====================================================================== Microsoft Product Support Services Application Note (Text File) GA0363: MICROSOFT DIAGNOSTICS UTILITY (MSD) ====================================================================== Revision Date: 04/92 Disk Included -------------------------------------------------------------------- | INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY | | ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an | | Application Note) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY | | KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO | | THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A | | PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the | | accuracy and the use of this Application Note. This Application | | Note may be copied and distributed subject to the following | | conditions: 1) All text must be copied without modification and | | all pages must be included; 2) If software is included, all files | | on the disk(s) must be copied without modification [the MS-DOS(R) | | utility DISKCOPY is appropriate for this purpose]; 3) All | | components of this Application Note must be distributed together; | | and 4) This Application Note may not be distributed for profit. | | | | Copyright 1990-1992 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. | | Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft | | Corporation. | -------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ============ Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD) is an MS-DOS-based utility designed to provide Microsoft customers and Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) personnel with detailed technical information about a computer's hardware and software components. This information can be helpful when trying to diagnose and solve problems with Microsoft products. INSTALLATION ============ Follow these steps to install MSD on your hard disk. (If you do not want to install MSD on your hard disk, or if your computer does not have a hard disk, you can run MSD from your floppy disk drive.) 1. Place the enclosed GA0363 disk in drive A. 2. Copy MSD.EXE and MSD.INI to your hard disk. At the command prompt, type the following and press ENTER: copy a:\msd.* c:\ NOTE: If you are copying MSD from a drive other than A, substitute the appropriate drive letter for "a" in the command above. The above command copies MSD to your root directory; you can specify a different destination if you prefer. Please refer to your "MS-DOS User's Guide and Reference" for more information on the COPY command. USING MICROSOFT DIAGNOSTICS =========================== MSD is an MS-DOS-based application that should be run from the MS-DOS command prompt. The syntax for MSD is: msd [/b] [/i] [/f | /p | /s []] [/?] Where: Option Description ----- ----------- /b Starts MSD in black-and-white mode. Use this option if your computer has a monochrome or LCD monitor. /i Specifies that no initial hardware detection be performed. Use this option if MSD fails to start correctly. /f Writes a complete MSD report to the specified file. Requests information such as name, company, address, telephone number, and comments. /p Writes a complete MSD report to the specified file without requesting any information. /s [] Writes a summary MSD report to the specified file. If no filename is specified, the report is displayed on the screen. /? Displays the MSD command options. To start MSD, do the following: 1. Change to the drive and directory where you installed MSD.EXE. 2. At the command prompt, type the following and press ENTER: msd 3. As MSD loads, an introduction screen is displayed with a message indicating that MSD is examining your system. Once MSD has loaded, you will see a menu bar at the top of your screen along with 13 buttons for viewing information on various components of your system. To choose a button, press the key that corresponds to the highlighted letter in the button's description. For example, press V to display information about your video configuration. To choose a menu from the menu bar, hold down the ALT key and then press the first letter of the desired menu. For example, to choose the File menu, hold down the ALT key and then press F. If you have a mouse installed on your computer, you can point to and click the desired button or menu. When you choose a button, a window containing the requested information will appear. If there is more information than can be displayed in one screen, use the up and down arrow keys or the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to scroll through the additional information. If you have a mouse, you can use the scroll bars on the right side of the window to scroll through the information. After you have finished viewing the information, press ENTER or choose the OK button to close the window and return to MSD's main screen. For windows that have multiple buttons (such as an OK button and a Cancel button), use the TAB key to move from button to button or use your mouse. When you are finished using MSD, choose Exit from the File menu or press the F3 function key to exit. MSD Button Options ------------------ The following is a brief description of the buttons that appear on MSD's main screen: Button Description ------ ----------- Computer Displays computer manufacturer, processor type, and bus type; ROM BIOS manufacturer, version, and date; keyboard type; DMA controller configuration; and math coprocessor status Memory Displays a map of the upper memory area (UMA) --the memory region from 640K to 1024K Video Shows your video card manufacturer, model and type; video BIOS version and date; and current video mode Network Displays network-specific configuration information Operating System Displays the operating system version, location of MS-DOS in memory (MS-DOS 5.0 only), the drive the system was booted from (MS-DOS 4.0 or later), the current environment settings, and the path from which MSD was run Mouse Shows the MS-DOS mouse driver version, mouse type, mouse interrupt request line (IRQ) number, and other information specific to the configuration of the mouse Other Ports Dynamically displays the game card status for up to two game devices or joysticks Disk Drives Displays the size of and number of bytes free on local and remote drives LPT Ports Displays the port addresses of all installed parallel ports and dynamically displays the status of each port COM Ports Displays the port addresses and current communications parameters of all installed serial ports and dynamically displays the status of each port IRQ Status Displays the configuration of the hardware IRQs TSR Programs Displays the name, location in memory, and size of each program loaded in memory at the time MSD was run Device Drivers Displays the names of all device drivers installed at the time MSD was run MSD Menu Options ---------------- The following is a brief description of the menu options that appear on MSD's main screen: File Option Description ------------ ------------- Find File Searches for a specific file and allows you to view the contents of the file Print Report Prints a "faxable" report to a normal TTY printer, PostScript printer, or file Exit Exit the Microsoft Diagnostics utility AUTOEXEC.BAT Lists the contents of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file CONFIG.SYS Lists the contents of your CONFIG.SYS file SYSTEM.INI Lists the contents of your Microsoft Windows SYSTEM.INI file WIN.INI Lists the contents of your Microsoft Windows WIN.INI file Utility Option Description ---------------- ------------ Memory Block Display Shows memory allocation--the starting address of each block and its size in bytes Memory Browser Searches selected ROM and RAM areas for strings such as "copyright" and "version" Insert Command Allows for quick insertion of a command in the appropriate file; the list of commands you can choose from is stored in the [commands] section of the MSD.INI file Test Printer Prints a page to test the connection between the computer and printer Help Option Description ----------- ----------- About Displays Microsoft Diagnostics version and copyright information