Need software to test IDE controller

A friend has a laptop that seems to be burning thru hard drives. In under 8 months we've had 2 hard drives crash (the original HD that came with the PC, and a 2nd new hard drive). And now the 3rd drive appears to be crashing; it's making nasty noises and XP doesn't load. No errors, just the splash screen for 2 seconds, then the black screen and that's it. This newest hard drive has been in for only 2 or 3 months. So, I need to know if there's some software that will run a diagnostic on the IDE controller so we can tell if it's what keeps causing the crashes. I can't imagine that 2 brand new drives lasted less that 4 months each. The factory HD lasted about 14 months (until it was 2 months out of warranty, of course!). Any ideas? THANX!

hd2k

 

That's a great link; lots of good tools and utils and diags, but unfortunately I need a diag for the mobo's IDE controller. I'm pretty sure it's bad 'cuz it's eating up drives like there's no tomorrow... I'm also pretty sure that there's no IDE diag tools out there; I know Dell had a diag tool, and HP/Compaq has one that only works on certain models, and naturally, this Compaq laptop isn't one of those certain models...
Thanx anyway tho'!

 

PC check from Eurosoft will do it, but the program costs more than most motherboards.

http://www.eurosoft-uk.com/

 

Hmmmmm.... anyone else have any ideas?

 

I would thoroughly recommend PC Check to any service engineer. You can boot the pc from floppy, Cd or USB (Dr Dos) it contains a proper memory tester and can identify and check every component of the PC, including loopback tests on outputs and ports. It can also be used in conjunction with a purpose built post tester. Windows or indeed a hard drive does not need to be present.

And No I don't sell them.