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CheckIt Portable Edition

Smith Micro Software

CheckIt PE User’s Guide ii

Copyright Notice and Disclaimer Unless otherwise noted, this document and the information herein disclosed are proprietary to Smith Micro Software, Inc. Any person or entity to whom this document is furnished or who otherwise has possession thereof, by acceptance agrees that it will not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part, nor used in any manner except to meet the purposes for which it was delivered.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice, and should not be considered as a commitment by Smith Micro Software, Inc. Although Smith Micro Software, Inc. will make every effort to inform users of substantive errors, Smith Micro Software, Inc. disclaims all liability for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this document or any hardware or software described herein, including without limitation contingent, special, or incidental liability.

Copyright © 2000 by Smith Micro Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

CheckIt, Smith Micro Software, Inc., and the Smith Micro logo are registered trademarks of Smith Micro Software, Inc.

All other products and brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Smith Micro Software, Inc.

51 Columbia, Suite 200

Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

World Wide Web: http://www.smithmicro.com/

http://www.smithmicro.com/


CheckIt PE User’s Guide iii

Contents Copyright Notice and Disclaimer............................................................................ii

OVERVIEW.......................................................................................................................................... 1

GETTING STARTED.............................................................................................................................. 2

Hardware Requirements ................................................................................................ 2 Booting from a Floppy Disk.......................................................................................... 2

CHECKIT PE USER INTERFACE ............................................................................................................ 4 Navigating CheckIt PE with the Keyboard ............................................................. 4 Navigating CheckIt PE with a Mouse ..................................................................... 5

File Menu ...................................................................................................................... 6 Save Report ............................................................................................................. 6 Save Snapshot.......................................................................................................... 7 Print Report ............................................................................................................. 8 Save Test Setup ....................................................................................................... 9 Open Test Setup ...................................................................................................... 9 Exit ........................................................................................................................ 10

View Menu .................................................................................................................. 10 Options Menu .............................................................................................................. 11

System ................................................................................................................... 12 Files ....................................................................................................................... 13 Startup ................................................................................................................... 13

Help Menu................................................................................................................... 14

CHECKIT PE DETECTION................................................................................................................... 16

Inventory View............................................................................................................ 16 Motherboard .......................................................................................................... 17 BIOS...................................................................................................................... 17 CMOS.................................................................................................................... 17 Chipset................................................................................................................... 20 Cache ..................................................................................................................... 20 Super I/O Chip....................................................................................................... 21 Connectors............................................................................................................. 22 CPU ....................................................................................................................... 23 Memory ................................................................................................................. 24 Hard Disks ............................................................................................................. 24 Floppy.................................................................................................................... 26 Keyboard ............................................................................................................... 27 Network ................................................................................................................. 27 Video System ........................................................................................................ 28


CheckIt PE User’s Guide iv

IDE ........................................................................................................................ 29 Serial Ports ............................................................................................................ 30 Parallel Ports.......................................................................................................... 30 Sound..................................................................................................................... 30 Modems ................................................................................................................. 31 Mouse .................................................................................................................... 31 MPEG.................................................................................................................... 31 PCMCIA................................................................................................................ 31 USB ....................................................................................................................... 32 SCSI....................................................................................................................... 32 Resource Maps ...................................................................................................... 33

CHECKIT PE TESTS .......................................................................................................................... 36

Motherboard ................................................................................................................ 36 DMA...................................................................................................................... 36 Cache ..................................................................................................................... 36 CMOS.................................................................................................................... 37 CPU ....................................................................................................................... 37

Memory ....................................................................................................................... 37 Snake On ............................................................................................................... 38 Snake Off............................................................................................................... 38 Parity ..................................................................................................................... 38 Inverse Parity......................................................................................................... 38 Checkerboard......................................................................................................... 39 Inverse Checkerboard............................................................................................ 39 Bit Walk Left......................................................................................................... 39 Inverse Bit Walk Left ............................................................................................ 39 Bit Walk Right....................................................................................................... 39 Inverse Bit Walk Right.......................................................................................... 39 March..................................................................................................................... 40 Random Test.......................................................................................................... 40 Jump In .................................................................................................................. 40 Jump Out ............................................................................................................... 41 Address Line.......................................................................................................... 41 Data Bus ................................................................................................................ 41 Column and Row Tests ......................................................................................... 41

Hard Disk(s) ................................................................................................................ 42 CD-ROM(s)................................................................................................................. 42 Keyboard ..................................................................................................................... 42 Parallel Ports................................................................................................................ 42

Internal Test........................................................................................................... 43 Standard Loopback Test ........................................................................................ 43

Floppy.......................................................................................................................... 43


CheckIt PE User’s Guide v

Serial Ports .................................................................................................................. 43 Sound Card Test .......................................................................................................... 44 USB Port...................................................................................................................... 45

Internal USB Host Controller (HC) Test............................................................... 45 Video Memory ............................................................................................................ 45 Year 2000 Compliance ................................................................................................ 45 Scan I/O space ............................................................................................................. 46 Benchmarks ................................................................................................................. 46

CONFIGURATION AND CUSTOMIZATION SETTINGS ................................................................................ 47

Test Setup and Configuration...................................................................................... 47 CheckIt PE Customization File ................................................................................... 47

Modifying Options ................................................................................................ 48 Customizing File Names ....................................................................................... 50 Modifying User Settings ....................................................................................... 51 Modifying Hardware Detection............................................................................. 51 Modifying Hardware Configuration...................................................................... 52 Configuring Benchmark Data ............................................................................... 53 Updating Detected Information............................................................................. 54 Configuration Comparison. ................................................................................... 54 Other Sections ....................................................................................................... 55

Hardware Database Files............................................................................................. 55 Recognition of Sound or Network PnP cards........................................................ 56

Command line switches............................................................................................... 56 Command Line Switches with Pre-Boot Version ................................................. 57

Support for Two Monitors........................................................................................... 57

TROUBLESHOOTING .......................................................................................................................... 58

Problems with Video Adapters.................................................................................... 58 Problems with PCI Devices......................................................................................... 58 Network Card Detection.............................................................................................. 58

APPENDIX A. LIST OF SUPPORTED CPUS ........................................................................................ 59 Intel CPUs ............................................................................................................. 59 AMD CPUs ........................................................................................................... 59 Cyrix CPUs............................................................................................................ 60 UMC CPUs............................................................................................................ 60 IBM CPUs ............................................................................................................. 60 IDT CPUs .............................................................................................................. 60 NexGen CPUs ....................................................................................................... 61 TI CPUs................................................................................................................. 61


CheckIt PE User’s Guide vi

Rise CPUs.............................................................................................................. 61


CheckIt PE User’s Guide 1

OVERVIEW CheckIt Portable Edition (PE) is designed to fit the requirements of the most demanding users and to make the power of a professional testing laboratory accessible to anybody. Made by the leaders of the diagnostic software testing market, Smith Micro, CheckIt PE gives you the ability to detect, examine and test all components of your computer.

More specifically, CheckIt PE:

! Can detect and provide detailed information about your PC, from basic information such as what CPU you have, how much memory, etc., to more complex information about your System Management bus, DMI, PCI Structure.

! Can also test all PC subsystems to determine possible sources of system malfunction and to prevent potential data loss.

! Is designed to work in the worst conditions. CheckIt PE can successfully function and perform all operations, even if your hard drive is damaged or no operating system is installed.

! Saves you money. When new components and subsystems are introduced to the market, you can easily upgrade CheckIt PE to support them.



GETTING STARTED This section explains how to run CheckIt PE on your PC. It includes information on some of CheckIt PE’s more advanced options.

Figure 1: CheckIt PE Main Screen

CheckIt PE is available in both pre-boot or DOS 16-bit executable formats.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS CheckIt PE has a couple of system requirements including:

! 386-series CPU or higher

! At least 1 MB of RAM.

BOOTING FROM A FLOPPY DISK When booting from the CheckIt PE floppy disk, you can test the PC without a hard disk, with a damaged hard disk, or you can even test a computer where the operating system will not boot at all.

Note: Before running CheckIt PE, make sure that the floppy device is the first boot device. You can access the BOOT order feature in your computer’s BIOS setup.

To run CheckIt PE;

1. Insert the CheckIt PE Boot Disk into your floppy drive

2. Restart the PC.



You can see the chapter called “Command Line Switches with Pre-Boot Version” for details on CheckIt PE command line options that are available for the pre-boot version.



CHECKIT PE USER INTERFACE CheckIt PE provides you with an easy-to use graphical interface that supports both mouse and keyboard input.

Figure 2: CheckIt PE Inventory Tree

Navigating CheckIt PE with the Keyboard The following tables list the keyboard commands and key combinations used in CheckIt PE:

Window Control Description

<Tab> Switches between windows.

<Alt> + <Left>,

<Alt> + <Right>

Increases/decreases the size of active window.

<Alt> + <Up>,

<Alt> + <Down>

Maximizes/minimizes the size of active window

<Alt> + <Home>,

<Alt> + <End>

Restores default size of visible windows.

Toolbar Description

<Alt> Shows additional toolbar commands.

Tip: To press a toolbar button, you can use either the mouse or the function key listed to the left of the given command.



Tree Control Description

<Ctrl> + <Left> Scroll left.

<Ctrl> + <Right> Scroll right.

‘*’, <Right> Expand selected tree item and sub items.

<Enter>, <Space> Expand or collapse selected tree item.

<Left> Collapse selected tree item.

Tip: For a speed search of tree items, you can hit the corresponding first letter. (i.e., hit A for APM)

Dialog Box Description

<Tab>, <Shift> + <Tab> Move forward/backward between dialog items.

<Esc> Close dialog box.

Menu Control Description

<Alt>+Menu Letter Displays drop-down menu corresponding with the letter selected (i.e., <Alt>+”V” =View menu)

<Up>, <Down> Move between menu items.

