Testing Testing hardware is a major part of any organisation that refurbishes used computers. The purpose of testing is to determine which equipment is still usable, and which cannot be passed on to other users. The process of testing is essentially diagnostic – it aims to answer the question „Can this computer part be used again?‟ In order for testing to be really effective, you can‟t just test the whole computer at once. Each component part must be tested individually. Luckily, it doesn‟t mean that the computer has to be taken apart entirely. To test each part of the machine, you can use diagnostic software to probe and examine each piece of the computer. There are a number of commercial hardware testing programs available, and there are a few free and open source programs available as well. Unfortunately, most programs that are free are incomplete, and the ones that are give the ease and function a centre needs but are expensive. However, given that testing is a core function of any refurbishment centre, it‟s a worthwhile investment to pay for a good, reliable product that will help to streamline and standardize the process of testing. The industry standard product is American Megatrends‟ AmiDiag Suite. It costs US$259, but comes with special kinds of hardware that allow all parts, including serial ports, which for instance, external modems connect to, to be tested. (Visit http://www.amidiag.com/products/ for details.) AmiDiag is user friendly and well documented. It can be purchased online, but not all African countries are eligible to use credit cards online. To get around this problem, it might be possible to ask a supplier – one with whom you have an existing relationship - to buy the product on the centre‟s behalf and include it in a shipment of computers. The software can be paid for at the same time as the invoice for computers and other equipment is settled. Many freeware utilities exist; many cheaper options exist as well. There are some good free utilities that test some parts and not others. One very capable memory testing tool is called MemTest86. It is widely used, well supported and easy to use. It can be easily downloaded from the project website. http://www.memtest86.com/. Bootable versions are available; they can be created on both DOS and Linux platforms.
There are many other testing utilities such as TuffTest (http://www.tufftest.com/index.htm; US$29.95) and PC Check (distributed by Eurobyte). TuffTest-Lite is a free, limitedfunctionality distribution of Tuff Test Pro. It‟s available at http://www.tufftest.com/tt01-litedwnld.htm. One major drawback of the free utilities is that they don‟t include the whole suite of tests offered in the commercial versions – TuffTest Lite can‟t, for instance, test a CD-ROM, one of the most common parts to found to have failed in the process of testing. It also tests only the first 8mB of RAM – even though today‟s computers may commonly have eight or sixteen times that amount. It only tests the first 540mB of a hard disk‟s capacity. Still, TuffTest Lite can be used, but only if you use it in conjunction with other tools in order to cover the areas that the free utility leaves out.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Another issue that a refurbishing workshop needs to address involves hard-drives and the data that comes on donated machines. The problem is really two-fold: not only does the centre need to make sure the drive works but corporations and private donors often need assurances that the data on its hard drives will be destroyed such that no one would have access to private or confidential information that was once stored on a disk. By using a testing procedure that reads, writes and destroys data, you can combine these convergent needs. A Note on Data Destruction In 1998, the UK government mandated that companies which collect or store personal or confidential data are legally responsible for ensuring that all traces of personal data are destroyed when a computer is decommissioned or resold. Fines amount to GBP 5,000. This means that any hard drive that once contained correspondence, tax information, personnel records, or virtually any other kind of document must be not just thoroughly erased, but overwritten three or four times. The U.S. military takes the issue so seriously it has issued guidelines about how to destroy its data. Many companies will claim that their data destruction methods comply with the Department of Defense standards, but no claim about any piece of data-destroying software is true: the DoD mandates that its employees, in the last stage of a destruction process, use a strong magnet called a DeGausser that not only destroys data, but also the hard-drive‟s ability to read and write data. Mere erasure or formatting is not enough because some data recovery tools can restore data that has been erased by a user. Today‟s security advisors demand not just deletion, but a kind of data destruction: they ask that the substance that once held the data be overwritten multiple times. Overwriting with different patterns three or four times makes sure that almost every last trace of old data is unrecoverable. A Professor Gutmann in New Zealand has devised a method that overwrites the data on a hard drive 35 times, and