The Software:

The software portion of the Service Center is really the bread and butter of the entire kit.  We can essentially divide the software into two different groups:  Windows and DOS.  We will first look at the DOS version and move onto the Windows software later. 

Above is our DOS version of the PC-Doctor Diagnostics.  To access it, you need to boot off of the Multipurpose USB Device.  Herein lies a problem, as booting from a USB device is a fairly new phenomenon.  Some older systems may not support booting directly off of a USB device, however most should.  The first screen available to us is the "Select Log Drive" screen.  This allows us to choose where we would like to save results. 

Once we select our log destination, we have "Available Tests", and "Available Tools".  The tests are some quick functionality checks, while the more in-depth testing is under the "Run PC-Doctor Standalone".  The tests essentially offer low level testing for every device attached to the motherboard, including ports and drives.  This is where the loopback devices come into play.

Once you select the PC-Doctor option, you have a new screen.  The first menu on this screen offers more in-depth diagnostics for the devices listed above. 

These tests are designed for devices that require user feedback.  For example, the LCD Panel test requires you to click through several color patterns so that you can personally verify that it is working properly. The Internal Speaker test plays a sound, the Keyboard test allows you to press keys and see if you get a predicted response, and the mouse test shows cursor position as you move the mouse.   

The Hardware Info menu does pretty much exactly what you would expect.  For each of the menu items, it lists all the pertinent information.  System Configuration lists most of the relevant computer components, including CPU Type, Disk Volumes, Chipset Type, and PCI devices.  Each menu item below gives even more detailed information about the particular device. 

Under the Utility heading, we have various other tools at our disposal.  "Run External Tests" brings us a few different options that allows us to go back to the main menu, as well as a few other options that are not explained.  "Edit CMOS RAM" lets us play with the BIOS settings, "File Editor" is a simple word processor.  "Surface Scan Hard Disk" allows a thorough examination of the hard disk with both non-destructive read and destructive write tests.  "Benchmark System"  runs some basic tests on main system components.  The CPU benchmark is measured in MIPS, Dhrystones/second and MFLOPs.  Memory Access is measured in Kb/s. 

Next we have "DOS Shell" which launches a DOS command prompt.  The Terminal allows access through a Serial port if you have one.  If you really want to get crazy, "Memory Debugger" actually lets you view the contents of memory in hex form.  "Tech Support Form" gathers all the system data and logs it to a file.  Finally "Battery Rundown" will run a system load until the laptop battery drains, and upon the next reboot, you can see how long the battery lasted. 

So, in a very small and brief nutshell, that is the DOS testing suite.  Next up, Windows!