How to test/evaluate a refurb?

[Chufft]

So I got the bug for a new hobby -- digital audio & MIDI -- and need to upgrade from my old Asus N260 2G/500 netbook used with a 19inch monitor for Web surfing. Also that cup of coffee I spilled over the keyboard a year ago might finally be taking effect. Spent a couple of weeks educating myself on how to spec out & assemble a new PC, but ended up going with a Dell Optiplex 955 refurb for now. Less than $400 with Win 7, Core 2 Duo @ 3.1, 4G/1T, 19inch monitor, keyboard & mouse. I'm thinking to move the HDD outboard and fill that bay with a new 128 SSD & the 2.5inch 500, maybe add a cheap card so I can run both 19inch monitors. The refurb arrives tomorrow. What should I do to test & evaluate it? I want to make sure the Windows license is valid and reveal any hardware issues.

 

[cl-scott]

Dell has its own hardware diagnostics program which would be a good place to start. Beyond that, there are several benchmarking programs which have "burn in" tests. You let these loop for say 72-hours and if things haven't crashed and burned by then, you can be reasonably sure the hardware's good. It's not conclusive, but it's probably as good as you're going to get.

 

[kelco]

memtest, prime 95 come to mind. Check the bios for SMART logs if they have them. Dxdiag if theres a dedicated gpu. I'm sure theres more, but this is what i would do.:thumbsup:

 

[Chufft]

Many thanks! Dell diagnostics seems like a great way to start. I'll do some research on "burn in" programs, memtest, prime95 and SMART. This machine (SFF) has Intel GMA X3100 on the mobo. Dell diagnostics should cover that well enough I'd guess.

 

[Chufft]

Big box arrived today. Dell Diagnostics seems to require Windows Explorer (not my first choice among browsers). Multiple app downloads were requested & granted. CPU, mobo, memory & HDD seem OK according to Dell. Thinking to flog that Dell suite & run other diagnostics for a few days, then do a clean Win7 install -- thoughts on that? Hoping this rig will do for a while as I continue researching DAW hardware & software.

 

[cl-scott]

Big box arrived today. Dell Diagnostics seems to require Windows Explorer (not my first choice among browsers). Multiple app downloads were requested & granted. CPU, mobo, memory & HDD seem OK according to Dell. Thinking to flog that Dell suite & run other diagnostics for a few days, then do a clean Win7 install -- thoughts on that? Hoping this rig will do for a while as I continue researching DAW hardware & software.

There's another diagnostics program that should be effectively build into the BIOS. If you hit F12 at boot, and run diagnostics, it'll run first the PSA+ diagnostics (which are worthless in my past experience as a Dell repair tech -- it gave some RAM a clean bill of health that ended up being bad, causing me to chase a phantom problem for a few days), and then after that it will launch Dell's "32-bit Diagnostics" which runs on an embedded version of Windows. Otherwise you should be able to download the program off Dell's support site.