uses a different secretly generated number at eight different points in the process. The method was so rigorous it became known as Gutmann‟s protocol. This is probably a little too intensive a method for most people – it also takes eight or more hours. The problem of data destruction is so common that there are many suitable utilities for performing a conscientious but not excessive data destruction routine on hard drives. Here is a list of two: one is called Active@ KillDisk (free version is available at www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm). Another uses a standard linux bootdisk called Tom‟s Root Boot (see Boot Disks for download and creation instructions) and a conventional Linux utility called badblocks. The advantage of using badblocks with Tom‟s Root Boot is that it allows several disks to be blanked at once. When a single test can take an hour or more, it can save a lot of time. Sometimes you need to run diagnostics on hard drives too. In these cases, it‟s best to turn to the hard drive companies themselves. Most hard drive manufacturers issue their own free diagnostic tools for use testing their own products. It‟s a good idea to create a library of manufacturer‟s tools to test hard drive performance. The site http://www.motherboard.cz/diagtest/ provides links to tools created by the most common manufacturers. You can also search Google for such things: try search terms „hard drive‟ and „test‟ or „utility‟. Manufacturers themselves sometimes call their products „drive fitness test‟. Lastly, monitors need to be tested for quality and clarity. A good free utility is available from ELeader. Its website is Monitortest.net. Monitor assessment is more qualitative than quantitative; monitor tests display a series of patterns on a screen that allow a technician to judge certain properties of the screen. Summary
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
The main criteria a testing utility should assist a refurbishing workshop with is decisionmaking: does the testing software give a clear verdict on what‟s wrong? Does it tell the user if the parts work or not? The most useful kind of pronouncement a testing or diagnostic utility should give is error reporting detailed enough for the workshop to determine a computer‟s PASS or FAIL rating. If the software doesn‟t give a pass or fail rating, or doesn‟t report errors so that a technician can pass or fail a part based on the number or type of errors encountered, then it is not software appropriate for a workshop. For these reasons, AmiDiag may well be a worthwhile investment. TuffTest, which is a tenth the price, may be a good option for smaller volume refurbishing workshops, and may be a low cost option for new organisations. MemTest86 is free, robust, well supported and decisive – it‟s a reliable choice.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Testing Software – Getting and Installing This section explains how to find and install the following software: MemTest86 AmiDiag TuffTest Lite KillDisk Tom‟s RootBoot (see BootDisks) VideoTest1.exe from E-Leader‟s Monitortest.net
MemTest86 MemTest86 runs from a bootable floppy drive. It runs under Linux, but you can use a DOSbased program as well as Linux ones to create it. To create MemTest86 bootable floppies with DOS, download the zipped contents from http://www.memtest86.com/memt31a.zip. Decompress the files into a folder. Open a terminal by going to clicking on Start > Run; type command to bring up a command line. Cd into the folder where you decompressed memtest86. type install.bat. The prompts will guide you what to do: insert a disk into the floppy drive. Identify the drive where the floppy is by its letter (a or b, typically). Press enter.
To see how to use MemTest86 to test RAM, go to Testing Procedures. AmiDiag Protecting The Program: because the software is so expensive, the originals should be kept in a safe place. Only copies of the originals should be allowed to be used in the workshop. Use diskcopy to make copies of the original. (From a DOS command line, type diskcopy a: a: and follow the prompts). On a linux machine, create a directory to store the backup. (It‟s not a bad idea to create a whole backup directory, and to back up software and data to subdirectories on a regular basis). mdir AMIbackup This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
and move into it. cd AMIbackup Use mcopy a:[space]. (don‟t type [space], insert a space with the spacebar.)
to copy the DOS-formatted disk contents to your current directory. mcopy . a: To copy the files to a new floppy (it should be formatted first). (see Linux guides in the appendix for more information).
Using the Program. The full user manual appears in the appendix, and should also be included with an orginal purchase. AmiDiag can run from floppies, but to use the whole suite of utlilities, it needs to be installed. Since the drive will be formatted after it‟s been tested, it‟s sensible to install the whole program to the drive. Boot a computer using a bootable DOS disk (see Boot Disks for sources and guidance). Insert an AmiDiag disk and type install. Press any key to start installation, then press enter to accept the default installation directory (c:/diag/amidiag). Follow the instructions.
