A Windows based utility for exercising and validating the stability of a systems overall performance.

Users Guide

Ultra-X, Inc.
Professional PC Diagnostic Tools

Notice
WinStress Test (W.S.T.) software is the property of Ultra -X. The purchase of W.S.T. is really a purchase of a non-exclusive license to use W.S.T.. Unauthorized Copying, use or distribution of the software or any associated material is contrary to the property rights of Ultra-X, Inc. and is a violation of State/Federal and international laws.

Disclaimer
Except as expressly provided by the warranty accompanying this product, W.S.T. and the accompanying written manual are provided as is without warranty of any kind, including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, even if Ultra-X has been advised of that purpose. In no event will Ultra -X be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential or incidental damages arising from the use or inability to use such product even if Ultra-X has been advised of the possibility of such damages. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the programs lies with the customer. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liabilities or consequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusion may not apply to you. Copyright 2001 2003 Ultra -X, Inc. All rights reserved No part of this manual may be reproduced, copied, adapted, or transmitted in any form or by any means without expressed written permission from Ultra-X, Inc. Ultra -X, Inc. reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents hereof with obligation of Ultra-X, Inc. to notify any person of each revision or changes. Printed in the United States of America.

Ultra-X, Inc.
P.O. Box 730010 San Jose, CA 95173-0010 U.S.A. Tel: 408-261-7090 Fax: 408-261-7077 E-mail: pcdiag@uxd.com Home Page: www.uxd.com WinStress Test and W.S.T. are trademarks of Ultra-X, Inc. other companies and products mentioned in this manual are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.

Ultra-X, Inc. Software License Agreement In return for acquiring a license to use the software (Software) and related documentation (by opening this package), you agree to the following terms and conditions. 1: License: This agreement grants you, the Licensee, a license to: a: use the software on a single computer, or in the case of a multi-user or networked system which permits access to the Software by more than one person at a time, at a single working location. b: make one copy of the software in a machine readable form solely for the back-up purposes provided you reproduce Ultra-Xs copyright notice and any proprietary legends. 2: Restrictions: You may not distribute copies of the Software to others or electronically transfer the Software from one computer to another over a network. You may not use the Software from multiple locations of a multi-user or networked system at any one time. The Software contains trade secrets and in order to protect them you may not decompile, reverse engineer, TRANSLATE, RENT, LEASE, LOAN, RESELL FOR PROFIT, DISTRIBUTE, NETWORK OR CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS BASED UPON THE SOFTWARE OR ANY PARR HEREOF. 3. Copyright Protection: This product is owned by Ultra-X and is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat the product like any other copyrighted material (e.g. a book, tape or compact disc). Any copying or redistribution, except as expressly permitted by this License Agreement is a violation of the law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may make a single archival backup copy of the licensed product. 4: Ownership of Software: As Licensee, you own the media upon which the software is fixed, but Ultra-X, Inc. retains title and ownership of the software recorded on the original media and all subsequent copies of the Software regardless of the form or media in which or on which the original and other copies may exist. This license is not a sale of the Software or any copy. The Software and documentation are copyrighted and are protected by the United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. 5: Confidentiality: You agree to maintain the Software in confidence and to not disclose the Software to any third party without the express

written consent of Ultra -X. You further agree to take all reasonable precautions to preclude access of unauthorized persons to the Software. You understand that the unauthorized reproduction of the Software and/or transfer of any copy are a serious crime and will subject you to damages and attorney fees. 6: This license is effective from the day you receive the Software, and continues until you destroy the Software (including related documentation) together with all copies or modifications in any form. Ultra -X, Inc. will have the right to terminate your license immediately if you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement. Upon any termination, including termination by you, you must destroy the Software (including the related documentation) together with all copies or modifications in any form. 7: Limited Warranty: Refer to your warrant registration for complete text of warranty. Software carries a warranty for 90 days from the day of delivery to you. 8: Limitation of Liability: IN NO EVENT WILL Ultra -X, Inc. BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY SPECIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF Ultra-X, Inc. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBLITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. Some states do not allow this exclusion and this may not apply to you. 9: Limitation of Remedies: Ultra -X, Inc.s entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be: a: the replacement of any media not meeting Ultra-X, Inc.s limited warranty. b: if Ultra-X, Inc. or its distributor is unable to deliver replacement media which is free of defects in materials or workmanship, you may terminate this Agreement by returning the Software and your original purchase price will be refunded. c: Ultra-X, Inc. shall have no other liability with regard to the Software and will not be liable for any damages whatsoever whether in contract or in tort. 10: U.S. Government Restricted Rights Legend for units of the DoD: clause 252.227-7013

