READ ME FIRST QAPlus/PRO Thank you for using DiagSoft's QAPlus/PRO. This file contains the following: * Registering Your Product * Installing and Running QAPlus/PRO * Memory Issues * Performance Issues * Additional Information * Additional Diagnostic Test Programs * Items Identified by QAPlus/PRO REGISTERING YOUR PRODUCT Before you start QAPlus/PRO, please fill out the Warranty and Registration card and mail or Fax it in. If you would like to order any other DiagSoft product, contact DiagSoft at 408-438-8247. As a registered user, you are eligible to receive a discounted price on DiagSoft product upgrades. If you ever have any questions, comments or suggestions about DiagSoft products, please call us at 408-438-8247, or FAX us at 408-438-7113. You may also contact us via CompuServe at GO DIAGSOFT. It is helpful for you to know and have available the serial number, and version number when calling for technical support. INSTALLING AND RUNNING QAPLUS/PRO: You can run QAPlus/PRO: * By pressing [Esc] after reading this Readme First if you entered the Readme by booting QAPlus/PRO from a diskette. * From your hard disk drive * From your QAPlus/PRO diskette NOTE: There are additional diagnostic test programs. See "Additional Diagnostic Test Programs" in this Readme First file. Installing QAPlus/Pro to the Hard Disk Drive Some Windows 95 systems come with QAPlus/Pro already installed on your hard disk. For these systems, you can run QAPlus/Pro from the Service tab in "Getting Started" or from the Services icon in in your Digital folder. In both cases select from Services: Diagnostics For all other systems, you must first install QAPlus/PRO on your hard disk as follows: 1. Place your QAPlus/PRO program diskette in your floppy drive. 2. Ensure that you are at the prompt for the floppy drive. For example if the diskette is in Drive A and you are currently at the C:\> prompt, key-in: A: and press the [Enter] key. 3. At the floppy drive prompt, key-in: INSTALL and press the [Enter] key. 4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation. Running QAPLUS/PRO FROM THE HARD DISK DRIVE To run QAPLUS/PRO from a hard drive: 1. Change to the directory in which you installed QAPlus/PRO. For example, if you let QAPlus/PRO installation program determine the directory on your C:\> drive, you would key-in: CD\QAPRO and press the [Enter] key. 2. Then key-in: QAPLPRO and press the [Enter] key. QAPlus/PRO then begins. Follow the instructions on the screen for directions on how to use it. NOTE: QAPlus/PRO is an MS-DOS application. You must run it only from the MS-DOS prompt. If you are using MS-Windows, exit Windows completely before running QAPlus/PRO. The exception are those Windows 95 system that provide a launching button from the Services icon in the Digital File and from the Services tab in "Getting Started." Running QAPlus/Pro from a Floppy To run QAPlus/PRO from your QAPlus/PRO diskette: 1. Change to the floppy diskette drive. For example to change to floppy diskette drive A:\ key-in: A: and press the [Enter] key. 2. Key-in at the DOS prompt: QAPLPRO and press the [Enter] key. QAPlus/PRO begins. On-Line Help While you are running QAPlus/PRO, pressing [F1] to call up the QAPlus/PRO context sensitive Help Information. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the help file. MEMORY ISSUES This subsection discusses: * Program Memory Requirements * Memory Managers versus Test Availability and System Information Program Memory Requirements If you run the full QAPlus/PRO program, you need approximately 560K of free memory -- depending on the configuration of your computer system. To determine you system's available memory, enter at the DOS prompt: MEM and press the [Enter] key. Your screen displays Memory tables. The "Largest executable program size" reflects the total available memory. If you find that your system does not have approximately 560K of free memory, there are a number of options to reduce the memory requirements of the program: * Temporarily unload