<Enter> Execute selected menu item.

<Esc> Cancel selected menu or submenu.

Navigating CheckIt PE with a Mouse You can also use the mouse to navigate within CheckIt PE.

! To move the cursor/highlight, position the mouse pointer over the desired item and click the left button once.

! To select an item, double-click the left button.

! To scroll, press the left mouse button when the mouse’s cursor is on the scroll bar.

! To select a menu item, place the mouse pointer over the desired menu item and click the left mouse button ones.



FILE MENU The File menu contains the set of file access commands shown in figure below.

Figure 3: CheckIt PE File Menu

Save Report CheckIt PE saves reports to the same location that the program was started/executed. If CheckIt PE was started from a floppy disk, then the reports will be saved to the same floppy drive. You are able to use a diskette other than the diskette containing the CheckIt PE program, but be sure to remove write protection from the floppy disk before saving reports.

After selecting the Save Report menu item, CheckIt PE displays a dialog box like the one shown in the figure below:

Figure 4: Save Report Dialog



Your options include:

! File name: You can save a report with a default file name or type the name of a file.

! Comments: Allows you to add custom comments or notes to your report. Comments appear at the beginning of the saved report.

! Report Type: Allows you to select the format of the saved report. CheckIt PE can save reports in the following three different formats:

• Detailed: Contains full details on each device along with detailed results of any tests that have been run.

• Summary: Contains summary of system components along with a basic pass or fail results of any tests that have been run.

• Paged: Contains summary of system components, a listing of the CheckIt PE option settings, and a basic pass or fail results of any tests that have been run.

! Save as HTML: Select a file format by checking the box: unchecked is for text, and checked is for HTML (default). The HTML file format can be read in any Internet browser and contains links for easier report navigation. When viewing reports saved as standard text files, you often have to scroll through pages of text to find what you want.

! Contents: Allows you to select the contents of the saved report. CheckIt PE can save reports with the following contents.

• All views: Saves information contained in all views.

• Current view: Saves all information contained in current view.

• Selected sub-tree: Saves information contained in current selected tree including sub-trees. Use this if you do not need full system information. For example, you may need to save information about just your sound card.

• Selected item: Saves only information contained in the selected tree and does not include information contained in sub-tree(s) of selected item.

Save Snapshot If Save snapshot is chosen, the “Save snapshot” dialog box is displayed. This report will be saved in binary format and can be used with CheckIt PE’s Comparison Feature. For more information on using the Comparison Feature, see the section “CheckIt PE Customization File.”



Figure 5: Save Snapshot

Print Report Selecting Print Report will allow you to print a report to a locally attached printer. When a print command is chosen, the following dialog box appears:

Figure 6: Print Report


! Printer port: Select the LPT port that the printer is attached to.

! Comments: Allows you to add custom comments or notes to your report. Comments appear at the beginning of the printed report.

! Report Type: Allows you to select the format of the printed report. CheckIt PE can print reports in the following three different formats:



• Detailed: Contains full details on each device along with detailed results of any tests that have been run.

• Summary: Contains summary of system components along with a basic pass or fail results of any tests that have been run.

• Paged: Contains summary of system components, a listing of the CheckIt PE option settings, and a basic pass or fail results of any tests that have been run.

! Contents: Allows you to select the contents of the printed report. CheckIt PE can print reports with the following contents.

• All views: Prints information contained in all views.

• Current view: Prints all information contained in current view.

• Selected sub-tree: Prints information contained in current selected tree including sub-trees. Use this if you do not need full system information. For example, you may need to save information about just your sound card.

• Selected item: Prints only information contained in the selected tree and does not include information contained in sub-tree(s) of selected item.

Save Test Setup This command can be used to save test selections and options to a file. You can specify the name of file in the “Save Test Setup” dialog.

Figure 7: Save Test Setup

Open Test Setup This command can be used to load test selections and options from file. When this command is selected, CheckIt PE displays the “Open Test Setup” dialog to ask you for the name of an options file, which was previously created using the “Save Test Setup” command.



CheckIt PE can automatically retrieve a test setup file when loading. For more information on automatically loading a test setup, see the section “CheckIt PE Customization File.”

Figure 8: Open Test Setup

Exit Select Exit to quit CheckIt PE. If you accessed CheckIt PE from DOS, it will exit to DOS. If you accessed CheckIt PE from a boot disk, it will reboot the computer.

Figure 9: Exit Menu Dialog

VIEW MENU CheckIt PE’s user interface presents its features in “views.” Each view presents a customizable set of components that are logically displayed and that manage the information presented in a convenient format. Each view usually has a toolbar, status bar, menu, tree window, and one or more information



windows. You can customize existing views, or create new views applicable to your testing environment.

CheckIt PE offers you the following standard views:

! Inventory: Contains detailed information about the hardware in your computer.

! Tests: Contains available hardware tests.

! Benchmarks: Contains hardware benchmark tests to test device performance.

Figure 10: CheckIt PE View Menu

OPTIONS MENU The Options menu allows you to change settings that are used for configuring how the CheckIt PE program will load and function.

Figure 11: Options Menu



System The System Options dialog is used for modifying various options of the User Interface.

Figure 12: System Setup Dialog


! Auto expand test tree: If this option is switched on, CheckIt PE UI will open the tree node with the currently executed test.

! Support Mouse: If on, then mouse cursor will be active in UI. ! Disable Warnings: If on, message boxes and warnings will not be displayed when running the

CheckIt PE program.

! Show changes only: If on, CheckIt will only show mismatches in comparison results. If off, all comparison results are displayed.

! Use overloaded fonts: If on, CheckIt PE will try to load special fonts; if off, CheckIt PE will use standard fonts.

! Support MDA monitor: If on, screen output will be directed to monochrome display.

! Support VGA monitor: If on, screen output will be directed to VGA display.

Note: If Support MDA monitor and Support VGA monitor are set to off, then CheckIt PE will not output results any video display.

! Stretch Screen: If on, CheckIt PE will stretch screen to fit the display screen (if possible). ! Customer: Customer name to be used in reports generated by CheckIt PE.

! Technician: Name of Technician to be used in reports generated by CheckIt PE.

! Computer ID: Name to be displayed within CheckIt PE to indicate the current system. This information is primarily used in the display of benchmark information.



Files The Files dialog is used for specifying the default formats and names of files used by CheckIt PE.

Figure 13: Files Dialog


! Save report as HTML: Defines the default format of CheckIt PE report: On for HTML; Off for Text.

! Auto name report files: If On, CheckIt PE will automatically modify the default report file incrementing the index in the last two symbols if file name is already exists. For example, if REPORT.HTM exists, CheckIt PE proposes REPORT00.HTM.

! Auto name snapshot files: If On, CheckIt PE will automatically modify the default snapshot report file incrementing the index in the last two symbols if file name is already exists. For example, if REPORT.CK7 exists, CheckIt PE proposes REPORT00.CK7.

! Default snapshot name: Displays the default file name of the binary report file. You can use the ‘?SERNUM?’ variable somewhere in file name. In this case, the serial number retrieved from DMI, is substituted instead.

! Default report name: Displays the default full filename of the text/html report file. You can use the ‘?SERNUM?’ variable somewhere in file name. In this case, the serial number retrieved from DMI, is substituted instead.

! Interface script: Defines the full filename of script to be executed when CheckIt PE starts. If the drive or path is not specified, the startup directory is assumed. If the filename script is not specified, then ‘uicust.scr’ is used.

! Snapshot to compare: Specifies the name of the CheckIt PE binary report file to compare with.

Startup The Startup dialog is used for modifying startup parameters used by CheckIt PE.



Figure 14: Startup Dialog


! Compare Configuration with snapshot: If On, CheckIt PE will compare detected hardware configuration with the previously saved Hardware configuration.

! Auto Scan IO Space: If this parameter is set to On, then the I/O address space scan test will be automatically invoked after building resource maps.

! Confirm detection: This parameter defines if you want to confirm every detection method to run.

! Reset CPU at detection: If Off, then CPU with closed A20 line will not be reset at detection.

! Compare memory banks: If On, then CheckIt PE will compare configurations of memory modules and show warnings if they are different.

! Show missed devices: If On, then CheckIt PE will show all devices that can be recognized but did not show present on the computer.

! Folder for missed devices: Specifies the name of the folder to contain all missed devices. If you wish to show missed devices in root tree, then leave this field blank.

HELP MENU Select this menu item to access help. You can select:

! Navigation Help: Displays help on CheckIt PE navigation and hot key usage.

! How to License CheckIt: Displays information on obtaining additional licenses of CheckIt PE.

! Technical Support: Displays important information on how to contact Smith Micro Technical Support.

! About: Displays the About Box with the CheckIt PE version number. On-screen help is fast and easy-to-use.



Figure 15: Help Menu



CHECKIT PE DETECTION This section identifies the components of your system from CPU to mouse and shows you how to obtain full and accurate information about them. It may also help you to solve problems and fix errors that occur.

CheckIt PE detects the following components:

! Plug & Play ! PCI devices ! Platform

! Network ! APM BIOS ! CMOS

! Keyboard ! PIC ! PCMCIA

! BIOS ! DMA ! SM BUS

! IDE ! ACPI ! CPU

! Floppy ! Video ! DMI

! HDD ! MEMORY ! Serial ports

! Sound Card ! Option ROMs ! Modem

! Mouse ! Parallel ports ! Y2K

! ISA ! MPEG ! USB

! SCSI ! Cache ! Super I/O chips

! Resource maps ! EISA

To show detected information, CheckIt PE uses two tries – Inventory and Configuration tree.

INVENTORY VIEW The Inventory tree contains the description of detected devices. This item contains summary information about your computer. Information includes a brief description of platform, system, CPU, BIOS, memory, video, etc.