11: U.S. Government Restricted Rights Legend for Civilian Agencies: clause 52.227-19 12: General: You are responsible for the selection of this product to achieve your intended goals, and for the installation, use, and results obtained from the program. You acknowledge that you have read this Agreement, understand it, and that by opening the package you agree to be bound by its terms and conditions. This agreement cannot be modified by purchase orders, advertisement or other representatives of anyone, unless a written amendment has been signed by one of the company officers. California law except as to copyright matters, which are covered, by Federal law shall govern this agreement. Should any provision of this Agreement be declared unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provision shall be deemed severable from this Agreement and shall not effect the remainder hereof. Ultra -X, Inc reserves all rights in the Software not specifically granted in this agreement.

Chapter 1-Introduction .................................................... 7 Overview........................................................................ 7 System Requirements ................................................... 8 Getting Started With W.S.T. ....................................... 9 Installation ..................................................................... 9 Uninstalling .................................................................... 9 Chapter 2 ........................................................................... 9 Using W.S.T. .................................................................. 9 Starting W.S.T. .............................................................. 9 File ................................................................................ 10 Options ......................................................................... 10 System Information .................................................... 11 System Information- Workstation............................. 11 System Information- Operating System ................... 12 System Information- CPU .......................................... 12 System Information- Memory .................................... 12 System Information- Display ..................................... 13 System Information- Drives ....................................... 13 System Information- Network ................................... 13 System Information- APM ......................................... 14

System Information- Media ....................................... 14 System Information- Devices ..................................... 14 System Information- Engines..................................... 15 System Information- Printers .................................... 15 System Information- Time Zone ................................ 15 System Information- Software ................................... 16 Information -View Processes...................................... 16 Configuration .............................................................. 17 Configuration- General .............................................. 17 Configuration- Processor ........................................... 17 Configuration- Drives and Memory .......................... 18 Configuration- Graphics and Sound ......................... 18 Configuration- Network ............................................. 19 Configuration- Printers and COM Ports .................. 19 Configuration- Preferences ........................................ 20 Stress Testing ............................................................... 20 Testing- Start & Stop Testing .................................... 20 Testing- System Status ................................................ 21 Testing- Understanding Test Results ........................ 22 Discussing Test Failures ............................................. 22 Languages and Help ................................................... 22 Languages .................................................................... 22 Help .............................................................................. 23

Chapter 1- Introduction Overview WinStress(W.S.T.) is a Windows based utility for exercising and validating the stability of a systems overall performance. WinStress exercises systems to greater-than-normal usage. This is intended to cause component failures, which can then be investigated to determine modifications needed to produce a more durable system. The program is run directly from the CD. No hard drive installation is required. W.S.T. performs a variety of functions including, Stress Loading and System Inventory. Stress Loading mode will simultaneously exercise all major components of the system for extended periods. These tests include: CPU, FPU, MMX, RAM, Hard Drives, CD ROMs/DVD/CDR, Floppy and other Removable Drives, 2D and 3D graphics cards, Sound card, Printers, COM/LPT ports and Network adapters. In this mode, W.S.T. will allow you to set the stress levels to monitor the stability of the systems overall performance. For example, you can set a very high CPU stress level to see if Windows will crash for a period of time or if CPU over-clocking will have adverse reactions to normal operation. Stress levels for all devices can be set at one time giving you a quick summary of your systems health. System Inventory will generate a comprehensive report of the system. The list will include data on: Workstation APM Processor(s) Multimedia Memory Operating System Display Adapters Database Engines All Drives Time Zones Network Environment Printers All Devices Installed Software

W.S.T. will also provide a complete list of installed application and their respective version numbers, serial numbers and installed location. This information is ideal for keeping track of your systems and all installed devices and applications.