net drivers or Terminate Stay Resident programs (TSRs) by typing "REM" in front of the appropriate device drivers in your system's CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For example, suppose you need to eliminate the TSR SMARTDRV. You would then enter "REM" in the SMARTDRV line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as follows: REM C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE Reboot your system. After you have finished using QAPlus/PRO, remove the "REM" entries from your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to reinitiate the net drivers and TSRs. * In your CONFIG.SYS, add the following lines: DOS=HIGH,UMB * With DOS 6.0 and higher, you can use the MEMMAKER option to free up enough Base RAM (memory) to run the full QAPlus/PRO. At the DOS prompt, key-in: MEMMAKER/BATCH and press the [Enter] key. You may manually load device drivers or TSRs into high memory using the DEVICEHIGH= command in place of DEVICE= in CONFIG.SYS and LOADHIGH[space] or LH[space] in front of TSR programs in AUTOEXEC.BAT. * Use the QAPlus/PRO "-Oxxx" option. This option omits specified test groups from the testing and thereby reduces the memory requirements needed to run QAPlus/PRO You may omit several test groups with this procedure to lessen the memory requirement or to speed the program loading time. The following table gives the test groups and the O option entry: Test Group -O option entry ___________________________________________________________ Main Logic Board MBD Memory MEM Video VID Hard disk drive HDU Floppy disk drive FDU Keyboard KBD Serial Port COM Printer Port (LPT) LPT SCSI SCU Mouse/Pointer PDV System Info SYS CD-ROM drive CDR ALL groups ALL For example, if you want to eliminate the Memory, Video, Hard Disk Drive, and Floppy Disk Drive tests, you would key-in: QAPRO /OMEM /OVID /OHDU /OFDU and press the [Enter] key. Conversely, you may Omit all (/OALL) groups initially and Include (/Ixxx) only those that you wish to use. If you want to eliminate everything EXCEPT the Memory, Video, Hard Disk Drive, and Floppy Disk Drive tests, you would key-in: QAPRO /OALL /IMEM /IVID /IHDU /IFDU and press the [Enter] key. Memory Managers versus Test Availability and System Information While memory managers may help provide sufficient DOS RAM to run DOS programs, they can affect the detection of certain system information and the applicability of doing certain tests (System ROM identity, Video ROM and RAM ID, DMA functions, etc.) If you need to verify system information or perform tests that are unavailable with a memory manager present, use the Omit/Include options above. PERFORMANCE ISSUES This subsection discusses: * DMA Transfer Test * Loopboack Test * Testing ATI Video Adapter Memory * External or Internal Cache Test * Floppy Disk Test * Utilities * USERDIAG.CFG File * CD-ROM Level Testing * DMA Activity * Logging Test Results DMA Transfer Test If you are booting QAPlus/PRO from a floppy diskette, the DMA Transfer Test may appear to hang at the page register test. Actually, it takes a long time under these circumstances. You should either allow the extra time for this test (the time will vary according to your system), or deselect this test from the MBD (System Board) group menu. Loopback Test If you have a printer connected to the parallel port, the loopback test will fail. Conversely, if you have a loopback plug connected to the parallel port, the printer test will fail. (Note: the loopback plug is required for proper detection and identity of LPT port IRQ assignments, otherwise no IRQ will be indicated for any port.) Testing ATI Video Adapter Memory To test the ATI video adapter memory beyond 512KB, you have to reconfigure your board using the manufacturer supplied configuration utility. Note that some of that memory is generally used by the video coprocessor, and you will have to temporarily reconfigure this to video memory to test it. External or Internal Cache Test If run the external or internal cache test LUN's in