Motherboard This folder contains descriptions of devices integrated to motherboard.

BIOS The Basic Input Output System (BIOS) is software that resides in ROM and boots a computer. It provides basic functions for other programs such as operating systems:

! BIOS date: The Date the BIOS was manufactured.

! BIOS vendor: The company that produced the BIOS.

! BIOS Copyright: When and who copyrighted the BIOS.

! BIOS Sign On: Usually version and name of BIOS.

! BIOS32: This is the base address that works with the BIOS in the 386 protected mode.

! Additional information: The physical address of the BIOS 32 entry point, the revision level, and the length of the data structure.

CMOS Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) memory is a memory area where BIOS settings such as HDD type, cache settings, etc. are stored. Information in the CMOS is not erased when the power is turned off. You can change information in the CMOS with the CMOS Setup BIOS utility.

Figure 16: CMOS Information

Settings include:

Setting Description

Real-time clock settings: date and time

Determines the date and time used by the real-time clock.



Setting Description

Real-time clock alarm If active, can set an alarm to go off when the program ends.

Base memory The size of base memory - the memory area in the first 640 Mb of address space. This is the primary memory area for many real mode operating systems including MS-DOS. In real mode, only the first megabyte can be accessed, but 384 Kbs of it are allocated to video memory, BIOS, etc.

Extended memory The size of memory beyond the first megabyte.

Floppy disk drive types The type of both floppy disk drives. In the next string or two (depending on the system), information about physical dimensions and capacities display.

Hard disk type Type of hard disk. At the beginning of the PC era, several standard disk types were used, but when vendors began producing newer and bigger drives, this information became obsolete.

Equipment byte This byte indicates whether some of the basic peripheral devices are installed or not. The following strings explain its meaning.

Number of floppy drives Number of floppy drives installed on the PC.

Primary video display Type of primary video display. This is only basic information. For more information, see the Video Adapter section.

Display Display type. This is only basic information about your monitor: CGA/EGA/VGA/Monochrome or other.

Keyboard Type of primary keyboard. Can determine type of keyboard attached to the system (XT, AT etc.)

FPU installed Indicates whether an FPU (Floating-Point Unit), also known as the arithmetic coprocessor or NPU (Numeric Processor Unit), is installed.

Floppy drive installed Determines if any floppy drives are installed.

BIOS uses status registers to give programs and operating systems information about current BIOS and motherboard configurations, content and name of the status register display in the string.

Items include:

Item Description

Divider control The speed of updating the real-time clock.

Rate selection Also determines update speed.

Cycle update This bit is set when the real-time clock is updated. It prevents programs from getting false information. For example, when minutes are updated, but the hour is not.

Periodic interrupt If active, the real-time clock periodically generates an interrupt.



Item Description

Alarm interrupt A real-time clock can generate an alarm interrupt after an amount of time (determined by the program) elapses.

Update ended interrupt If this bit is set, an interrupt is generated after each update of the real-time clock.

Square wave output The chip reacts by square wave (the state changes after some time change), not front or level.

Daylight savings time When daylight savings time is enabled, the computer will automatically add and subtract an hour when needed.

Time and calendar stored as BCD values

The calendar and time are stored in BCD format. BCD stands for Binary Coded Decimal.

Hours are stored in 24-hour mode

Hours are stored in 24-hour format. For example, 11:00 p.m. is stored as 23:00.

RTC power is… If the RTC power is good, the CMOS receives power from the battery. If the battery is dead, many devices, such as the real-time clock, will work only when the computer is on.

Diagnostic status This value is set during the POST (Power-On Self Test) procedure. Different vendors use it for different purposes, but we use IBM’s definitions. Byte bits 0 and 1 are set to zero. The meaning of other bits is:

bit 2 indicates whether the time is valid,

bit 3 is set to 1 if there is an HDD error,

bit 4 is set to 1 if a RAM error occurs,

bit 5 is set on configuration record errors if checksum is invalid,

bit 6 is set when bit 7 equals 1 if the real-time clock battery is dead.

Shutdown status This byte determines the conditions for shutdown:

0 soft reset (Ctrl+Alt+Del) or unexpected shutdown,

1 shutdown after memory size was determined,

2 shutdown after memory test,

3 shutdown after memory error,

4 shutdown with bootstrap loader request,

5 shutdown with FAR JMP,

6,7,8 shutdown after passing a protected mode test,

9 shutdown after performing string move,

0aH shutdown with FAR JMP (immediate JMP).



Item Description

Information flags This byte’s contents depend on the vendor. Even in IBM’s old machines, only two bits were standard: bit 7 indicates, whether the IBM 128K option is installed or not (it is now obsolete), but bit 6 is often used by the BIOS Setup utility.

CMOS checksum The checksum of the CMOS memory area.

The CMOS RAM Raw Table is a dump (plain listing) of the CMOS RAM area. You can use it to manually determine BIOS settings and configuration.

Chipset On some PCs, there may be a Chipset item in the Motherboard section. Under this item, CheckIt PE displays information about the contents of PCI configuration space of the Host Bridge and ISA bridge devices.

Figure 17: Chipset Information

Cache All modern CPUs support caches, Translation Look-aside Buffers (TLBs), and write buffers for temporary on-chip (and external) storage of instructions and data. This section shows the characteristics of these caches and buffers. (The sizes and characteristics of these units are always motherboard and processor model specific). Most modern processors define two separate caches: the level 1 (L1) cache and the level 2 (L2) cache. The L1 cache is closely coupled to the instruction fetch unit and execution units of the processor. For example, for the Pentium and P6 family processors, the L1 cache is divided into two sections: one dedicated to caching instructions and one to caching data. For all 486 and almost all recent Cyrix processors, the L1 cache is a unified instruction and data cache. The L2 cache is a unified cache for storage of both instructions and data. It is closely coupled to the L1 cache through the processor’s cache bus (for the Intel P6 family processors, AMD K6-III and all K7) or the system bus (for other processors). The corresponding sections (i.e., L1 Cache and L2 cache) display the base features of the caches. You can always find their cache size, its location and cache access speed.



Super I/O Chip Since modern chipsets don't support the old 'ISA inherited' devices such as COM/LPT ports and floppy drive controller, most modern motherboards contain integrated ASICs also known as Multi I/O (or Super I/O) chipsets. Usually these chipsets include a floppy drive controller compatible with the industry standard 82077/765, two or more high-speed serial communication ports (UARTs) (one of which usually supports serial infrared communications), one IEEE 1284 compatible printer port and optionally game port controller. For detailed information about supported features, please check out the Connectors section. Currently, CheckIt PE is able to determine the presence of the following Multi I/O chips:

! ALi M5113 ! SMC 77x

! ALi M5119 ! SMC 78x

! Intel 82091AA ! SMC 60x

! UMC/ITE 8663(9) ! SMC 72x

! LGS Prime 3C ! SMC LPC47B27x

! LGS Prime 3B ! SMC LPC47B37x

! HMC 83755 ! SMC LPC47U33x

! ALi M1535 ! SMC LPC47B34x

! ALi M1543 ! SMC LPC47S42x

! VIA 686 ! SMC LPC47U32x

! ALi M51XX ! SMC LPC47M10x

! SMC 669 ! C&T 82C735 or SMC 661/663/664

! SMC 669FR ! Winbond 787IF

! SMC 92x ! Winbond 877AF

! SMC 769 ! Winbond 877TF

! SMC 869 ! Winbond 877ATF



! SMC 667 ! Winbond 967F/AF

! SMC 93x ! Winbond 977F/AF

! SMC 93xFR ! Winbond 977TF

! SMC 957FR ! Winbond 977A TF

! SMC 958FR ! Winbond 627F/HF

! SMC 93xAPM ! Winbond 977CTF

! SMC 67x ! Winbond 977EF

! SMC 70x or 80x ! Winbond 697HF

Connectors The information in this section defines the attributes of the system port connectors (e.g., parallel, serial, keyboard, and mouse ports). The port’s type (internal or external) and connector information (number of pins and jack type) are provided. The following connectors are recognized:

! Centronics ! Circular DIN-8 female

! Mini Centronics ! On Board IDE

! Proprietary ! On Board Floppy

! DB-25 pin male ! 9 Pin Dual Inline (pin 10 cut)

! DB-25 pin female ! 25 Pin Dual Inline (pin 26 cut)

! DB-15 pin male ! 50 Pin Dual Inline

! DB-15 pin female ! 68 Pin Dual Inline

! DB-9 pin male ! On Board Sound Input from CD-ROM

! DB-9 pin female ! Mini-Centronics Type-14



! RJ-11 ! Mini-Centronics Type-26

! RJ-45 ! Mini-jack (headphones)

! 50 Pin MiniSCSI ! BNC

! Mini-DIN ! 1394

! Micro-DIN ! PC-98

! PS/2 ! PC-98Hireso

! Infrared ! PC-H98

! HP-HIL ! PC-98Note

! Access Bus (USB) ! PC-98Full

! SSA SCSI ! Circular DIN-8 male

CPU Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the “heart” of your computer. The main calculation device, it also transfers data and manages other subsystems. This section gives you the information shown in the following table:

Item Description

Vendor Vendor of the CPU.

CPU Type Type of CPU (OEM/Retail)

Family CPU’s generation: 5=Pentium, 6=Pentium Pro, etc.

Model Model of CPU.

Int. Clock. Internal clock speed (in MHz). In most modern processors, the internal and external clock speeds are different.

FPU Model Model of the FPU (NPX, Floating-Point Unit, numeric coprocessor etc.). In most cases, it is built in, but if you have a special external FPU, this string may be different.

Cache Type: Type of cache (write-back/write-through).

Data cache size. Size of the internal (L1, on-CPU) data cache in KB.



Item Description

Instruction cache size.

Size of the internal (L1, on-CPU) instruction (code) cache in KB.

