it was saved.

Page 4.20
Section 4 System Information Menu

4.16 SCSI Utilities

4.16.1 Important Information Before You Begin

The SCSI Utilities currently require an ASPI compatible device driver
in order to operate: hence these tests do not work with Self-Boot
Pc-Check, as the ASPI driver is not loaded. ASPI device drivers are
invariably designed to work with a specific controller and are sold
with the controller card. This means that an ASPI driver that was not
supplied with the controller card being used will almost certainly not
work correctly. See Appendix A for a description of how to access the
SCSI Utilities by operating Pc-Check under a full DOS environment.

Note: SCSI hard drives can be tested using the Hard Disk Diagnostics
option under the Advanced Diagnostics menu, even in self-
boot mode, provided that the SCSI Adapter BIOS has “int 13h
extensions” enabled.

Note: The SCSI Utilities work on targets (physical devices), and do

not recognise subdivisions into Logical Unit Numbers (LUN’s).
Therefore all logical devices associated with a physical device
will be involved when the utilities are used.
A SCSI Menu is displayed with the following options:

4.16.2 Identify SCSI Devices

Displays relevant information about the SCSI host adapter (controller
card) and the first SCSI target connected — the SCSI target device with
the lowest SCSI ID. If multiple targets are attached, a menu will appear
on the right hand side of the screen allowing additional targets to be
interrogated. Pressing the <ESC> key will exit the menu.

Note: The above option applies to all SCSI devices attached to the
SCSI bus and is not restricted to hard disk drives only.

4.16.3 SCSI Low Level Format

Only to be used to low-level format SCSI hard disk drives and when
selected will provide a menu of SCSI hard disk drive targets to choose
from. If only one SCSI hard disk drive is connected, this is the drive

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

that will be formatted, and the interleave entry screen will be entered
immediately. You can press <ESC> here to exit without formatting and
will have a further opportunity to abort the format before it is started.

Interleave Entry
You must enter an interleave to use for formatting the selected hard
drive. Values of between 1 and 99 are valid and other values will result
in an error. If you are unsure about which interleave to use, a value of 1
or 2 is recommended or the performance of your SCSI hard disk drive
will be significantly reduced. Pressing <ESC> here will return to the
SCSI Menu without taking any action.

Note: Selecting an unsuitable interleave may cause the format to fail.

Format Key
The format key is a randomly generated case sensitive password that has
to be entered exactly as shown in order to initiate the format. Pressing
<ESC> here will return to the SCSI Menu without taking any action.

IMPORTANT

This is your final opportunity to abort the format: any

data on the disk will be irretrievably destroyed if you
continue!

Format In Progress
After the format has been initiated, some relevant information about
the drive being formatted is displayed for your review.

Note: The low-level formatting of large hard drives can take a

considerable time!

4.16.4 Assign SCSI Bad Blocks

Only to be used to assign bad blocks on SCSI hard disk drives and when
selected will provide a menu of SCSI hard disk drive targets to choose
from. If only one SCSI hard disk drive is connected, this is the drive
that will apply when re-assigning bad blocks, and the Re-assign Menu
will be entered immediately. This menu has the following options:

Page 4.22
Section 4 System Information Menu

Add Bad Block

Selecting this option will pop up a data entry window requesting the
bad block to be re-assigned. The bad block number can then be entered
using hexadecimal notation. The range of legal blocks that can be re-
assigned is from 1 to the maximum block on the selected hard disk
drive. Note that block 0, the boot sector, cannot be re-assigned. If a
block number greater than the maximum block available on the selected
target is entered, a ‘Value out of range’ error will be generated. Enter
the correct value after the message disappears. When successful, the
bad block entered is added to the list shown on the display.
Error Messages and Comments
‘Out of Range Error, Please Retry’
‘Block Already Listed, Please Retry’
‘The Boot Sector cannot be re-assigned’
Delete Bad Block
At least 1 bad block must have been entered in order for this function
to operate, otherwise an error message will appear. After the data
entry window pops up, enter the bad block number for deletion and
press <ENTER>. That entry will then be deleted from the current list,
assuming that it is present. The bad block entered must be in the current
list or a ‘Value out of range’ error will occur.
Error Messages and Comments
‘Block Not Listed, Please Retry’
Clear List
At least 1 bad block must have been entered in order for this function
to operate, otherwise an error message will appear. After selecting this
option a message window will appear saying that all the bad blocks will
be deleted. You may press <ESC> to abort or <ENTER> to continue.
After <ENTER> is pressed a blank list is shown.

Sort List
At least 1 bad block must have been entered in order for this function
to operate, otherwise an error message will appear. This function has
no dialogue window at all: it merely sorts the current list into ascending
order as soon as it is selected.
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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Write Bad Blocks

At least 1 bad block must have been entered in order for this function
to operate, otherwise an error message will appear. When selected, this
function attempts to re-assign the bad blocks entered to spare blocks
on the selected hard disk drive, and may take a while to complete its
task. A dialogue window will appear indicating the success or failure
of the function on completion. If this function fails, it is probable that
there are insufficient spare blocks available to re-assign all the bad
blocks entered. If you low level format the selected hard disk drive it
will release all previously marked bad blocks that were not specified
by the manufacturer.

Note: If more than 44 bad blocks are to be re-assigned, this must be

done in several passes, i.e. write 44 bad blocks at a time.

If any unwritten bad blocks remain, pressing <ESC> leads to a ‘List not
written !!’ menu; otherwise, <ESC> returns to the SCSI Menu.

The ‘List not written’ menu gives the following choices:-

Note: This is a forced entry menu where you must make a choice. You
cannot Escape from this menu.

(i) Continue Editing

This choice simply returns you to the main Re-assign Menu

where you can continue editing your bad blocks list.

(ii) Write List And Exit

This choice attempts to write the bad blocks entered and then
exits directly to the SCSI Menu. See Section 6.3.5 ‘Write Bad
Blocks’ for further information.

(iii) Abort List And Exit

This choice simply dumps any bad blocks entered and returns
control directly to the SCSI Menu.

Page 4.24
Section 4 System Information Menu

4.17 Text File Editor

The text file editor can be used as an editor / browser for any file.
Backup files (with a .BAK extension) are created whenever a file is
saved in the editor: hence it is always possible to revert to the previous
version of a file.

If Pc-Check is run under DOS, rather than in self-boot mode, it searches

for the presence and location of the following files on the hard disk:
AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI. It then
presents those which have been found with their full pathname, together
with another option “Other File”, which presents a “file open” dialogue
to allow you to choose a file from another location.

Note: Please ensure that the medium containing the file being edited
is not write protected.

The editor uses the following keys:

 Move in the chosen direction

Ctrl-  Back one word
Ctrl-  Forward one word
Page Up Back one page
Page Down Forward one page
Home Beginning of current line
End End of current line
Ins Toggle Insert / Overwrite mode
Del Delete current character: if pressed at the end of
the line then the line below is joined to the current
line
BkSp Backspace and delete previous character
Enter Open a new line: splits current line if pressed in
the middle
Alt-X Finish editing and ask whether to save the file: can
be escaped to return to editing.

The screen will scroll left and right as necessary, to show the end of
lines which are longer than the screen width.

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4.18 Start-Up Options

This option is very similar in function and user-image to the “Advanced
Start-Up Options” invoked via the F8 key when Pc-Check boots.
The most important difference is that it cannot be used to define or
modify data for the current interactive session. Its job is to generate
a CMDLINE.TXT file for a subsequent Pc-Check session. Hence the
following panel appears on the screen when the option is entered:
IMPORTANT

This option edits the content of the CMDLINE.TXT file

only. Changes made to the command line at this time will
not take effect until the next and subsequent sessions.

Pressing <ENTER> will lead to the Start-Up Options Editor. All the
command line parameters are listed in alphabetical order, with a one-line
summary of their function. Navigate through the list with the Up/Down
arrow keys and Page-Up/Page-Down keys.

Highlight a required switch and press <ENTER>. A more detailed

description appears, together with the following options:

Yes Include this option in the command line.

No Omit this option from the command line. Used to remove
a switch from the current command line data.
Cancel Do not change the current status of this switch.

If “Yes” is selected, and there is an additional value required (name or

number), a panel appears which enables this argument to be inserted.
Do not include double quotes around text strings.

Each time that you press <ENTER> after setting an individual parameter,
the main parameter list reappears, with the full revised command line
contents displayed at the bottom. Double quotes are automatically
inserted for text strings containing blanks.

When you have completed all your settings, press <ESC>. A panel
allows you to choose whether you wish to resume editing, save your
instructions, or discard them. Pc-Check will return to the System
Information Menu, after writing the CMDLINE.TXT file if you
requested it.

Page 4.26
Section 4 System Information Menu

Note: The location of the CMDLINE.TXT file will depend upon the
program medium being used. For USB flash device or floppy
diskette, the file will be written to that medium by default.

For the CD-ROM version of Pc-Check, a writable floppy diskette

will have to be inserted first: a message will appear on the screen,
with reminders that a floppy diskette must be present, and that
the CD-ROM must have priority over the floppy disk drive on
reboot.

Note: For CD-ROM use, since the burnfile will also be written to floppy
diskette, you must include the full pathname of the burnfile in
the CMDLINE.TXT file. This will be drive B: for a floppy drive
running with the CD-ROM version of Pc-Check. See Appendix
C for further details.

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Page 4.28
Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

Section 5

ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

The Advanced Diagnostic Tests are selected from the Main Menu.
You will find that the screen display normally gives all the information
required to determine the nature of any fault detected, but these notes
give further explanation where necessary.

Test results can be viewed in the Results Summary or printed in the

Results Report, both accessed from Pc-Check’s Main Menu. A few
options provide a results viewing facility within the option itself, for
instance Floppy Disks and Hard Disks: in these cases, you may choose
between viewing the results on screen, sending them to a printer or
saving them to disk.

In the following sub-sections, error messages and comments appear

as overlay boxes on the screen. They are usually self explanatory. In
some cases, the overlay boxes require a decision by the user, either by
a sub-menu selection or by a key press.

Looking at the screen menu, the order of description of the Advanced

Diagnostic Tests in the manual is: top to bottom in column 1, followed
by the second column, etc.

5.1 Processor Diagnostics

When the Processor Diagnostics are selected, the left-hand side of the
screen provides processor details and the status of the tests, while the
right-hand side contains a menu of these tests.

Processor details include type, speed and CPU signature. Processor tests
cover the Core Processor, AMD 64/EM64T Core, Maths Co-Processor,
MMX Extensions, 3DNow! Extensions, SSE/SSE2 Instruction Sets,
and MP Symmetry.

If you’re using a multiprocessor system, ‘Select Processor’ allows

selection of a particular processor for testing. Pc-Check’s Processor
Diagnostics support systems with up to 64 logical processors (threads/
cores).

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

“CPU Information” produces a scrolling window which indicates

whether the CPU supports individual features and extensions. No tests
are invoked.

For the Core Processor test, Pc-Check will ensure that the processor is
performing satisfactorily by running a series of functions. Once tested,
the result is given as PASSED or FAILED.

If a Maths Co-processor is detected, Pc-Check verifies the correct

operation of the co-processor with a series of comparison and arithmetic
functions. After testing, the result is given as PASSED or FAILED.

On Pentiums and above, the Pentium division (FDIV) bug is tested for:
this should only fail on Pentium 60MHz and early 90MHz processors.
The FIST bug is also tested for: this should only fail on some Pentium
Pro and Pentium II processors.

If MMX Extensions are detected, Pc-Check verifies correct operation of the

MMX unit. After testing, the result is given as PASSED or FAILED.

If 3DNow! Extensions are detected, Pc-Check performs various checks

on arithmetic operations.

Where detected, SSE and SSE2 Instructions are tested. Processor

types such as AMD XP and Pentium III have SSE instructions, and
later processors may also have SSE2. Earlier processors have neither.
Appropriate messages are displayed accordingly.

For multiprocessor (MP) systems, Pc-Check performs various symmetry

comparisons between the bootstrap processor and other processors.
There may be a short pause at the beginning while checks are made on
the additional processors under test. The symmetry test will fail if the
additional processors are not identical to the bootstrap processor.
Error Messages and Comments
‘MMX Extensions Not Detected’
‘3DNow! Extensions Not Detected’
‘SSE Instruction Set not supported by this processor’
‘SSE2 Instruction Set not supported by this processor’
‘Symmetry tests have no direct relevance for the bootstrap
device or to single processor configurations’

Page 5.2
Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

5.2 Memory Diagnostics

Note: With large modern memory modules, testing can be time-
consuming. On older systems, or systems with large amounts of
memory, full testing can take an extended period. Accordingly,
the Memory Diagnostics include options for restricting which
memory modules are tested, and over what range. If desired, the
types of test can also be restricted.

The upper half of the screen initially contains a Memory Tests Menu,
and the lower half, which remains in view throughout most tests, lists
the memory installed, with its current test status.

The Memory Tests Menu is divided into three parts, as follows:

Test System Memory Test Cache Memory Test Video Memory

Test Module Benchmark Memory Set Test Set
Test Range Cache Profiler Set Test Reps
User Pattern Test Module Details Set uTL Test Time

The left portion of the menu allows the user to choose between testing
all or part of the memory, and to choose the test pattern to be used.

The centre portion of the menu initiates direct testing of Cache Memory,
Benchmark Memory and Cache Profiler. Information about memory
can be viewed via Module Details.

The rightmost portion of the menu accesses the Video Memory Tests,
and also provides options for which tests to run, and how many times
they are to be repeated.

Note: It is necessary to complete your choices, if any, for test set and
number of repeats before initiating testing. Except for the User
Pattern Test, Benchmark Memory and Cache Profiler, all tests
utilise these settings, defaulting to all tests being performed
once.

Memory errors are displayed in white on a red background. For the

last failure detected, the memory address, the expected value and the
actual value are reported. The lower half of the screen indicates which
module failed. Testing then continues, unless <Esc> is pressed, which
halts testing at the next appropriate point.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Very rarely, a memory module may appear listed in grey, if the system
information about the module indicates that there are no accessible
memory locations that map to that module, making it effectively
untestable. The module is given the result N/A. An attempt to test such
a module using the ‘Test Module’ menu option gives the following
message:

“The selection cannot be tested because the physical address

range does not include any regions that are accessible to the CPU.
Memory may be masked in this way if it occupies the same space
set aside for memory mapped PCI devices and there is no provision
in the memory controller to remap it at a higher address. This may
in turn be because the module is paired with other modules for
performance.”

5.2.1 Test System Memory

Initiates testing of all installed memory modules. Information is
displayed for: Current Test; Status (e.g. Testing, Passed); Current Step;
Last Failure.

5.2.2 Test Module

Allows the memory in each socket bank to be tested individually. Press
<ENTER> and then use the Up/Down cursor keys to select the required
memory module from the pop-up list. Pressing <ENTER> for a second
time starts the testing. This option can save time if, for example, an
additional memory module has been added, and the original modules
do not require re-testing.

Note: Some systems do not supply sufficient information to detect

individual memory devices, in which case an explanatory
message is displayed, and the “Test All Memory” option should
be used.

5.2.3 Test Range

Allows the user to define the start and end memory addresses to be
tested. Once the range has been input, pressing <F10> immediately
initiates testing.

Page 5.4
Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

5.2.4 User Pattern Test

Allows users to define an additional memory test using their own bit
pattern. It is available only as an interactive option.

5.2.5 Test Cache Memory

Tests all levels of cache using memory test algorithms. The result for
each cache level is reported separately.

5.2.6 Benchmark Memory

Invoked directly from the Memory Tests Menu by highlighting via the
cursor keys, and pressing <ENTER>. Performs linear 32-bit writes
to memory with the cache system both enabled and disabled. The
throughput is displayed as a two-bar chart.

5.2.7 Cache Profiler

Invoked directly from the Memory Tests Menu by highlighting via the
cursor keys, and pressing <ENTER>. Plots in real time on logarithmic
scales the access time for random scattered memory access over an
increasing range of memory. Indicates the increase in access time as
greater amounts of level 1, level 2, level 3 cache and then main memory
are used. The shape of the plot can be influenced by the characteristics
of the cache and the speed of main memory.

5.2.8 Module Details

Gives information about the memory module, if available; otherwise it
reports N/A (not available). A particular memory module is first selected
via the Up/Down cursor keys. Pressing <ENTER> returns directly to
the main memory test screen.

5.2.9 Test Video Memory

The first time the test is selected a cautionary message will appear:

Note: On some systems the entire screen may become black or white
for prolonged intervals: this is normal during the operation
of this test.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

The selected tests are run in turn, and typically take several minutes. The
Memory Tests Menu re-appears when the tests are complete.

5.2.10 Set Test Set

Allows the following tests to be included or excluded:

Module Seating Test

Inversion Tree Test
Progressive Inversion Test
Chaotic Addressing Test
Block Rotation Test
Microtopology Test

Note: The Module Seating Test performs a connection test to ensure

that a memory module has simply ‘made good’ in its socket.
Intended for use as a quick test for previously tested memory
that has been temporarily removed from the system.

By default, all tests are selected. Pressing <ENTER> or <SPACE>

toggles an option off or on (the latter is designated by a  symbol),
and then moves to the next item. The Up/Down cursor keys move
between items without changing their status. Pressing <F10> accepts
the choices and returns to the previous panel. The most recent selection
will be retained until the end of the Pc-Check session, i.e. if the user
returns to the Memory Test option, the choices will not have reverted
automatically to the default.

5.2.11 Set Test Reps

Controls how many times the selected tests are to be run in succession
(the default is once only).

5.2.12 Set uTL Test Time

Microtopology (uTL) provides an exceptionally rigorous method of
testing PC memory, and produces a highly reliable diagnostic report.
It is a time-based test using a special “Microtopological Locality”
algorithm, and is exceptionally sensitive to issues of noise and timing
in the memory system as a whole.

Page 5.6
Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

The menu can be used to adjust the test time, which is expressed as
hundredths of a second per megabyte. For example, if 100 (i.e. 1 second)
were entered on a system with 512MB, the test would last for 512
seconds (eight and a half minutes). The default value is 150, which is
usually sufficient to expose all but the most obscure faults.

Note: A succinct definition of the Microtopological Locality algorithm

used here is: “a mathematical addressing method designed to
stimulate physically adjacent bit cells, effective even where the
precise ordering is unknown”.

5.3 Motherboard Diagnostics

The motherboard tests are extensive, consisting of various low-level
tests as detailed in the sections below. The left-hand side of the screen
provides motherboard details and the status of the tests, while the right-
hand side contains a menu of these tests. Operator action is only required
if the CMOS RAM clock and system clock differ by more than a few
seconds. If you only want to perform selected tests you can do this from
the Burn-In menu option (see the Burn-In Section of the manual).

Note: Some chipsets may not implement all the features of the original
Intel design. In some cases, this can result in some tests failing.
If this happens, you should consult the chipset manufacturer’s
literature or consult with the motherboard manufacturer.

DMA Controller Tests

This test exercises the DMA controller’s 3 types of registers (page,
address and count), displaying PASSED or FAILED against each one.

These results are mainly informative to engineers. Some chipsets may

not support the standard full set of page registers, as not all of them
are used on the PC. The set of registers tested has been restricted to
the common minimum.

System Timer Tests

These test the system timer chip (i.e. NOT the Real-Time-Clock). Clock
ticking checks that the chip is generating interrupts. A clock tick check
is followed by the frequencies of the three channel timers. The reload

Page 5.7
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

interval values are shown for information only: they may be of benefit
to an experienced engineer.

Channel 0 tests the counter associated with timer 0 to make sure it

conforms with the operational characteristics of the standard Intel 8254
counter/timer chips or chipsets incorporating these functions.

Channels 1 and 2 run similar tests. Channel 1 is normally associated with

memory refresh, and Channel 2 is normally connected to the speaker.
(The speaker is disabled during testing: upon completion of the test, a
beep will be heard of the currently programmed frequency).

Interrupt Controller Tests

Pc-Check tests some basic CPU interrupts, namely divide-by-zero,
single-step (trace), breakpoint, overflow, invalid opcode, master
controller and slave controller. The main program sets up an interrupt
handler for each of these, generating the appropriate problem, and then
checking that the interrupt occurred.

The interrupt controller test checks out the 8259 chip, or its chipset
equivalent. Specifically, it checks the “Mask” register which allows
selective disabling of a given type of interrupt. This is the only register
that can be tested because it can be read and written to. All others are
read or write only. This test is unavailable if memory managers are
loaded (see Appendix A).

Keyboard Controller Tests

Pc-Check performs a series of six keyboard controller tests, returning
either a pass or a fail for each. In the event of a failure, one of the
following messages may appear which better describes the fault.
Error Messages and Comments
“FAILED: No reply”
“Clock Low”
“Clock High”
“Data Low”
“Data High”

Check the motherboard for physical faults and/or contact a qualified

technician.
Page 5.8
Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

PCI Bus Tests

Scans the PCI Bus, accesses the devices found, checks the configuration
and exercises the PCI BIOS functions. The process completes rapidly. This
test is unavailable if memory managers are loaded (see Appendix A).

Non-Volatile CMOS RAM Tests

Checks the power-sense pin of the RTC (Real-Time Clock) which will
fail if the battery is flat. The test then exercises the standard CMOS
RAM locations with a walking bit test. The CMOS checksum is then
calculated and compared with the stored value.

Note: If you are running Pc-Check on a PS/2 system, a password is

stored in CMOS but is locked out of read and write operations by
hardware. This will cause the CMOS RAM tests to be skipped.

The test also confirms that the Real-Time Clock is running. The RTC’s
status or mode registers are then checked to ensure that they contain
standard IBM PC values. If not, “Non-Standard Mode” is displayed,
but this is not considered to be a failure of the RTC.