the Memory Test Group, temporarily disable any resident expanded memory manager software you may have loaded. Then reboot your computer, and reload QAPlus/PRO. For example, if EMM386.SYS is loaded, you cannot run the cache tests. Floppy Disk Test For the floppy disk test to function properly, you must insert a diskette of the maximum capacity supported by the drive you wish to test. For example, if you wish to test a 1.44 Mb floppy drive you must insert a formatted 1.44 Mb floppy diskette -- NOT a 720 Kb floppy diskette. Utilities When you are running QAPlus/PRO from the floppy, some utilities will fail to function. You can call up these utilities individually by name by using the DOS Shell option on the Utilities menu. However, you do need to have adequate memory to run these utilities from the floppy. After you have exited from QAPlus/PRO, you can still access individually each of the utilities from the DOS prompt. For example, suppose you want to use the RAM Locator utility, which identifies the physical location of a bad RAM chip identified in the Memory Test. You key-in: QARAM and press the [Enter] key. USERDIAG.CFG FILE If you are creating a USERDIAG.CFG file to run external programs to report Pass/Fail or Skipped through the DOS ERRORLEVEL return codes, you need to press [Enter] at the end of each line of text as you key-in in the text. Pressing [Enter] forces a CR/LF (carriage return, line feed) at the end of each line. These are necessary for QAPlus/PRO to find and run correctly User Diagnostics. CD-ROM Level Testing When running QAPlus/PRO from a floppy diskette, the CD-ROM test is unavailable. DMA Activity If QAPlus/PRO detects constant DMA activity during testing, the IC Data Paths Test will skip the test for the DMA channel with the constant activity. Logging Test Results If you plan to run Hard Disk or Floppy Drive tests and log the test results, specify a log file on a drive other than the drive(s) to be tested. The log file cannot be written to the drive being test. Those Windows 95 systems that come with Windows 95 installed on the hard disk drive automatically create a log file. ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSTIC TEST PROGRAMS. To expand the diagnostic coverage of this QAPlus release, DSDIAG is provided on your diagnostic emergency boot diskette: To run DSDIAG from your floppy diskette for testing a 21040 onboard Ethernet controller or the DEC435 Network adapter card, follow these steps: 1. From your floppy diskette drive A:\> key-in: A: and press the [Enter] key. 2. Key-in at the DOS prompt: DSDIAG/DISP See "DSDIAG Command Format" for a full explanation of the DSDIAG command DSDIAG Command Format DSDIAG [/tp] [/aui] [/loopback] [/pass=ddddd] [/disp] Parameters ---------- /tp This parameter is optional. When /tp parameter is included in the command line, the TwistPair medium port was set for the board's diagnostic test. The TwistPair medium port was the default setting if neither /tp nor /aui parameter is included. /aui This parameter is optional. When /aui parameter is included in the command line, the ThinWire/ThickWire medium port was set for the board's diagnostic test. /loopback This parameter is optional. When this parameter is included in the command line, the diagnostic will perform the external loopback test. Make sure the proper loopback terminator is installed. /pass=ddddd This parameter is optional. The /pass parameter specify the test cycle of the diagnostic. 'ddddd' is a decimal number ranged from 1 to 65535 or 0 for endless test. If this parameter is not included in the command line, the test cycle is default to 1. /disp This parameter is optional. When /disp is included in the command line, the diagnostic will output the test information or error message to the standard output device. Guidelines __________ * DSDIAG diagnostic works only in an MS-DOS environment. * All parameters are not case sensitive and the order of parameters is insignificant. * Spaces between parameters are ignored. * All parameter fields must be entered exactly as shown in the above Command Format. No spaces are allowed before or after the '=' sign. Do not truncate parameter names. * The test result code will return to 'errorlevel' to comply with MS-DOS batch processing. 