Need help testing D900F hardware before I buy

Hey guys,

OK, so I am going to be buying a used D900F from a guy on these forums and he will actually be meeting my friend do do the sale (who does not know much about computers) about 5 hours away from where I live. So as a result I will not be able to test the laptop firsthand before I buy it.


So my question is, how can I have my buddy test the laptop to make sure all the hardware is in perfect condition? Also, what test can I have the buyer do himself right now that would produce some kind of report that could be sent to me via email for verification of the hardware. I want to test everything. The hard drives, CPU, GPU, RAM.

I am basically trying to minimize my risk as much as possible since I will not be getting the laptop myself first hand. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


Oh and one last thing. I will be required to send him $200 deposit since he will be flying with the laptop (which he would not be doing otherwise) to the USA about 5 hours away from me. So I also think it is fair to give a deposit, but what is the safest way? I will be paying via PayPal, but since it is not an actual sale how do I protect myself in case of non delivery?



Ok thanks for reading!

 

I you feel it is fair to pay a deposit, you might ask him in return for the system serial number and maybe Windows product key as well. This way you can check if all is well?

 

Thanks for the reply. I will also have him send the invoice. I am not so much concerned with down payment, the main thing is testing the machine fully before I buy it, which I can't do in person. I found a program called OCCT Perestroïka, do you guys know if this will do the trick? Meaning, will this test ALL of the hardware for defects?

 

Testing hardware for defects can take days. The programs which test RAM and GPU RAM require usually one day of running. In order to test the GPU it should be enough to run the 3D MARK06 10 times in a loop. One run takes 30 min , so it will be only 5h. The RAM can be tested with memtest86. For stressing the CPU there many programs, but Orthos is quite good. It will make both cpu and memory stress tests. Too bad it can use only 2 cores. For hdd the SMART utility should give enough information. DVD I don't know.

 

Thanks pasoleatis,

When I get the laptop I will run those test myself. But I don't think I could get the seller to runs days on end of testing since he is busy traveling for work. Anyway I can do a overnight test for 99.99% hardware stability?

 

I guess it should be enough 24 ours for all tests (5-10 h mor the RAM, 5-10 h for gpu memory, 5 h for the 3D Marck06 (10-20 tests in a loop), orthos stress test a few hours (orhos uses only 2 cores so you will have to set the cores by hand, first core 0 and cire 1 and then core 2 and core 3) . Some of the tests will us the pc at max so be sure that you put the laptop on a hard surface and that there is nothing stoping the fans taking air inside.

Good luck

 

Orthos is based on Prime95 from when P95 was only 1 thread. P95 now uses as many threads as necessary, so just use that instead.