The RTC’s alarm operation is checked by setting an alarm time 2

seconds ahead and waiting for it with a timeout delay. This also tests
the RTC’s alarm IRQ generation.

The clock synchronicity test checks that the CMOS RAM clock and
the system clock are running at the same rate and that their times are
not more than 3 seconds apart. Should the times differ by more than
3 seconds, a prompt will appear, giving you the option to resync the
system clock with the CMOS RAM clock.

Finally, the system (DOS) and CMOS (RTC) date & time are displayed
(and continuously updated). Press the <ENTER> key to exit the test.

If you were asked to set the date and time when you booted the system,
you can check that they are correct.

5.4 Floppy Disk Diagnostics

Checks the floppy diskette drives and the drive controller. The left-
hand side of the screen provides details of the selected floppy drive

Page 5.9
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

and the status of the tests, while the right-hand side contains a menu
from which you can select a different floppy disk (if applicable) and
the tests you wish to run.

To run a test, select the test option from the menu and press
<ENTER>.
IMPORTANT

Two of these tests involve non-destructive writing to the

diskette. There is always a slight risk of data loss in such
a procedure (for example a power failure during the test),
so do not risk using a diskette containing information
which is not backed up. Should you be running Pc-Check
from diskette, any data loss would of course require you
to regenerate a Pc-Check program diskette.

5.4.1 The Select Drive Menu

This option allows the user to select the floppy disk drive to test, from
a menu of the available drives. Information about the floppy disk is
displayed on the left-hand side of the screen.

5.4.2 The Test Settings Menu

The Test Settings Menu allows you to configure the testing parameters
used by the tests presented in the Floppy Disk Tests Menu.

Number of Retries
This option allows you to select the number of retries per test performed
after a test operation fails (e.g. a read, write, seek etc.). Any failure,
regardless of the number of retries set, will be logged in the error log,
but it will not be counted as an error until the specified number of retries
has been exhausted. For example, if this value is set to two, the test will
try an operation three times (logging each failed attempt in the error
log) before counting this operation as an error (and failing the device).
See Test Settings >> Maximum Errors for a description on how to stop
testing when a number of errors have occurred.

Note: The default value for this setting is three, i.e. failed operations
will be retried three times only.

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Maximum Errors
This option allows you to select the maximum number of errors per test
that may occur before a test terminates. If this value is set to fifty, the
fiftieth error will cause this test to terminate (give up). The first error
will cause a failure to be recorded. See Test Settings >> Number of
Retries for a description of what is considered an error.

Note: The default value for this setting is 50. This means that testing
will continue until 50 errors have been logged.

Select Test Duration

Because of the short test time of floppy disks, the default value can
usually be accepted. See the corresponding section under Hard Disk
Diagnostics if you require a full description.

Select Test Coverage

Because of the short test time of floppy disks, the default value can
usually be accepted. See the corresponding section under Hard Disk
Diagnostics if you require a full description.

5.4.3 Read Test

This is a media class test. The Read Test reads sectors from the currently
selected floppy disk (within the selected test range). This test diagnoses
the device’s mechanical functionality, media integrity and ability to
transfer data to the host controller. The test screen (as with all media
tests) shows the name of the test (Floppy Disk Diagnostics – Read
Test) for the title, followed by a section containing the drive letter and
capacity of the disk under test.

The next screen section contains a table giving details of the current
status of the test, although this is not usually of great interest, because
of the small capacity and short test time of floppy disks. See the similar
“Read Test” section of the Hard Disk Diagnostics if you require further
information about the parameters displayed.

The final section of the screen is filled with the bottom of the error log
(most recently logged information).

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5.4.4 Read Verify Test

The Read Verify Test checks the media of the currently selected floppy
disk drive for bad sectors etc. This test causes the device physically to
read the media but NOT transfer the data to the host controller. However,
unlike the Read Test, this test does not test the device’s ability to transfer
data to the host computer.

See “Read Test” for a description of the screen layout.

5.4.5 Non-destructive Write Test

A warning panel appears with the following message:
Please ensure you have a valid up-to-date backup of your
data before running this test. If this test is interrupted by
power loss or user reboot, data corruption will occur.

In the interests of your data security, you are required

to repeat the following case-sensitive key in order to
continue.

The user is requested to repeat the challenge key ‘YES’ (case insensitive)
before the test executes. This challenge is presented on entry to the
test (in interactive mode) and at the start of burn-in (in burn-in mode).
Although this test is theoretically safe, it does involve temporary
changes to the disk, and is therefore vulnerable to the effects of power
loss, etc.

This test writes contiguously to the whole of the diskette, and logs
any errors. Various parameters are displayed, indicating the progress
of the test.

5.4.6 Mechanics Stress Test

This test exaggerates the mechanical stresses caused by fragmented file
systems in the day-to-day use of a drive. It can show up faulty seek
logic, overshoot and undershoot problems, etc. Details of duration,
coverage, head position and progress are given.

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5.4.7 Write Protect Test

Returns a PASS or FAIL depending upon whether the write protection
mechanism works correctly or not. Pc-Check asks for the write-
protection on the inserted disk to be changed. Only available in
Interactive mode.

5.4.8 View Error Log

A menu allows the results of the above tests to be viewed on-screen,
printed or saved to a file.

5.5 Hard Disk Diagnostics

WARNING
The Non-Destructive Write Test and Internal Cache Test
described below can, under certain circumstances such as
power failure, result in corruption of data. The Destructive
Write Test erases all data on the currently selected disk.
Please ensure you have read the advice given in the
appropriate sections before selecting these options.

Note: If Pc-Check detects a BIOS which does not support 48-bit

LBA addressing (required for ATA drive media capacities over
approximately 134GB), it will issue a warning when a test is
running which is about to fail owing to the lack of support.

5.5.1 Menu Layout

The Pc-Check Hard Disk Diagnostics screen is split into two panels. The
left panel shows information pertaining to the menu options displayed
in the right panel.

5.5.2 The Hard Disk Tests Menu

The information panel contains the overall status of the current disk
and the results of any previously run tests. Disk status will be shown as
N/A if no tests have been run, PASSED if all previously run tests have
passed, or FAILED if any previously run tests have failed. In interactive
mode, re-running a test will overwrite the previous result.

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5.5.3 The Select Disk Menu

In this menu, the information panel on the left provides an overview
of the currently highlighted disk. This description includes the model
number, firmware revision, serial number and capacity of the disk
(including the Host Protected Area if one has been set). The information
panel may show the disk as ‘Unidentified’ for non-IDE (i.e. non-ATA /
non-SATA) disks and disks connected via custom controllers.

Selecting a disk will reset the test range to cover the entirety of the disk’s
surface (this applies to media tests only) and clear the error log. If the
error log is not empty, you will be prompted that errors exist, before it
is cleared and the current disk is changed.

Selecting ‘Exit’ or pressing <Esc> in this menu will return you to the
parent menu without changing the current disk.
Error Messages and Comments
‘No Response from Hard Disk - Error’

Unable to determine disk capacity: as a result, the hard disk tests

are likely to fail for this disk.

5.5.4 The Test Settings Menu

The Test Settings Menu allows you to configure the testing parameters
used by the tests presented in the Hard Disk Tests Menu. Tests are split
into two classes: media tests and device tests. Media tests diagnose
integrity failures with the data stored on the disk’s media. Device
tests diagnose faults pertaining to the firmware logic and mechanical
operations of the device.

Number of Retries
This option allows you to select the number of retries per test performed
after a test operation fails (e.g. a read, write, seek etc.). Any failure,
regardless of the number of retries set, will be logged in the error log,
but it will not be counted as an error until the specified number of retries
has been exhausted. For example, if this value is set to two, the test will
try an operation three times (logging each failed attempt in the error
log) before counting this operation as an error (and failing the device).

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

See Test Settings >> Set Maximum Errors for a description on how to
stop testing when a number of errors have occurred.

Note: The default value for this setting is zero. This means that
failed operations will not be retried – they will be immediately
considered errors.

Maximum Errors
This option allows you to select the maximum number of errors per
test that may occur before a test terminates. If this value is set to fifty,
the fiftieth error will cause this test to terminate (give up). The first
error will cause the device to fail. See Test Settings >> Set Number of
Retries for a description of what is considered an error.

Note: The default value for this setting is 50. This means that testing
will continue until 50 errors have been logged.

Check SMART First

Enables/disables the “Check SMART First” facility.

Note: Many modern hard disks incorporate SMART (Self Monitoring

Analysis and Reporting Technology), which attempts to predict
device failure. SMART software on the HDD monitors the
internal performance of motors, media, heads and electronics
of the disk. SMART software on the host monitors the overall
reliability status of the disk. Any errors are logged by the disk
firmware.

SMART only functions if it is switched on at the level of the disk

firmware, typically via a disk manufacturer’s utility. Pc-Check
also facilitates the switching on or off of SMART, via the “Enable
SMART” and “Disable SMART” options in the Utilities Menu
of the Hard Disk Tests (q.v.).

IMPORTANT

Just because SMART generates an alert, do not assume

that there is definitely a disk problem. Conversely, do not
assume that the lack of an alert means the disk cannot
possibly be faulty.

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If Pc-Check detects a SMART alert, you are recommended

to stop using the disk, and contact your disk manufacturer’s
technical support department for instructions. They may
ask you to run additional diagnostics using their own
dedicated disk utilities. Do not ignore the alert.

Assuming that SMART itself is enabled, then, if Check SMART First

is also enabled, the Read Test, Read Verify Test, Non-destructive Write
Test, Destructive Write Test, Mechanics Stress Test and Internal Cache
Test perform an initial ‘quick check’ of the SMART Summary Error
Log for the commands that they issue. For example, the Read Test
will check for previous failures of the READ SECTOR(S) and READ
SECTOR(S) EXT commands prior to executing the actual test.

If any failures are found, the test is failed outright, because SMART has
already established that the disk is faulty. This can decrease test time
significantly for disks that support the SMART feature set, and which
have already logged failures via SMART.

Note: “Check SMART First” should not be confused with “Enable

SMART”. The latter ensures that SMART itself is activated on
the disk at a fundamental level, and continues to apply after Pc-
Check has terminated. The former is an option within a Pc-Check
session which causes Pc-Check to behave in the way described
above.

HPA Protection
The Host Protected Area is an area located at the end of the physical
disk. Applications and certain operating system functions cannot access
this area. This area is typically used to store system restoration data
(so you can restore your operating system etc. to the state they were in
when you or your manufacturer imaged your machine). It can also have
other functions such as storing incremental backups etc.

When HPA protection is enabled, (potentially) destructive tests (Non-

Destructive Write, Destructive Write and Internal Cache Test) will NOT
test this area for safety reasons. The Read Test, Read Verify Test, and
Mechanics Stress Test will always test this area.

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

When HPA protection is disabled, all tests will use this area during testing.
A prominent warning is displayed on screen when the user disables HPA
protection, to ensure that they understand what they are doing.

The Media Test Settings Menu

The Media Test Settings Menu allows you to configure testing
parameters for the Read Test, Read Verify Test, Non-Destructive Write
Test, and Destructive Write Test.

Note: The default testing condition is 100% coverage, i.e. the tests
will take as long as necessary to test every sector of the disk.
Should you wish to run for a specific time or at a specified
lower coverage, either use the menus below, or the Command
parameters /HMC or /HMD. For example, to run for 10 minutes
at a coverage which permits this, you can set /HMD=10m.

Select Test Duration

Setting media tests to test by duration will cause them adaptively to alter
their coverage to complete within the requested time frame.

The user is presented with a frame that shows the time in the format “##h
##m ##s”. The two digits left of the hours field will be highlighted.

Up, down, left and right cursor keys can be used to move between fields.
Pressing <ENTER> on a field will allow the user to edit the value in
that field. Pressing <ENTER> again (after typing a number or not) will
commit the field value; pressing <Esc> will cancel editing the field and
the field will not be committed. Pressing <Esc> when no fields are being
edited will exit out of the set duration dialogue.

If any field values have been committed, the whole duration will be
committed. If no fields have been committed, the duration will not be
changed.

The duration entered here will only limit the duration of media tests.
It will not extend them. When tests are selected to test by duration, the
coverage is calculated automatically as the test runs, to ensure that the
test completes in the requested time frame. If the test is taking too long,
the coverage is reduced. If the test is running too quickly, i.e. it will
complete before time with the current coverage percentage, then the

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coverage is increased. Coverage never exceeds 100%; i.e. no one part

of the disk is tested more than once in a single test instance. Setting a
test duration value changes the test coverage to Auto.

Select Test Coverage

Setting media tests to test by coverage will cause them to take as long as
is necessary to cover a specified percentage of the selected test range.

The user is presented with a frame that shows a filled bar and a
percentage. Up, down, left and right cursor keys can be used to modify
the coverage value by 1%. Page up and page down cursor keys can be
used to modify the coverage value by 10%. Pressing <ENTER> commits
changes. Pressing <Esc> cancels and changes are not committed. Setting
a test coverage value changes the test duration to Auto.

Test Range
The user is presented with a frame requesting the start and end sectors.
Start of range is inclusive, end of range is exclusive (e.g. hexadecimal
00000000:00000000 to 00000000:00000010 will test exactly 16 sectors
starting at the beginning of the disk).

The end sector must be at least one higher than the start sector. The
end sector may not be greater than the first inaccessible sector of the
disk (one past the end sector). Any attempt to violate these rules will
be automatically corrected for you.

Note: When changing disks, the test range is set to span the entirety
of the disk’s media.

The Device Test Settings Menu

The Device Test Settings Menu allows you to configure testing parameters
used by the Mechanics Stress Test and Internal Cache Test.

Select Test Duration

Same as Test Settings >> Media Test Settings >> Select Test Duration,
but for device tests. When device tests are set to test by duration, the
testing level is automatically adjusted in order for the test to complete

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

within the specified time frame. Setting test duration changes the test
level to Auto.

Select Test Level

Similar to Test Settings >> Media Test Settings >> Select Test Coverage,
but instead of specifying the percentage of the test range that will be
covered, it specifies the ‘level’ of the testing performed. In short, a value
of 50% will mean the test is half as effective as it would otherwise be
at 100%. For example: the full Mechanics Stress Test performs 50,000
seeks – a setting of 50% would make it do 25,000 seeks; the Internal
Cache Test hits as many cache locations as possible – a setting of
50% would make it hit half of them. Setting test level changes the test
duration to Auto.

5.5.5 Check Performance

Performs a media ‘sweep’ for visual analysis of performance stutter,
followed by distributed transfer rate measurements with minimum,
maximum, and standard deviation values (distributed so as to account
for zone encoding producing different transfer rates at different positions
on the media). A “from cache” transfer rate and average random access
time are also displayed (ms).

Note: This option does not produce a pass or fail - the operator must
interpret the values to make this decision. This test is for fault
indication purposes only – a message to this effect is included.

Advanced Note: Interpretation of Results

Different parts of a hard disk transfer data at different rates (zone
encoding). Therefore differences are to be expected between the
minimum and maximum transfer rates, even for a healthy disk. Standard
Deviation (SD) is a measure of the spread of the results, such that the
smaller the value, the closer the bulk of the results tend to be to the
average; the larger the value, the greater the spread of transfer speeds
measured. SD is clearly also going to be affected by zone encoding,
which enforces a degree of spread of transfer speeds, which in turn
increases the SD value.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

At first sight, therefore, it would seem that maximum, minimum and SD

values are of little use in trying to determine if a hard disk is suspect.
However, if a similar hard disk which already has a clean bill of health
has been analysed, and the results noted, it becomes possible to build
up a knowledge base of expected performance for various types of
hard disk. This can help the experienced user to identify potentially
problematic hard disks quickly, using this test with an understanding
of the result parameters.

5.5.6 Read Test

This is a media class test. The Read Test reads sectors from the currently
selected hard disk (within the selected test range). This test diagnoses
the device’s mechanical functionality, media integrity and ability to
transfer data to the host controller. The test screen (as with all media
tests) shows the name of the test (Hard Disk Diagnostics – Read Test) for
the title, followed by a section containing the model number, firmware
revision, serial number, capacity, and status of the disk under test. The
next screen section contains a table. A typical snapshot might resemble
the following:

Elapsed Remaining Total

Duration 15m 45m 1h
Coverage 25.00% 75.00% 100.00%
Data 50.00 GB 150.00 GB 200.00 GB
Sectors 00000000:05D21DBA 00000000:1176592E 00000000:174876E8

The duration-elapsed field shows that the test has been running for
15 minutes. The duration-remaining field shows that the test will
take another 45 minutes to complete. When media tests are set to
test by coverage, the duration-remaining and duration-total fields are
estimated.

The coverage-elapsed field shows that 25% of the selected test range
has been tested so far. The coverage-remaining field shows that 75% of
the selected test range is still to be tested before the test will complete.
When media tests are set to test by duration, the coverage-remaining
and coverage-total fields are estimated.

The data-elapsed field shows that 50 GB of the test range has been
tested (this is calculated from the test range size multiplied by the

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

elapsed coverage). The data-remaining field shows that 150 GB of the

test range is still to be tested before the test will complete. When media
tests are set to test by duration, the data-remaining and data-total fields
are estimated.

The sector fields show the same information as the data fields but in
hexadecimal logical block address notation.

Following that you will see the current sector number and a progress
bar spanning the width of the screen.

The final section of the screen is filled with the bottom of the error log
(most recently logged information).

5.5.7 Read Verify Test

The Read Verify Test checks the media of the currently selected hard
disk for bad sectors etc. This test causes the device physically to read
the media but NOT transfer the data to the host controller. This results
in faster testing, with much the same benefits. However, unlike the
Read Test, this test does not test the device’s ability to transfer data to
the host computer.

See “Read Test” for a description of the screen layout.

Note: This test cannot be run on non-IDE disks and disks connected
via custom controllers. When run on these disks, this test will
display an appropriate error message and set the result of the
test to N/A.

5.5.8 Non-Destructive Write Test

WARNING
Please ensure you have a valid up-to-date backup of your
data before running this test. If this test is interrupted by
power loss or user reboot, data corruption will occur.

This is a media class test. Although this test is theoretically safe, it does
involve temporary changes to the disk, and is therefore vulnerable to
the effects of power loss etc. Therefore the user is requested to repeat
the challenge key ‘YES’ (case insensitive) before the test executes. This

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

challenge will be presented on entry to the test (in interactive mode)

and at the start of burn-in (in burn-in mode).

This test will take approximately double the time which the Destructive
Write Test takes to complete (unless, of course, media tests are set to
test by duration, in which case, they will both take the same amount
of time to complete).

See “Read Test” for a description of the screen layout.

5.5.9 Destructive Write Test

WARNING
Please ensure you have a valid up-to-date backup of your
data before running this test.

THIS TEST WILL DESTROY THE ENTIRE CONTENTS

OF YOUR DISK.
This is a media class test. Due to the destructive nature of this test,
you are requested to repeat a random 8-character challenge key. This
challenge will be presented on entry to the test (in interactive mode)
and at the start of burn-in (in burn-in mode).

See “Read Test” for a description of screen layout.

5.5.10 Mechanics Stress Test

This is a device class test. This test exaggerates the mechanical stresses
caused by fragmented file systems in the day-to-day use of a disk. It can
show up faulty seek logic, overshoot and undershoot problems, etc.

The test screen begins with a section containing the model number,
firmware revision, serial number, capacity, and status of the disk under
test. Following that is a section containing a table. A typical snapshot
might resemble the following:

Elapsed Remaining Total

Duration 15m 45m 1h
Level 25.00% 75.00% 100.00%

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

The duration-elapsed field shows that the test has been running for
15 minutes. The duration-remaining field shows that the test will take
another 45 minutes to complete. When device tests are set to test by
level, the duration-remaining and duration-total fields are estimated.

The level-elapsed field shows that 25% of the test has been executed
so far. The level-remaining field shows that 75% of the test is still to be
executed before the test will complete. When device tests are set to test
by duration, the level-remaining and level-total fields are estimated.

Following that you will see a position bar that shows the current position
of the head in the Mechanics Stress Test and the (theoretical) current
cache read/write address in the Internal Cache Test. This is followed
by a progress bar spanning the width of the screen.

The final section of the screen is filled with the bottom of the error log
(most recently logged information).

5.5.11 Internal Cache Test

WARNING
Owing to the active nature of Pc-Check’s cache-sizing
algorithm, this test can be potentially destructive, if, for
example, it is interrupted by power loss or user reboot.

Please ensure you have a valid up-to-date backup of your

data before running this test.

This is a device class test. Because this test can be potentially destructive,
the user is requested to repeat the challenge key ‘YES’ (case insensitive)
before the test executes. This challenge is presented on entry to the
test (in interactive mode) and at the start of burn-in (in burn-in mode).
The integrity of the disk’s internal cache is tested. Hard disks currently
support RLA (read look-ahead) and write caching.

See ‘Mechanics Stress Test’ for the screen layout description.

5.5.12 SMART Test Menu

Note: Refer to the notes under the “Check SMART First” option for
more information and advice about SMART.

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Some hard disk service organisations will no longer accept hard disk
returns unless at least a SMART short self test function has been
performed.

Theoretically the self tests also benefit from sensors and specific
knowledge to which Pc-Check cannot obtain access. However it should
be remembered that the precise implementation and performance of the
test is entirely under the control of the hard disk manufacturer and their
individual firmware implementation.

Note: If SMART operations had been disabled for this disk, they are
temporarily enabled for the duration of these tests, and then
reset to disabled.

Note: Some of these tests, especially the Extended Self-Test, might take a
long time to run, characterised by periods of apparent inactivity.
A “spinner” alongside the progress bar gives reassurance that
the test is still functioning. A number of supportive messages
might also appear, such as a reminder that the hard disk activity
LED might not be lit - which does not indicate that the test has
hung.

