[libreplanet-discuss] Diagnostic Software

[Joel Kahn]

A relative of mine had her Dell laptop fail on her.
It's an MS Windows 7 machine about three years old.
Among other symptoms, it's doing spontaneous reboots
fairly frequently. The built-in diagnostics didn't
show problems, but I don't trust them under the
circumstances. Since the warranty is long over, Dell
charges a ludicrous price to fix it.

I'd like suggestions on which bootable CD/DVD would
be the best set of diagnostic tools for a full
analysis of this thing. If the laptop is actually
fixable without major hardware work, and I can get
a novice-friendly Libre environment running on it,
I think I just might be able to produce a few more
converts to Software Freedom.

Bring on the ideas....

Joel