I hate the fact that when your computer crashes it takes hours to figure out what went wrong and what caused the crash. you are often told to reload the OS or try to recover one of the last known good OS recovery points. at no time is a full hardware test carried out.

My idea is to create a software recovery disk that boots and runs a list of tests on all pc hardware and prints out a status of the results. it could also include a remote help module that would allow a call center PC repair person to assist in the recovery if required.I know this software exist today but I don't know if it can run on a pc w/o OS running. the remote service would connect the PC with a PC anywhere type of product. this would solve the problem of continually trying to load a corrupted OS. I'm not a software expert, but it would be cool if this boot program could load windows OS on top of it self to monitor the load and advise of the plug-in or module that is causing the crash.

I just read the idea list under "remote repair" and my idea is very similar with remote repair a feature of the crash recovery that I'm describing. Does anything like this exist? it would be marketed to PC manufactures and maybe even get bought out by MSFT. the biggest benefit is to computer manufactures cutting down on the time it take to assist customers in crash recovery.

in cases where HD replacement is required the program could contain a simple hd copy routine to assist in removing non-corrupt files.
-- outofworkEE, Oct 02 2002

Various hardware diagnostic cards http://www.uxd.com/hproducts.html
Many work even when CPU/memory don't. [phoenix, Oct 04 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

A few more like the above http://www.ultra-x....gue_Hardware_2.html
[phoenix, Oct 04 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Micro-Scope V. X.0™ http://www.millenni...stics-software.html
"...the supercharged suite of Industrial Strength diagnostic tool's for professional computer technicians and power users." [phoenix, Oct 04 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Very much so baked, I believe.
-- BinaryCookies, Oct 02 2002


BC: Not really. outofworkEE has grouped two different problems as one. It's only baked for the software part not hardware.

Look, in my admittedly limited experience, the problem with hardware diagnosis is that a full diagnosis of a hardware problem requires testing the individual parts that might be wrong. This usually entails taking apart the computer and putting it back together again one-piece-at-a-time. Sometimes it's a faulty part, sometimes it's a loose connection. If it's a loose connection then putting it all back together fixes the problem (sometimes you've got a good idea of what's loose). I've had, 3D cards that only crash when using 3D graphics (faulty card) and triple beeps, no screen (loose graphics card connection), no visible action except for the hard drive light (one of two memory cards was faulty). Hardware problems are difficult to diagnose with software. You won't neccesarily get any prior warning when the hardware goes either if it's a loose connection due to slippage.

But, please, someone correct me if I'm wrong!
-- CrumbsDM, Oct 03 2002


I don't think you're wrong.

The problem is that, for most of the hardware, if it ain't working, it won't boot up from a floppy, either. And diagnostic disks for particular hardware components (i.e. HDD) are widely baked, as binary stated.
-- yamahito, Oct 03 2002



random, halfbakery