Operation: AmiDiag is menu-driven and also uses the function keys. Move around menus with arrows; make selections with the enter key. Its interface should be especially familiar to anyone who has used a BIOS setup program. Function keys also work well. TuffTest Lite – Getting and Installing Download Tufftest Lite from http://www.tufftest.com/tt01-lite-dwnld.htm. Find a floppy/stiffydiskette. Double-click ttlsetup.exe to launch the installer. Follow the prompts. Insert the diskette when prompted. Follow the instructions that appear on screen. (You can choose to enter your data; you can also fill in the fields with a random letter). This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Read the How To Load directions that appear on the last screen. Read the help document that opens automatically for any further guidance.
Tom’s RootBoot. Tom‟s root boot is a bootable disk. How to get it is outlined in the section called Boot Disks.
Active@ Kill Disk: Active@ Kill Disk is comes as a 600Kb utility that can be downloaded in a few minutes. Download the software to your hard drive from http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm. Download and run Bootable Floppy Disk Creator for Active@ KillDisk. Use: To create a floppy, double click the program called KillDiskFloppySetup.exe.
VideoTest1.exe A website called monitortest.net provides a free utility that operates on a windows platform. It can be downloaded from http://www.monitortest.net/downloader.asp?ref=VideoTest1.exe It runs from within a running Windows environment.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Testing: Preparing the Workshop Testing should be run in an area of the workshop dedicated to finding out if the computers coming into the workshop have any faults, and what, if any, parts are usable. Testing is the first stage in refurbishing a computer. Its purpose is to remove faulty parts and computers from the production stream, and to verify that parts that are destined for use by a client of the supply centre do actually work. Testing also gives an opportunity to take an inventory. Most testing programs also identify the hardware present; technicians can test items and record the specifications of each computer that enters the workshop. Workshop testing should focus on four things: the integrity of the memory, the function of the motherboard and other devices, and the quality of the hard drive and the quality of the monitors. Central to the idea of testing is the importance of controlling the number of variables in the testing environment. This means standardizing both how something is tested – by using the same software testing programs) and in what computer it is tested – by using the same equipment to test the same pieces. This means that some specific, dedicated testing systems need to be built. Four kinds of testing systems need to be built: A RAM testing area should be able to allow a number of computers without peripherals to be put on a bench, plugged into a monitor and keyboard that are known to work, and be able to be left unattended for the duration of the test. It‟s best to test RAM in the machine it first arrived with; not all motherboards are compatible with all speeds and types of RAM. For more on this issue see Crucial.com‟s interactive RAM diagnostic tool at http://www.crucial.com A hard-drive testing machine should have all the parts of a computer and all peripherals, but no dedicated hard drive. All parts – including the IDE cable – should have been tested beforehand. Each hard drive to be tested should be installed on each available connector on an IDE channel (see PC Assembly for a description). This allows up to four drives to be tested at once. Since the tests take several hours, at times it may be necessary to build more hard drive testing stations if a shipment has been particularly large. A components testing area should be built that allows multiple machines to be easily swapped in and out from a table fitted with a set of peripherals. The picture below, taken from an assembly centre in Johannesburg, shows two full sets of peripherals set up around a work area. The open table allows two technicians easy access to the insides of the machines; putting the monitor on a shelf above increases the work area. The standard set of peripherals allows technicians to isolate and attribute any errors they find to the machines themselves, because the peripherals are known to function.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
A monitor testing area should be built to test several monitors at once. It requires its own fusebox, some shelving, a video splitter, and one fully functional, dedicated testing machine. Fusebox: Monitors carry a lot of voltage, and if they‟re faulty, they can cause a short circuit. It‟s best to protect the rest of the work area from the monitor testing area by making sure the test area is on its own fused circuit. (These details are be covered in the Workshop Modifications: Electricity section of the Workshop module). Shelving: Monitors need to be tested over a long period of time, so it‟s best to create a system where many can be tested in parallel. Build a set of shelves that house a minimum of eight monitors, with plenty of space on both sides of the shelves to make it easy to move bulky monitors in and out. Video splitter: A video splitter is a small device that shares the video signal from one PC to several monitors at once. Typical splitters have two, four or eight output connectors; linking two eight-way splitters allows a technician to test 15 monitors at once. Splitters cost about US$100 online. As with most video technology, different brands likely have the same components inside, so there may not be any disadvantages to buying the cheapest unit. Use the term „vga splitter‟ or „video splitter‟ to search online vendors and auction sites such as froogle and eBay for pricing. See if an overseas supplier can‟t ship one along with a container of computers.