SMART Immediate Test

Checks the entire SMART Error Log for previous failures of all hard
disk commands (0x01 to 0xff). If errors are found, the number of errors
is reported and warnings are displayed for those commands that have
failed. If the disk has experienced so many, or such severe, problems that
the disk has exceeded a manufacturer-defined threshold, the disk status
is then set to failed. Where possible, additional diagnostic information
is displayed.

All errors that appear in the SMART log are of physical significance,
i.e. they do not relate to programmatic errors, such as out of range sector
values. However, these errors may have come to pass due to something
as simple as a sharp knock or power fluctuation during operation.
Therefore a disk’s status may remain as passed, even though warnings
of command failures have been listed during the test.

However, because short-falls in some vendor implementations have

been know to pass disks which otherwise exhibit clear problems, this test
will fail a disk with an excessive error count, irrespective of the disk’s
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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

own reported SMART status (vendor firmware status). In interactive

mode, this test will recommend the use of SMART Self-Test options,
where it has detected suspicious log activity.

In the case of a disk with more than two warnings, it is good practice
to monitor the disk more closely in future, in case this is an early
indicator of a more serious problem.

SMART Short Self-Test

A bar reports progress in 10% increments. On completion, the result is
displayed in the bottom section of the screen.

Typically, this test should not take more than 10 minutes.

SMART Extended Self-Test

Note: If the SMART Short Self-Test fails, there is no point in running
this Extended Test.

If both of these tests are selected under burn-in, then, should the
SMART Short Self-Test fail, the SMART Extended Self-Test will
automatically be set to failed, and the burn-in will move on.

This test will (typically) test the entire medium, but might do so far more
quickly than a Pc-Check 100% coverage test. This is because the test
takes place entirely on the disk by the disk’s own controlling processor,
and no data need pass out of the disk. However, bear in mind the caveat
given above regarding the manufacturer’s implementation of the test.

The user interface for this test is identical to that of the SMART Short
Self-Test.

The duration of the SMART Extended Self-Test is dictated by media

size, and could take several hours.

5.5.13 View Error Log

Shows error log screen. The Error Log looks like this: -

Read Test: Disk 80H (Primary Master)

Read error at sector 00000000:00041F5C
Read error at sector 00000000:0021CF20

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Read Verify Test: Disk 80H (Primary Master)

Read error at sector 00000000:00041F5C
…etc.

Press ‘C’ to clear the error log (you will be prompted for confirmation);
‘S’ to save the error log to disk (you will be prompted for a filename);
‘P’ to print the error log to line printer (LPT1); or <Esc> to exit.

5.5.14 The Utilities Menu

Save Master Boot Record

Saves a copy of the currently selected hard disk master boot record
(MBR) to a floppy disk. You are asked to provide a floppy disk filename
for the MBR being saved: the default name includes the LUN value, e.g.
MBR_80PM.BIN. Several MBR files can be saved to the same floppy disk
by giving them different filenames. Read the important notes below.

Restore Master Boot Record

Restores the MBR for the currently selected hard disk from a copy held
on a floppy disk in drive A:. You are prompted to enter the filename from
which you wish to restore the MBR. See important notes below.

IMPORTANT

If you are running Pc-Check from a floppy diskette,

remember to replace the program disk AS SOON AS
the Save/Restore operation with the backup disk is
completed.

Always be sure to restore saved data only to the hard

disk from which it was saved. Check that the appropriate
hard disk is indeed the one currently selected.

Enable SMART Operations

Enables SMART operations for the currently selected disk. Future errors
will be logged by the disk (even while Pc-Check is not running) and will
cause it to fail the next time the Smart Immediate Test is run.

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

Disable SMART Operations

Disables SMART operations for this disk – future errors won’t be logged
at any time until the feature is re-enabled by whatever means.

5.6 CD-ROM/DVD Diagnostics

5.6.1 Configuration requirements

You will require just one CD-ROM/DVD drive, regardless of the medium
from which you are running Pc-Check. Both the Transfer Test and the
Random Seek Test require a data only CD-ROM or DVD (as appropriate),
whereas the Audio Disc Player requires an audio only disc.

The CD-ROM / DVD Test Disc Read requires either:

a Eurosoft CD Test Disc (which is typically an integral part of

a Pc-Check CD-ROM Program Disc)
or:
a Eurosoft DVD Test Disc. The latter is a multilayer DVD9 disc,
and is required to perform the DVD Laser Refocus Test.

Note: Contact Eurosoft if you require a multilayer DVD Test Disc.

For ATA CD-ROMs/DVDs, Pc-Check will drive the device directly

in the absence of a DOS device driver. For other types of CD-ROMs/
DVDs, the user must have loaded the relevant DOS device driver.
Hence these tests won’t work under Self-Boot Pc-Check for non-ATA
CD-ROMs/DVDs. See Appendix A for advice on how to test such drives
by running Pc-Check under a full DOS.

Note: Execution Times for CD-ROM Tests. Older CD-ROM drives

transfer data at a considerably slower rate than more recent
models. Inherently, comprehensive testing of older drives can
take a considerable time to run to completion.

During testing, the upper area of the screen lists a number of technical
parameters for the CD-ROM/DVD drive and interface, together with
a continually updated display of the sector under test.

Use the cursor keys to highlight the required option and press
<ENTER>.
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5.6.2 Select CD/DVD Device

If more than one such device is fitted, allows a particular drive to be
selected; otherwise states that only one device is present.

5.6.3 CD/DVD Transfer Test

Determines the sustained transfer rate of the CD-ROM or DVD drive
by reading the inserted disc for a given period. The result is displayed
in Kilobytes per second, and will be given a speed rating. Should the
drive not deliver more than 150KB/sec, then it does not even provide
the minimum CD-ROM data rate required for the reproduction of CD
audio, and will be deemed to have failed the test.

Note: The inserted disc will need to have at least 100,000 sectors
containing data before it can be used to run the test. The more
data on the disc, the more likely that the test will exhibit the full
performance of the drive.

Error Messages and Comments

‘This test requires a CD-ROM/DVD data disc’

5.6.4 CD/DVD Random Seek Test

Produces the average seek time for the CD-ROM/DVD drive by reading
random sectors from the inserted disc for a given period. The test will
fail if the average seek time is more than 1 second: this represents the
minimum acceptable standard for early multi-media systems.

Note: The inserted disc will need to have at least 66,000 sectors before
it can be used to run the test, but the results may not be accurate
unless the disc has at least 260,000 sectors: a warning will
appear on the screen in this case.

Error Messages and Comments

‘This test requires a CD-ROM/DVD data disc’
‘The inserted disc has less than 66,000 data sectors: it is too
small to give meaningful results’
‘The inserted disc only has a small number of data sectors:
this may adversely affect the results’

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5.6.5 CD/DVD Tray Test

This test is for tray-loading CD-ROM/DVD drives only. Ejects and closes
the CD-ROM/DVD tray and confirms the success of each operation.
IMPORTANT

Do not run this test if you are using a slot loading CD-
ROM/DVD drive, because such drives cannot perform the
“close” operation. The consequences are:

The test will be logged as a failure. This could possibly

distort the final outcome of the test report.

If Pc-Check is being run unattended, the disc will no

longer be available!

5.6.6 Audio CD Disc Player

This tests the sound capability of the CD-ROM/DVD Drive. By
inserting an audio disc and selecting this option, the disc will then
proceed to play from the first track and continue until the end of the
disc. It is recommended that you monitor the sound via headphones
connected directly to the player. The sound might or might not be audible
via the computer’s speakers, depending upon whether you have digital
or analogue connections.

Error Messages And Comments

‘This test requires an audio disc. CD-ROM/DVD data discs
and mixed data and audio discs are not supported’

5.6.7 CD/DVD Test Disc Read

This test requires a Eurosoft CD or DVD Test Disc which is specially
laid out to test CD-ROM or DVD drives fully. The test reads from the
beginning of the proprietary test file contained on the disc to the end of
the file, ensuring that each block is readable, and verifies that it contains
exactly the correct information.

The test can be interrupted by pressing <Esc>, giving an aborted

result.

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Note: If your package does not include a CD or DVD Test Disc, and
you require one, contact Eurosoft.

5.6.8 DVD Laser Refocus Test

This test is for multilayer DVD drives, and requires the Eurosoft
multilayer DVD Test Disc. If your are not running from the CD-ROM/
DVD drive, insert the DVD Test Disc. If you are running from CD-
ROM, you will be prompted to swap out the program disc and insert
the DVD Test Disc.

The test moves back and forth between the layers, ensuring that the
test data is read accurately.

If appropriate, you will be prompted to replace the CD program disc.

5.7 ATAPI Devices

If no ATAPI devices are installed, a message to this effect is displayed.
If only CD-ROM/DVD devices are detected, you are prompted to use
the CD-ROM/DVD tests instead. Otherwise, a menu is presented which
lists all ATAPI devices found (CD-ROM, LS-Floppy, ZIP).

If CD-ROM/DVD is chosen from this menu, you are transferred to the

standard CD-ROM/DVD tests, as described in the appropriate sub-
section of the manual.

Choosing LS-Floppy or ZIP leads to a test sub-menu.

IMPORTANT

Two of these tests involve non-destructive writing to the

disk. There is always a slight risk of data loss in such a
procedure (for example a power failure during the test),
so do not risk using a disk containing information which
is not backed up.

5.7.1 Linear Read Test

A contiguous read of the disk is performed.

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5.7.2 Non-Destructive Write Test

Writes contiguously to the whole of the disk.

5.7.3 Random Read/Write Test

Reads and writes non-destructively to the whole disk in a random order.

5.7.4 ATAPI Device Test Results

This option can be used at any stage to provide consolidated information
on the tests performed. A submenu allows you to view the results, print
the results to LPT1, or save the results to a file, by typing the full file
pathname.

Note: It can take the drive up to a minute to detect the presence

of media.

5.8 TPM (Trusted Platform Module)

This test displays information about the TPM device, before running
the test and displaying the results.

Note: A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a hardware device

built to the specification of the Trusted Computing Platform
Alliance (TCPA). Essentially it consists of a secure micro-
controller plus cryptographic functions. It works with
supporting software and firmware to prevent unauthorised
access to passwords and other sensitive data, and to support
secure transactions.

If Pc-Check does not detect a configurable device which supports

a TCPA implementation, an appropriate error message is
displayed.

5.9 Serial Port Diagnostics

Note: A set of loop-back plugs may be ordered separately from Eurosoft
by contacting us at the address or phone/fax numbers given at
the beginning of this manual.

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One test (Serial Port Internal Loopback) does not require a serial
loopback plug. For all other tests, please ensure that your serial
loopback plug is inserted into the correct port before you begin
these tests.

The screen is divided into two parts: the left-hand panel shows details
of the selected serial port, including the current results status of the tests,
while the right-hand panel contains a serial port selection menu.

5.9.1 Serial Port Selection Menu

The menu displays all the serial ports in the system with the port
number, I/O address and IRQ level for each port. Additionally, if the
modem tests have previously been run in this session, the menu will
show which ports are serial ports and which have modems attached.
The latter, if selected, will refuse to run and will recommend that the
modem tests are used instead.

Once a serial port has been selected, the next screen displays details of
this port and the status of the tests in the left-hand panel, and a menu
of tests in the right-hand panel.

5.9.2 Serial Port Tests Menu

The right-hand panel uses the standard cursor keys to permit selection
of a particular serial port, and to decide whether to run all tests or
individual tests.

The serial port tests are full duplex and interrupt driven to apply
maximum stress to the components during testing.

IRQ Test
The IRQ test will already have a result at this stage: it cannot
subsequently be run. Since the serial port tests are interrupt driven, then,
if this test has failed, the problem must be corrected before any other
tests can be run: a message to this effect will appear on the screen.

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5.9.3 Select Another Serial Port

Displays the Serial Port’s Selection Menu again, or gives a message if
only one port was detected.

5.9.4 Run All Serial Port Tests

When you select this option, all the tests listed below on the menu are
run in sequence on the currently selected port. You can then insert the
loop-back plug into the next port and choose “Select Another Serial
Port”. The option “Run All Serial Port Tests” will repeat all the tests
on the Serial Port Test Menu in sequential order as before.

5.9.5 Serial Port Line Control Test

This tests the serial port’s ability to transmit and receive data with various
combinations of parity, stop and data bits. Once started, the right hand panel
shows data transmitted and received from the serial port, whilst the message
at the bottom of the screen shows the current line control status.

5.9.6 Serial Port Handshake Test

This tests eight signals of an RS232 serial port. The panel on the right of
the screen will indicate a PASS/FAIL result individually for each signal,
whilst an overall result is recorded in the results of the left hand panel.

5.9.7 Serial Port Loopback Test

This tests the serial port’s ability to transmit and receive data
simultaneously (Full duplex) at various baud rates. Once started, the
right hand panel shows data transmitted and received from the serial
port, whilst the message at the bottom of the screen shows the current
line control status.

5.9.8 Serial Port Internal FIFO Test

This tests the serial port’s ability to transmit and receive data simultaneously
(Full duplex) at 115,200 baud using the advanced serial port’s internal
FIFO buffer (First in first out). Once started, the right hand panel shows
data transmitted and received from the serial port, whilst the message at
the bottom of the screen shows the current line control status.

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This test will refuse to run if the port under test does not have an internal
FIFO, and will display an appropriate message for five seconds.

5.9.9 Serial Port Internal Loop Test

This test permits signals to be looped internally in the UART (port
driver chip) using a special diagnostic mode supported by most chips.
This means that some testing is possible without inserting a loopback
device.

Note: By looping internally to the device, there is no test of the

electronic tracking, and/ or cable connections, to the physical
port on the system case, and the number of handshake signals
tested is reduced. For these reasons an external loopback device
remains the preferred method of testing.

5.10 Parallel Port Diagnostics

Note: A set of loopback plugs may be ordered separately from Eurosoft
by contacting us at the address or phone/fax numbers given at
the beginning of this manual.

Please ensure that your parallel loopback plug is inserted into the
correct port before you begin these tests.

The screen is divided into two parts: initially the left-hand panel shows
the above message while the right-hand panel contains a parallel port
selection menu.

5.10.1 Parallel Port Selection Menu

The menu displays all the parallel ports in the system with the port
number and I/O address for each port. Press <ENTER> to select the
desired parallel port for testing. The next screen displays details of this
port and the status of the tests in the left-hand panel, and a menu of
tests in the right-hand panel.

5.10.2 Parallel Port Tests Menu

The right-hand panel uses the standard cursor keys to permit selection
of a particular parallel port, and to decide whether to run all tests or

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

individual tests. The current status of the test being performed is then
displayed in the right-hand panel.

5.10.3 Select Another Parallel Port

Displays the Parallel Port Selection Menu again, or gives a message if
only one port was detected.

5.10.4 Run All Parallel Port Tests

When you select this option, all the tests listed below on the menu are
run in sequence on the currently selected port. You can then insert the
loopback plug into the next port and choose “Select Another Parallel
Port”. The option “Run All Parallel Port Tests” will repeat all the tests
on the Parallel Port Test Menu in sequential order as before.

5.10.5 Parallel Port Controller Test

Determines whether the parallel device is performing correctly.

5.10.6 Parallel Status Port Test

Verifies that the parallel port is operating correctly, and is connected
to the outside world.

5.10.7 Parallel Port Interrupt Test

Checks that the parallel port is generating an interrupt, and is connected
to the outside world.
IMPORTANT

If your system’s BIOS setup has the facility to configure

advanced parallel modes, please do not select EXTENDED,
as the IRQ cannot be detected in extended mode. The
test works correctly for other modes (e.g. NORMAL,
STANDARD, EPP, ECP).

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5.11 Modem Diagnostics

Software Modems
Software Modems or “WinModems” are controlled entirely by Operating
System drivers. These modems cannot be tested by Pc-Check.

It is important that your modem is in the idle state before you begin
these tests. This can be achieved by resetting your modem (if your
modem has a reset button) or by switching the modem off and then
on again. If you have an internal modem without a reset button,
this will not be necessary.

During the various modem tests the message ‘ERROR’ may

occasionally be observed. This is an expected reply from your
modem and does not indicate a failure of any kind.

The above message is displayed on screen while Pc-Check detects all

active modems. The modem detection may take 30 seconds or more
to complete, as it is very thorough: please be patient during this period.
If no active modems are detected, a message to this effect is displayed
before returning to the Advanced Diagnostics Menu.

If more than one active modem is detected, and assuming that a full
duplex data path could be established with each, a modem selection
menu will appear. Once you have selected a modem using the keys
indicated, or if only one active modem was detected, the left-hand panel
shows modem details while the progress of the data collection test is
displayed in the right-hand panel. Upon completion of data collection,
the modem tests menu is displayed instead.

Data collection
The modem data collection phase is performed once only after a modem is
selected, and the left-hand panel is updated. The ‘Data collection’ result in
the left-hand panel will be updated upon completion. In general, a fail here
indicates that communications broke down during the data collection.

Important notes for internal modem users

Pc-Check has adopted the convention used by DOS and the BIOS for
mapping the COM port numbers to the actual I/O port addresses. Some
other software products do not adhere to this method, so a little care

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

may be needed to ensure that the results provided by Pc-Check for a

particular hardware setup are not misinterpreted.

With DOS, up to four serial ports can be used, with base I/O addresses
at 3F8H, 2F8H, 3E8H and 2E8H. These addresses are hidden from the
DOS user via a set of pseudonyms, the COM port numbers. At bootup,
the BIOS searches for serial port devices, and allocates successive COM
location numbers to them in turn.

If a hardware configuration uses all four ports, there is no ambiguity,

since, for example, the fourth base address 2E8H will have COM4
allocated to it. But consider the case of a system with two serial ports at
3F8H and 2F8H, plus just one internal modem which the manufacturer
has set as COM4 (i.e. effectively I/O address 2E8H). DOS and the BIOS
assign this device to COM3, not COM4, i.e. it is the third device to
have been detected. Pc-Check reports the value used by DOS and the
BIOS, so that in this example the modem will be logged as being Serial
Port COM3 at I/O Base Address 2E8H.

5.11.1 Modem Selection Menu

This is only displayed if more than one active modem is detected. The
menu displays all active modems with the port number for each. Pressing
<ENTER> brings up the test menu for the chosen modem.

5.11.2 Modem Tests Menu

The right-hand panel uses the standard cursor keys to permit selection
of a particular modem, and to decide whether to run all tests or
individual tests.

5.11.3 Select Another Modem

Displays a menu of modems again or gives a message if only one was
detected.

5.11.4 Change Local Baud Rate

This option allows the user specifically to change the baud rate used
for testing.

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Note: The ‘Max/Current Local Speed’ field in the left-hand panel

indicates the baud rate currently being used to perform the
various tests, and will also be the maximum possible local baud
rate, However, if the baud rate has been explicitly changed using
the ‘Change Local Baud Rate’ option, then the chosen baud rate
will be shown here and used for testing from then on.

When a new baud rate is selected, Pc-Check will attempt to

establish communication at this speed. If it is unable to do so, a message
will be displayed before allowing another baud rate to be chosen. <Esc>
returns to the modem test menu.

5.11.5 Modem Register/Loopback Test

When selected, this function performs two tests sequentially: the
“Modem Register Test” and the “Analogue Loopback Test”. During
these tests the communication to and from the modem may be viewed
in the ‘Transmitted’ and ‘Received’ windows in the right hand panel.
These tests can take several minutes each.

5.11.6 User Interactive Modem Test

This test requires user intervention, as its title suggests. Initially, the
modem has to be initialized and this may take a few seconds: a message
is displayed during this period.

Two tests are performed in sequence: the ‘Data Carrier Test’ and the
‘Dial Tone Test’.

Each test will generate tones within a few seconds of the message
appearing. Acceptable keys are ‘Y/y’ to record a pass result (and switch
off the tones), ‘N/n’ to record a failed result, or <Esc> to abort the test
and record an aborted result.

5.11.7 Pc-Check Dumb Terminal

The dumb terminal is provided for the more experienced user or those
that would like to test their modem on-line. There are only two special
function keys: F1 to clear the screen and F10 to exit the terminal.

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

Sample session to test modem on-line:-

1 Using “Change Local Baud Rate” option, select a speed

appropriate for the service

2 Enter the Dumb Terminal and type:

ATDT <BBS telephone number>

3 The BBS system will answer and come on-line

4 After closing BBS session, type ATH0

Note: ATH Zero, not alphabetic O, in the above line.

5.12 ATA
These tests probe for and perform basic register checks on ATA
controllers of both parallel and serial type.

Note: It is possible that you might see the message: “No serial ATA
controllers were identified”, even though such devices exist.
Furthermore, you might possibly find that they are tested and
listed under Parallel ATA Tests. The explanation is as follows.

Some earlier serial controllers were given a generic class type,

or in some cases, the existing (parallel) ATA class code. For
those devices given the generic storage class, it is not possible
to differentiate the device from other controller types, and so
these devices will not be tested.

However, those classed as if they are parallel ATA devices will

test as PATA, but, because SATA controllers provide a parallel
compatible interface subset, the test will still pass.

5.12.1 Parallel ATA Test

This test displays vendor and device information, various command
base addresses, and a Pass/Fail indication.

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5.12.2 Serial ATA Test

The tests and display are very similar to those for the Parallel ATA test.

5.13 USB
Note: If present, USB support in the BIOS must be enabled before
running these tests.

Pc-Check’s USB diagnostics support multiple-controller

configurations.

No USB devices should be inserted or removed during testing.

The left-hand panel provides USB details and the status of the tests, while
the right-hand panel contains a test menu with the following options:

5.13.1 Test USB Controllers

A series of tests is performed on the USB, including BIOS Handoff,
Initialise Controller and Register Tests. Details of detected USB controllers
are displayed below the test results. Press <ENTER> to continue.

