system diagnostic check

[Apache]

can anyone suggest some good software?

[Marshy]

Ere Pete - have you broken my carefully installed copy of XP?

[Apache]

Allo mate, no everything is cool but CDROM is being temperamental and somehow wiped a CD-RW, needs a reboot to recognise new discs etc

[gh0st]

What PC is it?

Some hardware manufactureres (Dell for example) provide some excellent and thorough diagnostics through their website.

Failing that Eurosoft's PC-Check does rather a good job.