Micromat TechTool Pro 2 User manual

TechTool Pro Manual

Copyrights

This manual,as well as the software described in it,is furnished under license and

may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license.The infor-

mation in this manual is furnished for informational use only,is subject to change

without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Micromat

Computer Systems Inc.Micromat Computer Systems Inc.assumes no responsibility

or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book.

Except as permitted by such license,no part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means,electronic,

mechanical,recording,or otherwise,without the prior written permission of

Micromat Computer Systems Inc.Printed in the USA.

Part number: MM00777

Trademarks

TechTool™ is a registered trademark of MicroMat Computer Systems Inc.

MacEKG, DriveTech and the M-Cubed Logo are trademarks of Micromat Computer

Systems Inc.Apple,Macintosh and Finder are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.

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1

Introduction

Welcome!

Thank you for purchasing TechTool Pro! We’re sure you’ll find TechTool

Pro to be the most powerful and easy-to-use problem-solving utility

available for Macintosh. With TechTool Pro you’ll be able to:

■ Repair faulty aspects of your media and data.

■ Recover lost data.

■ Test critical computer components and subsystems.

■ Reveal the culprits which cause your Macintosh to crash.

■ Verify system configurations.

■ Check critical software like the system and enablers.

■ Test new equipment.

■ Make sure that your computer is running as fast as it should be.

Most importantly, TechTool Pro allows you to test your computer like a

professional without the need for years of experience or a computer

degree. TechTool Pro allows you to check the intricate components of

your Macintosh with a simple click of your mouse.When TechTool Pro

finds a problem with your computer it will fix the problem for you or it

will suggest steps you can take to correct the problem.

Consider TechTool Pro your personal Macintosh technician. Always ready

to help and only a mouse click away.

About Micromat Computer Systems Inc.

Micromat Computer Systems Inc. has been developing Macintosh

diagnostic utilities since 1989.As the first company to offer diagnostic

products for Macintosh, MicroMat has pioneered many new technolo-

gies for helping Macintosh users bring their computers back to life and

to keep them running their absolute best. When NASA needed to con-

duct micro-gravity computer experiments in space, they chose our

MacEKG™ product for its ability to test the behavior of computer

equipment outside the confines of the Earth’s gravity.We were more

than happy to help, because NASA not only put us miles above other

utility software products, they gave us the honored distinction of being

the first computer diagnostic ever to be used in space.

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Please Register!

Enclosed you’ll find the registration card for your copy of TechTool Pro.

Please take a moment to fill it out and send it back to us. This will allow

you to receive free technical support and gives us a way to keep you

informed of updates. If you use any online services or the Internet,

there’s a place for you to provide an email address. Providing us with

this information allows us to quickly contact you when we release main-

tenance updates, which we often post to online services and the internet.

Technical Support

MicroMat provides free technical support to its customers by phone and

by email. If you have an online account, please see the CONTACTING

MICROMAT section for information about finding us online. If you

wish to call us by phone, please have your serial number and version

number at hand. Our automated phone attendant will require you to

enter this information before connecting you to a technician.

Contacting MicroMat

MicroMat Technical Support is available Monday through Friday from 9

am to 5 pm PST.The phone number is 707-837-0444. Please try to be

near your system when you call as our technicians will need to ask you

questions about your system and will attempt to guide you through

correcting the problem.

By email:

[email protected]

Web (for news and downloading updates):

www.micromat.com

By phone:

707-837-0444

9 AM to 5 PM Pacific time,Monday through Friday.

By mail:

Micromat Computer Systems Inc.

Technical Support Group

8868 Lakewood Drive

Windsor, CA 95492

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3

Installation

System Requirements

■ Macintosh Plus or above.

■ System software version 7.0 or above.

■ Minimum 4 megabytes of RAM.

■ Hard disk drive.

Installing TechTool Pro

TechTool Pro utilizes an automated installer to correctly install the

TechTool Pro application and all ancillary files in their proper locations.

The installer offers several installation options and these will be

explained in detail on the TechTool Pro installation screen.

To begin installation:

■ Insert Disk 1.

■ Double-click on the “TechTool Pro Installer”icon.

■ Read the explanatory text on the installer screen.

What’s Installed

This is what is installed by the installer:

Note that this installation may change as we update the software.

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TechTool Pro Parts

Here is a brief description of the files installed that comprise the

TechTool Pro package. Full details on the functions of these files is

provided throughout this manual.

TechTool Pro

TM

Resides in the TechTool Pro

TM

folder. This is the main application and

the item you double click to launch the program. This is the only

element necessary to run the program, so if you wish to carry a copy

on a floppy disk,this would be the only piece that you absolutely need.