L2 cache size Size of external (L2, on-board) cache in KB. In most systems, L2 data and L2 instruction caches are combined.

Supported features For example, time stamp feature, on-chip FPU, etc.

Memory Random Access Memory (RAM) is memory that runs programs and holds data during your working session. Information is stored in RAM temporarily and is completely lost when the computer’s power is turned off.

RAM is one of the most vital components of any PC because, without it, you usually cannot run programs. Information stored here includes:

Item Description

Memory size Size of physical RAM installed on the PC.

System memory map Base memory map, which displays whether the block is free or not.

Base address Starting with the 32-bit flat address of the block.

Length Size of the block: bytes are in hexadecimal and kilobytes are in decimal.

Type Whether available or reserved for the operating system.

Hard Disks Hard disk drives (HDD) store data and programs. Although much slower than RAM, they contain more memory storage and store information even after the computer’s power is turned off.

Usually, a hard disk is a non-removable device located in the CPU case, but sometimes it can be found in an external case or packed in a special case, like a removable subsystem. It can also be an expansion or PCMCIA card, USB device etc.

On the left panel, select the disk you want to examine.

Hard Disk # info via INT13:

BIOS number of cylinders The number of cylinders BIOS uses works with the HDD. It is not the actual number of physical cylinders located on the disk, but it provides information to programs, which work with hard disks.

BIOS number of heads This is like the BIOS number of cylinders, but it refers to the heads with information from the disk plates. Usually, two heads serve each plate, but sometimes only the



inner surfaces of the topmost and lowermost plates are used.

BIOS number of sectors Number of sectors.

Hard disk capacity The first string is the hard drive size in thousands of bytes. Often used by vendors. The next string is the number of kilobytes (1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes).

PARTITION TABLE INFORMATION

The partition table is an area on the HDD with information about its partitions (volumes). Multiple partitions on one computer can have different operating and file systems, which minimize the space loss caused by having a limited number of clusters as when the file system is FAT16.

Figure 18: Hard Drive Information

Partition status Partition status determines, whether the partition is active (default bootable) or not.

Partition type There are two main partition types: primary and extended. While a primary partition is solid, an extended partition can be divided into several other partitions. Each partition has a “type” identifier to determine the type of file system. For example, for CP/M, it is DBh.

Start head The first logical head of the partition. This is not a physical sector. Information about it is based on BIOS settings.

Start sector First logical sector of the partition.

Start cylinder First logical cylinder of the partition.

End head Last logical head of the partition.

End sector Last logical sector of the partition.

End cylinder Last logical cylinder of the partition.

First sector (LBA type) LBA (Logical Block Address) is an addressing mechanism that can eliminate many limitations of the CHS (Cylinder Head Sector) scheme.



Total number of sectors This string provides information about the total number of sectors used by this partition. Size in megabytes is given in brackets.

The “In 13h extensions” item is an extension of an interrupt that works with disks.

Floppy Floppy drives work with removable floppy disks, a conventional and cheap storage medium. The main section displays only the number of floppy drives attached to your system. For more specific information about a drive, select it in the left window.

Figure 19: Floppy Drive Information

DISK PARAMETER TABLE CONTENTS

Maximum track number This is the maximum available value that can be passed to the BIOS for the cylinder.

Maximum sector number This is the maximum available value that can be passed to the BIOS for the sector.

Maximum head number This is the maximum available value that can be passed to the BIOS for the head.

Step rate time code Determines the time between track-to-track steps depending on FDD speed and type.

Head unload time code Sets how much the head waits after moving to the requested track before any read/write operations. Depends on disk type.

Head load time code The time needed for the head to move to the requested track.

Drive motor turn-off delay If no operations are performed after the set time, the motor becomes inactive.

Bytes per sector Number of bytes per sector, usually 512.

Sectors per track Number of sectors per track. A sector can hold a file or a part of a file. Standard settings are 9 sectors for 5.25” 360-Kb disk (DD, two-sided, 40 tracks) and 720-Kb



3.5” and 5.25” disks (DD, two-sided, 80 tracks), 15 sectors for 5.25” 1.2-Mb disks (HD, 80 tracks) and 18 sectors for 3.5” 1.44-Mb disks (HD, 80 tracks).

GAP length for read/write Calculates the length of the GAP written before each sector.

Data transfer length code Used when no sector length is defined to calculate maximum transfer speed. This is usually not used.

Format GAP length This parameter, also called GAP3, is written at the end of each sector and has several standard settings: 50h for 9-sector 3.5” and 5.25” disks, 54h for 15-sector 5.25” disk and 6Ch for 18-sector 3.5” disk.

Fill byte for format After each formatting sequence, free space on the disk is filled with this value for proper synchronization.

Head settling time After a read/write operation, if no other commands are sent, the head remains on the current track.

Motor startup time The time needed for the FDD’s motor to regain the ability to move heads.

Keyboard You use a keyboard to input information into the computer. In most cases, the keyboard and mouse are the main input devices, but sometimes joysticks, different 3D-positioning equipment and other systems can duplicate their functionality.

Nowadays, keyboards are connected to a computer by either standard keyboard or USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports. USB is a technology that enables fast and easy connections between the computer and different low-speed devices like a keyboard.

CheckIt PE supports both variants, but if you are interested in the USB bus, see the list of devices attached to your PC.

! Keyboard type: Type of keyboard.

! Keyboard IDs: Byte used to figure out keyboard’s vendor and sometimes model.

! Command byte: Byte used to determine how the keyboard would work and react to a user’s actions.

Network A network adapter connects a PC to a network. This section provides information about what Ethernet network adapters are attached to your computer. CheckIt PE detects only NE2000 legacy and PCI/PnP cards.

! Slot x-bits: The slot that connects the network adapter to the main board.

! Ethernet address: The Ethernet address of the network adapter.

! Board ID: The Identification code of the network adapter.



! Checksum: The Checksum of the BIOS that works with the adapter.

! NE2000 ROM dump: The contents of ROM installed on the network adapter.

Video System The video (video controller, graphics controller, graphics adapter, graphics accelerator) displays information about a monitor. A video adapter is usually located on either a motherboard or expansion board, but sometimes it is in a separate case.

When your video adapter malfunctions, it is often very hard to use applications because you either cannot see anything on the monitor or the picture is misleading. In most cases, however, video problems do not interfere with how other components and applications work.

Figure 20: Video Information

Video adapter(s) found: The number of video adapters, installed on the PC.

The following information is given in each adapter’s section:

Item Description

Video Adapter Type Video adapter type.

Monitor Monitor type (digital/analog and color/monochrome).

Video Memory size Size of video memory.

OEM string Version of video adapter. Name of graphics adapter

VESA supported video modes

Standard VESA video modes supported by this video adapter.

VESA version Version of VESA standard supported by video adapter.

VESA power management version

Version of VESA power management mechanism supported by this board.



Item Description

VESA PM supported states

Supported power consumption modes.

VESA Supported Video Modes

Shows the mode, resolution and colors supported.

Display Data Channel supported

Enables data transfers between monitor and video adapters.

EDID Version Version of mechanism, which enables two-way communication between video adapter and monitor. One of the most common is 01h.

EDID Revision Revision of EDID mechanism.

Monitor vendor ID Name of the display’s vendor.

Monitor model ID Name (identification number) of concrete display.

Serial number Serial number of monitor.

Week number of manufacture

Week of manufacture.

Manufacture year Year of manufacture.

Maximum horizontal size

Maximum horizontal size of image, which can be displayed on the monitor.

Maximum vertical size Maximum vertical size of image, which can be displayed on the monitor.

In the table of video modes, each row stands for one mode. Mode determines whether the mode is graphics or text.

The Hres. and Vres. columns have information on the horizontal and vertical resolution of this mode. Graphics are measured in pixels and text is measured in characters.

The Colors column displays the number of colors available in this mode; 32K means 32,768 colors (15-bit), 64K means 65,636 colors (16-bit), 16M means 16,777,216 colors (24-bit).

IDE The Integrated Device Electronics (IDE) is an interface used to attach hard disks. It requires only the basic card and electronics, but it provides enough functionality for most users.

Each IDE channel can support up to two devices. Usually, there are one or two channels in a PC. The fastest variant, UltraDMA, delivers 33 Mb/s peak speed. Combined with the ATAPI protocol set, it can support other devices, such as a CD-ROM, tape drives, etc.



For each IDE controller, this information displays: base address and attached devices, master device (primary), and slave device (secondary). The information given for each device depends on the class and protocol it uses.

Serial Ports Serial ports transfer information in a sequence of bits: one bit per cycle. Despite their low speed, serial ports are common in PCs.

Base address Address used by the serial port.

UART Chip Type Type of chip implemented in the port’s scheme.

IRQ IRQ used by the port.

Parallel Ports Parallel ports transfer several bits simultaneously, effectively multiplying the maximum speed. Because their performance is better than a serial port’s performance, they are used for faster devices such as printers, etc.

Base address Address used by the port.

IRQ IRQ used by the port.

DMA DMA used by the port.

Pword A port word, which is the same as the width of the ISA interface. Usually 8 or 16 bits.

Compression support Positive if the port supports hardware compression.

Current mode Current mode of the port.

Supported Modes Parallel ports have different modes, varying in both speed and ability. This string shows you possible modes supported by your parallel port controller.

Sound A sound card produces and records sounds.

Note: CheckIt PE doesn’t show the ROM Patch set.

Port Port number used by the sound card.

DSP version The Digital Signal Processor (DSP) helps the computer to perform calculations needed to work with sound signal flows.

FM chip Identifies the chip for Frequency Modulation (FM).



Modems A modem (Modulator-Demodulator) enables computers to exchange information over telephone lines. CheckIt PE displays the ports used by the modem.

Mouse The mouse is a pointing device used in most programs and GUIs. CheckIt PE does not support USB mice because they are currently available only in very small quantities. CheckIt PE detects only standard serial port, PS/2 and Bus mice.