With Ultra -Xs extensive experience of over 15 years in producing high quality PC diagnostic hardware and software tools, W.S.T. brings a much needed Windows based utility to computer manufacturers and service professionals for evaluating systems and performing uncompromising burn-in, inventory and stability testing. W.S.T. is designed for use by service technicians and end users. If you are a service technician, use W.S.T.s features to isolate system problems, generate system reports and perform benchmarking. If you are an end-user, use W.S.T. as a maintenance and performance utility or burn-in to ensure that you are getting the most out of your system. System Requirements Before you Run W.S.T., check the following system requirements to ensure that the system to be tested will support the programs needs: Processor Pentium II and better. AMD 586 and comparable Cyrix/VIA. RAM Minimum needed to run your installed Windows Versions. Operating Systems - Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000 Windows XP Home and Professional series. Video- Requires 800x600 High Color 16-bit or better resolution, with small fonts. Optional Requirements Browser Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higher. Netscape Navigator version 4.0 or higher. DirectX Requires version 6 or higher. Important Note When running WinStress, make sure there are no other programs running in background. I.E.: games, DOS programs, any FAX programs, etc. Other background programs can affect Windows (a multitasking / mu ltithreading operating system) from acquiring proper

results. Animated cursors also slow down a system, depending upon the speed of your computer (especially the CPU & Video Card). In order to get the best results and correct information about your system, run WinStress after you have installed all device drivers. If your Windows Registry is corrupted or you use incorrect drivers for your hardware, you may get some incorrect information about your System.

Getting Started With W.S.T. Before running W.S.T. software, make sure that you have at least 15 megabytes of space available on your hard drive. This will give you plenty of space to save your test reports. You will also need to close all other application.

Installation W.S.T. is designed to run from the provided CD. If you wish to install it on your hard drive, simply copy the contents of the CD into a target W.S.T. folder. To do this, create a New file folder and call it W.S.T.. It would probably be best to put this new folder on your desk top. This will make it easier to find and access. Once the W.S.T. folder has been created, using Windows Explorer tag all the files inside the W.S.T. CD and copy them into the W.S.T. folder on your desk top. Uninstalling If your have used the procedure above to install W.S.T. onto your system, your can uninstall the program by deleting the folder.

Chapter 2 Using W.S.T. Starting W.S.T.

Launch W.S.T. from your CD or target folder. A splash screen(as shown) will appear. You will notice a number of messages that will quickly appear under the loading bar. It is at this stage that W.S.T. will check system configuration, load drivers, set up the program and run the W.S.T. modules. If there are any problems with loading the W.S.T. file, an error message will appear at this time, otherwise the program will launch into the main menu screen. From the main menu screen, you have the option of selecting System Information, WinStress Configuration, Starting the WinStress Tests, or using any of the drop down menus on the top of the window.

File The File menu contains options to select from such as: Open Test Log, Save Test Log, Print Test Log and Exit. Open Test Log allows you to review W.S.T. results from previous test runs. Save Test Log allows you to save current test results. If you do not give your new test log a name, it will be saved as Default.log. As long as there is available hard drive space, you can save unlimited number of test logs. The Print function allows you to print your test results to the printer attached to LPT1 or a network printer that is set as your system default printer. Finally, you can choose to exit W.S.T. and go back to Windows. Options The Options menu will give you the following options: Configuration, Load Config, Save Config, and Save Config As...

