On Fri, 23 May 2008 23:35:31 +1000
David Timms <dtimms(a)iinet.net.au> wrote:
I have a PC that is failing intermittently. What are the best choice
for
attempting to pinpoint a hardware fault - in terms of either fedora
packaged or other open sourcesoftware ?
Perhaps there is something that can both perform one of and 'to death'
tests of various PC components, and components in combination, and also
provide peak workload for all subsystems at once, in an attempt to
generate a slow to occur failure.
I know about memtest, and read-only disk tests from fsck. Any others ?
You can certainly stress bits of the system - eg boot into text mode and
run dbench tests to trash the disk subsystem.
I actually usually start from the hardware end with a misbehaving PC
- Reseat all the cards
- Remove and reinsert all the RAM (taking care to earth yourself first)
- Blow dust out of the fans
- Optionally unplug/replug all the cables although that is rarely a
problem
Run it with the lid off for a bit and see if anything seems oddly hot
memtest86 and smart reporting from the drive are good useful starters as
a positive bad result saves a lot of guessing. Its often hard to pin down
a hardware fault however that is more complex or subtle (or to tell it
from software)
Alan