I can't get anything to run at a command prompt, window just flashes then closes

computer

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Nov 5, 2000
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Hi all. For some reason I can't get anything to run at a command prompt (XP Pro SP2). It is set up as an admin account. I've been trying to run the benchmark program "H2benchw", but it like any other command prompt program just flashes the CP window for instant then closes! I even tried a CMD to open the command prompt window (it does that ok) and put the path to the file in there and it says "'C:\Documents' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." That same thing happens regardless of where I place the file! I AM able to run chkdsk for example in the CMD window.

The readme file on it says it does NOT have to be run with parameters, and if you don't it will display the help file. So parameters are not important yet.

H2benchw runs as a Win32 console application (at the command prompt)
under Windows NT, 2000 and XP. It accesses the hard drive directly by
opening it as a physical drive. Do to this, it needs administrator
privileges. In order to obtain reproducible results, you should not
run any other applications while benchmarking and leave the machine
alone. (H2benchw maximizes it's own process just to be sure.)

On the command line, the number of the hard disk you want to test and
any options for the test procedure must be given. When calling the
program without parameters, a short help text is displayed. All
options must be entered in lower case letters. The number of the hard
disk you want to test is the most important option. The first physical
disk is number 0, the next one is number 1, and so on. If you enter
the disk number without any options, H2benchw displays geometry
(cylinders, heads, sectors) and capacity of the disk. For IDE drives
you should additionally get model number, serial number and firmware
revision. If there are several disks in the computer, it is
recommended to run H2benchw in this way first, to make sure that you
select the correct disk later.


So, what I had to do was put the file h2benchw.exe in the C: root directory, do a cd C:\ at the prompt, and that's the only way I could get it to run. Now, I can't get it to WORK. Regardless of what I do, I get in "invalid syntax" or "unrecognized command".

I've tried, at C:\>
h2benchw.exe -english (that is the ONLY thing that does work, see below*)
h2benchw.exe -c <1> ("c" is the interface xfer speed, "1" is the drive #)
h2benchw.exe -c
-c <1>
-c
Etc. etc. None work. I also substituted "h2bench" as it seems to recommend below (underlined below) and it didn't even recognize it!! If I don't get some error, it just goes back to the default "Greeting" of the guys name, version, copyright, etc. :confused:

*This is the help list:

C:\>h2benchw.exe -english
H2bench -- by Harald Bögeholz & Lars Bremer / c't Magazin für Computertechnik
Version 3.6/Win32, Copyright (C) 2002 Heise Zeitschriften Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Dutch translation by F&L Technical Publications B.V.
usage: h2bench [options] [<drive>]
options:
-a perform all measurements
-z perform zone measurement
-s measure seek time
-c <n> measure interface speed at n % of total capacity ("core test")
-p measure application profiles
-d <n> check data integrity (first <n> sectors fully checked)
-dt <n> specify duration of third phase of integrity check in seconds
-tt "<txt>" specify title text (hard drive model)
similarly: -tb (BIOS version), -tc (CPU), -tm (motherboard),
-ta (host adapter), -ts (media; for removable drives)
-w <file> save results in files <file>.*
-! do write benchmarks (default: read-only)
-deutsch auf deutsche Version umschalten
-nederlands switch naar de Nederlandse versie
<drive> Nummer of drive to test (0=first physical disk etc.)

C:\>


So can anyone please tell me how to RUN this freakin' thing?? :disgust:
Thanks.
 

computer

Platinum Member
Nov 5, 2000
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Originally posted by: sm8000
h2bench and h2benchw are two different programs, the latter being run in Windows and the former in DOS. For h2benchw try this:

h2benchw -english -a 0
That's what I figured, but if you look at the top of the help file (what I underlined) it said "h2bench".

Thanks a bunch, that worked. I had to stop it because it said "run time 85 minutes". :Q That was on the C: drive. My storage drive it said 27 minutes. I'll hook the new Raptor back up and try it on it.

 

computer

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Nov 5, 2000
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h2benchw -english -a 1 worked, I thought it was ALL of the tests but it didn't run the "Interface speed" test. So I tried to run it: h2benchw -english -c 1 and it says "no drive specified"!! I had to put a numerical percent after it, so I did that, and now it says:
*** can't open device `\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE50' (error code 2h)!
 

computer

Platinum Member
Nov 5, 2000
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I got it to work. I had to use: h2benchw -english -c 1 1, and I see that it did indeed run it under "-a", it was just called something different that I saw at another website.