0 = Success, 1 = Fail. ITEMS IDENTIFIED BY QAPLUS/PRO Please note that the following lists of devices and systems indicate only those that have been specifically tested by DiagSoft, and does not include 'generic' PC/AT-compatible devices. If your computer and/or hardware devices are IBM-PC compatible, in most cases they will run just fine, but may not be recognized by their specific brand name. Supported Operating Environments IBM DOS and Microsoft DOS versions 3.1 through 6.2x Novell (DR) DOS versions 5.0 through 7.0 Supported Memory Managers Microsoft - EMM386 Qualitas - 386Max Quarterdeck - QEMM386 Helix Software - NetRoom Microsoft - HIMEM Identified BIOS Manufacturers AMI Award BAT386 BAT486 Chips & Technologies COMPAQ DATATECH Erso IBM InterLINK Microid Research Mylex Phoenix Quadtel Reply Tandon Tandon LT Zenith DMA Assignment is Identified for the Following Devices 3Com Ethernet II NICs Adaptec 154x Adapters and Ultrastor 14F SCSI Host Adapter 6260/6360 based Aria Sound Cards Interfaces Sound Blaster Sound Cards Floppy Drives IPX Driver IRQ Assignment is Identified for the Following Devices Adaptec 152x SCSI Host Adapter 8259 Timer Adaptec 154x SCSI Host Adapter Adaptec AIC-6260/6360 AdLib Sound Board Integrated SCSI Host AT-compatible Clock Adapter Aria Sound Board EGA/VGA cards COM1-4 Ports Floppy Controller (primary Ethernet Cards (NE1000/NE2000 and secondary) or SMC/WD 8013 and 8003 Future Domain TMC1800 compatible, Gateway SCSI Host Adapter G/Ethernet, Artisoft, Future Domain TMC950 D-Link DE100) SCSI Host Adapter Hard Disk Controller (WD1003) IPX Process (Novell MIDI Interface (Roland MPU-401 LPT1-3 Ports (requires a Microsoft Windows Sound System loopback plug) Numeric Coprocessor Mouse (requires mouse Seagate Technologies ST-0x driver) SCSI Host Adapter Sound Blaster Stray Interrupts (any interrupt UltraStor 14F occurring with no apparent, SCSI Host Adapter identifiable stimulus) WD-7000 SCSI Host Adapter Identified and Tested Processors INTEL 8088, 8086, 80186, 80286, 80386DX, 80386SX, 80386SL INTEL 80486SX, 80486DX, 80486-DX2, Pentium-5 and Pentium-90, 120, Cyrix Cx486DLC, Cx486SLC, Cx486DXr2, Cx486SLC2, Cyrix Cx486SRx2, Cx486Dx, Cx486Dx2, Cx486PR NEC V20, V30 IBM 80386SLC Identified and Tested Coprocessors INTEL 8087, 80287, 80387, 80387SX INTEL 80486, 80486DX, Pentium-5 and Pentium-90 Chips and Technology Cyrix version of 80386 IIT versions of 80287, 80387 Identified Bus Types ISA MicroChannel EISA PCI PCMCIA Identified and Tested Video BIOS Manufacturers ATI WD Paradise Quadtel S3-86C928 Diamond VESA-VBE Compliant Identified Sound Cards Sierra ARIA MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum AdLib Corp. Creative Labs SoundBlaster Microsoft Windows Sound (and compatible) System Identified MIDI Interface Roland MPU-401 (and compatible) Identified Network Cards Novell (Eagle) NE1000, NE2000 or compatible SMC 8013 family or compatible Gateway GEther-PC/AT or compatible Network Operating System Novell Netware 2.15 or greater (w/ IPX present) Identified and Tested SCSI Host Adapters Support for SCSI I host adapters via an ASPI driver. It also supports direct testing of the following host adapters and their devices: Adaptec 154x (A, B, C) Adaptec 174x (standard and enhanced modes) UltraStor 14F, 24F, 34F DPT EISA Identified and Tested Hard Drive Types MFM/ST506 ESDI SCSI-I Wide SCSI IDE & Enhanced IDE SCSI SCSI-II Identified and Tested Floppy Drive Types 360KByte - 5 1/4" 1.2MByte - 5 1/4" 720KByte - 3 1/2" 1.44MByte - 3 1/2" 2.88MByte - 3 1/2" CD-ROM Drives Tested Single and Double Speed Data or Music, but not both on same media Require MSCDEX driver & ASPI Device Drivers for SCSI Identified and Tested External Cache Devices Headlands Mercury Saturn I Saturn II -- END of ReadMe --