TechTool Pro Preferences

Resides in TechTool Pro

TM

folder. This file contains the personalization

information (name, serial number) and various user settings that

TechTool Pro utilizes. This is intentionally stored in the same folder as

the TechTool Pro application so that it is more convenient to transport.

If it was stored in the standard Preferences folder in the system folder,

you would need to either copy the preference file to the preference folder

or would have to reenter the personalization information each time you

ran TechTool Pro on a new system.

TechTool Pro

TM

Sounds

Resides in TechTool Pro

TM

Support Files folder. This file contains the

various warning and control sounds heard while using TechTool Pro.

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TechTool Pro

TM

Advice

Resides in TechTool Pro

TM

Support Files folder. This file contains the

advice information provided in the event that a test should fail.

DNA

The DNA file contains the database of dominant numeric attributes, the

information that allows the file tests to work.

TechTool Protection Control Panel

Resides in control panel folder in the system folder. This control panel

periodically saves important file information in case of emergency.The

file recovery feature of TechTool Pro uses this data for speedy file and

volume recovery.

Serial Tool

Resides in extension folder in the system folder. This file is a

communication toolbox item which is used in the serial port test and

in the modem test to allow TechTool Pro to test on all available ports.

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Launching TechTool Pro

After successfully installing TechTool Pro, locate the TechTool Pro folder.

Inside you’ll find the TechTool Pro application. Launch TechTool Pro by

double-clicking its icon.

The first time you launch TechTool Pro, you’ll be presented with a dialog

box with three fields for your name, company name and product serial

number. Enter the appropriate information into the corresponding

fields.

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Standard Interface

The default interface when TechTool Pro is launched is the standard

interface.This is a simplified interface which allows you to test most

aspects of your computer by simply pressing the RUN button. In

contrast to the expert interface,the standard interface eliminates much

of the guesswork needed in determining which tests are necessary to

execute in order to isolate a particular problem.By running a subset

of most of the tests in TechTool Pro, the program can quickly find

and repair many common Macintosh problems.

While the standard interface makes running these complex tests much

simpler, you’ll find that there are many ways to customize the way that

the standard interface works. This chapter describes how to use this

interface and how to configure the different options available.

Standard Interface Basics

Screen Elements

There are three main elements which comprise the standard interface

screen:

Category Boxes

There are four categories that TechTool Pro will test:

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Each of these categories contains a group of tests which fall under that

category. For example, the RAM category contains tests for standard

RAM,VRAM and PRAM.

Test List

The test list is the large field of information in the middle of the stan-

dard interface screen. This field list the tests which will be executed and

will present test-related information while test,like whether a particular

test passed or failed.

Progress Bar

This graphic will display a visual estimate of the progress of the

current test.

Control Buttons

There are four buttons which control testing:

■ RUN - Begins execution of the test suite.

■ PAUSE - Pauses testing and allows testing to resume.

■ SKIP - Skips the current test and proceeds to the next.

■ STOP - Stops all tests.

You’ll find these same buttons if and when you switch to the Expert

interface.

Menu Items

There are options under the menu bar which you’ll need to use:

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Apple Menu:

About TechTool Pro....

This item will display the TechTool Pro splash screen which shows ver-

sion, copyright and credits information.

File Menu:

Open Report...

This option allows you to save a report that was previously saved to disk.

Save Report...

This option allows you to save the current report for later viewing. This

is a proprietary graphical report format that only TechTool Pro can

open. Note: reports are not generated until there has been at least one

test executed. Until one or more tests are executed,the save report

option will be disabled.

Save Report as Text...

This will allow you to save the current report information as text, so that

it can be opened by other programs or sent as email.

Page Setup...

Allows you to configure printer settings prior to printing a report.

Print...

Allows you to print reports.

Quit

Quits TechTool Pro.

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Edit Menu:

Standard Edit Items

This menu contains standard edit items like Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste.

These items will only become active where applicable.

Preferences

This item will open the TechTool Pro preference window. For details on

those options, see the Preference section of this chapter.

Control Menu:

Drive Select...

This menu item will call up the Drive select dialog box.

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Use this option to select which drives will be tested during

standard tests.

Test Controls

This menu also contains pull down and keyboard equivalents of the

standard test controls RUN, STOP, PAUSE and SKIP.

View Last Report...

This option will open the last report of the current test session. Useful if

you closed the report window and wish to see that same report again.

Recover Files...

This option will take you to the file recovery panel of the

expert interface.