The Configuration button allows you to configure WinStress scripting. Information about the Configuration button will be explained later. The Load, Save, and Save As Configuration menu allows you to save configuration, save different configurations and load configuration. Once you have configured your test parameters under the Configuration option, you may make these parameters as your default test script by simply clicking the save menu. This will erase the previous default script. If you wish to save a number of test scripts, then select the save as button. At this point, you will need to give your new test script a name. You can have up to 99 different test scripts saved in your W.S.T. test configuration menu.

System Information W.S.T. offers a complete system information menu. This feature allows you to acquire all the system information that include both hardware and software devices. W.S.T. will provide detailed information on: Devices, Database Engines, Printers, Time Zone, Display, Drives, Network, APM, Media, Workstation, Operating System, CPU, and Memo ry. All this information is displayed on screen or may also be printed or saved to a file. System Information- Workstation The Workstation Tab displays the System ID, BIOS Information, Boot Information, and Real-time Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock status.

System Information- Operating System The Operating System provides the Windows version, build, the service pack version, serial number, product key, registered user, registered company/organization, and the location or path to critical system folders. Other options found on the operating system tab are the FONTS INSTALLED and the ENVIRONMENT buttons. The FONTS INSTALLED button displays a list of all the fonts currently installed on your system. In addition you can also view a sample of each installed font by clicking on the font. The ENVIRONMENT button displays Windows Environment information.

System Information- CPU The CPU tab provides detailed information on CPU Type and Model Identification, number of processors, processor speed, system bus frequency, and bus frequency divisor values. W.S.T. supports multi-processor support and will display values for each individual processor. There is also a Cache and TLB information tab and a Feature tab. The Cache and TLB tab provides Level 1 Data Cache, Level 1 Instruction Cache, and Level 2 Unified Cache details and values. The Feature tab displays all the enabled features the CPU boasts. System Information- Memory The Memory tab will display measurements of Physical, Page File, and Virtual Memory total and free values. Other details include a Memory Utilization status bar and Memory Properties. A great way to keep track of system memory.

System Information- Display The Display tab provides detailed information on all installed video graphic adapters. To view a specific video adapter, click on the pull down ADAPTER menu and click on the desired video adapter. Adapter properties provides Chipset, DAC, Video Memory size, and supported resolution modes. Additional information can be seen under the Display compatibilities area. Here you may view information on: Curve, Line, Polygon, Raster, and Text. System Information- Drives The Drives tab provides complete details on all installed drives on your system including Physical, Logical, and Networked Mapped Drives. To view a specific drive, click on the pull down DRIVE menu and click on the desired Drive. Information such as Drive Capacity, Free Space, Utilization Status Bar, Serial Number, and all the modes that are enabled and supported by your drive and system are also provided.

System Information- Network The network tab retrieves all pertinent information on your network adapters. A list of all installed Network Adapters as well as IP addresses in IP format and MAC format will be displayed. Protocol, Services, and Client Info can be obtained by simply clicking on the corresponding button. WinSock Version and Status information is also provided.

System Information- APM The APM or Advanced Power Management tab provides AC Power status, Battery Charge Status, Battery Lifetime info and Battery Utilization status bar.

System Information- Media The Media tab provides info on all installed Multi-media devices. Since CDROM and DVD information is available under the Drives tab, the Media tab focuses on Sound devices. W.S.T. displays all information on installed sound devices and sound drivers. Also available are detailed info on WAVE IN, WAVE OUT, MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, AUXILIARY, MIXER and joystick.

System Information- Devices The Devices tab provides the most comprehensive way of getting a list of all devices installed on your Windows system. To view a list of installed devices, simply click on the + symbol and a sub category will appear. To view detailed information on a subcategory device, click to highlight the device and then click the PROPERTIES button on the bottom right of the window.

System Information- Engines The Engines tab displays installed Database Engines as well as DirectX information.

System Information- Printers The Printers tab displays a list of all installed printers on your system, including local and network printers. To view printer properties simply click to highlight a printer and then click on the properties button.

System Information- Time Zone The Time Zone tab provides the configured time zone as well as a calendar, highlighted with the current day.