5.13.2 USB Functional Tests

Requires the fitting of a Eurosoft USB Diagnostic Loopback Plug. A
preliminary message to this effect is displayed. Various tests for the USB
interface, system interface and communications interface are performed.
Details of detected USB loopback plugs are displayed below the test
results. Press <ENTER> to continue.

5.13.3 USB Device Information

Device data relating to the USB root hub ports is first read and cached
before being displayed to screen. The data includes controller number,
device number and vendor ID. Press <ENTER> to continue.

5.13.4 Exit USB Tests

Returns to the Advanced Diagnostics Menu.

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

5.14 Firewire (IEEE 1394)

Tests controllers for FireWire (IEE1394, DV, iLink). The left-hand
screen panel provides FireWire information, and the right-hand side
displays the test menu.

5.14.1 Test Controllers

Runs a series of controller tests, displaying measured results and pass/
fail conditions.

5.14.2 Controller Information

Produces a scrollable display of FireWire controller information.

5.15 Network
Performs basic checks on Gigabit Network Controller devices. There
is support for Intel, Broadcom and nVidia gigabit controllers only.
These tests have no connectivity or loopback requirement. If multiple
controllers exist, a menu of controllers is presented, to allow the user
to chose a target device (with names). Depending on the vendor of the
Gigabit controller chosen, the presentation of the test screen will vary.

5.16 System Stress

Performs effectively simultaneous device access (time sliced) to hard
disk, memory, CD/DVD and video, while loading the CPU. Support is
provided for multiple CPUs, multiple CD/DVD drives, and unbalanced
mirrored RAID assemblies.

Memory testing will fail if an excessive number of ECC (Error-

Correcting Code) events are detected: the default is 10, which can be
altered via the command switch /ET.

The menu allows the various tests to be included or omitted (toggled

via the <ENTER> key), and for setting the duration of the test. Writing
to hard disks can be toggled on or off.

Note: If writing to hard disks is enabled, and the system is reset or

powered off during the test, there could be a loss of data.

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The default duration is 20 minutes. As an example, to alter the test

duration to 5 minutes, type: 0h 5m 0s and press <ENTER>.

During the Stress test, the video testing runs first at one task priority (say
a low one). After a while, it stops and removes itself from the screen.
During this interval of ‘no video’, the testing of the other components
still continues. The video test will later restart at a new task priority
(say a high one) until the next interval, and so on until the whole stress
test duration is over.

Begin the test by selecting “Perform Tests”. The main test screen
displays information and progress for the individual and collective
test processes. During the periods of video testing, a rotating cube is
displayed on-screen: when it is not running, the usual “activity bars”
are displayed.

5.17 Keyboard Diagnostics

This test requires operator interaction, by pressing all the keyboard keys
and checking that the display responds in the expected manner.

On initial selection, a menu of keyboard types is presented, in decreasing

order of key numbers. For DOS Pc-Check, keyboards which are suitable
for the current DOS country code setting (as set up in config.sys) are
highlighted: the first of these will be selected. This menu has no top-to-
bottom wrap: you may need to scroll if a large number of keyboard types
is listed. After selecting a keyboard, the Keyboard Tests menu appears.

5.17.1 Verify Keyboard

Displays a representation of the selected keyboard type. Since the exact
layout of any one keyboard will vary slightly from others of the same
class, occasionally there may be slight differences in the placement
of keys. For keyboard types that do not support LED switching under
software control (typically 83 or 84 key keyboards), you will be
requested to enable the CAPS lock if it is not already on. If this is the
case, then the test will proceed the moment that CAPS becomes enabled,
or that another key is pressed (for instance if CAPS is faulty).

You should press every key at least once. When each key is pressed,
the on-screen key is highlighted both on the key top (legend) and on

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the bar at the bottom of the key representation. The key legend remains
highlighted only when the key is pressed, while the bar will remain
highlighted once the key has been ‘visited’. If all keys are successfully
highlighted, the test ends with a pass result. Note that for mono screens,
the key “disappears” when pressed and the legend becomes bright: only
the key top returns when the key is released.

During testing, the CAPS lock and Shift keys retain their normal
behaviour and the CAPS lock LED will light as per normal. Note that
the Scroll Lock and Num Lock LEDs will not operate during this test.
When either the state of the CAPS lock is changed or a Shift key is
depressed, the legends of the keyboard representation will be altered
appropriately.

At the bottom of the screen, the current hardware scan code is listed,
along with the state of the CAPS Lock and Shift keys. Opposite, the
state of the currently- or last-pressed key is given, along with the legend
of the key in both the shifted and unshifted state.

To exit this test without pressing all keys, <Esc> must be pressed
twice. You will be asked to confirm this action. A selection of keys is
provided for both the positive and negative responses in the various
dialogues of this test.

If, on exit from this test, either through completion, or by user action,
Pc-Check believes that certain keys may have become stuck down
during testing, it will list them and ask if you wish to record a pass or
fail result. If a fail result is recorded, no further questions are asked.

If all keys have not been pressed, you will again be asked if you still wish
to record a pass result. You will then be returned to the tests menu.

5.17.2 Keyboard Controller Tests

Automatically asks the keyboard controller to perform its self-test and
interface test, using the same method as in the appropriate ‘Motherboard
Test’ (qv.) under which the result of this testing will be stored.

5.17.3 Key Repeat Test

You will be requested to press and hold an alpha-numeric key. The key
must be held until the program requests its release (about 2 seconds).
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If the key is released early or other keys are pressed, the test will fail.
After the key is released, the test will report pass or fail, and you may
return to the tests menu.

5.17.4 Keyboard LED Test

If you are using a keyboard type that does not support LED switching
under software control (typically 83 or 84 key), then you will be
informed that this test is not possible. Otherwise, each LED will be lit
in turn and you will be asked to confirm that this and only this LED
has lit. This will occur for all LEDs regardless of the result for previous
LEDs. When all LEDs have been tested, the result is displayed and you
may return to the tests menu.

5.18 Mouse Diagnostics

If no mouse is connected a message to this effect is displayed. Otherwise
information relating to the mouse as well as the status of tests is
displayed in the left-hand panel, with the following message in the
right-hand panel:

In order to perform the mouse tests the video mode will require
to be changed. If your video card and monitor have not been
configured for use in these modes some screen distortion may occur.
This will not harm your system but may make some tests difficult
to complete.

Press a key to continue or <Esc> to abort testing now.

If you press a key to continue, the first mouse test (the Button Test)
starts. The right-hand panel holds a diagram of a mouse: as each button
is pressed in turn, the colour of the screen ‘button’ changes. However,
if you failed to respond within the test’s timeout period, or the buttons
on your mouse are faulty, the test status is set to FAILED and you are
returned to the Advanced Diagnostic menu. Tests for the CENTRE
button will only respond if your mouse has 3 buttons and its driver is
configured to recognise the centre button. (Refer to the manufacturer’s
manual).

Otherwise, if the test passed, the next test begins (the Ballistic Test);
for this and subsequent tests, the X and Y co-ordinates of the mouse

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are displayed along the bottom of the screen. There are two versions
of both the Positioning and Area Redefine tests, one for text mode, the
other for graphics mode. The final test, Graphics Cursor Redefine, is
by implication for graphics mode only.

All tests have a timeout period (of fair duration for a correctly
functioning mouse). Failure to complete the test successfully in this
time leads to a test failure and subsequent exit from the mouse option.
You may terminate any test by pressing <Esc>; the test status is set to
ABORTED, and the option exits.

For the Ballistic test, you are asked to confirm the ability to change the
speed of response of the mouse. For the Positioning tests, click the left
mouse button over the four extreme corners of the full screen (not the
dots on the diagram!). For the Area Redefine tests, confirm that the
cursor cannot move outside the rectangular area, and then click on the
four corners as indicated. For the Graphics Cursor Redefine test, you
are asked to click on the box that best describes the appearance of the
cursor; the test passes if you click on the appropriate box.

5.19 Joystick Diagnostics

Up to two joysticks will be automatically detected if the game port in the
computer under test supports more than one joystick. The performance
of the second joystick is monitored in a separate panel on the right of
the screen (this secondary screen is otherwise irrelevant). If an attached
joystick is not detected then either the joystick or the game port to
which it is attached is faulty, or there are two game ports installed and
enabled: for example, a multi-I/O card plus a soundcard.

The joystick is calibrated by being moved to the top left, bottom right
and centre positions: a failure will be reported if no difference can be
detected between the centre and a corner.

The status of four fire buttons is displayed: 1 and 2 correspond to the

first, primary joystick; 3 and 4 to the secondary joystick.

If a second joystick is fitted, then on the second panel, movement of

the cursor is represented by sliders.

On joysticks such as the Microsoft Wingman, movement of the ‘hat’

control appears on the secondary axis status panel.

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5.20 Audio Tests

Performs tests on High Definition (HD) or AC’97 integrated audio,
according to which hardware is present.

For HD Audio, wherever possible, all output “jacks” will be configured

for audio out, so, for example, headphones should monitor an output
signal from each audio jack.

The user images are similar for both HD and AC’97 hardware. In the
case of HD Audio, a diagram is briefly displayed at the start of tests,
reflecting the internal organisation and configuration of the device.

Results of these tests can be viewed in the Results Summary or printed

in the Results Report, both accessed from Pc-Check’s Main Menu.

Note: The sound levels from different tests can vary considerably.
Try each test first with a low volume setting, and if necessary
repeat at a higher level, to avoid distressing headphones,
speakers and ears.

5.20.1 Internal Speaker Test

This test will play the “William Tell Overture” through the PC Speaker
for about 40 seconds. You are prompted to confirm hearing the speaker:
if you can hear the tune, press ‘Y’ to pass the test, otherwise press ‘N’
to fail.

Note: Failure to produce a sound from this test might be the result of
a BIOS setting.

5.20.2 Real-time PCM Test

You should immediately hear a constant tone from both the left and
right speakers. Once again you will be asked to confirm hearing the
sound. Press ‘Y’ or ‘N’ as before.

5.20.3 Streamed PCM Test

A progress bar “Reading PCM Data” should be followed by music from
both speakers, and a message “Can you hear the audio stream, and does
it sound correct?” Press ‘Y’ or ‘N’ as before.

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

Note: If you do not hear the expected sound through your loudspeakers
when running the Real-time and Streamed PCM tests, try the
following before declaring that the tests have failed.

1 Ensure that any volume and mixer levels for the external speakers
are high enough.

2 As a temporary measure, reply “N” to the test, and then connect

the speakers successively to the other audio sockets, as follows.
Switch off the speakers. Remove the speakers’ mini-jack plug
from the normal computer audio output socket (typically
coloured green on many modern sound systems), and insert it
into any other available audio output socket. Switch the speakers
back on, and rerun the tests. If this does not produce sound,
repeat the sequence by connecting to the audio line-in socket
(often coloured blue).

Then choose “Y” or “N” according to whether you do eventually hear

the sound. Replace the loudspeaker lead into its normal position on
completion of the tests.

Note: This apparently anomalous effect, whereby an ostensible input

channel provides an output, and an output channel does not, can
be the result of running audio hardware, designed to be used
under Windows® control, in a DOS environment.

5.20.4 SPDIF Run DMA Test

This test is available for some chipsets. A message is displayed if Pc-
Check does not support SPDIF for the audio card.

A message is displayed for a few seconds indicating that the test is

running, and that it may cause a tone to be emitted from connected
SPDIF capable hardware. The test then sets the final result and returns
to the Audio Tests menu.

5.21 Video Diagnostics

This menu gives a comprehensive range of tests, most of which
require user intervention. Test results can be viewed in the Results
Summary or printed in the Results Report, both accessed from
Pc-Check’s Main Menu.
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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Note: The screen may go blank for a short while at the beginning of
some tests, and when changing to a different video mode.

Note: If the overlaid instructional text on a test screen obscures the

test display itself, it can be toggled off/on by pressing the <H>
(Hide) and <S> (Show) keys respectively.

5.21.1 Warning – Video Test Initialisation

On first-time entry only, the following message is displayed:
Pc-Check is about to test all the video modes that are
supported by your graphics card. This will cause your
screen either to flicker, or to go blank. This process usually
takes only a few seconds but may take longer on some
systems. This will not damage your hardware and will
only occur the first time these tests are run.

Please also note that these tests make all supported modes
available for testing, some of which may have scan rates
too high for your monitor. Please deselect incompatible
modes using the mode selection menu. Thank you.

This panel will not be displayed again until after Pc-Check is restarted.
The panel does not appear during Burn-In testing.

If the video card is unable to change into all the modes which it reports
as supported, these modes will be automatically removed from the
Select Modes for Testing list (see below): a message to this effect is
displayed.

5.21.2 Video Driver Information

Lists basic information about the Video card configuration.

5.21.3 Select Modes for Testing

A table of video modes is presented, initially all preceded by a small
symbol, indicating that they are selected for testing. Pressing <SPACE>
or <ENTER> against an entry toggles between selection and non-
selection of that mode. Press <F10> when the selection is complete. You
will be unable to exit with either no modes selected or only 8 bit mode(s)

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

selected: messages to this effect are displayed in these circumstances.

<Esc> cancels any selection changes and exits the panel.

5.21.4 Check Gamma

Provides an estimate of the current Gamma value of the monitor. The
lower half of the screen is a horizontally-graduated, calibrated grey-scale
rectangle. The point at which the brightness of the top solid rectangle
matches the lower gradient is the current gamma value. Press any key
to return.

5.21.5 Colour Linearity

Tests for Red+Green (yellow), Green+Blue (cyan) and Blue+Red
(magenta) are run in succession at the highest available resolution. Press
<Esc> to quit the tests, or any other key to move to the next test.

5.21.6 Colour Purity Test

The Colour Purity Test displays four screens of solid colour: red, green,
blue and white, each at full intensity. The control keys are as follows:

<Esc> key Returns to the video tests menu and records an

‘ABORTED’ result.
Y key Records a ‘PASSED’ result.
N key Records a ‘FAILED’ result.

5.21.7 True/High Colour Test

For each selected video mode, two display screens are generated. The
first of each pair shows the additive and subtractive primary colours
as stripes, from black through maximum intensity to white. The
second displays squares of graduated primary or secondary colour
combinations. The control keys are as for the Colour Purity Test.

5.21.8 Alignment Test

For each selected video mode, a rectangular grid pattern with concentric
circles is displayed, to check for distortion on CRTs, and also projector
displays. The control keys are as for the Colour Purity Test.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

This is a test of the monitor and will confirm that the coils and magnets
have been correctly aligned on the tube and that the vertical and
horizontal amplitude and linearity are correctly adjusted. If the test
fails you should firstly check that all cables and connectors are securely
attached and then check for transit damage; otherwise you may need to
replace the monitor if adjustment of the display controls (horizontal/
vertical/pincushion etc) does not correct the misalignment.

Note: On no account should untrained personnel open a monitor.

Note: On some LCD screens, pixels in certain modes may be displayed

square where they would be rectangular on a VGA monitor.
The effect will be to produce an elliptical rather than a circular
pattern for this test. Likewise, if the resolution is not the ‘native’
display resolution, the lines may appear blocky or blurry. These
effects do not imply misalignment.

5.21.9 LCD Test

Tests for dead pixels by displaying a series of checkerboard screens:
Red +Green, Green +Blue, and Blue +Red, mapped pixel-for-pixel with
the LCD screen. This checkerboarding makes dead pixels more obvious
than solid colour, and indicates which colour sub-pixels are stuck on or
off. The control keys are as for the Colour Purity Test.

5.21.10 Test Card

Provides a quick visual check of the performance of several video
parameters, at each of the selected screen modes. The control keys are
as for the Colour Purity Test.

Note: The screen will blank (go black) while the video mode is changing:
this process may take several seconds.

5.21.11 Video Memory

This option employs exactly the same series of tests described under
the “Test Video Memory” option of “Memory Diagnostics”, and indeed
automatically diverts to that screen panel.

On first-time entry only, the following message is displayed:

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

Your video card’s memory will be tested using the standard

Pc-Check memory test algorithms, and hence the same
options are available to video memory as to ordinary
memory.

Pc-Check will now enter the Memory Tests menu where

you will find the ‘Test Video Memory’ option. When you
leave the Memory Tests menu, you will return here to the
Video menu. This message will not appear next time.

When the Memory Diagnostics screen appears, use the cursor keys
to select “Test Video Memory”. The tests may take several minutes,
during which a variety of patterns will occupy the screen. After the tests
are complete, the main Memory Diagnostics panel reappears. Pressing
<Esc> returns to the Video Diagnostics panel.

5.21.12 Exit Tests

Returns to the main Advanced Diagnostics Menu.

5.22 Printer Diagnostics

Pc-Check can send a test printout to both serial and parallel printers. If
you are using a serial connection to your printer via a COM port from
the available ports that Pc-Check shows, you will be asked to specify the
protocol (baud-rate, data-bits etc.) from the computer end to agree with
your printer’s setup. Refer to the manufacturer’s manuals to make switch
adjustments for input type and serial data rate on the printer. Having adjusted
the settings, select ‘Use Current’ to advance to the Printer Type section.

Having selected the appropriate port, the printer type can be selected from
Generic, Epson 9-pin compatible, Epson 24-pin compatible, Epson 9-pin
wide, Epson 24-pin wide, HP LaserJet, PostScript, IBM 9-pin compatible,
IBM 9-pin wide, IBM 24-pin compatible and IBM 24-pin wide.

Before selecting the test, check that the printer is switched on, connected
to the specified port and is On-line. If it still does not print, check the
cable using another computer and/or printer.

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5.22.1 Pc-Check® Print Test

A series of test prints is produced, appropriate to the type of printer. For
example, a grey-scale shading test is included for laser printers, and a
character attributes test is performed for dot-matrix printers.

Generic text printer

Rolling characters test Demonstrates basic text generation of all
the major characters across the width of the
page.
ASCII character set Prints the character set supported by the
printer in the form of a table.
CR, LF, backspace test Tests these basic printer head control
functions.
9 and 24 pin Epson/IBM compatible / wide dot matrix
Rolling characters test As for the generic printer.
ASCII character set As for the generic printer.
Extended character set Prints the additional characters supported
by the printer in the form of a table.
CR, LF, backspace test As for generic printer.
Character attributes test Bold, underline, super/sub script, emphasised,
double strike, strike out, italic modes.
Parallel cable test As LaserJet printer.
Individual pin test Determine that all 9 or 24 pins are firing.
Reduced line feed test Check printer’s ability to move vertically
by small amounts.
Head alignment test Tests printer’s ability to align output on
separate (in some cases reversed) printing
passes with the output from previous
passes.
Banding test Demonstrate printer’s ability to produce
an area of continuous black with minimal
noticeable horizontal banding (can occur
either because of worn ribbon or incorrect
paper advancement).

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

LaserJet Laser (some inkjets)

White line test As PostScript.
LED array/ toner test As PostScript.
Ruler test As PostScript.
Raster graphics test Demonstrates ability to reproduce simple
raster graphics at increasing resolutions.
Parallel cable test To prove that the eight lines of the parallel
interface are working correctly and
consistently.
Grey scale shading test Similar to PostScript: however PCL does not
produce continuous greys like postscript.
Internal/overlapping pattern Proof that the printer is a compatible LaserJet
implementation by generation of internal fill
patterns.
Roman 8 character set test Further compatibility and information.
Characters per inch test Further compatibility and information.
PostScript
PostScript is a language, and so, unlike other printers, the printer must
understand how to run programs written in that language to build a
page, i.e. the printer is significantly more intelligent.

DPI test Provides visual method for determining/

confirming printer resolution.
Grey scale shading test Confirm linear greyscale from 0% (white)
to 100% (black).
Clipping test Graphics confined to complex text shape.
Computational test Uses a simple fractal pattern to give an
approximate idea of speed of postscript
implementation, for use as a benchmark for
comparing printers.
White line test Ability to resolve hairline white in an area
of solid black horizontally and vertically.
LED array/ toner test Some “laser” printers use a high density
array of LEDs: this test confirms that all are
functioning;
for true lasers, the test ensures that toner
distribution is even over the width of the
page.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Ruler test Prints an inches and centimetre ruler, such

that scaling can be confirmed with a real
ruler if required.
RGB colour test For colour laser printers, produces three
overlapping circles of red, green and blue
with all the resultant combinations;
for non-colour printers the image should be
represented in grey scales.
Line cap test Ensure that the different line joining/ending
methods are supported.
Trigonometric test Ensure basic trigonometric functions are
available and are ranged appropriately.
Installed font list Lists all installed fonts

5.23 ACPI

5.23.1 General Information

This option returns information related to Advanced Configuration
and Power Interface (ACPI) on ACPI-compliant systems. ACPI is an
industry common interface enabling operating system-directed device
configuration and power management. It provides an abstract interface
between the operating system (OS) and the hardware, enabling power
management to be moved from the BIOS to the OS.

If ACPI is supported, the main ACPI screen is displayed. Otherwise an

error message is superimposed over the System Information Menu, to
be cleared by pressing <ENTER>.

The left-hand panel of the main screen holds a display box listing the
following details:

ACPI version
OEM ID
PM profile

The possible ACPI version values are 1.0 and 2.0. These differ chiefly
in relation to the System Description Tables (see below).

The OEM ID is an OEM-supplied string that identifies the OEM

(Original Equipment Manufacturer).

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

PM profile can have the following values:

Unspecified
Desktop
Mobile
Workstation
Enterprise server
SOHO server
Appliance PC
Reserved

This field is set by the OEM to indicate the system’s preferred power
management profile to the OS on boot up. The OS may use the field to
set default power management policy parameters.

The right-hand panel holds a menu with the following options:

Verify ACPI Tables

System Description Tables
Show ACPI Address Ranges

5.23.2 Verify ACPI Tables

The parameters verified are: Root System Pointer, Checksumming, Root
Parametrics, Fixed Descriptions and Firmware Control.