Mouse port Port attached to your PC used by the primary mouse.

Mouse IRQ IRQ that works with the mouse.

Type Mouse’s type.

Vendor name Vendor’s (and mouse’s) name.

MPEG CheckIt PE supports the following MPEG cards:

! Creative DXR3 decoder board

! Creative Inlay decoder board

! Creative DXR2 decoder board

! Toshiba DVD decoder card

! LuxSonor DVD decoder card (LS220C)

! LuxSonor DVD decoder card (LS220D) If you have one of them installed, CheckIt PE will display a brief description, which includes maximal speed, and the number of frames per second.

PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) cards are used as expansion and memory cards both in mobile and desktop systems. They are about 54 by 85 cm and their height depends on what type they are: 0.33 cm in Type 1, 0.5 cm in Type 2 and 1.05 cm in Type 3. Also there are “long” PCMCIA cards, which are 5 cm longer than standard.

There are a lot of cards: flash memory, HDD, SCSI, modem, network etc., most of them Type 2 or Type 3. The current standard, PC Card Standard, defines an 8- and 16-bit data bus for cards, as well as a high throughput 32 bit bus mastering interface (CardBus).



USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a hardware specification developed by Intel to attach devices to your computer such as keyboards, mice, scanners, etc. The USB replaces the current method of attaching devices with a smarter, unified standard to make attaching devices to your computer much simpler.

USB devices use the same kind of connector and can be attached while the system’s power is on. The system will automatically detect USB devices like Plug & Play does.

You can attach USB devices in a chain, like SCSI devices, so that a USB mouse can connect to a USB port on the keyboard, which can connect to a USB port on the monitor, which can connect to a USB port on the computer. This means that you no longer need to set up individual IRQs and addresses for every serial, parallel, and PS2 port - the Universal Serial Bus replaces all that.

Note: The following elements are needed to make a USB function appropriately:

! Support from the chipset

! Support from drivers (the O/S)

! USB connectors from/on the motherboard

! USB devices to attach to the motherboard.

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) is a more advanced interface that is used to connect different external and internal devices from hard drives to scanners to printers.

The SCSI adapter is also a SCSI device, so even networking over SCSI is possible. Also, it increases the transfer speed because two SCSI devices can communicate directly, leaving the controller’s microprocessor free. These features require complex electronics, so SCSI is not often used in low-cost PCs. There are several different versions of the SCSI standard.

The original SCSI standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986 and was followed by SCSI-2 in 1994. A SCSI-3 standard is under development. The three standards differ primarily in their maximum data transfer rates. SCSI-2 is twice as fast as the original and is often called Fast SCSI. SCSI-3 has a mode that’s twice as fast as Fast SCSI and is called either Fast-20 or Ultra SCSI. A faster interface, Ultra 2, doubles Ultra SCSI speeds.

The SCSI buses vary in how much data they can pass at a time. The original standard was 8 bits, and there is also a 16-bit version called Wide SCSI that doubles data throughput. As result, there are eight different data transfer speeds for SCSI devices:

Standard SCSI Fast SCSI Ultra SCSI Ultra 2 SCSI

8 bit 5 MBps 10 MBps 20 MBps 40 MBps

16-bit 10 MBps 20 MBps 40 MBps 80 MBps



There are two types of SCSI: differential and single-lined. They are incompatible and the first type has a more reliable connection. The new LVD low-voltage version also offers more reliability, but without backward compatibility.

Today, most SCSI components use the SCSI-2 interface, which differs from SCSI-1 only by extensions in the command set and control protocols. Usually, you can attach up to seven different devices to one controller using a chain structure, but some advanced boards offer dual SCSI channels, which can double this amount.

In the future, new technologies are being developed as SCSI’s successors, but most are either too expensive or unavailable. Two of these new technologies are the Fiber Channel-Arbitrated Loop (including FC-EL, an improved version of FC-AL), IEEE 1394, also known as FireWire, and Serial Storage Architecture (SSA). They offer a better serial connection and greater speed, so when they appear on the market, Smith Micro will support them immediately.

Resource Maps There are a lot of shared resources in a PC’s architecture used by different components on the main board and expansion cards. Conflicts between subsystems contending for the same resource can lead to system malfunction.

IRQ MAP

Figure 21: IRQ Map Information

Interrupt Requests (IRQs) are signals that interrupt the CPU and make it execute other code. There are only 16 hardware interrupts that can be assigned to different devices and, in most systems, no more than 5 or 6 hardware interrupts are free. Devices demanding interrupts vary from FPUs (Floating-Point Units) to different expansion cards (for example, network cards).



DMA MAP

With Direct Memory Access (DMA), two devices can transfer information with a DMA controller to free up the CPU for other tasks. In common PCs, there are only 8 DMA channels, so most devices use slower and less effective methods to transfer information.

Figure 22: DMA Map Information

MEMORY MAP

This section displays the general layout for RAM – which areas are free and which is used by programs.

Figure 23: Memory Map Information

I/O MAP

Most devices and expansion boards communicate with the CPU via ports, small areas in RAM accessed by both the CPU and those devices. Concurrence is not very common, but there still may be conflicts between devices. Also, most devices use fixed ports or have only a limited choice of ports.



Figure 24: I/O Map Information

In the left column, port numbers (addresses) display. In the right column, devices, card and chips occupying them display. “No device” means that range of ports is free.



CHECKIT PE TESTS This part of CheckIt PE includes a number of tests for major system components.

Figure 25: CheckIt PE Tests Screen

To run a test:

! Select Tests tree using View menu.

! Select a test. For example, click on Keyboard.

! Click Run tests in the toolbar or press F5.

! The right-hand pane displays information about the test you just ran. “Testing mode” can be interrupted with the F6 (Stop) key or the Esc key. Pressing F8 (Clear) key will delete all accumulated test results.

MOTHERBOARD

DMA Checks the status of the DMA controller. Sometimes, DMA problems cause system crashes and conflicts between devices.

Cache Calculates L2 cache timing and compares them with value taken from DMI.



CMOS Determines the status of the CMOS. Sometimes, when you encounter a message like “Can not boot – invalid hard disk” or when your computer just does not boot after POST (Power-On Self Test) even from the FDD, it means, that your CMOS storage is not functioning properly.

There are three parts to the CMOS test:

! CMOS checksum test: Compares the CMOS checksum stored with the real current checksum.

! CMOS Write-Read test: A series of read/write from/to CMOS operations. If the computer fails this test, then even temporary storage of information is not possible.

! CMOS Real Time clock test: Figures out if the real-time clock is the source of errors.

CPU This series of different CPU tests includes:

! CPU flags test: Tests the flag registers of the CPU.

! CPU registers test: Tests all general purpose and special registers.

! Pentium bug tests: Tests the CPU to determine if the Pentium Bug with a floating point is present. This is for Intel 60MHz, 66MHz, 90MHz and 100MHz processors.

! MUL32 bug test: Indicates if the 32-bit multiplication bug is present. This is for DX386 processors only.

! POPAD bug test: Is negative if there is a bug in the POPAD command. This is for 386 and 486 CPUs only.

MEMORY A group of tests to check the memory subsystem of your PC.

Note: Some memory testing sequences may require a significant amount of time to complete.



Figure 26: Memory Checkerboard Test

Snake On This test uses a snake pattern to check memory for address lines stuck high (on), and to verify that data can be written or read reliably. Phase one of this test checks every other bit for data integrity in ascending order, filling memory first with zeros and then with ones. Phase two of this test checks every other bit for data integrity in descending order, filling memory first with ones and then with zeros.

Snake Off This test uses a snake pattern to check memory for address lines stuck low (off), and to verify that data can be written or read reliably. Phase one of this test checks every other bit for data integrity in ascending order, filling memory first with ones and then with zeros. Phase two of this test checks every other bit for data integrity in descending order, filling memory first with zeros and then with ones.

Parity This test checks each byte's parity bit using the checkerboard pattern (i.e., first parity bit is filled with 0, 2nd - with 1, 3rd -with 0, 4th - with 1, etc.).

Inverse Parity This test checks each byte's parity bit using the inverse checkerboard pattern (i.e., first parity bit is filled with 1, 2nd - with 0, 3rd - with 1, 4th - with 0, etc.)



Checkerboard The Checkerboard memory test fills RAM pages with the checkerboard pattern (01010101B) on the first phase and phase two verifies DRAM.

Inverse Checkerboard Same as a previous, but pattern 10101010 is used.

Bit Walk Left This test walks bit-by-bit through each double word of DRAM from right to left (from LSB to MSB) filling each bit with one.

Inverse Bit Walk Left This test walks bit-by-bit through each double word of DRAM from right to left (from LSB to MSB) filling each bit with zero.

Bit Walk Right This test walks bit-by-bit through each double word of DRAM from left to right (from MSB to LSB) filling each bit with one.

Inverse Bit Walk Right This test walks bit-by-bit through each double word of DRAM from left to right (from MSB to LSB) filling each bit with zero.



March

Figure 27: Memory March Test

Compared to the Checkerboard test, the March testing sequence is much more complex:

! All of the memory is filled with the value 00h and CheckIt PE scans through it to reveal non-matching bytes.

! CheckIt PE fills memory with the inverted 00h pattern: FFh. Scanning is also performed.

! The base pattern is incremented by one, so it becomes 01h and the described sequence is repeated. This process stops when the variables reach the value 80h.

March test: on the first pass fills all of RAM with zeroes and then, in ascending order, verifies that zero is present in every bit. It then fills memory with ones. A second pass is made in descending order, verifying that a one is present in each bit. This is followed by writing zeros to all memory space, writing ones to all memory space, and then zeros to all memory. During the third pass, all memory is filled with ones and then verification in descending order is made. A 4th pass is made in ascending order.