System Information- Software This may be one of the most useful tools built into W.S.T.. The Software tab provides Uninstall, Serial Number, Links, and Version information on all installed application. W.S.T. also incorporates an uninstall utility. Simply click to highlight an unwanted application and then click the Uninstall button.

Information -View Processes This option displays a list of tasks that are running on your Windows system. W.S.T. will list all of the Processes names, Thread count, Process ID and its parent ID.

Configuration
Configuration- General The General tab allows you to select which test you would like to run. There are 14 tests to choose from that include: CPU, FPU, MMX, Hard Drives, Floppy Drives, CD ROMs, RAM, 2D Graphics, 3D Graphics, Sound Blaster, Network, Printer, Com ports, LPT Ports. Simply check next to the test you wish to include in your test script. Towards the right side of the individual tests are 4 buttons: Default, Select All, Select None and Duration. The Default button will allow you load W.S.T.s factory preset standard set of tests. Select All allows you to select all 14 components. Select None allows you to clear your configuration script and start over. Once you have chosen all the tests you wish to run, you can set the Duration for the test cycle. Duration value is set in minutes and can be set up too 999 minutes. For a continuous loop, set the value to 0. Finally, Degree of Windows Test Load feature allows you to select the level of stress you wish to place the system under. The load may be set from 1% to 100%. Configuration- Processor The Processor tab allows you to configure specific tests that will be performed when choosing to test the CPU, FPU, or MMX components. If you wish to place a high stress level on your processor, it is recommended you select all the tests listed. The four test options are: Data Movement, Arithmetic, Shift and Rotate, and Logical and Bit. These tests are not designed to detect processor failures. Instead, they

are designed to stress the processor to ensure stability in normal system operation mode.

Configuration- Drives and Memory The Drives and Memory tab allow you to configure the drives to be tested. All drives that are properly installed in your Windows system will be available to test. Removable drives such as Zip, LS -120, and USB Drives will be found under the Floppy pull down menu. CDR, CDRW, DVD drives will be found under the CDROM drive pull down menu. When testing any removable or CDROM drives, make sure media is present in the drives. You also have the option to choose from two types of memory tests: Sequential and Random. These tests are designed to exercise your systems memory and are NOT designed to detect memory failures. To run extensive memory testing, you will need to use one of our memory testing products. Configuration- Graphics and Sound The graphics and Sound tab permit you to select the desired test to run for your 2D and 3D graphics card. The Text test for 2D graphics allow the option of entering your custom text that will appear during the test routine. The default text setting is set to Ultra-X. When running the 3D graphics card, you have a choice of running either the OpenGL or DirectX API. When the DirectX API is selected, you have the choice to either load a custom image from your system, or leave the path blank. To load a custom image, simply click the BROWSE button and navigate to the image. The Sound configuration allows the option of selecting a sound file to be played. The default sound file selected is one of three sound files

that are included on the W.S.T. CDROM. However, you may select from any sound files you have installed on your system. Simply click on the BROWSE button, click the FILES OF TYPE drop down menu and select ALL FILES. Then navigate to the desired sound file and click OPEN. The length and size of the sound file does not matter for W.S.T. will run in a continuous loop. Configuration- Network The Network tab allows you to choose 3 different types of Network Tests: Internal Loopback, Network Drive, or Ping. The Internal Loopback test performs a looping function within the network installed card. When selecting a network drive, you are sending data outside your system, but staying internal to the network installation. To select a network drive, simply click the SCAN button. A list of network workgroup domains will appear. Click the + symbol next to the desired workgroup to display computers in this domain. Finally, double click the desired computer to set as the network drive. Once a network drive is configured you may select the network file size to 1, 10, or 100mb. This is the size of data that will be processed by your network adapter. When selecting the Ping option you can choose to Ping a specific IP address or specify a URL. Configuration- Printers and COM Ports When selecting the COM and LPT ports, you have a number of options to configure your testing parameters. When configuring your COM ports to be tested, you have a choice of either COM1 or COM2. Once the COM port has been selected, you can configure the Baud transfer rate. The Baud transfer rate can be set from 110 bytes to