5.23.3 System Description Tables

The addresses of the system description tables are displayed. These
tables list devices on the system board and their capabilities, enabling
the OS to control their configuration and power management. The tables
are loaded into memory on boot up.

The RSDP (Root System Description Pointer) address is in low memory

and hence is given in segment:offset format. This structure points to the
root system description table, either the RSDT (Root System Description
Table) on ACPI version 1.0 systems or the XSDT (Extended System
Description Table) on ACPI version 2.0 systems.

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The root table always points to the FADT (Fixed ACPI Description
Table), which provides fixed hardware information such as the addresses
of various register blocks. The FADT in turn points to the FACS
(Firmware ACPI Control Structure) and the DSDT (Differentiated
System Description Table). If the address of any of these tables cannot be
determined, then “Not located” is displayed in place of the address.

The root table may in addition point to other tables; if so, pressing
<ENTER> displays these additional tables’ addresses. The names of
these remaining ACPI tables are as follows:

MADT Multiple APIC Description Table

SBFT Simple Boot Flag Table
DPT Debug Port Table
ECBRT Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table
ETDT Event Timer Description Table
OEMSIT OEM Specific Information Tables
PSDT Persistent System Description Table
SBST Smart Battery Specification Table
SLIT System Locality Information Table
SPCRT System Port Console Redirection Table
SRAT Static Resource Affinity Table
SSDT Secondary System Description Table
SPMIT Server Platform Management Interface Table

Press <ENTER> to return to the ACPI Menu.

5.23.4 Show ACPI Address Ranges

Information relating to ACPI address ranges is displayed via a call to a
BIOS interrupt function. ACPI address ranges are of 2 types:

Reclaim memory The ACPI tables are loaded here at boot up; once the
OS has read the tables it becomes available RAM.

NVS memory Prior to the system entering the S4 Non-Volatile

Sleep state, the OS writes all system context to this
area of non-volatile memory; upon resume from
NVS state, the OS reloads the system context.

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Section 5 Advanced Diagnostic Tests

For each address range that is located, its address type (reclaim memory
or NVS memory), base address (in 32-bit linear format) and length in
bytes are displayed. If the base address or length of an address range
cannot be determined, then “Undetermined” is displayed in place of a
value. Press <ENTER> to return to the ACPI Menu.

If no ACPI address ranges are located then an error message to this

effect is displayed. Press <ENTER> to clear the message.

5.24 PCI Express Links

Note: This test can be run from the Advanced Diagnostics menu
or selected for Burn-in. It requires the user to pre-supply a
configuration file, as described below.

This configuration file must reside alongside the Pc-Check

executable, except in the case of a CD-ROM boot, when it can
reside separately on a floppy diskette (allocated as drive B:).

The test compares the link configuration of installed PCI Express

devices against a description held in a configuration file.

PCI Express slots come in an assortment of performance levels. The

performance level of each slot is dictated by the number of ‘lanes’ of
data that are available to devices installed in that slot – either 1x, 2x, 4x,
8x, 12x or 16x. This is known as the link width. Initial communication
with a PCI Express device is always at 1x, and then, after a negotiation
phase, the slot reconfigures to the best mutual connection.

If the desired configuration is known and static, a description of the

slots and the expected link widths can be setup in a configuration file,
which Pc-Check can verify as part of a burn-in script.

Unfortunately, the system BIOS support for PCI Express configuration

data is often overlooked. For example, the system BIOS might lack any
extended configuration information, or these records might have been
filled out incorrectly by the system BIOS.

Therefore Pc-Check first runs a number of validation checks. If the

Pc-Check data validation fails, the link width test will not be run,
suitable warnings are generated, and the information is displayed in
its original form.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Unless you have been given a validation failure message, you should
not see:

a) slots with the same number;

b) slots which have a current configuration greater than the
maximum possible;
c) a zero value for the maximum.
The configuration file is simple and takes the following form:

* Comment lines that start with a semicolon character are ignored.

* Configuration lines shall contain ‘s=x, w=y’ where ‘x’ is the slot
number and ‘y’ is the link width (either 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 or 16). Multiple
width options may appear for the same slot if desired on separate lines
in the file.

Example file content:

; s=slot number, w=required link width
s=2,w=8
s=1,w=16

The file must be called ‘PCIELINK.TXT’ and either be in the default

directory or on B:\ if Pc-Check is booted from CD.

If a mismatch occurs ensure that the failed result is attributed to the

correct slot.

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Section 6 Continuous Burn-In

Section 6

CONTINUOUS BURN-IN TEST

It is important for a newly assembled or a repaired PC system to be

subjected to a 24-hour or more Pc-Check Burn-In Test before delivery
to the end user. It is also very sensible for the user to subject a machine
in regular use, especially where corruption or loss of data could lead to
costly or time-consuming rework, to the kind of tests performed by Pc-
Check that will expose any weakness that may have started to develop.
You should do this after regular maintenance, at 3 to 6 month intervals
or shortly after a repair or system rework.

Note: These diagnostics are usually used for reliability testing and not
for casual fault-finding. As one would expect, if a component
FAILS during Burn-In, this will be the final result regardless of
subsequent passes during Burn-In testing.

6.1 Immediate and Deferred Burn-In

Pc-Check provides two methods of continuous Burn-In testing:
immediate and deferred, both of which are available from the main
menu. Immediate Burn-In Testing is designed to allow a required set
of tests to be set up and carried out on the same machine. Deferred
Burn-In Testing allows a set of tests to be designed for running on one
or more other machines.

The user-images for the two options differ in only two respects, which
are now summarised:

(i) The menu for Immediate Burn-In contains an extra option

to allow the tests to be performed, which by definition is not
available for Deferred Burn-In.

(ii) The range of tests available for Immediate Burn-In is restricted

to those devices which are actually present on the machine. For
Deferred Burn-In, a complete list of tests is provided, since in
general the specification of the target machine is not known.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

6.2 The Burn-In Menu

Selecting either of the Burn-In Testing options from the Main Menu
leads to the Burn-In menu. An information panel at the top of the screen
displays the current options, which can be altered by the Change Options
menu described below.

6.2.1 Load Burn-In Script

The name of a prepared script file of Burn-In commands can be entered.
When this is loaded, the contents can be altered via other menu options
if required. See the note below for the source of the file.

6.2.2 Save Burn-In Script

The Burn-In options selected can be saved as a script file for future
use, perhaps for regular reliability testing, or, in the case of Deferred
Burn-In, for transfer to another machine. Any valid DOS filename is
allowed, for instance BURNFILE.DAT. The file can be edited with any
text editor, including Pc-Check’s own.

Note: If you are running from CD-ROM, you can use a floppy diskette
to save or load your Burn-in scripts.

If you are running from USB flash device, you can use either
the flash device itself or a floppy diskette to save or load your
Burn-in scripts.

If you are running from floppy diskette, you must not replace
the program floppy diskette with another diskette: burn-in files
must be located on the program diskette.

Note: Remember to supply the full pathname of the file, including the
appropriate drive letter (see Appendix C for details).

6.2.3 Change Options

This leads to a sub-menu of Burn-In options, which allow the parameters
in the panel at the top of the screen to be altered. Some options lead to
yet another sub-menu, some allow a Yes/No toggle via the <ENTER>
key, while others allow a value to be entered directly from the keyboard.

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Section 6 Continuous Burn-In

In some cases the options are interdependent: for example, if Pass

Control is set to “Individual Passes”, then Duration is always “N/A”
(Not Applicable). If Pass Control is set to “Overall Time”, the units
of Duration are hours and minutes (ranging from 00:01 to 99:59); the
default Duration is 1 hour (01:00).

If the Pause on Error option is set to “Yes”, a screen panel will appear
during burn-in testing if an error is detected, allowing the user either
to resume, or to abort the entire Burn-In test.

6.2.4 Select Tests

This option leads to a panel which allows the available devices and
tests to be selected from a list. Pressing <F1> brings up a Help panel
detailing the keys which control the selections:

 Chooses device or test

<ENTER> Toggles testing of the highlighted item
<TAB> Toggles testing of all devices
<ESC> Exits to the previous menu

When “Individual Passes” has been selected from the Change Pass
Control option, use the numeric keys to enter the number of times to
run each test.

Selecting a device will display a list of individual tests. All selected

items are prefixed with a diamond symbol. The key controls given in
the Help panel can then be used to amend the list. If “Individual Passes”
has been selected under Pass Control, then the number of passes for
each test can be specified (default 1, maximum 9999). For the other
Pass Control options, you can choose between running the test or not
(Y/N). On completion, use <ESC> or <F10> to save your selections
and return to the Burn-In Menu.

If the number of tests selected overflows the page, the list can be scrolled
using the cursor or PgUp/PgDn keys. Arrows are shown to indicate when
there are more tests above or below the displayed section of the list.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

6.2.5 Perform Burn-In Tests

This option is only present for Immediate Burn-In Testing. If the Hard
Disk Non-Destructive Write Test has been selected, a special panel will
appear advising that a suitable back-up should exist before continuing.
If required, the Non-Destructive Write Test can be disabled by pressing
<ESC>. The remaining Burn-In tests will then continue.

During testing, information at the top of the screen monitors progress

of the current test and the overall tests, including information about
the last three errors found. If <ALT-S> is pressed at any time during
the running of the tests, the display toggles between the panel and the
detailed description of the tests in progress.

Note: Command Line switches set via the Advanced Start-Up Options
in the current session will apply to Immediate Burn-In testing.

When testing serial/parallel/USB ports ensure that loopback

plugs are inserted in the appropriate connectors. When testing
modems and printers, ensure the devices are plugged in and
switched on ready to go.

There is a time-out at the beginning of each printer test during

Burn-In to allow for the previous pass to finish. This will be
observed as a delay of up to two minutes before the test begins
again. The Pass number is printed during Burn-In.

When testing floppy disk drives, ensure that you have a formatted
diskette in each drive you wish to test. Similarly ensure
appropriate disks are inserted for the CD-ROM/DVD and ATAPI
Devices tests. However, remember that the program medium must
not be swapped out, unless the activity is specifically sanctioned
by Pc-Check.

Some tests entail a delay in updating the screen, in which case

a message to that effect is displayed (except for video tests).

Burn-In testing can be interrupted at any time by pressing the <ESC>

key. After a short pause, a dialogue box will appear to say that testing
has been interrupted. You are offered three options:

Page 6.4
Section 6 Continuous Burn-In

1. Resume from where testing stopped by pressing ‘R’.

2. Abort the current test and skip to the next test by pressing ‘S’.
3. Stop completely by pressing <ESC> again.

6.3 Running Pc-Check® with Beep Codes

Pc-Check can output beep error codes when items under test fail during
Burn-In testing mode.

Note: The Advanced Diagnostics tests do not give beep codes.

To utilise beep codes, include parameter /BB in the command line

parameter list (as described in the Section of the manual “Command
Line Operation”).

For instance, either type:

/BB <ENTER>

or an optional file name of your choice may be added:

/BB [Burnfile Name] <ENTER>

Note: Refer to the Section “Command Line Operation” for Burn-In

filename instructions.

A short high beep ‘S’ is defined as a single continuous tone of 880Hz

for approximately 200mS Duration. A long low beep ‘L’ is defined as a
single continuous tone of 440Hz for approximately 300mS duration.

When an error condition has occurred the associated beep code will
be played and repeated approximately every 2 to 2.5 seconds. The
user may press <ESC> to terminate the beep code, and may optionally
continue testing or stop Burn-In and go to the Pc-Check results screen
for further information.

When an error beep code is issued, the detected error is automatically

sent to the Results Summary and may be printed from the Pc-Check
Results Report section.

The Beep codes for the nineteen groups of POST Card Diagnostics are
given in the sub-section “Post Codes and Beep Codes” below.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

6.4 SIB (Status Indicator Box)

Pc-Check’s SIB can be obtained from Eurosoft, and provides added
support during Burn-In. The SIB can be used for testing PCs even
when there is no monitor attached. Plug Pc-Check’s SIB into the first
serial port.

To utilise a SIB, include parameters /BS /BD in the command line

parameter list (as described in the Section of the manual “Command
Line Operation”).

Note: /BD is required in order that Pc-Check exits after testing, so that
final results can be saved, and displayed on the SIB.

Codes
During Testing
Steady Yellow Testing is in Progress
Red and Green The First Serial Port is being Tested

Upon exit from Pc-Check session

Steady Green All Tests Passed
Flashing Red and Yellow Some Tests Failed

6.5 Post Codes and Beep Codes

To enable Pc-Check to output diagnostic codes to a POST Card during
Burn-In, include the parameters /BP and /BD in the command line
parameter list (as described in the Section of the manual “Command
Line Operation”).

While a burn-in test is running, its POST test code is displayed in

hexadecimal on the POST card; when the test completes, the test code
and either 00 (for Pass) or FF (for Fail) are flashed alternately on the
card.

The audible Beep code is derived from the binary representation of the
decimal value of the Group Number, where 0 = Long (“L”) and 1 =
Short (“S”), as shown below

Page 6.6
Section 6 Continuous Burn-In

POST Test Code Test Group Beep Code

(decimal) (hex)

1 (01H) CPU Core Processor 1 S

2 (02H) CPU TT_AMD64 1 S
3 (03H) CPU Maths Co-Processor 2 SL
4 (04H) CPU Known Design Faults 2 SL
5 (05H) CPU MMX Extensions 1 S
6 (06H) CPU 3D-Now! Extensions 1 S
7 (07H) CPU SSE 1 S
8 (08H) CPU SSE2 1 S
9 (09H) CPU MP Symmetry 1 S
10 (0AH) Motherboard DMA Controller 3 SS
11 (0BH) Motherboard System Timer 3 SS
12 (0CH) Motherboard Interrupt Controller 3 SS
13 (0DH) Motherboard Keyboard Controller 3 SS
14 (0EH) Motherboard PCI Bus 3 SS
15 (0FH) Motherboard Real-Time Clock 3 SS
16 (10H) Memory Seating 4 SLL
17 (11H) Memory Inversion Tree 4 SLL
18 (12H) Memory Progressive Inversion 4 SLL
19 (13H) Memory Chaotic Addressing 4 SLL
20 (14H) Memory Block Rotation 4 SLL
21 (15H) Memory Microtopology 4 SSL
22 (16H) Cache Inversion Tree 4 SLL
23 (17H) Cache Progressive Inversion 4 SLL
24 (18H) Cache Chaotic Addressing 4 SLL
25 (19H) Cache Block Rotation 4 SLL
26 (1AH) Cache Microtopology 4 SLL
27 (1BH) Floppy Linear Read 5 SLS
28 (1CH) Floppy Read Verify 5 SLS
29 (1DH) Floppy Non-Destructive Write 5 SLS
30 (1EH) Floppy Mechanics Stress 5 SLS
31 (1FH) HD Read Test 6 SSL
32 (20H) HD Read Verify 6 SSL
33 (21H) HD Non-Destructive Write 6 SSL
34 (22H) HD Destructive Write 6 SSL
35 (23H) HD Mechanics Stress 6 SSL

Page 6.7
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

POST Test Code Test Group Beep Code

(decimal) (hex)

36 (24H) HD Internal Cache 6 SSL

37 (25H) HD SMART Immediate 6 SSL
38 (26H) HD SMART Short 6 SSL
39 (27H) HD SMART Extended 6 SSL
40 (28H) Video Memory Inversion 7 SSS
41 (29H) Video Memory Progressive Inversion 7 SSS
42 (2AH) Video Memory Chaotic Addressing 7 SSS
43 (2BH) Video Memory Block Rotation 7 SSS
44 (2CH) Video Memory Microtopology 7 SSS
45 (2DH) Video Colour Purity 7 SSS
46 (2EH) Video True Colour 7 SSS
47 (2FH) Video Alignment 7 SSS
48 (30H) Video LCD 7 SSS
49 (31H) Video Test Card 7 SSS
50 (32H) Serial Line Control 8 SLLL
51 (33H) Serial Handshake 8 SLLL
52 (34H) Serial Loopback 8 SLLL
53 (35H) Serial Internal FIFO 8 SLLL
54 (36H) Serial Internal Loopback 8 SLLL
55 (37H) Parallel Controller 9 SLLS
56 (38H) Parallel Status Port 9 SLLS
57 (39H) Parallel Interrupt 9 SLLS
58 (3AH) Printer Test 10 SLSL
59 (3BH) CD/DVD Read 11 SLSS
60 (3CH) CD/DVD Seek 11 SLSS
61 (3DH) CD/DVD Disc 11 SLSS
62 (3EH) CD/DVD Lens 11 SLSS
63 (3FH) Modem 12 SSLL
64 (40H) ATAPI Linear Read 13 SSLS
65 (41H) ATAPI Write 13 SSLS
66 (42H) ATAPI Random Read/Write 13 SSLS
67 (43H) Audio Internal Speaker 14 SSSL
68 (44H) Audio Direct PCM 14 SSSL
69 (45H) Audio Stream PCM 14 SSSL
70 (46H) Audio Direct SPDIF 14 SSSL
71 (47H) Keyboard 16 SLLLL

Page 6.8
Section 6 Continuous Burn-In

POST Test Code Test Group Beep Code

(decimal) (hex)

72 (48H) Mouse 17 SLLLS

73 (49H) Joystick 18 SLLSL
74 (4AH) Parallel ATA 18 SLLSL
75 (4BH) Serial ATA 18 SLLSL
76 (4CH) USB Controllers 19 SLLSS
77 (4DH) USB Functional 19 SLLSS
78 (4EH) HII Compare 20 SLSLL
79 (4FH) FireWire Controller 21 SLSLS
80 (50H) Firmware/ACPI 22 SLSSL
81 (51H) System Stress 25 SSLLS
82 (52H) Trusted Platform Module 26 SSLSL
83 (53H) PCI Express 27 SSLSS

Page 6.9
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

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Page 6.10
Section 7 Show Results Summary

Section 7

SHOW RESULTS SUMMARY

The status of those Advanced Diagnostic Tests which have been run
is displayed, grouped by device. If your computer has more than one
processor, for example, then the primary processor results will be in column
1, the secondary processor results will be in column 2, and so on.

Each test will have one of the following results:-

PASSED The test was completed successfully

FAILED The test was not performed satisfactorily

N/A The test was not applicable

Note: If a test invokes a FAILED status then the test will remain FAILED
irrespective of any following tests during Burn-In.

ABORTED The test was not completed, either due to operator

interference, or machine limitations

ABSENT The test cannot be performed as the relevant

equipment is not available

NOT RUN The test was not selected for testing

If you attempt to exit Pc-Check after running tests without having

displayed the Results Summary, a warning message appears to remind
you that the results have not been displayed and ask if you are sure
that you want to quit.

Page 7.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

This page is intentionally left blank.

Page 7.2
Section 8 Results Report

Section 8

WRITE RESULTS REPORT

Pc-Check reports facility is very useful for all users. In particular,

manufacturers and repair professionals can keep file and/or printed
copies to maintain a formal record of their quality-control procedures
and standard practices. They can also track distribution and service
to the customer. Pc-Check assists in reporting errors throughout
manufacturing by identifying a drop in quality or failure in components
bought in from other suppliers. For the independent machine user, a
set of reports maintained over the life of the machine provides a record
of any significant changes.

When selling a machine that has reached a stage where further upgrading
will not be advantageous, the records will indicate to a buyer the
machine’s past history and its reliability. It may also increase its resale
or trade-in value by more than the original cost of Pc-Check!

Pc-Check can produce an output text file of the test results in the
form of a summary of each PASSED or FAILED test. You are first
requested to type in details to identify the machine and the tester, plus
the number of copies of the report required. You are also asked if you
want to include all test names on the list even though some may not
have been carried out.

Instruction Summary
Type in Machine Name.
Type in Tester Name.
Type in Machine Serial Number.
Type in Number of Copies Required or Press <ENTER> for one copy.
Do you want to report only on tests that are run? In response to the
‘Y/N’ prompt, type ‘Y’ to restrict the report to only the tests run or type
‘N’ to report all tests.
Press <TAB> to move between entries.
Press <F10> to generate the report.

Page 8.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

‘File or Device to report to’ has a default value of REPORT.TXT.

This output filename can be modified. Using the value PRN directs
output to the first parallel port, which can be used to print the results
immediately provided that you have a printer which supports ASCII
text (see note below).

Note: Remember to include the full pathname with the appropriate drive
letter, in order to save your results to the correct medium.

Note: If the filename for the output is invalid, for example if you are
attempting to write to the Pc-Check program CD, a warning
message is displayed. Pressing <ENTER> then returns to the
main menu. Re-entering the Write Results Report will enable
you to re-direct the output.

Note: Because output is in ASCII form, it cannot be handled by either

Postscript or GDI (so-called “Windows®”) printers. If such a
printer is connected to the machine under test, output MUST
be saved to a file, for subsequent off-line printing by a suitable
device.

Output
Output is in the form of a Quality Assurance Report, divided into two
main sections: Machine Configuration, and Quality Assurance Testing
Results.

There is a section on the output where the tester can sign to certify
the report, and a certification code is produced, which can be used to
check for results tampering, for example via Eurosoft’s eTest Manager
facility.

For Burn-In testing, a 3-line summary section at the end of the Report
indicates when testing began and ended, and gives the duration.

Page 8.2
Section 9 Problem Reporting

Section 9

PROBLEM REPORTING

9.1 Introduction
In order to provide a quick response to any technical enquiries you may
have, Eurosoft has taken specific steps to help you report problems to
our technical staff.

An important procedure in tracking and processing suspected problems

is the use of Technical Problem Report forms or TPR’s. The basis for
TPR forms is a well-validated measure ensuring that any reported
problem is acknowledged, documented and responded to. This is a
standard procedure strictly adhered to at Eurosoft. The TPR forms are
straightforward and logical. An on-line form and instructions can be
obtained via a link provided in the “readme.html” file on the Pc-Check
CD-ROM. The form may also be printed from a pdf file on the program
CD. The filename is: Eurosoft_TPR_Form.pdf.