Random Test This test copies the system BIOS code into RAM until memory is filled and then reads all RAM to verify the BIOS data was written correctly. Since each computer's BIOS are different, this test simulates random data write/read verification.

Jump In This test fills the entire memory first with zeroes and than alternately jumps from the middle block of memory to the beginning or end of RAM. At each jump, memory is tested for ones and then is filled with zeroes. Then the pattern is inverted and actions sequence is repeated.



Jump Out This test fills the entire memory first with zeroes and than alternately jumps from the beginning and end of RAM to the middle block of memory. At each jump, memory is tested for ones and then is filled with zeroes. Then the pattern is inverted and actions sequence are repeated.

Address Line This test fills each word of RAM with a unique pattern and then checks each word's value to ensure that it's the same as the value previously written. Several different unique data patterns are used during this test.

Data Bus This test verifies and isolates failures in the data lines between the system bus and DRAM.

Column and Row Tests Column test and Row test are intended to detect UNRELIABLE memory, i.e., memory that operates normally under common test conditions, but may fail under some application programs due to different memory access conditions.

Conditions that may differ under testing and under normal operations are the following:

Page mode. Common tests usually access memory in sequential mode – row by row – while real program may frequently access different memory pages. Column test accesses memory under test exclusively in non-page mode – column by column.

Speed. Common tests usually do something between memory accesses, e.g., calculate new value to write into memory, or new memory address. Real program can access several precompiled addresses immediately one after another. Row test tries to access memory with maximum possible speed: it uses groups of eight memory access instructions (MOV or CMP).

Test parameters. L1 cache should be enabled, then run the test. In this case, the program executes with maximum speed, and since the size of memory under test is much greater than cache size, cache does not interfere with the test.

L2 cache does not influence the test much, but it is better to disable it.

Row Size. Only Column test uses this parameter. It is essentially a test step in column direction, so it should be large enough to access new memory row on each step. It is recommended to use default value of 0x00020000 (128K).

Test Value. This value and its complement will be written into memory by these tests.



Address Mask. The bits in this mask, set to one, correspond to address bits that influence the address pattern. For example, if Test Value is 0x55555555 and Address Mask is 0x00000004, then memory will be filled with pattern:

0x55555555 0xAAAAAAAA 0x55555555 0xAAAAAAAA,

and if Address mask is 0x00000008, memory will be filled with

0x55555555 0x55555555 0xAAAAAAAA 0xAAAAAAAA

Direction. (The direction of memory filling/comparing.) It may be Normal (increasing addresses) or Reverse (decreasing addresses). The direction is significant for detecting some types of memory errors. For example, if memory module stucks the bus for some time after access to it, it can be detected only if we access the failing module first, and then normal module.

Full/Fast test. In Full mode, the same test as in Fast mode is performed with different combinations of Test Value, Address Mask, and Direction. The Full test takes about 60 times more than the Fast test. So, if Fast test takes 30 seconds, Full will take about 30 minutes.

HARD DISK(S) Performs intensive read/write operations on the sector level to test the HDD. An electronics testing sequence completes the hard disk test. The hard disk test scans the disk’s surface to find bad sectors. The test uses different algorithms: random, linear and butterfly surface scans. It also tests the hard disk controller.

CD-ROM(S) The Surface and Seek tests will use different algorithms to perform sector reads of the CD-ROM’s media. These tests do not require the CD-ROM drivers to be loaded.

KEYBOARD During this test, a sequence of operations determines whether the keyboard controller is functioning properly.

Note: Only a controller’s electronic component errors are tested. Physical and electrical errors, such as broken keys or LEDs are not detected.

PARALLEL PORTS These tests check the parallel ports of your computer.



Internal Test Tests the selected parallel port data register (DTR) integrity. No external loopback plug is required for this test.

Passive loop back test: Tests control status lines of the selected parallel port. For this test, a standard CheckIt PE-compatible parallel loopback plug is required.

Standard Loopback Test Tests the parallel port through external lines. This test requires the use of a standard external loopback plug.

FLOPPY The floppy disk test scans the disk’s surface trying to find bad sectors. The test uses different algorithms: random, linear and butterfly surface scan. It also tests the floppy controller.

There are two additional specific tests for floppy drive: Change-line test and Write-Protect test:

! The Change line test checks to make sure that the floppy controller correctly handles a media change and

! The Write-protect test checks to make sure that floppy controller correctly detects situations when media are write-protected.

SERIAL PORTS

Figure 28: Serial Port Test



Tests the serial ports of your computer. The Data Port test tests the chip functions and validates them. This is accomplished within the serial adapter and does not require an external loopback plug to work.

The External Loopback Test sends data to the serial port and checks to make sure this data was received. This test requires a loopback plug.

SOUND CARD TEST Tests your sound card to determine if it is Sound Blaster compatible. At the end of each test, CheckIt PE asks you if you heard a tone. If you did not, then the test is considered a failure.

Note: Many sound cards need special drivers for switching to Sound Blaster-compatible mode.

CheckIt PE detects non- Sound Blaster compatible cards. If your card is Sound Blaster compatible, you will see a list of all possible configurations for this card. CheckIt PE also detects legacy cards, PCI cards and PnP (Plug & Play) cards. Sound Blaster compatible legacy cards split into cards with DSP version 4.00 and lower and with DSP version 4.00 and higher.

Note: At this moment, PCI sound cards need a special driver to work in Sound Blaster compatible mode. CheckIt PE tests do not detect this.

For legacy sound cards with DSP version 4.00 and lower, the DMA and IRQ settings are determined only by special switches on the cards or by special programs from card vendors for the settings of new configuration parameters. Resource conflict is possible. CheckIt PE displays a warning about the resource conflict and lists the devices using the same resources. Also, you can get detailed information about resources from the Resource Map sub-tree.

For legacy sound cards with DSP version 4.00 and higher, the software determines DMA and IRQ settings. CheckIt PE emulates all of the possible combinations without resource conflicts.

With PnP sound cards, three things can happen:

! BIOS configures and activates the sound device. CheckIt PE successfully tests the current sound card configuration.

! BIOS configures but does not activate the sound device. CheckIt PE will try to activate the sound device if the sound card was activated and successfully tested.

! BIOS does not configure the sound device. CheckIt PE will try to build a list of all possible configurations. Every time, before starting a sound test, CheckIt PE will try to configure the sound device using one of the possible configurations.

Note: Your system may hang. If this happens, try to test another configuration. In any case, before starting any critical operation, CheckIt PE displays a warning.

CheckIt PE can test only Sound Blaster compatible cards. If BIOS did not configure the PnP card, CheckIt PE cannot detect if this card operates in Sound Blaster compatible mode or not. In this case, CheckIt PE uses a special .INI file (PNPSOUND.INI), which has the IDs of Sound Blaster-compatible PnP sound devices.



USB PORT These tests check the USB port of your computer.

Internal USB Host Controller (HC) Test HC internal test is specific for controllers installed onboard. This test is needed to ensure that the host controller is properly configured, supports at least version 1.0 of the USB specification and functions just as described in the appropriate HC specification. In practice, it means that a controller must be able to perform self and bus reset, enable/disable HC USB ports and transfer packets from/to USB devices.

If even one of these steps fails, the host controller is considered to be malfunctioning.

VIDEO MEMORY Helps you determine whether a video memory malfunction is causing problems with your PC.

Note: Due to the variety of video cards and semi-standards, only classical standard modes are tested.

Random test: writes all RAM with pseudo-random numbers and then performs verification.

YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE This problem is perhaps one of the most highly publicized subjects of discussion for administrators and IT managers in large corporations. Many programs running on computers in big companies were designed quite a long time ago. Developers never thought that they would still in use at the end of the century. Also, back in those days, disk and memory space was expensive, so programs were designed to work with 2-digit year dates. For example, 1985 was represented as 85. When the century number changes, you can have problems with two-digit dates. For example, both 1905 and 2005 are 05 if reduced to two digits. This means mayhem for big corporations with mainframes and may also become a significant problem for users with simple PCs. CheckIt PE will help you determine whether you are ready for Y2K (the year 2000) or not when you run the Y2K Compliance test.

CheckIt PE sets a new time and date using the BIOS 0x1A interrupt, it waits a little while and then checks that new time and data are set correctly.

CheckIt PE checks to ensure that the BIOS correctly:

! Switches from 31-12-1999 to 01-01-2000,

! Switches from the first hour of the year 2000 to the second hour,

! Switches from the first day of the year 2000 to the second day,

! Switches from the first month of the year 2000 to the second month,



! Recognizes the year 2000 as a leap year. Note: CheckIt PE only checks how correctly the BIOS handles "dangerous" dates while the computer is turned on. CheckIt PE does not check the RTC chip and situations when the date was changed while the computer was powered off.

SCAN I/O SPACE A test method that detects which I/O addresses is used and available. You can run this test before installing a new device, including sound cards, modems, network cards, or any card that uses an I/O address space. This tests searches for “hidden” I/O ranges that are already occupied.

Note: Standard PC/AT architecture defines the location of I/O ranges used by important system resources like the PIC, DMA controller, video adapter, etc., but this is a wide set of standard (non-PnP or legacy) ISA extension cards which assign system resources to themselves without notifying the BIOS. So, there is no common way to retrieve information on system resource assignments for these ISA cards.

The I/O range scan starts from the I/O address 0000H and checks addresses up to FFFFH except for I/O ranges that are already in use (for example, system PnP BIOS, PnP ISA cards, and PCI adapters). The I/O ports detected are put into a results table.

BENCHMARKS The benchmark tests test the read/write speed of your CPU, memory, and hard disk(s).

CheckIt PE performs benchmark testing of the CPU, memory and hard disks. These tests measure performance time and to show the speed factor based on the performing time. Many general operations are performed to get the reliable average factor value. Thus benchmarks take several minutes in depending on the types of components in a PC.

