Good, Affordable PC Diagnostic Software?

RebornData asks: "I do freelance computer support for small businesses, and after running into a string of hairy hardware problems, decided to buy some generic PC diagnostic software. My searches turned up numerous vendors but very few independent or reputable reviews and comparisons, so I embarked on an evaluation of my own. What I found was an industry filled with con artists, bitter feuds, and outdated products. I'm now out $400 and am wondering whether my hope of finding useful diagnostic software was a naive dream. Has anyone found something that works for you?"

"The premise of PC diagnostics software is simple: provide an easy way to test for PC hardware problems, independent of software configuration. Some hardware vendors (like Dell) provide diagnostics with their systems, but they are usually model-specific and not even all major vendors provide them. Of course there are free utilities like the well-known memtest86, but I was wanted something more comprehensive.

So I started my research, and found a variety of packages, including PC Doctor, PC Check, Microscope, PC Certify, Tufftest Pro, among many others, ranging in price from $500 to $35. Some come with associated hardware, such as loopback connectors for parallel, serial, network or USB ports, or ISA / PCI cards that will show low-level POST codes for machines that appear completely dead.

Some of the vendors provided demos, but most were severely crippled. The cheaper software tended to be outdated and incomplete, lacking support for newer hardware features. Almost all practiced high-pressure sales tactics over the phone, and I discovered that one company was actually a spinoff of another by a disgruntled former employee, resulting in a bitter, lawsuit-ridden feud.

Microscope, by Micro 2000, seemed to have the most online feedback, mostly positive, but they didn't provide a demo. After contacting their sales, they suggested that if I bought a full copy for my evaluation, I could return it in 30 days if it didn't meet my needs. Well, it turned out to be buggy and missing important features found in other, cheaper products. When I called to return the product, the salesman disclaimed all knowledge of the promise they made, and they've refused to take it back. Some further digging found that I'm not the first person to be taken in by these tactics.

I still would like to find worthwhile PC diagnostics software, but the (a) lack of independent reviews, (b) shady industry sales tactics and (c) poor performance of a 'well regarded' package leave me wondering... am I a sucker for buying into the whole concept in the first place? Can anyone point me towards a reputable vendor, or an alternative set of independent tools that will do the same job?"

Please to excuse me

[Srividya]

But Knoppix does not check parallel or serial loopback, and cannot suffice for the story, no?

Mac version

[Anonymous Coward]

echo "the presence of this routine has doubled the number of diagnostic programs available for the mac"

Alternative medicine

[amightywind]

Has anyone found something that works for you?

I have found variations of the Hopi rain dance to be effective in solving many PC hardware problems. Tibetan chanting also work well.

Re:Low Cost

[sdaug]

LiveCDs all contain the excellent mentest86 program

mentest? I'm sure there's lots of good uses for that one...

Re:Diagnostic software doesn't work

[sphealey]

I downloaded a diagnostic (DOS) program and it tested the memory for hours without finding a single problem. Yet when I changed the SIMM the
problems when away. I remember similar results with motherboard errors. The only diagnostic program that I have found that actually do anything useful are the disk checking programs

I had a piece of process control equipment where the vendor kept telling me to "run the diagnostics. run the diagnostics". I actually had the diagnostics up and telling me that everything was "running great" when the flames started coming out of the air vents. Yeah, that was good for a laugh, after I found the CO2 extinguisher.

sPh

My favorite PC repair tool?

[Spencerian]

These wonderful utilities [amazon.com] are versatile, come in many sizes, and assure me that my @!$%@&! PC never, ever gives me an error message again!

Re:They are all basically useless...

[Lord Dimwit Flathead]

I don't disagree, but I can't help but think of the Jargon File entry for field circus [catb.org]:

Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer with a flat tire?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.

Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer who is out of gas?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.

Q: How can you tell it's your field circus engineer?
A: The spare is flat, too.

Re:Low Cost

[moonbender]

Well, if download speed is any issue, the bootable memtest86 cd image is 62,5 kilobytes compressed - a bit too large for manual transcription, but anything above that should be fine. So if you only want memtest86, by all means don't get a full-scale Linux Live CD.

The SMOKE test

[Slick_Snake]

Turn it on and see if it SMOKES. If it does its a hardware problem.

Re:Alternative medicine

[liquidsin]

A friend's (now ex) girlfriend had an issue with her computer a few years back. She'd had somebody try to fix some problem, which he fixed, but in the process managed to make the cd-rom and soundcard unuseable. So he and I set about trying to make everything work. A few hours in, we decided our brains needed a break, so we went swimming. Laying in the sun made us thirsty and lazy, so we started doing shots of tequila. Hours later, we drunkenly went back to work and decided wicca was the only solution. When we sobered up we had ashtrays full of burnt down incense sticks, candles melted into puddles in a circle around us, and a computer with a fully functional cd-rom and soundcard - and no fucking clue how it got that way.

Re:I use make buildworld

[Anonymous Coward]

So, basically you're saying that you check to see if a computer is good by making sure that FreeBSD is not dying... strange way to look at things.

Re:Sandra

[Anonymous Coward]

As a struggling computer scientist student I know that it is ALWAYS a hardware problem.

Re:Sandra

[Woody]

Because EVERY piece of memory he's EVER TESTED has come back BAD.

Call me Zippy. I couldn't resist.

Re:Brute Force Troubleshooting

[Pooua]

I could point out that I have worked in the logistics department of a PC troubleshooting company. It really annoyed me when the same technician on the same service call created a dozen orders, eventually re-building the entire device being "repaired."

I know of at least one computer OEM that charges extra if the user makes multiple parts orders under warranty without going through the OEM's technical support help desk. Want to guess why they do that?

Re:Low Cost

[sheapshearer]

I used knoppix and it's variants to recover about 180Gig of data just in the last week.

That's a lot of pr0n!