9.2 Technical Problem Report Forms (TPRs)

The form should be used to document details of the fault and the system
on which it occurred. Failure to give all the relevant information may
make it impossible to identify the problem or may mean time is wasted
in finding the correct solution. For these reasons, it is very important
that Eurosoft should be given as much information as possible.

Page 9.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

9.3 Technical Support Contact Information

Eurosoft (UK) Ltd.

Head Office
3 St. Stephen’s Road
Bournemouth
Dorset BH2 6JL
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)1202 297315
Fax +44 (0)1202 558280
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.eurosoft-uk.com

or

Eurosoft (US) Inc.

Support Office
706 Jackson St
Sioux City, IA 51101
USA
Tel: +1 (712) 255-7483
Fax: +1 (425) 642-8088
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.eurosoft-us.com

Support
Europe [email protected]
United States [email protected]

Note: Please advise us of any change of address so that we can

keep you updated about revisions, new releases and other
Eurosoft product information.

Page 9.2
Appendix A Running Pc-Check under DOS

Appendix A

RUNNING PC-CHECK UNDER DOS

A.1 Reasons for running under DOS

Self-boot Pc-Check successfully insulates itself from the normal
operating system environment of the computer under test. This is
achieved by having its own internal version of the DOS operating
system (EuroDOS), which is loaded instead of the normal OS for the
duration of the Pc-Check session. More information about EuroDOS
is contained in Appendix E.
However, there are a number of situations where it is necessary to
operate Pc-Check in a full version of a Microsoft-compatible DOS, in
order to provide particular functions.
1 There are a few device drivers which EuroDOS cannot supply,
which affect: non-ATA CD-ROM/DVD tests; SCSI utilities; and the
PCMCIA information. The reason for these exceptions is the plethora
of low-level drivers which exist for individual devices: it is not possible
to provide generic device drivers. SCSI hard drives can be tested
under Self-boot Pc-Check via the hard drive diagnostics facility.
2 Advanced users might wish to include a Pc-Check session within
a larger context, regaining control after it has finished, in order
to perform additional activities. This can also be achieved by
operating Pc-Check under a full DOS environment.

A.2 Preparing to run Pc-Check under DOS

A.2.1 Issues to be considered

The major issues are:
1 Is a version of DOS installed on the machine under test.
2 If DOS is installed on the machine under test, does this DOS
configuration reference a memory manager.
3 If DOS is not installed on the machine under test, can a bootable
DOS floppy diskette be generated.
4 Are any of the device drivers specified above required.

Page A.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Figure A.1 is an overview of the impact which these issues have on the
process of running Pc-Check under a full DOS, as described below.

A.2.2 Implications of Extended Memory Managers

If there is no extended memory manager present, you can ignore this
sub-section and move to Section A.2.3 below.
In order for Pc-Check to run all tests under a full DOS, any extended
memory manager must first be disabled. This is achieved by generating
and loading a bootable DOS floppy diskette which does not reference
any memory management software. This process is described later.
Note: The HII menu cannot be accessed if memory managers are loaded.

A.2.3 If DOS is installed on the test machine

If no memory manager is present, Pc-Check can be run immediately, as
described later. However, if for any reason there is still a requirement to
generate a bootable DOS floppy diskette, this can be achieved directly
on the test machine, as described later.

A.2.4 If DOS is NOT installed on the test machine

If the test PC (or any other available machine) is capable of generating
a bootable DOS floppy diskette (this varies with individual Windows®
operating systems), you can use this to provide a means of running Pc-
Check under full DOS on the test machine, as described later.
If no such machine is available, there are many utilities provided on the
Internet which can be used to generate a suitable DOS diskette.

A.2.5 Implications of a need for Device Drivers

If any of the device drivers listed above are required, they will have to be
loaded and referenced manually. This is achieved by generating and loading
a bootable DOS floppy diskette which contains the required drivers. You
will require appropriate knowledge in order to perform such a manual
configuration under DOS.

Page A.2
Appendix A Running Pc-Check under DOS

Figure A.1: DECISION TREE FOR RUNNING UNDER DOS

How to run
Pc-Check
under DOS

Is DOS
Yes No
installed on test
machine?

Does the DOS Can a

Yes Yes
configuration reference a bootable DOS floppy
memory manager? be generated?

No No

Make bootable floppy.

Search Internet
Omit any memory
for suitable utility
manager if possible

Are
No Yes
device drivers
needed?

Load DOS from Edit floppy files

diskette on test PC to access drivers.

Run Pc-Check
on test machine
under DOS

Page A.3
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

A.2.6 Generating and Using a Bootable DOS Diskette

If the computer under test has access to DOS, and does not use an
extended memory manager, you can ignore this section and move
directly to Section A.3
In all other cases, it is necessary to generate a bootable DOS floppy
diskette, in order to run Pc-Check under full DOS. The amount of
work required depends upon whether you do or do not require device
drivers to be loaded.

Creating a Clean Boot Diskette

You will first need to create a ‘Clean Boot’ diskette, either from
a machine running DOS, or by formatting a floppy diskette from
Windows® Explorer, if the version of Windows® supports creating an
MS-DOS Startup disk.
From DOS:
1. With DOS running on your computer, insert a blank formatted
diskette in drive A:
2. At the C: command line prompt type the following DOS
command:
SYS A:

This command will copy certain setup files that normally reside in the
root directory of drive C: to the diskette.
Or, from Windows® Explorer:
Format a floppy diskette, remembering to tick the option “Create an
MS-DOS startup disk”. This diskette will not be completely “clean”,
and will therefore require editing to remove inappropriate references.

Editing boot files (if required)

If you require any of the special device drivers, you will need to obtain
and load them.
This is because the CD-ROM/DVD Tests (other than ATA), the SCSI
Utilities, and the PCMCIA Information, cannot function when the
system has been clean booted, as the relevant device drivers will not

Page A.4
Appendix A Running Pc-Check under DOS

be loaded. They must therefore be added after the clean boot diskette
has been generated.
This involves installing the required drivers, and editing DOS system
files such as CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, in order to access
these drivers.
Further editing may be required in order to avoid reference to memory
management software such as HIMEM.SYS or EMM386.EXE, or to
other inappropriate features.

Loading DOS from the bootable diskette

Insert the boot diskette into the floppy drive of the machine under test,
and reset the computer. After a short time you will see the floppy drive
prompt. Then remove the boot diskette. You are now ready to insert
your Pc-Check programme medium.

A.3 Operational constraints

Do not run Pc-Check on a PC which is being used as a file server, or
under any version of Windows®, OS/2, Linux or Desqview. Disable
any Power Management system.

A.4 Running Pc-Check under DOS

A.4.1 Loading Pc-Check

Operate the machine under DOS, either by loading DOS from a bootable
floppy diskette as described above, or, in the one case where DOS is
available on the test machine, and no memory managers are loaded,
by booting the machine into DOS.
Insert the Pc-Check programme medium, set the path to the appropriate
drive letter if necessary, and then type:
PCCHECK <ENTER>
This will bring up the Pc-Check Main Menu, allowing interactive use
in the same way as with the self-boot method.

Page A.5
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

A.4.2 Command Line Syntax under full DOS

There is just one difference compared with running Pc-Check in self-
boot mode. The word “PCCHECK” must be inserted at the start of the
list of command line parameters. Thus the command line example used
in the main section of the manual becomes:

PCCHECK /JF ERRORS.FIL /RF BURN03.RPT /RA

/BD /BS BURNFILE.DAT

A.4.3 Command Line operation under DOS

You have a variety of options for running Pc-Check from the
command line under DOS:

1 Type in instructions such as in the example above, and run jobs

directly from the DOS prompt.
2 Write the command line parameters to a BAT file using a file
editor, and run the job under DOS.
3 Instead of using a file editor, use the interactive facilities
described in the main part of the manual to generate CMDLINE
and burn-in files, as with self-boot Pc-Check, but remember to
carry out the following additional steps:
(i) edit the command line string to insert “PCCHECK” at the
start of the parameter list;
(ii) change the filename extension of the command line file to
.BAT, e.g. change CMDLINE.TXT to CMDLINE.BAT
(iii) to run the session, type “CMDLINE.BAT” at the DOS
prompt.

Page A.6
Appendix B List of Power Managment Events

Appendix B

LIST OF POWER MANAGEMENT EVENTS

Event Name Description

System Standby/Suspend Request The APM BIOS wishes to put the system
Notification in the standby/suspend state
User System Standby/Suspend The user wishes to put the system into the
Request Notification standby/suspend state
System Standby Resume Indicates that a system resume from
Notification standby has occurred
Normal Resume System Indicates that a system resume from
Notification suspend has occurred
Situation detected where system must be
Critical System Suspend
suspended without notification to APM-
Notification
aware applications
Critical Resume System Indicates that a system resume from
Notification critical suspend has occurred
The system’s battery is running low, but
Battery Low Notification still contains enough power to suspend or
shutdown the computer ~ 10 minutes
The system’s power status has changed
(eg. the AC line status or battery status
Power Status Change Notification
have changed, or the number of installed
batteries changes)
Indicates that the time should be updated
Update Time Notification (eg. following a resume from standby or
suspend)
Change to the system’s PM capabilities
Capabilities Change Notification (eg. via a setup utility or the addition/
removal of devices)
Reserved System Event
Reserved Device Event
Unlikely to be invoked via Pc-Check
OEM-Defined APM Event
Reserved Event

Page B.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

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Page B.2
Appendix C Drive Letter Allocation

Appendix C

DRIVE LETTER ALLOCATION

The Pc-Check software can be run from a variety of media. As a

consequence of the fundamental nature of PC design, the drive letters
which are allocated to the various hardware drives depend upon which
particular medium is being used to run Pc-Check.

The allocation table for booting Pc-Check from various media is:

Pc-Check Drive letter allocated for:

booted Pc-Check Floppy HD HD
from: software Diskette (FAT) (Hidden)
CD-ROM A: (read only) B: C: X:
USB C: A: D: X:
Floppy A: A: C: X:
Diskette

Thus, for example, if you are running Pc-Check from CD-ROM, you
will need to reference the floppy drive as B: when defining the path
for the burnfile in CMDLINE.TXT. If you are running from USB flash
device, then Pc-Check itself is on the C: drive, and any floppy diskette
has the drive letter A:.

“HD” is included above, because results output can be sent to a FAT

hard drive partition (including hidden types), if desired. Additional
available hard drives take the next available letters in their sequence,
so a second hidden hard drive partition would be drive Y:.

A list of accessible drives appears during the Pc-Check boot process.

Note: Some legacy BIOSes cannot be relied upon to handle the above
drive letter allocation correctly. If you are running Pc-Check
from a read-only medium, e.g. CD-ROM, this can cause a
problem when you attempt to use an additional write-enabled
medium to read or write data, such as a burnfile, or a report.
Assuming that you have set the correct full pathname, if you
unexpectedly incur a “Write Error” message, your BIOS could

Page C.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

be at fault. If so, it is suggested that you make up your own

floppy diskette copy of Pc-Check, as described in the main
manual, and use that to run the program, instead of the original
(e.g. CD-ROM) version.

Page C.2
Appendix D Advanced XML Options for HII Files

Appendix D

ADVANCED XML OPTIONS FOR HII FILES

Note: It is beyond the scope of this document to describe XML and XSL
in detail: the user is referred to the many specialist publications
on these subjects. A knowledge of XSL would allow the user to
generate reports which, for example, contained the company
logo, or otherwise complied with the corporate image. This
Appendix is confined to providing guidance regarding the content
of a typical XML HII file produced by the Pc-Check compare
process, and providing hints on how it might be customised.

Note: XML HII files from versions of Pc-Check before V5.60 are not
compatible.

D.1 Basic HII Facilities

Section 4 of this manual describes how Hardware Identification Images
(HII) can be generated and used to ensure identical builds, or to identify
and document component changes within a system. The HII facility can
generate XML files for viewing and printing in a clear report format.

Two typical scenarios in which a reference configuration HII file can

be used to compare against the current system are:

(i) Support engineers can capture and retain HII images for
the systems they maintain: differences since the last HII
‘snapshot’ may highlight forgotten or unauthorised component
changes;

(ii) For the manufacture of batches of identical systems,

assembled systems can be checked to ensure an exact match
with an original, tested, reference unit.

To permit automated use, the HII Compare feature is available as a

burn-in test option. For unattended operation, command line switches
facilitate input of the reference image name and the name of the output
difference log. If selected, the test is performed once at the start of the
burn-in sequence. See the description of switches /IC and /IO in Section
3 of this manual for more information.

Page D.1
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

D.2 Advanced Facilities

Without making any alterations to the captured HII file, the basic
HII Compare feature already provides a powerful facility to ensure
continuity of a hardware specification. Advanced facilities exist which
enable customised reports to be generated, not only in order to modify
the report layout, but also to specify more complex match rules. For
example:

(i) a particular component can be selectively excluded from the

report, based upon some attribute;

(ii) an item can be made a permitted option, so that its presence or

absence does not trigger an alarm;

(iii) selected attributes can be ignored;

(iv) a tolerance can be set to specify a range of values of a

parameter which are deemed to be an acceptably close match
to the reference design.

When viewed with a browser, the XML files, containing the HII
configurations and the HII differences, refer to included XSL files,
which control formatting of the HII data. This facilitates creation of
a pleasing and clear report for display or print. Knowledge of XSL
allows modifications to the XSL files to be made, in order to produce
personalised report formats, without affecting the content of the HII
files themselves.

D.3 Modifying HII XML Files

To modify an XML HII reference image, simply edit the file with a
plain text editor (for example Notepad).

Here is an example of a typical component entry in an XML HII file:

Page D.2
Appendix D Advanced XML Options for HII Files

<component label=”Processor” description=”Processor”>

<attribute label=”Manufacturer” description=”Manufacturer”

type=”text”>AMD</attribute>

<attribute label=”Name” description=”Name” type=”text”>AMD Duron(tm)

Processor</attribute>

<attribute label=”Type” description=”Type” type=”text”>Central processor</

attribute>

<attribute label=”Socket” description=”Socket” type=”text”>SLOT 1</

attribute>

<attribute label=”Frequency” description=”Frequency” type=”value”

tolerance=”10”>649 MHz</attribute>

</component>

The ‘component’ XML start and end tags delimit the section of the file
that describes that component.

In the start tag, the ‘label’ defines the application’s name for the
component, while the ‘description’ gives the user, or displayed, name.
This convention carries through to the component ‘attribute’ tags.

Each ‘attribute’ describes something about the component. They may

either be a ‘text’ or a ‘value’ attribute, which influences the way in
which they are interpreted during a comparison.

In this example, the ‘Frequency’ attribute carries a ‘tolerance’ value,

allowing a range of inclusive acceptable values to be defined. All ‘value’
type attributes can optionally have a tolerance specified, which permits
the value to be greater than or less than the specified value, provided the
difference between the measured and reference values does not exceed
the tolerance. In the above example, this allows for fluctuations in the
processor speed measurement algorithm. For memory, it could be used
to allow for variations in on-board video allocation.

Page D.3
Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

When a component is compared, all attributes specified in the reference

image file must be present, and must match successfully against those
currently detected on the system. If an attribute does not matter – for
example if you were concerned only about the frequency of the CPU
– you can delete all the other attribute tags from the reference image.

By default, a component is assumed to be a ‘required’ component: if

it appears in the reference specification, it must be matched. This is
equivalent to the first tag line reading as:

<component label=”Processor” description=”Processor”

match=”required”>

The ‘match’ option may also be specified as ‘optional’ or ‘excluded’:

An ‘optional’ component effectively stops a component from being

reported either as ‘missing’ because it was given in the reference
specification, or as ‘added’ if it was absent from the reference
specification.

An ‘excluded’ component must not be matched on a system. Working

again with this example, it would be possible to create an ‘excluded’
processor component with the Manufacturer as the only attribute. This
would have the effect of failing all systems containing a CPU from
that Manufacturer.

Note: When using exclusion and/or optional components, ensure

that they appear before required components of the same type,
because the reference file will be evaluated ‘in order’. In the
current example, you would need to specify ‘excluded’ based
on manufacturer before requiring a CPU based on frequency:
otherwise a match on frequency may cause the processor to be
‘accepted’ before its manufacturer has been evaluated.

Note: XML is sensitive to character case.

In some situations a component may logically (or potentially even

physically) encapsulate other (sub-) components. An example of this in
most XML HII files would be that of the ‘Memory’ component, which
typically has ‘MemoryModule’ components within it. The top level
component may contain attributes that describe collective properties:
in the case of memory, the total amount of memory is given. Should

Page D.4
Appendix D Advanced XML Options for HII Files

you wish only these top level attributes to be considered, i.e. you wish
to match only on the total amount of memory installed, but are not
concerned with how this has been achieved, add ‘thisonly=”yes”’ to
the ‘memory’ tag, i.e.

<component label=”Memory” description=”Memory” thisonly=”yes”>

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Page D.6
Appendix E EuroDOS

Appendix E

EURODOS

When Pc-Check is operated in self-boot mode, it loads and runs

under its own version of DOS, called EuroDOS. This is not a full
implementation of DOS. Some of the facilities and restrictions are
summarised below.
EuroDOS understands all FATs (12, 16 and 32 bit) and will operate on
all BIOS driven media – typically floppy and hard disk drives, but may
sometimes include ZIP or LS120 drives, for example. When hard disk
partitions are scanned, EuroDOS will recognise partitions of hidden
type. Normal (visible) hard disk partitions are lettered in the normal
sense (C:, D: etc), while hidden are given X:, Y: or Z: – so that consistent
drive lettering is easy to arrange in manufacturing. See Appendix C for
more information about drive lettering.
The restrictions of EuroDOS are as follows:
1 A maximum of 4 logical volumes are supported from the
possible set of 2 removable floppy devices and 8 primary
partitions of the first two logical hard drives. So, as an example,
the 4 logical volumes might be: A: (floppy emulated by CD
boot); B: (relocation of real floppy); C: (FAT32 Window 98
installation); X: (hidden FAT diagnostic results partition).

2 No paths capability: EuroDOS will only understand the root

directory of each volume.

3 The medium from which Pc-Check is executing cannot be

changed while it is running, because Pc-Check is ‘paged’ in
sections.

4 There is no long filename support – all filenames must be 8.3

format, even for FAT32 partitions.

EuroDOS provides some advisory messages on a red banner across

the top of the screen, including write protection, disk changed at the
wrong time (files still open), no space left on the media, printer not
ready, etc.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

When EuroDOS launches Pc-Check, it will display the command it is

executing, e.g. it will show the Pc-Check EXE name and any command
line switches currently active in CMDLINE.TXT.

EuroDOS tests the memory that is subsequently used to load the Pc-
Check program. If memory faults are found, it will attempt to load the
program avoiding the fault. The result of this test is collected and used
by Pc-Check.

Page E.2
 Glossary

Glossary

TERMS IN COMMON USE

This glossary covers many of the terms used in this manual and gives
our interpretation of their meaning. It also gives our interpretation of
many of the terms that the reader will find in other documents relating to
computer usage. We have given explanations as they apply in computing
and electronics generally and a more specific meaning where this may
be in general variance when applied to personal computers of IBM or
IBM-compatible types.

We make no excuse for including quite a few terms that should have
obvious meanings to most of our readers because, in many cases, the
interpretation tends to ‘drift’ to fit the need in the ever-changing world
of computers. The fine-tuning of the meaning of some terms and the
broadening of others will continue to change gradually with time.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Access
An operation on a data-storage device such as a disk drive or a computer
memory to read or write data.

Add-on Card
A circuit board that can be fitted to an electronics assembly. For personal
computers, this specifically refers to circuit boards that plug into a row of
connector sockets called expansion slots on a PC’s motherboard. These
latter are normally electronic interfaces to peripheral devices.

Address
A numerical reference, usually rendered in hexadecimal, used to uniquely
identify the location of data or a place where data can pass into or out of
the system. In the personal computer context, this is normally restricted
to its base and extended RAM, its BIOS and CMOS chips and peripheral
interfaces plugged into the motherboard.

AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port. A bus specification which allows graphics cards
faster access to main memory than is possible via the regular PCI bus.

Alignment
A general mechanical term relating to the physical position of one item with
reference to another. More specifically, the term is used when referring to
the accurate positioning of a disk drive’s read/write heads over the circular
magnetic tracks on hard or floppy disks.

Alpha-Numeric Character
A sub-set of the 8-bit byte set that includes all the printing or display
alphabet characters. i.e.:- letters, numerals from 0 . . 9, most of the accented
letters, space and punctuation.

ANSI
Abbreviation for American National Standards Institute.

APM
Advanced Power Management. Facility of particular application to portable
computers, allowing devices such as hard drives and the screen to be
powered down when the machine has not been active for a specified period,
and the CPU to operate at reduced speed and power.
Page GL.2
 Glossary

Application
This term normally refers to a computer program that runs on a PC under
the user’s direct control, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, drawing
package etc. The application may initiate several other programs during
its use. On termination, these supplementary programs return to the calling
program and are transparent to the user.

Argument
Part of a command in a batch file or in a command line instruction. The
argument is added where the command requires a specific parameter such
as OFF after the command ECHO when you don’t want to see the steps in
a batch file displayed on screen as the commands are being executed.

ASCII
Abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
A standard code of 7 binary elements giving 128 different combinations
(27). Except for the zero (null) value, each code represents either an alpha-
numeric character, punctuation character or a control signal.

AT
A computer configuration designed by IBM using the Intel 80286 chip as
the central processor, having a 20M-byte hard disk and eight expansion
slots for peripherals.