Video/VGA Splitter: notice the nine ports. One takes a feed in from the central computer; its signal is replicated through eight output ports.
The construction of the burn-in testing area is described in the Multiple Installations section. This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Testing Procedures This section outlines procedures for testing memory, hard drives, components and monitors. To see how to install or use the testing software, see Testing Software: Getting and Installing.
Memory Testing Using Memtest86 to Test Memory (adapted from FreeGeek.org‟s Memory testing procedure – http://www.freegeek.org/howto/testing/memory/index.html). Insert the Memtest86 disk into the floppy drive. Turn on the computer. The tests will start automatically. If the beeps wildly, there is either a memory or a keyboard problem. Double check the keyboard. Otherwise the memory is bad. Watch the POST happen. The memory test should indicate the amount of RAM in the system. If you see an error here, the RAM is bad. Boot from the MEMTEST86 floppy. The process can take a while. Keep an eye on the system, and look for errors: The screen is divided into three parts (upper left, upper right, and lower) Several tests will be run on the memory. This can take several minutes to run. In the upper right part, you will see two status bars made up of "####" marks, indicating the percentage complete. The top of these status bars indicates the overall status. The lower of these indicates the current test. Below the status bars somewhere an error count is displayed. If this error count goes above zero, the memory is bad. As errors are encountered, they are listed in the lower portion of the screen. If you do not encounter errors, mark the RAM as good, mark its size, and file it in the correct storage box. If you encounter errors, the RAM may be bad. If the RAM appears bad follow this criteria: If it is a DIMM, hold onto it. It may test without errors in a different machine. If it is a SIMM, only one of the two may be bad. If there are more than two SIMMs that work together, you can systematically swap out RAM until you isolate the bad stick. Mark that one as bad, but keep the other. At the end of a testing session take all the DIMMs that tested bad during MemTest86 and sort them according to speed and memory type using an interactive diagnostic tool available at http://www.crucial.com. Source a machine with a compatible motherboard and chipset and retest. If RAM tests bad on a machine whose motherboard is known to be compatible, try at least one more compatible machine before dispatching those DIMMs to the recycler. RAM is expensive and worth trying to save.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Hard Drive Formatting and Testing How to test, label, and sort IDE hard disk drives. (adapted from FreeGeek‟s Hard Drive Testing How To http://www.freegeek.org/howto/testing/harddrive/oldharddrive.html) Overview: Attach up to four IDE drives to the cables on the testing station. Turn it on. Run the disk formatting and checking utilities. Check for errors. Detach harddrives. Detailed Instructions Introduction The IDE Hard Drive testing Station has no operatring system installed that boots from a hard drive. This allows all 4 IDE connections to be used for testing simultaneously. Use the "Tom's Root Boot" floppy to boot to a workable command line interface. This document assumes you have some basic familiarity with what IDE is, what the difference between master and slave, etc. Setup First, up to 4 IDE drives will need to be connected. Next, determine the jumper settings for master and slave. BE SURE THE POWER IS OFF ON THE TESTING STATION and connect the drives. Once the drives are physically connected to the testing station, power on and boot to the "Tom's Root Boot" floppy. Enter "root" for a login and "xxxx" for a password. Hard Drive designations in Linux These are different from the logical drive letters specified in DOS/Windows: /dev/hda - Primary Controller, Master /dev/hdb - Primary Controller, Slave /dev/hdc - Secondary Controller, Master /dev/hdd - Secondary Controller, Slave Using fdisk to create a single partition on the drives This is a different interface than the MS-DOS version of FDISK. Type in: fdisk /dev/hda This will bring you into the fdisk command for hda (Entering hdb, hdc, hdd will examine/modify the rest.) Unlike MS-DOS FDISK, you must exit and re-enter the command to modify a different physical drive's partitions, though a reboot is not required after modifying the partitions. Once you‟re at the fdisk command prompt, type ? to bring up a list of commands. First, use the d command to delete any existing partitions, then create a primary partition with the n command and make it active. You must enter P for primary type and the first and last cylinder of the drive. Although not neccessary, we usually make the partition bootable with the a command. Once created, use the w command to write the changes to the partition table and exit the fdisk program. Repeat the above steps for hdb, hdc, and hdd. Using mke2fs to create a file system (format) the drives For each drive, enter: This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