CPU tests the CPU. Memory tests RAM. Hard disks test all detected hard drives. If a CPU or hard disks were not detected during loading (detection of these components was canceled by user), appropriated item of "Benchmarks" tree is not shown.



CONFIGURATION AND CUSTOMIZATION SETTINGS There are three types of configuration setting methods in CheckIt PE:

• Customization File, which contains different options that control CheckIt PE behavior;

• Hardware Database Files, which contains information about known hardware manufactures and hardware devices.

• Command Line Options, which can be used for overloading settings in customization file and for starting CheckIt PE in some special mode.

All CheckIt PE configuration files are designed in a very simple format of .INI files. This gives a great flexibility for users and technical support service. All options may be modified in any text editor under any operating system. Moreover, as great amount of new devices appear every day, CheckIt PE allows for a simple method of updating it’s hardware database: either new information may be easily added to existing CheckIt PE database file, or database file may be replaced with the newer version.

Note, that all updates of configuration files do not require update of CheckIt PE core program.

TEST SETUP AND CONFIGURATION

Figure 29: Test Setup

Pressing the <F4> key at the test selection screen will display the CheckIt PE test setup screen. From this screen you are able to tell CheckIt Pro how to handle or react to errors found while testing.

CHECKIT PE CUSTOMIZATION FILE CheckIt PE uses the CUSTOM.INI file to maintain all customizable information, such as information required for the detection of hardware, startup options, user settings, benchmark markers and other settings.



The following chapters will describe how to setup and use different CheckIt PE features.

Modifying Options

Section [Options] contains miscellaneous options that control CheckIt PE behavior. All available options and their values are described in the table below. SaveHTMLRepByDef=On|Off This parameter defines the default format of reports saved

by CheckIt PE – either HTML or TEXT. When it is on the default file format is HTML, otherwise it is TEXT.

WarnMemBanksDifference=On|Off If this option is switched on, CheckIt PE will compare the configurations of memory modules and display a warning if memory modules are different. Comparison process involve SPD and DMI information:

a) SPD criterions: memory type (SDRAM...), error checking/correction scheme, frequency, row density and manufacturer code

b) DMI criterions: speed (Ns), memory type, installed size, enabled size

AutoReportName=On|Off If On, CheckIt PE will automatically modify default report file name, incrementing index in the last two symbols if file name is already exists. For example if REPORT.HTM file exists, CheckIt PE will propose REPORT00.HTM, if REPORT00.HTM exits, propose REPORT01.HTM etc. This feature works only for binary reports and Text/HTML reports.

AutoSnapshotName=On|Off If On, CheckIt PE will automatically modify default snapshot file, incrementing index in the last two symbols if file name is already exists. For example if REPORT.BIN exists, CheckIt PE will propose REPORT00.BIN.

AutoSelectTest=On|Off If this option is switched on, CheckIt PE UI will open the tree node with currently executed test.

CompareConfig=On|Off If on, CheckIt PE will compare detected Hardware configuration with the previously saved Hardware configuration.

FontOverload=On|Off If on, CheckIt PE will try to load special fonts, if off, CheckIt PE will use standard fonts

VgaOutput=On|Off MonoOutput=On|Off

If VgaOutput is on, VGA/EGA video adapter will be used for screen output, if MonoOutput is on, monochrome video card will be used for screen output if both flags are on then



card will be used for screen output, if both flags are on, then both video cards will be used, if both flags are off, CheckIt PE will suppress screen output.

Please notice, that you can suppress screen output when running burn-in tests, in that case your could check test results by loopback LEDs (please see description of USBLedIndication flag).

APMPowerCycle=On|Off,key1,key2 If key1 is not equal to 0, then, during burnin testing, computer will suspend after every key1 number of test loops, and resume from suspend mode after key2 number of seconds, i.e. ApmPowerCycle=10,15

DisableWarnings=On|Off If on, CheckIt PE will not show message boxes and warnings during any tests.

StretchScreen=On|Off If On to stretch screen if possible, if off to reducescreen size if possible.

If flag is not specified, then the default screen size will be used.

ConfirmDetection=On|Off This parameter defines if CheckIt PE will require user confirmation for every detection method run at boot.

AutoScanIOSpace=On|Off If this parameter is set to On, then the I/O address space scan test will be automatically invoked after building resource maps.

ResumeFromLog=On|Off ResumeFromNext=On|Off

If ResumeFromLog is On, CheckIt PE will save current state in the journal before starting every test, and will try to resume testing if power was lost.

If ResumeFromNext is On, CheckIt PE will try to resume testing with the next test after the interrupted one. If off, it will start with the interrupted test.

ResteCPUWithA20LineClosed=On|Off If Off, then CPU with closed A20 line will not be reset at detection.

MouseSupport=On|Off If On, then mouse navigation of CheckIt PE UI will be active.

ShowMissedDevices=On|Off If On, then CheckIt PE will show devices that are not detected in the system.

MissedFolder= Name of the UI tree folder where missed devices will be placed. If you leave this blank, then missed devices will be placed at the root of the detection tree.

AutoLoadTestSetup=On|Off If On then CheckIt PE will automatically load test setup



options from file specified by TestSetupFile entry AutoSaveTestSetup=Off If On then CheckIt PE will automatically save test setup

options from file specified by TestSetupFile entry AutoRunView= Name of a test view which should be running on CheckIt PE

start. If you leave this field blank, no view will be running. RebootAfterUSBTest=Off Prompt for reboot after USB Test (needed by certain USB

Keyboards). On for Reboot. Default is Off. RebootAfterSuspendTest=Off Prompt for reboot after Suspend/Resume test. On for

Reboot. Default is Off.

Customizing File Names

[Files] - This section defines names and directories for various files, used by CheckIt PE. UIScript=<File Name> This parameter defines full filename of script that will be

executed on CheckIt PE start. If drive or path is not specified, startup directory is assumed. If file name script is not specified then string "uicust.scr" will be used as default name.

ReportFileName=<File Name> Default full filename of text/html report file.

You can use the "?SERNUM?" variable somewhere in file name. In this case the serial number, retrieved from DMI, will be substituted instead.

Please note, that type of report (text or HTML) depends from SaveHTMLRepByDef flag (see description above). Please also notice that default file name could be modified if flag AutoReportName is On (see description above).

ReportBinaryName=<File Name> Default file name of binary report file.

You can use the "?SERNUM?" variable somewhere in file name. In this case the serial number, retrieved from DMI, will be substituted instead.

CompareConfigFile=<File Name> Specifies name of CheckIt PE binary report file to compare current configuration with. Please notice, that configuration comparison will take place only if flag CompareConfig is switched on.

JournalFileName=<File Name> This parameter defines name of journal (log) file for logging step-by-step testing information.

TestDataFile=<File Name> This parameter defines name of the file for saving test result data to restore after reboot.



TestSetupFile=<File Name> This parameter defines name of the file with test setup options for automatically saving and loading.

Modifying User Settings

Section [UserSettings] contains user specific settings used by CheckIt PE. Currently the following parameters are available: ValueSerialNumber= 8-digit CheckIt PE serial number. If serial number is unknown,

ValueSerialNumber parameter contains serial number template XXXXXXXX.

Note: Please don’t delete this template, otherwise CheckIt PE cannot save entered serial number.

Customer= Value used to define customer in CheckIt PE reports Technician= Value used to define technician in CheckIt PE reports ComputerID= Value used to define computer when displaying Benchmark

results.

Modifying Hardware Detection

To detect hardware on your PC, CheckIt PE executes a “detection method.” A detection method is an algorithm that detects specific hardware. For example, detection method DetVideo detects a video system. A list of the detection methods is specified in the CUSTOM.INI file in section [DetectionOrder].

The format of the parameters is the following: 0000=DETECTION_METHOD1 0001=DETECTION_METHOD2 … 000A=DETECTION_METHOD10 ... Xxxx=DETECTION_METHOD_N

DETECTION_METHOD_N is a predefined name of detected method.

For a full list of detection methods see Error! Reference source not found.. Note: The name of the detection method is not case sensitive.

Do not remove strings from this section. CheckIt PE stops the enumeration if it fails to read the key with the next number. Insert a ';' character before the name of detection method that you want to disable.

Example:

0000=DetPCI ; Detect PCI BIOS first



0001=DetPNP ; Detect PnP BIOS

0002=;DetSound ; Disable detection of sound cards

0003=DetPIC ; Detect Interrupt Controller

Modifying Hardware Configuration

The [ConfigOrder] section contains list of devices to be configured by CheckIt PE after finishing detection stage. Format of parameters is given below: DisableConfiguring=[0|1] Set this value to 1 if you want to disable configuring at all. If section does

not contain DisableConfiguring key, CheckIt PE assumes that value is 0 (enable configuring)

OnlySpecified=[0|1] If 1, CheckIt PE will try to configure only devices, which belong to the specified groups (see 0000=... values), 0 to configure all devices.

If section does not contain OnlySpecified key, CheckIt PE assumes that value is 0 (configure all groups)

0000=ID_xxx1 0001=ID_xxx2 ... 000A=ID_xxx10 ...

Defines list of groups to be configured. Every group is designated with detection object Id (ID_xxx). For the list of available object Ids see Error! Reference source not found. Note: Do not remove strings from this section. CheckIt PE stops enumeration if it fails to read the key with the next number.

Section [ConfigOrder/ID_xxx] describes order of configuring within the group and group specific options (ID_xxx is Id of detection object listed in Error! Reference source not found.).

Format of parameters is given below. DisableConfiguring=[0|1] 1 to disable configuring of devices, which belong to this group, 0 to enable

configuring (default value) OnlySpecified=[0|1] 1 to configure only specified devices, 0 to configure all devices (default

value) 0000=VALUE_1 0001=VALUE_2 ... 000A=VALUE_10 ...