ATA (also known as Parallel ATA)

Abbreviation for Advanced Technology Attachment, a disk drive
implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself. There
are several versions of ATA, all developed by the Small Form Factor (SFF)
Committee. These include:
ATA: Also known as IDE, supports one or two hard drives, a 16-bit interface
and PIO (qv) modes 0, 1 and 2.
ATA-2: Supports faster PIO modes (3 and 4) and multiword DMA modes (1
and 2). Also supports logical block addressing (LBA) and block transfers:
marketed as Fast ATA and Enhanced IDE (EIDE).
ATA-3: Minor revision to ATA-2.
Faster, enhanced versions are named after the data transfer rate in MBps,
such as ATA/33 (a.k.a. Ultra-ATA), ATA/66, ATA/100 and ATA/133.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

AT-Compatible
Usually understood to mean a computer design based on the IBM AT
configuration built by non-IBM manufacturers. Disk capacity, memory
size and speed very often being superior to the IBM standard.

AUTOEXEC.BAT
An MS-DOS (or compatible operating system) batch file consisting of a set
of DOS commands that are carried out in the listed sequence automatically
after the execution of the CONFIG.SYS sequence when a PC is switched
on or reset. This facility enables a user to organize the way the computer
should be initialised without the need to carry out a tedious set of command
line instructions.

Backup File Copy

An expression having several closely associated meanings. Responsible
computer users protect themselves against loss of data due to equipment or
media failure by keeping copies - most frequently on diskettes but also on
magnetic tape or through a network file server. Backups of files containing
user-generated data are taken from the PC’s hard disk or from working
diskettes at appropriate intervals. It is also sensible, whenever possible
to make copies of applications software diskettes so that the often-costly
original manufacturers’ distribution copies can be stored safely.

Base Memory
The memory on a PC addressed from zero to 640KB. This memory holds the
current part of the application being run, some or all of the associated data
and a small area reserved for the BIOS and O/S (Operating System).

Batch File
A file that may have any 8-character filename with the extension ‘.BAT’,
containing a set of DOS commands. (AUTOEXEC.BAT is a reserved name
for the file that is automatically called on system boot). Batch files are a
simple way for the user to avoid manually keying in a series of complicated
or monotonous command-line instructions that need to be executed before
some other operation can be started.

Baud Rate
The data transmission rate between two serial devices (e.g. modems),
measured in bits per second.

Page GL.4
 Glossary

BCD
Abbreviation for Binary-Coded-Decimal. A method by which 4-bit binary
counters increment from 0000 to 1001 (910) normally and reset to 0000 on
the tenth count and set their ‘carry’ bit. Counters of this type are available as
chips or can be implemented in software and are normally used to provide
human-readable decimal outputs.

Binary
A numbering system having only two fundamental values, these being 0 and
1. Digital computers store and manipulate all data in this binary form.

BIOS
An abbreviation for Basic Input/Output System. A software program
usually stored in read-only memory (ROM) components located on the
computer’s motherboard. The BIOS controls the routines for the central
processor and chipset components which, in turn, unite external devices
such as disk drives, screen and keyboard to permit applications software
to be utilized efficiently.

Bit
A single binary digit (i.e. having a value that can only be 0 or 1). The value
is held either as the state of a binary electronic switch, as a capacitive charge
or as a uniformly polarised magnetic region on a disk.

Bluetooth
Radio technology that connects electronic devices without using a cable.
Data and voice can be exchanged at ranges of up to 10 meters without the
need for devices to be lined up together.

Board See Card

Boot
The initialization process that occurs between the switching on or reset
of a PC and the time when it is available for its user. The boot process
includes the BIOS initialization and tests, but these are not executed when
a ‘soft’ reset is performed (CTRL-ALT-DEL). It includes the loading of
the operating system, defining devices, running their configuration routines
and processing the AUTOEXEC batch file.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Boot failure
Failure of the system to attain the normal user-ready state on power-up
or reset.

Buffer
A temporary data storage area in a computer or an associated peripheral
device. When data is passed from one system to another (e.g. a character
en route from the system bus to a printer), it can be held temporarily in a
buffer until the receiving area can accept it and thus allow the data source
to continue with further operations.

Bug
A computer hardware fault that causes a system to malfunction or a program
fault having a similar effect.

Bus
Sometimes, and more understandably, called the ‘highway’ that connects the
computer’s central processor to its memory and other immediate control,
coprocessor and management chips and its peripheral interfaces. PCs have
two main busses for data and addresses and a small bus for control signals.
-See also ISA and EISA.

Each bus consists of a number of parallel conductors. The number of

conductors (lines) in each bus being a function of the CPU chip. The
80286 address bus is 24 bits wide giving 224 (16 Megabytes) of addressable
locations. This increases to 32 bits (4 Giga-bytes) on 80386/486 but is
physically restricted to a sensible value on the motherboard. The data bus
on the 80286 is 16 bits wide and on the 80386/486 it is 32 bits wide.

Byte
A structured group of 8 bits. Normally the basic unit for data exchange
between system areas.

Cache
A special block of fast memory used for temporary storage of data for quick
retrieval. Compare buffer. (Think of a buffer as a temporary holding place
between two devices, and a cache as a temporary holding place for one device.)

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 Glossary

Cache RAM
Cache (usually SRAM) stores frequently requested data and instructions.
It is a small block of high-speed memory located between the CPU and
the main memory. When your computer processor needs data, it will check
the Cache first to see if it is there. If the data is not there, it will retrieve it
from the slower main memory.

Card
An electronic assembly of chips and other components mounted on
a fibre glass-resin substrate having copper tracks to make component
interconnections. Also referred to as a ‘Board’, ‘PCB’ or ‘Printed-Circuit
Board’.

Card Services
Software server designed to co-ordinate and ease the work of PCMCIA
Card (PC Card) drivers. Requires prior installation of socket services.

Central Processor Unit

A device within a computer that carries out the arithmetic operations, under
the control of a program, to perform the desired functions, sending and
receiving information from the different parts of the system. The speed at
which the CPU processes information internally is measured in MegaHertz
(MHz) or GigaHertz (GHz). 1 GHz is equal to 1,000 MHz.

Character
A letter or numeric symbol in the alpha-numeric character set that can be
printed by a printer or displayed on the screen.

Chip
An integrated-circuit device where the active components are produced
by forming semiconductor junctions or field-effect channels on a substrate
consisting of a rectangle (chip) of almost pure silicon, germanium or gallium
arsenide having a near-atomically-flat surface. The chip is enclosed in
suitable packaging to make it handleable and mountable.

Chipset
A family of integrated circuits centred on a CPU chip that can be combined
to form the basis of a computer. In PC terms, this means a chip or set of
chips that contain all the peripheral components to produce the basic PC
architecture.
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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Circuit
A combination of electronic components, including semiconductor devices
with electrical interconnections that performs some specified operation,
e.g. an amplifier.

Circuit Board See Card

Clock
On a computer, all switching and data transfer operations are synchronised
by a master timing source referred to as the ‘Clock’ which generates an
uninterrupted chain of electrical logic 0/1 pulses. In addition to the CPU
clock, a computer may also contain other clock sources to record the time
and date and to organize the operation of video displays and data exchanges
with peripherals. The speed at which a computer can carry out instructions
is controlled by the pulse rate of the CPU clock. This, in turn, is normally
set to ensure that the associated electronics has time to respond correctly
before the next operation step is initiated. The original PC design specified a
clock rate of 4.77 MHz but current chipsets allow manufacturers to employ
clock speeds of hundreds of MHz and higher.

Clone
A near copy of a well-known manufacturer’s design. See ‘Compatible’.

CMOS
Abbreviation for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. An
integrated-circuit design system that employs field effect junctions to
perform the active switching operations. Generally, these devices use less
current than their TTL counterparts so allowing device component density
to be increased considerably without overheating.

CMOS RAM
On a PC, a battery-supported memory element fitted to AT and higher
machines that retains the user-defined system BIOS setup data plus the
time and the date while the computer is switched off.

COM
Stands for Component Object Module. In DOS systems, the name of a
serial communications port. DOS supports four serial ports: COM1, COM2,
COM3, and COM4. However, most software uses system interrupts to

Page GL.8
 Glossary

access the serial ports, and there are only two IRQ lines reserved. This
means that the four COM ports share the same two IRQ lines. Typically,
COM1 and COM3 use IRQ4, while COM2 and COM4 use IRQ3. So in
general, if you have two devices, one of which is attached to COM1 and
the other to COM3, you cannot use them simultaneously.

Command Line Instruction

An instruction that the user must type in from the computer keyboard in a
recognisable DOS format. This may be a standard DOS function followed
by any additional information or arguments that may be required, such as
command line switches, paths, filenames or other parameters. Alternatively
it may be the name of a program to be executed or a batch file to be run.

Command Switch
Additional information frequently required when executing a DOS
command usually in the form ‘/X’ separated from the command by a single
space where ‘X’ is a character or a string.

Compatible
A computer design that is functionally identical to one of the original
IBM personal computer specifications. This means that the machine will
run software and accept add-on hardware designed for the corresponding
IBM machine.

CONFIG.SYS
A file accessed by the PC during its boot-up sequence after loading DOS
and before running AUTOEXEC.BAT. The file contains a set of definitions
and commands that configure the system to make best use of the available
memory and initialise other drivers required by the hardware that is
installed.

Console
Now an out-of-date term describing the keyboard and display of a PC. It
still retains a significance in some DOS commands such as COPY where
the command switch CON is telling the computer to send the data specified
to the screen display.

Controller
On some lap tops and budget machines the control circuits for obligatory
peripherals may be integrated into the motherboard but generally controllers
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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

are add-on cards that interface between the system bus and peripherals such
as disk drives, video monitors, communications modems, scanners etc.

Conventional Memory See Base Memory

CPU Abbreviation for Central Processor Unit

CRC
Cyclic Redundancy Code: an error correcting protocol.

Cylinder
On a multi-platter hard-disk drive, a series of corresponding circular tracks
arranged one above the other on both sides of each platter. Thus all the
tracks of a specified number constitute the cylinder of that number.

Data
Recorded or temporarily captured information. All computer data consists
of binary numbers stored either as a switch state (on/off), an electrical
charge or magnetic polarity. To be usable, data must be stored at a known
and accessible location. When data is sent to a printer, display or other
suitable peripheral it can be converted into human-readable or machine
interpretable form.

Data Pattern
Regular patterns of binary data. These are often applied to devices
when testing their integrity such as checking read/write operations on
semiconductor or magnetic memory. Certain pattern combinations of 1’s
and 0’s can be applied to memory during continuous read/write operations
in a way that is most likely to detect latent weaknesses in the device. In
semiconductors, electrical weakness between physically adjacent cells can
be detected and, on magnetic storage, media-faults, alignment-faults and
electronic-circuit faults can be stimulated to occur.

DEBUG
A utility provided in many DOS packages to enable programmers to
diagnose, modify and repair program operations by single stepping through
the sequence and noting the effects. Novell DR-DOS contains a similar
utility called SID (Symbolic Instruction Debugger).

Page GL.10
 Glossary

Decimal
A counting system used by humans that uses ten characters (0 . . 9) to
quantify any definable integer or fractional value. See also Binary, Octal
and Hexadecimal.

Decryption
Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its original
form, so it can be understood.

Diagnostic
A sequence of operations and tests designed to identify the source of a
fault. This is usually in the form of a computer program that may run under
user control or, in certain cases, may be left running for long periods to
identify transient faults.

Digital
Describing a system that operates in binary mode having only two
recognisable states. CMOS and TTL chips designed for 5-volt supply
operation on the motherboard and associated peripherals give an output
between zero and 0.6 volts to represent a ‘0’ and an output between 2.6
and 5.5 volts to represent a ‘1’. (Any voltage between 0.6 and 2.6 volts is
transitory and may be ignored).

DIMM
Short for dual in-line memory module, a small circuit board that holds
memory chips. A single in-line memory module (SIMM) has a 32-bit path
to the memory chips whereas a DIMM has 64-bit path. Because the Pentium
processor requires a 64-bit path to memory, you need to install SIMMs two
at a time. With DIMMs, you can install memory one DIMM at a time.

Direct Memory Access

A technique for passing data between memory and another part of a system
without CPU intervention. This increases the speed at which large blocks
of program data can be loaded and unloaded to and from the memory and
peripherals.

Diskette
A thin disk of flexible plastic sheet coated with a magnetic film enclosed
in a square flexible or rigid plastic protective container. It is used as a

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

semi-permanent data-storage device. Data can be written to or read from

the diskette when correctly inserted into a suitable drive unit.

Display
The display device onto which the computer outputs visual data for the
user. Also called the ‘Screen’ or ‘Monitor’.

Distributed Management Task Force

(DMTF, formerly “Desktop Management Task Force”) is a standards
organization that develops and maintains standards for systems management
of IT environments in enterprises and the Internet.

DMA
An abbreviation for Direct Memory Access (qv).

DOS
Abbreviation for Disk Operating System. The environment in which the
computer receives, creates, manipulates and disposes of data and other files
and provides an interface with the user via the keyboard and display. Several
variants of DOS exist but the most common is Microsoft’s MS-DOS. Some
manufacturers offer their own version and Novell also produces its version
under the name DR-DOS

DOS Format
The act of writing high-level structural information onto a diskette, creating
the necessary housekeeping data for DOS to maintain files and directories
(e.g. a File Allocation Table). Sometimes referred to as ‘high-level
formatting’. Most makes and versions of DOS use compatible structures,
allowing data to be exchanged freely.

The formatting commands available vary between DOSes supplied by

different equipment manufacturers. Some DOSes have special commands
for hard disk high-level formatting, (for example DR-DOS). We give details
based on the standard Microsoft MS-DOS.

The DOS FORMAT command is used to format floppy disks from scratch,
while hard disks must have previously been low-level formatted and
partitioned. Note that under DR-DOS the partitioning utility FDISK performs
the high-level formatting of hard disks, not the FORMAT command.

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 Glossary

See also Format, Low-Level Format, Partition.

Drive
A data-storage unit in which the data is stored on disks. The disks may be
removable diskettes or may be permanently enclosed ‘hard’ disks. Data
is stored on concentric tracks on the disk surfaces and accessed by the
read/write heads which are mechanically aligned to the required tracks as
the disk rotates.

Drive Type
An identifier used to specify to the BIOS the type and configuration of the
hard disk fitted to the computer. Modern computers have at least one option
(47) into which the user is able to specify the drive parameters.

Driver
A program that employs BIOS functions to permit operation with a
particular peripheral. Standard devices such as keyboards, displays and
normal drives have transparent drivers in the BIOS. Normally, drivers for
other customised facilities are installed at boot time by being specified in
the CONFIG.SYS file.

DSP: (Digital Signal Processor)

DSP chips are widely used in sound cards, fax machines, modems, cellular
phones, high-capacity hard disks and digital TVs. The first DSP chip used
in a commercial product was believed to be from Texas Instruments,
which was used in its very popular Speak & Spell game in the late 1970s.
DSP chips are used in sound cards for recording and playback and speech
synthesis. Other audio uses are amplifiers that simulate concert halls and
surround-sound effects for music and home theatre.

Dynamic RAM
A type of memory chip that uses the principle of storing data as an electrical
charge on each cell. Its disadvantage over the other types of memory is
that the charge leaks away very quickly, leading to data corruption, so
it needs to be refreshed before it is lost. When used, dynamic RAM has
a special controller chip that dynamically refreshes the data stored. The
advantage of dynamic RAM over non-volatile memory is its comparative
speed and price.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Earth
Parts of a system’s electronics that have a direct connection to the Earth
pin on the plug that connects the computer to the a.c. power source.

ECC
Error Correction Code.

EHCI
Short for Extended Host Controller Interface, EHCI is a standard that allows
a computer host to interface with USB 2.0 devices.

EIDE
Enhanced IDE. An improvment on the IDE interface (qv).

EISA
An abbreviation for Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture. A standard
that enlarges on the ISA standard to include a 32 bit data bus and expansion
slots modified to permit more contacts while maintaining compatibility
with existing ISA hardware. The enhancements permit faster DMA and
I/O rates to be achieved.

EMS
An abbreviation for Expanded Memory Specification. EMS is a
combination of software (an Expanded Memory Manager) and hardware
(control circuitry fitted to motherboards and add-on memory cards). It
allows applications written to work within the 1 Megabyte address space
of an XT computer to access many megabytes more memory.

Emulation
Refers to the ability of a program or device to imitate another program
or device. Many printers, for example, are designed to emulate Hewlett-
Packard LaserJet printers because so much software is written for HP
printers. By emulating an HP printer, a printer can work with any software
written for a real HP printer. Emulation tricks the software into believing
that a device is really some other device. Communications software
packages often include terminal emulation drivers. This enables your
PC to emulate a particular type of terminal so that you can log on to a
mainframe. It is also possible for a computer to emulate another type of
computer. For example, there are programs that enable an Apple Macintosh
to emulate a PC.
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 Glossary

Encryption
Encryption is the process of converting data into “unreadable code” is so
that unauthorized people cannot understand the content. Encryption may
be used to make stored data private (e.g., data that is stored on a potentially
vulnerable hard disk), or to allow a nonsecure communications channel
to serve as a private communications channel. Encryption is sometimes
described as the process of converting plaintext into ciphertext. To decipher
the message, the receiver of the encrypted data must have the proper
decryption key.

EPROM
An abbreviation for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. A type
of ROM that can be erased by shining an ultra-violet light through a
transparent ‘window’ in the chip package, and then re-writing data to it
with an EPROM programmer.

Ethernet
A networking system that enables high speed data communication over
coaxial cables. The Ethernet network system supports TCP/IP, AppleTalk,
Novell Netware, and other network protocols. An Ethernet (LAN)
connection is 10 Mbit/s or 100 Mbit/s, and is used to connect many
computers that can all “talk” directly to each other. Normally they will
all talk with a few servers and printers, but the network is all-to-all. The
distance is normally limited to below 1 km.

Expanded Memory Manager See EMS.

Expansion Slot
An in-line edge connector socket mounted on the PC’s motherboard
to provide access to the computer’s bus and power supplies by add-on
cards such as disk controllers, video cards and interface cards for other
peripherals.

Extended Memory
All memory with addresses above 1 M-byte.

Extended Memory Manager See XMS.

FAT See File Allocation Table.

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

Fault Finding
Analysis of the symptoms of a failure followed by specific tests to check
what is causing these symptoms and specifying the necessary remedial
action.

Fibre Optic
An alternative to copper wire for transmitting information. In fibre optics,
pulses of light representing binary data are flashed along a flexible glass
fibre. The advantage over copper wiring is that a single strand of optical
fibre can carry thousands and thousands of different frequencies at once
without data loss.

File
An organised collection of data that may represent a program or the data
that could be manipulated by a program. Files may be written to and read
from any mass storage device such as hard or floppy disks or magnetic tape.
The basic structure and organisation of its placement on disk is controlled
by the DOS.

File Allocation Table

Often abbreviated to FAT. This is a table created and maintained by DOS
and kept on a floppy or hard disk. The FAT records which parts of the disk
are occupied by files and directories. DOS uses the table to find unused
space on the disk for new files. The FAT is also used by DOS to indicate
defective areas on a disk so that those areas are not used for storing data.

File Extension
An addition to the name of a DOS file in the form of up to three characters
delineated from the filename by a point (.).

FireWire
Apple Inc.’s brand name for the IEEE 1394 interface (although the 1394
standard also defines a backplane interface). Also known as i.LINK (Sony’s
name) and DV (Panasonic’s name, not to be confused with DV camcorder
tapes). A serial bus interface standard, for high-speed communications and
isochronous real-time data transfer, frequently used in a personal computer
(and digital audio / digital video). The original IEEE 1394a standard has a
data transfer rate of up to 400Mbps, and IEE 1394b is up to 800Mbps

Page GL.16
 Glossary

Firmware
A program that is stored in ROM rather than as software held on disk.
For example, the BIOS program that runs on power-up or reset is held
permanently on ROM so that it can run immediately the CPU initialises.

Flags
Bits that appear in certain CPU registers to indicate that certain conditions
exist.

Flash memory
A non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and
reprogrammed. It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards,
and USB flash drives (thumb drives, handy drive, memory stick, flash stick,
jump drive) for general storage and transfer of data between computers
and other digital products.

Floppy
An alternative name for a diskette. Modern diskettes are 3.5" in size and
rigid, but the name derives from older 8" and 5.25" types which are, within
limits, flexible.

Format
The act of writing information to a diskette or hard disk that prepares it
for the organized storage of data. The DOS FORMAT command is used
to prepare diskettes in this way. The process for hard disks is a little more
involved, consisting of up to three stages: Low-Level Format, Partitioning
and DOS Format. See those topics for further details.

Gigabyte 1024 Megabytes.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A program interface that takes advantage of the computer’s graphics
capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed graphical user
interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages.
On the other hand, many users find that they work more effectively with a
command-driven interface, especially if they already know the command
language.

Graphics Adaptor See Video Adaptor

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Ground See Earth

GUI See Graphical User Interface

Handshaking
The process by which two devices initiate communications. Handshaking
begins when one device sends a message to another device indicating
that it wants to establish a communications channel. The two devices
then send several messages back and forth that enable them to agree on a
communications protocol.

Hard Disk
A magnetic disk drive unit which is normally fitted permanently to the PC.
This has totally enclosed rigid platters. See also Drive and Diskette.

Hardware
The physical components that constitute a computer and its peripherals.

Hardware Identification Image (HII)

A file stored in a format that is convenient for further processing which
contains a detailed configuration snapshot of the host PC. Files can be used
for inventory records, or if compared against previously saved images can
be used to pinpoint configuration changes.