mke2fs /dev/hdn1 ... where n is the letter of the drive (a, b, c, d). example: mke2fs /dev/hda1
Be sure to add the 1 - designating the 1st (and only) partition. This process goes rather quickly compared to the DOS FORMAT command. Next.check to be sure the file system was created with the e2fsck command: e2fsck -f /dev/hdn1 This proccess again goes quickly - it's an empty file system. Then check for bad blocks with the badblocks command Here's where the real work starts. One of the nice aspects of Linux is that unlike DOS, it is a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system. You switch between virtual consoles using the left ALT key plus f1, f2, f3, f4, etc. For 4 drives, we'll use these four. Since we‟re already at the first (ALT-f1) console, and it's nice to do things in order, enter: badblocks -b 512 -svw /dev/hda1 This will destroy any existing data. While the Console #1 works away, use ALT-f2 and login again as "root", using "xxxx" for the password. At the shell prompt, enter the badblocks command just like above, only using hdb1 instead of hda1. Then ALT-f3 and repeat the proccess for hdc1, and ALT-f4 and repeat for hdd1. The process can easily take several hours, depending on the speed and capacity of the drives. It will do four writes per disk, and four read/comparisons. Bad blocks will be displayed. Use the ALT-f1 through ALT-f4 to switch between consoles and read the results. Once all 4 drives are finished, you can power down the system. Tom's Root Boot does not have to be shut down like a normal Linux installation. Mark the drives' test results. If by the time the utility has scanned and read and written onto the surface four times in succession, and bad blocks (the smallest units on a drive) are still appearing, that drive is should be checked with a manufacturer‟s utility. The reappearance of bad blocks after four passes is a sign of ill health on the drive. Modern hard disks have extra sectors and dynamically remap bad blocks to the spare blocks with no user or software intervention. When a hard drive detects an error, it silently fixes itself. When errors persist after four passes, it is a sign that the drive's spares are all filled and there are still more problematic areas. The hard drive has many, many more bad sectors than are visible. It should be disposed of.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Components Testing Using TuffTest Lite Put the TuffTest Lite floppy diskette into the drive. Turn on the computer. While the computer is booting, check the following physical characteristics: Does the power supply fan work? Put your hand behind the grille at the rear of the machine. Does air blow out? Find the CPU. Is the heatsink in place. Is there a fan? Does it spin? Check the lights on the case: is there a power light? Disk activity light? Does the floppy drive activity light turn on when the floppy is accessed? Are all cables clear of the fans? Are they secure on the motherboard? If all physical characteristics are okay, proceed to the diagnostics test. Diagnostics Follow the prompts. TuffTest Lite will start automatically. All components will be detected and tested. Watch for failures. If any components fail, remove them (if possible) and start the test again. If the on-board video fails, remove the motherboard from the case. Put the motherboard into the recycling area for Printed Circuit Boards. If the CPU fails, remove the motherboard from the case. Put the motherboard into the storage area. Mark the CPU for recycling. If any slot devices fail, remove them. Reboot and test again. If no items fail, mark the machine as good.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Components Testing Using AmiDiag Boot using a Windows 98 floppy. While the computer is booting, check the following physical characteristics: Does the power supply fan work? Put your hand behind the grille at the rear of the machine. Does air blow out? Find the CPU. Is the heatsink in place. Is there a fan? Does it spin? Check the lights on the case: is there a power light? Disk activity light? Does the floppy drive activity light turn on when the floppy is accessed? Are all cables clear of the fans? Are they secure on the motherboard? If all physical characteristics are okay, proceed to the diagnostics test. Diagnostics At the a:> prompt, insert disk one of the AmiDiag testsuite. Type install. Follow the prompts. Once in the AmiDiag program, use the arrows to navigate to the Options Tab, all the way on the right. Hit enter. Scroll down and choose “Toggle All Tests” and then further down to “Run Selected Tests”. When the tests are complete, make a note of any errors found: If the on-board video fails, remove the motherboard from the case. Put the motherboard into the recycling area for Printed Circuit Boards. If the CPU fails, remove the motherboard from the case. Put the motherboard into the recycling area for Printed Circuit Boards. If any slot devices fail, remove them. Reboot and test again. If no items have failed, go to Options. Select System Info. Make a record of the System Information on the product data sheet.