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Volitans has published v2.0 of SMART Utility, a diagnostic tool for hard drives. The software taps into the SMART monitoring technology built into hard drives, and presents status information in a more convenient and legible form. The app additionally attempts to warn users about impending disk failures, with the aim of allowing time to transfer material to a different location.

New to v2.0 are the ability to run built-in self-tests, and preferences that can limit alerts to the discovery of new problems. Temperatures can now be displayed in Fahrenheit, and Growl users can receive notifications for scans, updates, and impending or total failures. SMART Utility requires Mac OS X 10.4 or better, and costs $25.

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If a system isn’t producing the desired end result, look for what it is doing correctly; in other words, identify where the problem is not, and focus your efforts elsewhere. Whatever components or subsystems necessary for the properly working parts to function are probably okay. The degree of fault can often tell you what part of it is to blame. Continue reading »

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Set up instrumentation (such as a datalogger, chart recorder, or multimeter set on “record” mode) to monitor a signal over a period of time. This is especially helpful when tracking down intermittent problems, which have a way of showing up the moment you’ve turned your back and walked away.

This may be essential for proving what happens first in a fast-acting system. Many fast systems (especially shutdown “trip” systems) have a “first out” monitoring capability to provide this kind of data. Continue reading »

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Closely related to the strategy of dividing a system into sections, this is actually a design and fabrication technique useful for new circuits, machines, or systems. It’s always easier begin the design and construction process in little steps, leading to larger and larger steps, rather than to build the whole thing at once and try to troubleshoot it as a whole. Continue reading »

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In a system with multiple sections or stages, carefully measure the variables going in and out of each stage until you find a stage where things don’t look right.

Example 1: A radio is not working (producing no sound at the speaker))

What to do: Divide the circuitry into stages: tuning stage, mixing stages, amplifier stage, all the way through to the speaker(s). Measure signals at test points between these stages and tell whether or not a stage is working properly. Continue reading »

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If a system is composed of several parallel or redundant components which can be removed without crippling the whole system, start removing these components (one at a time) and see if things start to work again.

Example 1: A “star” topology communications network between several computers has failed. None of the computers are able to communicate with each other.

What to do: Try unplugging the computers, one at a time from the network, and see if the network starts working again after one of them is unplugged. If it does, then that last unplugged computer may be the one at fault (it may have been “jamming” the network by constantly outputting data or noise).

Example 2: A household fuse keeps blowing (or the breaker keeps tripping open) after a short amount of time.

What to do: Unplug appliances from that circuit until the fuse or breaker quits interrupting the circuit. If you can eliminate the problem by unplugging a single appliance, then that appliance might be defective. If you find that unplugging almost any appliance solves the problem, then the circuit may simply be overloaded by too many appliances, neither of them defective.

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In a system with identical or parallel subsystems, swap components between those subsystems and see whether or not the problem moves with the swapped component. If it does, you’ve just swapped the faulty component; if it doesn’t, keep searching!

This is a powerful troubleshooting method, because it gives you both a positive and a negative indication of the swapped component’s fault: when the bad part is exchanged between identical systems, the formerly broken subsystem will start working again and the formerly good subsystem will fail. Continue reading »

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As Intel’s Core i7 architecture starts moving down from the high-end, value seekers can build high-performance LGA775 systems cheaply. Low-cost motherboards compete for the value crown with added features, performance, and overclocking capabilities.

Original post by Daysha

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Atom is geared for low-cost, low-power netbooks and nettops, while the device is a poor choice for desktop PC applications. We show you why Core 2 is better, and give some guidance on how to pick the best power supply for your low-power application.

Original post by Daysha

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Intel’s 45 nm Core 2 serious is known to boast substantial overclocking margins, and the entry-level E7200 with 3 MB L2 cache costs less than $120. We’ll show you how to get close to 4 GHz from this little gem.

Original post by Daysha

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