System testing

[Giles Orr]

On 24 November 2012 03:37, Kevin Cozens <kevin-4dS5u2o1hCn3fQ9qLvQP4Q at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 12-11-23 11:18 PM, Giles Orr wrote:
>>
>> I have an older system - Gigabyte motherboard, Core 2 quad processor.  It
>> was my desktop up until a couple months ago - but it had become
>> progressively more unstable and daily crashes were the norm.  Now I have a
>> new desktop and I'm willing to subject the old system to any and all tests
>
>
> I have seldom found a memory test able to catch problems but it never hurts
> to run it (for several hours minimum). Pull all plug-in cards that are not
> required to run the system. Check the power supply voltages to see if they
> are in spec and also look for ripple on the lines or just swap the power
> supply. A flaky supply can cause all kinds of hard to diagnose issues. If
> you run in graphics mode, swap the video card for another one in a working
> and stable machine.

Thanks to everyone for suggestions - all good.

Capacitor plague: while the processor in the system is about six years
old, the board is only three years old and therefore this shouldn't be
a problem.  But I opened the case and had a good look - and remembered
that I'd checked before.  This is a Gigabyte motherboard and in this
case they chose to use high quality caps (enclosed metal cylinders)
which should be fine, and if they do blow it won't be in the same way
as the previous lot of bad caps.  I couldn't see any signs of damage.

Memory: I just ran memtest86+ on it for eleven hours straight with no errors.

Power supply: ah - a friend suggested this a while back, but I didn't
do anything to check because it's a "good" power supply.  That is,
it's the 500w Antec that came inside the relatively new Antec Sonata
case the whole assembly is in.  But I knew I should check it.  Sadly,
I forgot and never followed up.  I will now.

Are there good tests for the processor and hard drive?

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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