I need to know what is in the box

[Tom Hubin]

Hello,

I would like to find inexpensive or free software that I can boot and
run on a 3.5 inch floppy to see what hardware is under the hood of an
old or new PC. I can get some info from DOS 6.22 MSD but it does not
provide a lot of the details that I like to have.

From time to time I need to do something with an unfamiliar machine. I

would like to gather info like CPU speed, coprocessor, ram size type and
speed, details on drives like type, size and speed, IDE or SCSI for how
many drives. Maybe print a report and tape it to the side of the box for
quick reference.

Several programs would be ok if one does not do all. I expect that speed
benchmarking might be a seperate item.

Tom Hubin
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Mac Cool]

Tom Hubin:

I would like to find inexpensive or free software that I can boot and
run on a 3.5 inch floppy to see what hardware is under the hood of an
old or new PC.

I don't know of anything that will do that and fit on a floppy but you
might poke around here: http://distrowatch.com/

 

[The DragunLadee]

Hello,

I would like to find inexpensive or free software that I can boot and
run on a 3.5 inch floppy to see what hardware is under the hood of an
old or new PC. I can get some info from DOS 6.22 MSD but it does not
provide a lot of the details that I like to have.

would like to gather info like CPU speed, coprocessor, ram size type and
speed, details on drives like type, size and speed, IDE or SCSI for how
many drives. Maybe print a report and tape it to the side of the box for
quick reference.

Several programs would be ok if one does not do all. I expect that speed
benchmarking might be a seperate item.

Tom Hubin
(e-mail address removed)

I don't know of anything that will fit on a floppy, but if you don't
mind booting into windows to run a program, then you might give Everest
Home Edition a try. The home edition is free and gives you all the info
you're looking for.

 

[Rob]

Tom, DL is right the Everest Home Edition does a pretty comprehensive job of
identifying components and providing you with a detailed report that you can
customize to suit your situation. In addition to Everest there is SiSoftware
Sandra Standard, which is also a really nice application that provides you
with a basic outline of the components or as much detail as you ask for.
Both of these downloads are free and here are the links to obtain them:

http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_x86&langx=en&a=

http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang=en&pageid=3

HTH and take care, Rob.

 

[Tom Hubin]

I don't know of anything that will fit on a floppy, but if you don't
mind booting into windows to run a program, then you might give Everest
Home Edition a try. The home edition is free and gives you all the info
you're looking for.

*******************************

Thanx for the suggestion. I will look into that for possible use on
Windows systems.

What I have in mind should not depend on the computer operating system.
Could be old Windows 3.1 or newer Windows or DOS or Linux or no
operating system or malfunctioning operating system. That is the primary
reason I want to boot on a floppy or maybe a CDROM on newer machines. As
long as the BIOS works I want to find out what is in the box.

Sometimes part of the deal is to erase the hard drive before the
computer is transferred out of a company. It is very time consuming to
install a Windows operating system just to see what hardware is in
there.

Working with a variety of DOS floppies would be ok. If the hard drive is
empty I can install DOS pretty quickly, if necessary.

But working from floppies on old machines and CD on new machines would
be the most portable solution for me.

Tom Hubin
(e-mail address removed)

 

[R. Asby Dragon]

Thanx for the suggestion. I will look into that for possible use on
Windows systems.

What I have in mind should not depend on the computer operating system.
Could be old Windows 3.1 or newer Windows or DOS or Linux or no
operating system or malfunctioning operating system. That is the primary
reason I want to boot on a floppy or maybe a CDROM on newer machines. As
long as the BIOS works I want to find out what is in the box.

Sometimes part of the deal is to erase the hard drive before the
computer is transferred out of a company. It is very time consuming to
install a Windows operating system just to see what hardware is in
there.

Working with a variety of DOS floppies would be ok. If the hard drive is
empty I can install DOS pretty quickly, if necessary.

But working from floppies on old machines and CD on new machines would
be the most portable solution for me.

Tom Hubin
(e-mail address removed)

I haven't used it in a few years; I don't know how it handles the newer
processors and hardware... but one of my old standby "fits on a bootable
floppy" programs was SysChk.
http://www.syschk.com

I'm going to put it on a 98SE bootdisk and see how it handles some of the
more 'interesting' machines around the house.

 

[Junk]

Check out Emergency Boot CD at http://ebcd.pcministry.com/

The free software includes an option for identifying hardware.

Works great--runs off of the CD-ROM boot disk.

 

[dg]

http://www.sysanalyser.com/

A few years ago I used the above for a automated build process, before Ghost
was on the scene. It was GREAT at the time, haven't used any current
versions.

Outputs to a TXT file or and on screen.

--Dan

 

[Michael Hawes]

*******************************

Thanx for the suggestion. I will look into that for possible use on
Windows systems.

What I have in mind should not depend on the computer operating system.
Could be old Windows 3.1 or newer Windows or DOS or Linux or no
operating system or malfunctioning operating system. That is the primary
reason I want to boot on a floppy or maybe a CDROM on newer machines. As
long as the BIOS works I want to find out what is in the box.

Sometimes part of the deal is to erase the hard drive before the
computer is transferred out of a company. It is very time consuming to
install a Windows operating system just to see what hardware is in
there.

Working with a variety of DOS floppies would be ok. If the hard drive is
empty I can install DOS pretty quickly, if necessary.

But working from floppies on old machines and CD on new machines would
be the most portable solution for me.

Tom Hubin
(e-mail address removed)

Try looking on Ebay for diagnostic software such as PC Check which run from
a bootable floppy, or AMIDIAG which comes on CD but can create a set of
floppies.
Mike.