256 kilobytes. The last choice in this configuration menu is selecting a Printer to be tested. This can either be a local or network printer. Configuration- Preferences The Preferences tab allows you to configure your testing process. You begin by selecting a termination point. The termination point is set in minutes. If you set the value to zero minutes, the test will loop continuously. The second set of options allows you to open a log file to track test results and saving the log file at the end of the test cycle. The third option tells the program what to do in case it encounters an error. The options are to continue, Beep on error and continue, or stop. You can only select one of these options at one time. Finally, you can configure the Windows Resource Load. This is your main load factor. This is the load factor or multiplier that will be used to stress out your system. For example, if you set this at 50% and set the Test load at 100% (this is selected from the general screen), then you will be running your system at 100% load at 50% of windows resources.

Stress Testing
Testing- Start & Stop Testing This menu is fairly straight forward. In this menu you are given an option to start and stop the testing procedure. If you do not configure the test script, the software will run a default script. If you have any saved scripts, you will need to select a script before running the test. To begin the WinStress Testing you can either click on the start button, or click the TEST menu bar and then click on START TESTING. This will launch the default test script built into W.S.T.. A status screen will appear in the background with individual test windows appearing in the foreground as s hown. At this time, W.S.T. is running on your system.

During a stress test session, WinStress continually loops all selected tests in the CONFIGURATION window. By default, stress tests run until stopped manually or until a system failure occurs. Duration can be set if needed under the CONFIGURATION menu described earlier. On the bottom of each Stress Test window is a status bar and Details button. To view details on a Stress Test, simply click on the DETAILS button. The detail window displays Real-Time graph info as well as specific values for each individual subtest.

Testing- System Status To exit these tests, click the STOP button located on the bottom left of the Resources Usage window or the Stop Test button on the test status screen in the background. Once the tests are stopped, the test windows will disappear and the System Status screen will be active. The System Status screen displays the status of the Stress testing on the system. Under the main status assessment, are the 14 individual stress tests, status, loop count, and error description for each test. Towards the left of the individual tests is the Start, Stop, and Duration time. The Status Screen also contains a set of buttons to choose from. These buttons give you control to go back to main menu and start or stop testing. You can also choose the drop down options from the FILE, OPTIONS, TEST, INFORMATION, LANGUAGES, and HELP menus.

Testing- Understanding Test Results If stress tests run to completion for the specified time or until stopped manually and no failures are visible under the System Status Window, then the system has passed stress testing. Systems that do not run to completion or display failures in the System Status Window do not pass the stress test. Failures can be observed in one of the following scenarios. The operating system determined that an error has occurred. The operating system will log an event or display a message indicating the error. These events are visible in the operating system Event Viewer. An individual test reports an error. The error is reported and the Fail Count increments in the System Status Window Another application or device detects that an error has occurred
Note: WinStress Test is intended primarily to provide a pass/fail analysis of a computer system and is not specifically designed to identify the root cause of an error. To detect causes of errors, please see Ultra-X, Inc. product line to locate a product that best suites your diagnostic needs.

Discussing Test Failures Ultra -X wants to help users interpret meaningful test results when using WinStress. To discuss a specific test scenario or failure that you would like to discuss, do the following:

Languages and Help

Languages At the present time the W.S.T. supports four languages. It supports English, Dutch, Japanese and Portuguese (Brazilian). In the very near future we will be adding German, Italian and French. To change to another language, simply select the desired language from the Language menu or click on the Languages button on the bottom left corner of the main menu screen.

Help To access the help menu, simply click on the help file. If the information you are looking for is not pertained in the help menu, you can refer your questions on our on-line help section of our web site at www.uxd.com. You can also call our tech support line at 408-2617090. Ultra-X offers technical support free of charge for the first 90 days. To continue your free technical support, you will need to purchase an upgrade subscription.