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[d00705334]

Hello,

I've currently been asked to come up with a logical reason of why performing the System Load Test for 5 or 10 minutes is sufficient enough to determine the reliability of a system board. 

Some of the question that arise are as follows:

Why not perform a system load test for a longer period of time?  Should I expect a faulty system board to fail or log errors within the 10 minute system load test?  Has it been proven though experience or experiments that most error will occur within the first 10 minutes?  Also, is there any details indicating how much stress is being placed on the system board during the system load test.

[fwilson]

d00705334,

The Max System load test by itself is not, It is a tool like all the others.  It will uncover heating problems and the like.  It runs the CPU up to 100% while simultaneously testing RAM, Fixed Disks, Video an I/O ports as fast as the system will allow.  It simulates a very busy system.

If you are looking for burn in testing I suggest you run all the tests under Diagnostics > Normal test and set the loop count to 0 (unlimited) or some number high enough to have it run for 24 hours.

-Fred

[d00705334]

I appreciate your reply thats great information you've provided..  Do you have any thought on the topic's listed below?

Knowing that the system load test simulates a very busy system by running various test.  How often does performing this system load test for 10 minutes capature over heating or intermittent problems with the system. 

I still don't understand why PC Doctor determined that system load test of 10 minutes is sufficient.  Is it that in a typical server/pc application the server doesn't get stressed for long periods of time. 

[fwilson]

d00705334,

What build are you running?  It appears you are running an OEM build as the Service Center builds has the option to run the Max System load for 24 hours from the menu.

In OEM builds (or Service Center) you can also run with command line options, such as pcdr /MS:xxxx where xxxx is the number of minutes you would like to run the Max System Load i.e.  pcdr /MS:1440 would run the Max System Load Test for 24 hours.

You are seeing the 10 minute option from the Interactive Menu.  The tests listed on this menu are meant to be run in an attended situation.  We have pretty short attention spans around here so we thought 10 minutes would be the upper limit for an attended test  .

For burn in and quality control situations PDO’s, Scripts and command line options are used together to accomplish specific testing goals.

A 10 minute run will uncover obvious issues but for initial burn in and intermittent errors a longer test period is recommended, 12-24 hours.

-Fred