about to go buy a used laptop. are there any programs...

[TanisHalfElven]

i am about to go buy a used laptop. compaq aramada E500. so i was wondering what sort of programs should i take along to make sure it works well.

i need something to
1. check to processor and memory.
2. check dvd-rom
3.check speakers, motherboard, usb

any other things i should check for ?

thanks.

 

[Matthias99]

Memtest86+ will run from a bootable CD/foppy and check out the CPU/RAM (at least for basic functionality.) If Windows is installed, you could bring a copy of Prime95 (and/or other DC programs, but I find that Prime95 fails quickly when something is very wrong) to check for hardware stability. Winamp + some audio files would let you test the sound.

If the hardware is supported, you could use a Linux live CD to boot into Linux even if there is no OS installed. You could check various things that way.

To test the DVD drive, bring a DVD and see if you can play it (or at least see the files on there). For the USB ports, bring a memory stick and see if you can read from it/write to it.

Also, your sig is frickin' huge. Consider not actually using the [ q ] and [ /q ] tags, as they each add four or five extra lines that you don't really need.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Also, your sig is frickin' huge. Consider not actually using the [ q ] and [ /q ] tags, as they each add four or five extra lines that you don't really need.

I second that motion! I hate to have to scroll vertically for little or no purpose.