Hardware Interrupts
Hardware Interrupts, also known as IRQs or interrupt requests, are
electronic signals generated by peripherals to indicate to the CPU that they
require attention or ‘servicing’. A serial port, for example, might generate
an interrupt when it has finished sending a byte.

The CPU responds by suspending whatever it is doing and running instead

a special program in memory called an Interrupt Service Routine. This
might, in the example given, supply the serial port with the next byte to
send. When the service routine has finished, the CPU returns to where it
left off and resumes normal operation.

XT-type computers have 8 different IRQs available for peripherals, AT

computers have 16. Not all of these IRQs are accessible from the expansion
slots, however, as some are reserved for standard items like the keyboard.

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 Glossary

In addition, each peripheral must usually use a different IRQ to avoid

conflicts.

These interrupts are assigned different priorities so that when several IRQs
are generated at about the same time, the most urgent situations get dealt
with first by the CPU

Head
The part of a disk drive that traverses the tracks to read or write data. In
the write mode, a current through the head produces a magnetic field in
the part of the disk track that is under it at that instant. The head current
flows one way to induce a logical ‘1’ and in the reverse direction to induce
a logical ‘0’. In the read mode, the magnetised parts of the track pass below
the head as the disk rotates inducing small currents in the head coil. These
are amplified and processed by the drive electronics and output as logical
‘0s’ and ‘1s’

Hex An abbreviation for Hexadecimal - see below.

Hexadecimal
A numbering system used by engineers and programmers to make the
computer’s binary numbering more manageable. Any integer value in
the range 0 . . 15 (the number of combinations possible with 4 bits) are
represented by the numerals 0 . . 9 followed by the letters A . . F where the
numerals represent their decimal values and the letters represent 10 . .15.
Thus 016 = 00002 and F16 = 11112. Hex values are normally suffixed by an
upper- or lower-case ‘H’ to identify them as such.

High Memory
The first 64K-bytes of memory above 1 M-byte of RAM on an AT or
higher motherboard. This area is accessible on 80286 and higher CPUs
in real mode without the need for complicated switching. See the chipset
manufacturers’ data book for more details.

Host
A term used to differentiate the control or main computer in a system from
the other units with which it is associated. For example, a laser printer has its
own CPU to organize the bit-map images it generates and it communicates
with the host CPU during the data transfer process.

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IDE
Integrated Drive Electronics. An early industry standard for hard drive
interfaces.

I/O
An abbreviation for Input/Output. Operations where data is exchanged
between the computer and a peripheral via an I/O interface.

Interleaving
A recording method that reduces data errors during playback. Instead of the
file being written in a contiguous data stream, the data sectors are intermixed
along the recording track. If a disc should have a smudge or scratch, the
entire data file is generally recoverable because a smaller amount of the
file data is affected.

Interrupt
One method by which a peripheral can indicate that it requires the attention
of the CPU. See Hardware Interrupt.

IRQ Abbreviation for Interrupt Request - see Hardware Interrupt.

ISA
An abbreviation for Industry Standard Architecture. This specifies the basic
architecture for the IBM ‘AT’ computer in terms of interface circuits and
signal timing, interrupt allocations, DMA facilities and timer and clock
characteristics. See also EISA.

Kernel
The central module of an operating system. It is the part of the operating
system that loads first, and it remains in main memory. Because it stays in
memory, it is important for the kernel to be as small as possible while still
providing all the essential services required by other parts of the operating
system and applications. Typically, the kernel is responsible for memory
management, process and task management, and disk management.

Kilobyte
1024 bytes, abbreviated to 1KB using the upper-case K to avoid confusion
with the standard ‘SI’ quantity descriptor k used for 1000. Many
publications ignore this differentiation and their styles may follow other
house standards.
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 Glossary

LBA See Logical Block Addressing

LED
The abbreviation for Light-Emitting Diode. LEDs are semiconductor
devices that are often used as visual indicators and are available in a variety
of colours. Infra-red emitting diodes are also available and are often used
for detection and control operations.

Logical Block Addressing (LBA)

A method used with SCSI and IDE disk drives to translate the cylinder,
head, and sector specifications of the drive into addresses that can be used
by an enhanced BIOS. Used with drives which are larger than 504 MB

Low-Density
A type of diskette that holds about one quarter of the data that the AT
standard high-density disk can accommodate, i.e. 360K-bytes. These are
only available in 5¼” format.

Low-Level Format
This is a process that writes information on a hard disk by dividing each
surface into a series of concentric circular tracks. Each track is, in turn,
divided into an equal number of sectors. Each sector can typically hold up
to 512 bytes of data. Any tracks or sectors found to be defective are marked
so that the operating system does not use them in future for storing data.

Most IDE and SCSI hard disks are low-level formatted by the manufacturer
and need never have this process applied to them again. See also Format
and Partitioning.

Manufacturing Test Port

Normally the I/O port with the address 80h that most modern BIOSes send
POST codes to during the BIOS startup sequence - see POST.

Maths Co-Processor
A chip used in conjunction with the CPU to increase system speed when
performing complex floating-point arithmetic such as matrix operations
(spreadsheets etc.). Available as the Intel 8087, 80287 and 80387 and
Weitek. The 80486-DX and later CPU chips contain their own integrated
maths co-processor.

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MCA
Abbreviation for Micro Channel Architecture. An IBM specification for
the architecture of the PS/2 computer model 50 and up.

Megabyte
1024 Kilobytes, normally abbreviated to MB.

Micro Channel
A facility provided in IBM PS/2 models 50 and up that allows peripherals
to take over bus control via their intelligent interfaces in order to make
high-speed data transfers.

Microprocessor See CPU.

MMX
Multi-Media Extensions. Hardware extensions to instructions for multi-
media operations.

Monitor
A term frequently used to describe a computer’s display device.

Motherboard
The circuit board assembly of the PC that holds the CPU chip, its associated
components and memory. It also houses the expansion slots for all the
add-on boards.

MS-DOS See DOS.

Multiplexer
This is a piece of hardware that allows one item to take the place of several.
An example would be using a multiplexer to allow 10 computers to attach
where only one could before.

Network Card
Also, Network Interface Card or NIC. This is a component of a computer
that enables the computer to communicate with other computers via a
direct network connection.

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 Glossary

Nibble (Alternative spelling ‘Nybble’)

Four bits which may be either the most-significant or least significant half
of a byte.

NMI
An abbreviation for Non-Maskable Interrupt. The highest-priority CPU
interrupt, used to halt program operation when impending catastrophic
failures such as memory parity errors are detected.

Noise
Randomly-generated natural electrical background impulses having no
intelligible data content. The level of this noise is what limits the minimum
strength of the signal that represents a usable data bit.

Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM)

Any type of memory that is made non-volatile by connecting it to a constant
power source, such as a battery. Therefore, non-volatile memory does not
lose its contents when the main power is turned off.

NPU
Abbreviation for Numeric Processor Unit - see Maths Co-processor.

NVRAM See Non-Volatile Random Access Memory

OHCI See Open Host Controller Interface

Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI)

OHCI, developed by Compaq, is a standard that allows a computer host to
interface with Firewire and USB 1.0 and 1.1 devices.

Operating System
An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the
resources of a computer and provides users with an interface for accessing
those resources. An operating system processes system data and user
input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and internal system
resources as a service to users and programs of the system. Common PC
operating systems include Microsoft Windows®, Mac OS and Linux. Earlier
versions included DOS, UNIX and CP/M. EuroDos is the Eurosoft OS of
choice provided with Pc-Check.

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Overclock
To run a microprocessor faster than the speed for which it has been tested
and approved. Overclocking is a popular technique for eking out a little more
performance from a system. In many cases, you can force your CPU to run
faster than it was intended simply by setting a jumper on the motherboard.
Overclocking does come with some risks, however, such as over-heating, so
you should become familiar with all the pros and cons before you attempt
it. Overclocking is sometimes called speed margining.

Overflow
An error or fault condition that occurs when there is insufficient
memory to contain the data generated or the memory set aside for data is
insufficient.

Overwrite
The operation of writing data into RAM addresses or onto disk sectors
that already contain data.

Parallel
A data transfer operation in which several bits are processed simultaneously,
typically 8, 16 or 32 bits.

Parallel ATA See ATA

Partitioning
Partitioning consists of information written to reserved areas of a hard disk
describing its size and other physical characteristics. This is usually for the
benefit of operating systems. It can optionally also split a single physical
hard disk into two or more smaller ‘logical volumes’ or ‘partitions’ that
appear to DOS to be separate hard disks. This can be useful for organizing
data to make it more manageable, for installing different operating systems
on one drive and for overcoming limitations placed on hard disk sizes by
older versions of DOS. The DOS utility FDISK lets you edit the ‘partition
table’ of a hard disk. In DR-DOS, FDISK performs similar functions but
also facilitates high-level formatting.

PC
The abbreviation for Personal Computer. This is generally understood
to mean the type of computer that is based on the original IBM design

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 Glossary

that is capable of running software intended for IBM machines and

accommodating add-on cards designed for IBM machines.

PC Card
Hardware device in a compact and portable form, similar to but thicker
than a credit card.

PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect: a high performance bus.

PCI-X
A higher specified version of PCI, capable of data transfer rates exceeding
1 gigabyte per second.

PCMCIA
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. Originators
of the PC Card Standard.

Peripheral
A unit usually connected externally to the computer such as a printer,
image scanner, keyboard etc. either via an add-on card or directly. Some
peripherals, such as modem and fax cards, however may be mounted directly
in expansion slots and simply plug into a phone or network socket.

PIO See Programmed Input/Output.

Port
An address belonging to a group that is not allocated to memory but which
is made permanently available to give access to external devices. AT and
above machines set aside 64K of addresses for this purpose.

POST
An abbreviation for Power-On Self Test. This is the sequence carried out
after switch on or a hard reset by the BIOS to check that the machine is
behaving correctly.

Power Supply
All modern PCs are fitted with a high-efficiency switched-mode power
supply providing stable +5V, -5V, +12V and -12V outputs and a logic-level

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Pc-Check Diagnostics for AT-Style Personal Computers

‘power-good’ signal. If the a.c. supply voltage falls below the minimum
limit, the outputs are switched off.

Processor See Central Processor Unit

Program
A set of instructions that the computer carries out in a logical sequence to
perform the operations required by the programmer.

Programmed Input/Output (PIO)

A data transfer between two devices that uses the computer’s main processor
as part of the data path. ATA uses PIO and defines the speed of the data
transfer in terms of the PIO mode implemented (mode 0 being the slowest).
See also DMA.

PROM
Abbreviation for Programmable Read-Only Memory. This is a memory
chip that can only be written to, or ‘blown’, once and is designed to contain
permanent system information.

PS/2 Port
A type of port developed by IBM for connecting a mouse or keyboard to a
PC. The PS/2 port supports a mini DIN plug containing just 6 pins. Most
PCs have a PS/2 port so that the serial port can be used by another device,
such as a modem. The PS/2 port is often called the mouse port.

RAID
Short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a
category of disk drive that employs two or more drives in combination
for fault tolerance and performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently
on servers, and on some personal computers where data integrity or
performance is a high requirement.

RAM
Abbreviation for Random Access Memory. The term applies to either a
single chip or to all the computer’s memory. It is usually implemented by
using dynamic (refreshable) RAM chips (see Dynamic RAM). Data can be
written to and read from RAM but it is volatile and data will be lost when
the power supply is switched off.

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 Glossary

Read
Extraction of data from memory or any other device containing stored data
such as a disk drive. Reading is normally a non-destructive operation and
there is no practical limit to the number of times the data may be read.

Read/Write
The capability to extract or copy data from or to a source as described above
(Read) or to place data from another source in or on some medium that is
capable of retaining it either temporarily or permanently.

Refresh
The regular periodic operation performed on a dynamic RAM to prevent
the electrical charge on the memory cells from leaking away. This operation
is normally performed by the dynamic RAM controller chip.

Register
Temporary storage areas, mainly in the CPU chip but also in other chips
associated with peripheral device controllers. In the CPU the binary data
in the registers is examined and manipulated by the operation codes given
to the CPU by the program.

Remote Installation Services (RIS)

A Microsoft-supplied server that provides Preboot eXecution Environment
(PXE) BIOS-enabled computers to remotely execute boot environment
variables.

Reset
The action of causing the computer to re-boot without the need to turn
off the power. Most PCs have a reset button for this on the front panel.
A ‘soft’ reset may also be initiated by holding down the CTRL and ALT
keys while the DEL key is pressed. In this case, the computer skips the
BIOS check sequence.

RIS See Remote Installation Services

RJ-11
Short for Registered Jack-11, a four- or six-wire connector used
primarily to connect telephone equipment in the United States. RJ-
11 connectors are also used to connect some types of local-area
networks (LANs), although RJ-45 connectors are more common.
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RJ-45
Short for Registered Jack-45, an eight-wire connector used commonly to
connect computers onto a local-area networks (LAN), especially Ethernets.
RJ-45 connectors look similar to the ubiquitous RJ-11 connectors used for
connecting telephone equipment, but they are somewhat wider.

ROM
Abbreviation for Read-Only Memory. This is a memory chip that has its
data content permanently installed during manufacture. Certain makes of
BIOS chips may be implemented in ROM.

SATA See Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)

Pronounced “scuzzy”. SCSI is a parallel interface standard used by
Apple Macintosh computers, PCs, and many UNIX systems for attaching
peripheral devices to computers. SCSI interfaces facilitate faster data
transmission rates (up to 80 megabytes per second) than standard serial
and parallel ports. Many devices can be connected to a single SCSI port,
so that SCSI is really an I/O bus rather than simply an interface. There are
several implementations of SCSI, including:
SCSI-1: Uses an 8-bit bus, and supports data rates of 4 MBps
SCSI-2: Same as SCSI-1, but uses a 50-pin connector instead of a 25-pin
connector, and supports multiple devices.
Wide SCSI: Uses a wider cable (168 cable lines to 68 pins) to support
16-bit transfers.
Fast SCSI: Uses an 8-bit bus, but doubles the clock rate to support data
rates of 10 MBps.
Fast Wide SCSI: Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data rates of 20 MBps.
Ultra SCSI: Uses an 8-bit bus, and supports data rates of 20 MBps.
SCSI-3: Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data rates of 40 MBps. Also called
Ultra Wide SCSI.
Ultra2 SCSI: Uses an 8-bit bus and supports data rates of 40 MBps.
Wide Ultra2 SCSI: Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data rates of 80
MBps.

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 Glossary

SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory)

A type of DRAM that synchronizes itself with the CPU’s bus. Further
developments include DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM, which successively
double the minimum number of words read or written.

Sector
Part of a track on a diskette or a hard disk platter. Disks have some form
of physically detectable area against which all the tracks’ start points are
referenced. Each track is then divided into an equal number of sectors
beginning at a fixed angular displacement from this point. Typically a 3½”
high-density diskette has 18 sectors per track and 80 tracks on each of
the two surfaces: each sector contains 512 bytes of data plus a numerical
identifier and a cyclic check code. This gives a capacity of 1,474,560
bytes.

Seek
On a disk drive, the positioning of the head(s) over the required track
(cylinder).

Seek Time
The time it takes for a disk drive to reposition its head(s) over a different
track. This is the most critical parameter for the speed of operation of a
disk drive.

Semi-conductor
The basic material used in the fabrication of integrated-circuit chips,
transistors, LEDs etc. Usually in the form of extremely pure silicon to
which extremely small quantities of other ‘enhancing’ or ‘depleting’
elements are added locally to create the required conductive properties.
Also germanium mainly in older simpler devices and gallium arsenide for
light-emitting/detecting applications.

Serial
The transfer of structured binary data bit patterns or electrical pulses one
after the other at intervals along a single conductor. See also Parallel.

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)

A computer bus primarily designed for transfer of data between a computer
and storage devices (like hard disk drives or optical drives).

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The main benefits are faster transfers, ability to remove or add devices
while operating (hot swapping), thinner cables that let air cooling work
more efficiently, and more reliable operation with tighter data integrity
checks than the older Parallel ATA interface.

It was designed as a successor to the legacy Advanced Technology

Attachment standard (ATA), and is expected eventually to replace the
older technology (retroactively renamed Parallel ATA or PATA). Serial ATA
adapters and devices communicate over a high-speed serial cable.

SETUP (1)
Generally the name of a program supplied by a software vendor to install
and customise an application such as a word processor or an environment
for running other applications (such as Windows®).

SETUP (2)
More specifically a routine built into the BIOS software of AT and higher
machines to allow a PC user to customise the way the BIOS configures
the computer before loading DOS etc. This setup information is stored in
battery-backed CMOS RAM and can therefore remain current for the life
of the battery.

SGRAM
Abbreviation of Synchronous Graphic Random Access Memory, a type of
DRAM used on video adapters and graphics accelerators. Like SDRAM,
SGRAM can synchronize itself with the CPU bus clock up to speeds of 100
MHz. In addition, SGRAM uses several other techniques, such as masked
writes and block writes, to increase bandwidth for graphics-intensive
functions. Unlike VRAM and WRAM, SGRAM is single-ported. However,
it can open two memory pages at once, which simulates the dual-port nature
of other video RAM technologies.

Shadow RAM
The area of RAM between 640K and 1 M-byte that may be used to hold
copies of program code for the BIOS and video adaptor ROMS. The BIOS
remaps these parts of the memory over their normal ROM address areas.
This enables the machine to run faster because the access time to this
memory is faster than ROM chips.

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 Glossary

SIB
Status Indicator Box. Device permitting display of diagnostic results.
Useful in absence of video monitor (available from Eurosoft for use with
Pc-Check).

Socket Services
Low-level software driver for PCMCIA Host Bus Adapter logic.

Software
The instructions that tell the computer what data it must operate on and
what it must do with it. These instructions usually come in the form of a
program.

Software Interrupt
Software interrupts provide a method by which applications can request
facilities provided by the BIOS, DOS or other operating system. For
example, interrupt number 13h is used to ask the BIOS to perform
operations on the floppy and hard disks. There are 256 different types of
interrupt but those in use at any one time are determined by the software
the computer is running. Many of the interrupts have no standard usage.

Spiral Diskette
A diagnostic tool in the form of a diskette in which the tracks are in the form
of a spiral, like a gramophone record, rather than as separate concentric
tracks. These are required by certain types of diagnostic software to check
head alignment and sensitivity on diskette drives.

Swap File
A swap file is an area on your hard disk used as virtual memory. It’s called
a swap file because virtual memory management software swaps data
between it and main memory (RAM).

Synchronous
Synchronous can refer to:
(1) A communications method that transmits a group of characters as a
block of data rather than as individual characters.
(2) A reference to the fact that two different data streams are tied, or
synchronized, to a single reference clock.
(3) Data transmitted in a time-division multiplexer.

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System Management BIOS (SMBIOS)

A specification to lay out data structures (and access methods) in a BIOS
which allows a user or application to store and retrieve information
specifically about the PC in question.

Terabyte: (TB)
2 to the 40th power (1,099,511,627,776) bytes. This is approximately 1
trillion bytes.
10 to the 12th power (1,000,000,000,000). This is exactly one trillion.

Time Multiplexing
The use of time slicing to arbitrate between several devices which share
the same IRQ.

Track
A circular concentric magnetised strip on the surface of a hard disk or
diskette containing a number of identifiable sectors written to the disk
during the formatting process. Each sector may contain up to 512 bytes
of data.

Trouble Shooting See Fault Finding.

UDMA
Ultra DMA. An interface standard based on EIDE (qv). When followed
by a number, eg UDMA100, this specifies the data transfer rate in MHz.
See also DMA.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

A backup power unit that provides continuous power when the normal
power supply is interrupted. UPS systems can be stand-by, only supplying
power when the regular supply is interrupted, or fulltime, relying on
regular power and/or batteries to supply it while it supplies power to the
protected device.

Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI)

UHCI was developed by Intel and is a type of USB 1.0 and 1.1 host
controller that consists of two parts, Host Controller Driver (HCD) and
Host Controller (HC). The HCD software is responsible for scheduling
the traffic on USB by posting and maintaining transactions in system

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 Glossary

memory. HCD is part of the system software and is typically provided by

the operating system vendor.

UPS See Uninterruptible Power Supply

Upper Memory
The memory between the top of the 640K base memory and 1 M-byte.

USB
Universal Serial Bus, A specification for connecting peripheral devices to
a PC using a fast serial interface.

Utility
A general term that usually describes a relatively simple program like
a DOS command, a simple diagnostic etc. For example, a program that
changes the format of a text file produced using one word processor to a
format that will be compatible with another word processor.

Vcc
Normal operating voltage.

VGA
Stands for Video Graphics Adapter. This is a low level colour monitor
standard.

Video Adaptor
The add-on adaptor card that interfaces between the computer bus and the
display unit.

Video Random Access Memory (VRAM)

High-speed memory used for the computer’s display. VRAM must be
fast to keep up with the speed at which the screen is scanned. VRAM has
two ports so it can send the data for text and images to memory and to the
display at the same time.

Vpp
Programming voltage.

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Write
The action of placing data into memory or onto disk by transferring the
appropriate electrical charge to a cell, or magnetising part of a track
sector.

Write Protect
A mechanical protection against writing and therefore risking damage
to valuable data. Alternatively, individual files written to disk can be
protected against erasure and overwriting by the use of the DOS ATTRIB
command.

XMS
Abbreviation for Extended Memory Specification. XMS is a method for
applications to use memory above 1 Megabyte in AT and above computers.
It consists of software, in the form of an Extended Memory Manager that
controls access to this memory and prevents conflicts between applications
that want to use it. Some Extended Memory Managers also have the
capability to use extended memory to emulate expanded memory and thus
also providing EMS facilities

XT
A computer configuration designed by IBM using the Intel 8088 chip as
the central processor, having a 10 M-byte disk and 7 expansion slots for
peripherals. It was the forerunner of the ‘AT’ configuration.

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USA