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Monitor Testing Patch the monitor into the video splitter. Monitor testing requires one low-end computer running a Windows operating system for testing. It should be installed with VideoTest1.exe. Double click VideoTest1.exe to launch the program. Common problems on old monitors include poor focus, a persistent flicker, a hum, or a distorted screen. These tests will try to produce those effects. First Stage: Screen Quality Look at each screen carefully during each test. Take time to check all 15 screens. Click on Colour > White. Is the colour even along the screen face? Any dark spots or rings? Click on Focus and bring up one of the grid tests. Look at each monitor. Can you see each dot in the middle of the square? Are the lines straight? Do they appear to move? Left click to cancel the test and see the menu again. Choose Colour > Grayscale 1. Can you see all the different shades of grey on each screen? Left click to cancel the test and see the menu again. Choose Colour > Grays 3. Is each square distinct? Does one edge bleed into another? Left click to cancel the test and see the menu again. Choose Colour > Colour Scale. Does each colour look the right shade? Adjust brightness and contrast if necessary. Left click to cancel the test and see the menu again. Choose Concentric > Crosses 1. Check for straightness and crispness of the lines. Left click to cancel the test and see the menu again. Click Dynamic > Voltage regulation. Do black and white alternate on screen? Does the monitor make any cracking noises when it switches between tones?
Stage 2: Tolerance. Stop the videotest by choosing exit. Start a screensaver (right click on the Desktop and choose Properties to adjust the screensaver) Leave the monitors to run for about two hours, then run stage 1 again. See if there are any differences in the quality of the display. Check each monitor for heat. Excessively hot vents, screens, power cords and video cables mean that there is too much electronic resistance in the unit. Label it for recycling. If colours are uneven or blotchy, the monitor may have to be degaussed. Degaussing is a consequence of the high voltages and coils that a monitor produces. Degaussing: from whatis.com. “Degaussing a computer display removes any undesirable magnetic field that may have built up within the display, causing distortion of the image or color. Display monitors with cathode ray tube (CRT) technology are subject to the buildup of magnetic fields. Many display manufacturers include an internal coil that will degauss the display when it is turned on. Some displays also include an external control that a user can operate to degauss the display at any time.” (http:www.whatis.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213666,00.html). This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.
Check on the monitor controls to see if there is a manual degaussing option. If there isn‟t one, label it for recycling. (or see Advanced Monitor testing). If the picture has deteriorated over two hours, label the monitor for recycling.
Stage 3: Sizing Restart VideoTest1.exe. Choose Resolution > 600 x 800. If the screen can‟t display 800x600, label it for recycling. Measure the size of the display. Is it at least 15 inches in diameter? If the screen is smaller than 15 inches in diameter, label it for recycling.
Keyboards and Mice Keyboards and mice should be sorted on arrival according to their connection type; anything that doesn‟t have a PS/2 connector (small, round, 7-pin connector with a notch in the top) should be decommissioned. Keyboards and mice can be tested as they‟re attached to a computer in the final stage of configuration. The only barometer for testing is actual performance: to test a keyboard, check for sticking and loose keys, and reject any where buttons don‟t work. The sentence “Quick brown foxes jumped over the lazy dog” tests every letter of the alphabet. Mice trackballs and rollers should be cleaned of any dirt and debris by opening the cage on the underside. Technicians should check each button by double-clicking, right clicking and single clicking while the computer is running. Mice and keyboards are generally not valuable enough to spend time fixing. If they don‟t work, recycle them.
This document is based on draft text taken from the bridges.org report "Set-up and Operation of a Computer Production and Support Centre - A How-To Guide", to be published July 2004.