Review of P.H.D. PCI Card by Gary E. Goodman, President
The company Ultra-X has come up with special hardware diagnostic tools.
One of these tools is an insertable diagnostic PCI card called P.H.D. PCI. The version I am reviewing today is version 1 although I have seen that the company has just come out with a version 2 which we hope to purchase soon!
The tool is described as "Advanced Hardware/Firmware Diagnostics Card for Component & System-Level Testing of PCI Bus Systems".
The first thing I was impressed with was that the kit I purchased was a very good value! It included various loopback testers as well as a PCI diagnostic card and complete diagnostic packages on both diskette as well as CD-ROM. The diagnostic diskette and CD-ROM were handy for laptops as the P.H.D. diagnostic card could not be used in laptops. QuickTech Personal which came in the kit was indeed handy and presented the same console screen as the heavy-duty PCI card. QuickTech Pro was more thorough and could be used in conjunction with a CD-ROM and DVD analysis tool.
One laptop which failed the keyboard controller test was confusing. I was fortunately able to reach support and they confirmed that the keyboard controller circuitry was also involved in touchstick operation. Luckily I had a known good laptop I was able to test on. It also came up with a keyboard controller error leading me to suspect a false positive. I'm certain this problem has been worked out in their new version.
On another occasion, the motherboard mysteriously locked up. It was stripped down and then it was discovered that the hard drive was to blame. I called Ultra-X to find out what was going on. They explained that broken devices can send halt codes to the CPU which would of course stop all communication on the bus.
The diagnostics come with the ability to do security erases on hard drives at different levels which I found very handy. I also noticed that the security erase is available from many areas of the kit such as PCI card, QuickErase diskette and QuickTech Personal. I have had to use security erase on more than one occasion!
The other handy feature is the ability to thoroughly test memory chips in more patterns than you can think of! The tool also has the ability to produce reports to disk or printer.
The most practical feature we have found is the ability to thoroughly test hard drives. We use the Ultra-X analysis tools in conjunction with drive fitness tests offered by companies such as Fujitsu and Hitachi. In no case did the Ultra-X produce a conflicting report. For customers that want 'proof' that their hard drive is shot, I can think of no better way then handing them the output that the PHD PCI produces.
Once you learn how to set the various switches on the PCI card you are set to go. One marvelous feature of the card is its ability to report the stability of the various voltages present on the motherboard. This pointed me to bad power supplies in many cases. In one case just a very small flickering of the 12volt LED saved the day. Again - power supply.
The card has a great feature which ensures that the card is not accidentally 'left in' the computer! Its form factor is extra tall so that it is impossible to close up the PC without first removing it. This is a top feature because it can ruin a technician's day if he has to go back to the customer and admit he "left something in the patient!"
The PCI card also has the ability to thoroughly test every PC component, both on the main logic board as well as connected into the main logic board. It uncovered many mysteries and I was able to report hardware failures confidently to my customers.
I was happy with the documentation. It is spiral bound so the pages stay open while you are working on your machines. It's a plus that there is an appendix which lists POST codes of commonly found motherboards.
Customer support was great and there were no long delays before getting through to a technician. They were courteous and helpful.
For our money, the products provided by Ultra-X are an excellent value and constantly used in our shop. We read on their site that PHD PCI2 supports Opteron 64-bit processors as well as both 3.3 and 5 volt PCI slots. It also runs 150 specific motherboard test in less than five minutes. The new version comes with optional temperature sensing probes whose output can be redirected to another terminal. Too cool!