Intel's diagnostic software lets you test the adapter to see if there are any problems with the adapter hardware, the cabling, or the network connection. You can also use diagnostics to isolate problems during troubleshooting. There are four test programs documented here. Both test Intel® adapters, and operate identically.
DIAGS.EXE runs under MS-DOS* v6.22 or later. (It will not run from a Windows Command Prompt within any version of the Microsoft* Windows* operating system or in any other non MS-DOS operating system..)
DIAGS64.EFI for the EFI environment in Itanium®-based systems.
DIAGES64E.EFI for platforms based on the Intel® 64 Architecture
These utilities are designed to test hardware operation and confirm the adapter's ability to communicate with another adapter in the same network. They are not throughput measurement tools.
The utilities can test the adapter whether or not there is a responder present. In order to do a thorough test, however, you should set a responder system prior to starting the test. If there are hot keys, the letters will be highlighted.
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NOTE: If there is an MS-DOS network driver present, such as NDIS2 or DOS-ODI, the test utility and/or the network driver could become unstable. You should reboot and ensure that there are no network drivers loaded. |
Boot to MS-DOS.
Navigate to the \APPS\TOOLS directory.
Type DIAGS, and press <Enter>
The test utility program automatically scans the hardware
and lists all Intel-based adapters. They are listed in the following manner:
If you have only one network connection in your system, this screen will be bypassed.
If you have a dual- or quad-port adapter, each port is listed separately starting with Port A, then Port B, etc. You can find the port information on the bracket label.
The test utility displays its main menu:
Boot to the EFI shell.
Navigate to the \TOOLS\EFI64\EndUser directory.
Type DIAGS64 or DIAGS64E and press <Enter>
If you have only one network connection in your system, this screen will be bypassed.
If you have a dual- or quad-port adapter, each port is listed separately starting with Port A, then Port B, etc. You can find the port information on the bracket label.
The test utility displays its main menu:
Selecting "View Adapter Configuration" will bring up the adapter configuration screen. This screen describes various properties of the adapter.
Press <F5> to view additional information on the PCI slot occupied by the adapter. This is primarily used for troubleshooting by technical support.
Press any key to return to Adapter Configuration.
Selecting "Test Adapter" from the Main Menu brings up the Test Menu. This allows you to test the adapter, select which tests to perform, or perform networking test.
Selecting this option brings up the test screen. While tests are being performed, a rotating spinner is shown letting the user know that the application is still "alive." The results of the tests are displayed as each test is performed. If multiple test passes are selected, then the results contain a count of test failures. A list containing zeros means that all tests have passed. Single tests will display "Passed" or "Failed" for each pass.
The test setup screen allows you to configure and select the specific tests desired. Each option is toggled by moving the cursor with the arrow keys and pressing <Enter> to change the option. The number of tests is simply entered from the keyboard in the appropriate box. If there is a gap in the menu, that means the test is not supported by your adapter. By default, local diagnostics run automatically, while network diagnostics are disabled.
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NOTE: The test program will test attributes that are applicable to your adapter. Only supported tests are displayed. The screen shown here is an example of the types of tests performed. |
Device Registers - Test patterns are written, read and verified through the adapter's device registers to ensure proper functionality.
FIFOs - This utility will write test bit patterns to the adapter's FIFO buffers, to make sure the FIFOs are working properly. Not all adapters have FIFO, so it will not appear in all test lists.
EEPROM - Tests both the readability of the EEPROM as well as the integrity of the data stored in the EEPROM. It reads the EEPROM and calculates the checksum. This checksum is then compared to the checksum stored in the EEPROM. If values are not the same, the test reports failure.
Interrupt - This tests the adapter's ability to generate an interrupt. On EFI, interrupts are not supported. Therefore, this test sets the interrupt cause register and reads the interrupt set register, verifying the card internally registered an interrupt.
MAC Loopback and PHY Loopback - There are two internal loopback tests. These tests set the adapter in the appropriate loopback mode and send packets back through the adapter's receive circuitry and logic. These tests are chipset dependant and may not be selectable.
Link - This checks to see if the adapter has link or does not have link.
Network Test - The Network Test looks for a responder, and then sends packets. If no responder is found, then the test reports failure. If no link is found, it will also report a failure. If packets are received back from the responder, the test reports success.
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NOTE: In some cases, the network test will fail if the adapter is connected to a switch with Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) enabled. |
The networking menu contains network specific tests such as Spanning Tree detection and Network test responder.
This allows the user to set up the adapter as a responder so a connected system can perform the network test portion of the diagnostics tests. Although you can use a variety of adapters as the responder and connect directly or through a switch, the best results are obtained with a cross-over cable and a same-type adapter.
When you press <Esc>, the responder operation is cancelled and control is immediately returned to the Networking menu.
Spanning trees can be troublesome in a networking configuration. The Detect Spanning Tree option attempts to detect if a spanning tree exists on the network. This is done by resetting the link and listening for spanning tree packets.
Last modified on 11/22/10 4:07p Revision 11