Order of configuring.

VALUE_xxx can be specified in one of the following forms:

For PnP device: PNPID[,SectionName]

For PCI device: VendorID,DeviceId[,SectionName]

SectionName parameter is optional. If it is specified, CheckIt PE will use configuration from [ConfigOrder/SectionName] section. If not, CheckIt PE will use the following section:



For PCI card: [ConfigOrder/VendorId-DeviceId]

For PnP card: [ConfigOrder/PnPDevId]

Example: [ConfigOrder\ID_AUDIODEV]

0000=0x1285,0x100,EssPci ; Maestro-1

0001=0x125D,0x1968,EssPci ; Maestro-2

0002=0x125D,0x1978 ; Maestro-2E

[ConfigOrder\125D-1978]

(configuration of Maestro-2E)

[EssPci]

(configuration of Maestro-1 and Maestro-2)

Configuring Benchmark Data

Sections [BenchmarkData/OBJECT_xxx] contain a list of benchmarks to be shown comparatively for OBJECT_xxx object (OBJECT_xxx is Id of detection object listed in Error! Reference source not found.).

Format of parameters is given below:

0000=BENCH_FACTOR_1, LABEL_1 … 000A=BENCH_FACTOR_10, LABEL_10 ... Xxxx=BENCH_FACTOR_N, LABEL_N

List markers to show on resulting comparative diagrams.

BENCH_FACTOR_X is a benchmark factor for a new marker to be shown on comparative diagram for object OBJECT_xxx; LABEL_X is a label for that marker.

Example: [BenchmarkData/ID_MEMORY]

0000=56383, 12ns SDRAM



Updating Detected Information.

Section [DynamicUpdate] contains a list of devices that have to be dynamically updated. Not all CheckIt PE objects can be dynamically updated, but specifying objects that doesn’t support ‘dynamic update’ feature will not affect their behavior. Note: Do not edit this section if you are not a qualified technician.

Format of parameters: OBJECT_TO_UPDATE_1 = T1 OBJECT_TO_UPDATE_2 = T2 .... OBJECT_TO_UPDATE_N = TN

List of objects that required update of detected information.

Where: TX is an update interval in seconds. OBJECT_TO_UPDATE_X is an Id of detection object (see Error! Reference source not found.).

Example: [DynamicUpdate]

ID_APMBIOS_BATTERYUNIT,5

ID_CMOS,1

In the example above APM Bios battery information will be updated every 5 seconds, CMOS data will updated every second.

Configuration Comparison.

Section [CompareConfig] contains a list of devices that need to be compared with binary database constructed during previous CheckIt PE session as binary report file. Note: Do not edit this section if you are not a qualified technician.

Format of parameters: ShowChangesOnly=On|Off Off to display all comparison results; On to display

mismatches only. 0000=INFO_OBJECT_ID1 0001=INFO_OBJECT_ID_2 .... 000A=INFO_OBJECT_ID_10 Xxxx=INFO_OBJECT_ID_N

List of objects that need to be compared with data from data base.

Where: INFO_OBJECT_ID_N is an Id of detection object (see Error! Reference source not found.).

Note: Do not remove strings from this section. CheckIt PE stops the enumeration if it fails to read the key with the next number. Insert a ';' character just before the name of detection object that you want to disable.

Example: [CompareConfig]



0000=ID_HDD

0001=ID_BIOS

0001=ID_CMOS

After CheckIt PE is started user can see comparison results in the 'Inventory/Compare Configuration' branch:

Figure 30: System Comparison Information

Other Sections

CUSTOM.INI file contains some extra sections that are used internally by CheckIt PE. Please don't modify these sections, as it may leave CheckIt PE in unstable or non-working state. Currently these sections are [ObjectCreationOrder], [RAMDiskFiles] and [IoSpaceScan].

HARDWARE DATABASE FILES The hardware database contains information about known hardware manufactures and hardware devices. For example when CheckIt PE determines what kind of monitor is attached according to its specific return value, CheckIt PE looks for the corresponding entry in MONIDLST.INI and finds out that "TOS" means "Toshiba." It then shows the monitor type as TOSHIBA monitor. Note: CheckIt PE uses Hardware Database Files internally. Any changes in that files may leave CheckIt PE in an unstable or non-working state.

CheckIt PE hardware database consists of the following modules: File Name Description PNPDEV.INI List of known PnP devices.

PCIVEND.INI List of known PCI vendors.

PCIDEV.INI List of known PCI devices.



MONIDLST.INI List of known monitor vendors and models.

JEDECID.INI List of known JEDEC ID.

ETHERID.INI List of known IEEE assigned Ethernet codes.

CPU.INI List of known CPU.

USBDEV.INI List of known USB devices.

USBVEND.INI List of known USB vendors.

Recognition of Sound or Network PnP cards

If CheckIt PE detected Sound/Network Card using legacy method it will try to associate it with PnP Device.

In that situation CheckIt PE may detect resource conflict. There are two possible cases:

1. There is a real resource conflict

2. CheckIt PE found the same device via legacy method and via PnP interface. Information about PnP Device type is stored into PNPDEV.INI file. If such information is absent, CheckIt PE can't make correct decision about PnP Device type and assumes that we have different devices with resource conflict. If you are encountered with such situation, please add PnP ID of your card into PNPDEVICE.INI with correct device types: 0x0401 for Sound Device, 0x0280 for Network device.

COMMAND LINE SWITCHES Command line switches can be used with CheckIt PE to initialize certain options or settings within the program.

CheckIt PE support the following command line switches:

/H or /? Print help text.

/WD Disable test warnings.

/L Set log file name.

/C Compare current configuration with

/RE Save report and exit.

/CU Customer name string.

/TE Technician name string.

/MS Disable/Enable the mouse support.



Command Line Switches with Pre-Boot Version To use command line switches with the CheckIt PE pre-boot version, all command line switches must be written in the CHKCMD.SYS file on the A: (or B: ) drive. This file is a plain text file, so you must make changes to it using editors that can save plain text. For example, you can use the MS-DOS editor supplied with MS-DOS or Notepad, included in Microsoft Windows for Workgroups, Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows NT.

Here is an example of a command in CHKCMD.SYS that runs Burn-In test script:

CheckIt PE /B

SUPPORT FOR TWO MONITORS One key feature that distinguishes CheckIt PE from other testing/diagnostic software is its simultaneous support of two monitors.

If you have both a color and a monochrome monitor attached to your computer, you can direct output to both monitors. This is very useful when a monitor or video adapter is not working correctly. CheckIt PE will detect an error and show it on another monitor.

To direct output to two monitors, you need:

! A BIOS, which supports two video boards. This includes practically every BIOS after 1987-88.

! Two video boards (for example, Hercules (MDA) and VGA boards) installed on the computer. To connect both monitors to the PC. Connect the Hercules monitor to the MDA video board and the VGA monitor to the VGA video board.



TROUBLESHOOTING This section lists any known problems for the current version of CheckIt PE.

PROBLEMS WITH VIDEO ADAPTERS Several video card manufacturers offer partial or no support for modern high-resolution standards. In rare situations, CheckIt PE may give the wrong data for such cards. For example, although the Matrox Millennium video card has 4 to 8 Mbs of video memory, CheckIt PE detects only 256 KB.

PROBLEMS WITH PCI DEVICES Because of minor incompatibilities between PCI version 2.0 and PCI version 2.1, CheckIt PE may give the wrong data about any PCI 2.0 devices attached to your computer.

NETWORK CARD DETECTION. CheckIt PE detects NE2000 compatible cards only. However, if an installed network card is a PCI network card, CheckIt PE can detect it.



Appendix A. LIST OF SUPPORTED CPUS

Intel CPUs Intel386 DX Processor IntelDX4 ODP WB

RapidCAD Coprocessor Pentium ODP for Pentium based systems

Intel386 SX Processor Pentium ODP for Intel486 based systems

Intel386 SL

Intel486 DX Pentium Pro

Intel486 SX Pentium MMX

Intel486 SL Pentium MMX ODP

Intel486 Celeron

Intel486 DX2 ODP (Overdrive) Celeron A

Intel SX2 Pentium II

Intel DX4 Pentium II ODP

IntelDX2 WB Pentium II Xeon

IntelDX4 WB Pentium III Xeon

IntelDX4 ODP Pentium III

AMD CPUs AMD 386DX AMD 5x86WT

AMD 486DX4 K5

AMD 486DX2 K6

AMD 486DX4 K6-II

AMD 486DX2WB K6-III

AMD 486DX4WB K7 Athlon

AMD 5x86WB



Cyrix CPUs Cyrix 486SLC Cyrix 486S2e

Cyrix 486DLC Cyrix 486Se

Cyrix 486SLC2 Cyrix 486S2

Cyrix 486DLC2 Cyrix 486DX

Cyrix 486SRx Cyrix 486DX2

Cyrix 486SRx2 Cyrix 486DX4

Cyrix 486DRx Cyrix 5x86

Cyrix 486DRx2 Cyrix 6x86

Cyrix 486Sru Cyrix 6x86L

Cyrix 486Dru Cyrix 6x86Mx

Cyrix 486Sru2 Cyrix MII

Cyrix 486Dru2 Cyrix MIII

Cyrix 486S

UMC CPUs U486DX U486DX2

U486SX U5S

U486SX2

IBM CPUs IBM 486DX2 IBM 6x86

IBM 486DX4 IBM 6x86L

IBM 5x86 IBM 6x86MX

IBM MII IBM MIII

IDT CPUs IDT WinChip C6 IDT WinChip 2A

IDT WinChip 2 IDT WinChip 3



NexGen CPUs NexGen Processor

TI CPUs TI 486SXLC TI 486SXLC2

TI 486SXL TI 486SXL2

Rise CPUs MP6 MP6II

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