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Interface Menu:

Expert

This option will change the program over to the expert interface.

Standard

This option will change the program over to the standard interface.

Preferences

TechTool Pro allows you to control and save certain program settings

from the preference dialog.

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Default Startup Interface

This option allows you to control whether the default startup interface

will be Standard or Expert.

Auto-Click Continue

With this feature enabled, TechTool Pro will automatically click (after a

5 second delay) the appropriate option when an error dialog is dis-

played. This is very useful if you plan to run TechTool Pro unattended.If

an error dialog appears, TechTool Pro will automatically select the Repair

option. If no Repair option appear, it will automatically click Continue.

Sound

Allows you to disable and enable TechTool Pro control sounds.

Speech

Allows you to enable or disable the speech feature of TechTool Pro.

When active, the program will speak test information using the Text To

Speech features of the Macintosh.You’ll need to have Text To Speech

installed and active.Text To Speech is not included with TechTool Pro,

but is available directly from Apple.

The VOICE pull-down menu allows you to determine which voice Text-

To-Speech will utilize.

Reports

When tests have been completed in the standard interface of TechTool

Pro, a formatted verbatim report is generated and displayed in the report

window. These reports will span multiple pages and lists tests which

passed and failed, explanations of the tests and failures and some

configuration information.

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These tests can be saved for later viewing or printed to hard copy.

There are several controls on the report window:

Save As...

Allows you to save the report to a file.

Print

Allows you to print the report.

OK

Will dismiss the report window. Note: the report window can be opened

again by selecting View Last Report... under the Control menu.

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Testing Basics

This section covers how to run tests and repairs from the standard

interface as well as how to customize the standard tests to your needs

or liking.

Selecting Test Categories

As mentioned previously in this chapter, the TechTool Pro standard

interface has four main categories of tests:

Other

RAM

Chips

Drives

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Think of these as test groups,each of which contains a set of tests

specific for that group.Each category has a checkbox to enable or disable

that test group.You can see which tests are eliminated from the test list

after unchecking one of these boxes.

Hint: Shift-clicking the checkboxes will apply that change to the other

checkboxes.

This can save you much time in testing for a specific problem. For exam-

ple, if you feel you have problems with one of your drives, you can turn

off the Chips, RAM and Other categories to save time on the test session.

Selecting Individual Tests

Once you’ve selected which category of tests you wish to run, you can

further customize the test session by individually enabling and disabling

single tests. If you move your cursor over the test list field, you’ll see it

will turn into a

✔ check symbol. Now by simply clicking on a test name,

you can check or uncheck it. If it is checked, the test will be included in

the test session. If not, that test will be skipped.

Running Tests

Running tests with the TechTool Pro standard interface could not be

easier. Simply launch the TechTool Pro application and press the RUN

button.As mentioned earlier, you can tailor different categories of

tests to either run or not run.

As TechTool Pro tests your computer, you’ll see the current test is hilited.

Previous test will show their status and other information about the test.

If TechTool Pro finds a problem, you might get a dialog like this:

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These dialogs allow you to decide whether to allow TechTool Pro to

repair the problem or to continue with the other tests. Information is

also provided about the problem itself.

A useful feature of the TechTool Pro application is the Auto-Click

preference. Controlled in the preference window, this feature will

automatically click (after a 5 second delay) the appropriate option when

an error dialog is displayed. This is very useful if you plan to run

TechTool Pro unattended. If an error dialog appears, TechTool Pro will

automatically select the Repair option. If no Repair option appears, it

will automatically click Continue.

Protection Control Panel

Purpose

Your TechTool Pro package contains an additional piece of software

called TechTool Protection. This control panel periodically saves

important volume information. This data allows TechTool Pro to quickly

and more reliably recover your data in the event of data loss.

As a control panel, TechTool Protection operates independently from the

main TechTool Pro application. Once it has been configured to your

preferences, it will run automatically and in the background.

Options

General

The main, or opening, screen of the TechTool Protection CDEV contains

two buttons for turning the CDEV on or off.This allows you to tem-

porarily disable TechTool Protection without the need to remove the

CDEV. Remember that you will need to restart your machine to make

the control panel save changes.

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Preferences

Protection Options

The following options allow you to select to what degree TechTool

Protection will save your drive information.

Save to all local drives

Of the two options under this category,this option is the setting that

offers the greatest protection to your file data.Unlike other file protec-

tion programs which only save data to the actual drive being protected,

TechTool Protection allows you to save this data all other local drives.So

if you have more than one volume on your computer, then the protec-

tion data from drive 1 would also be saved to drive 2.And the protection

data from drive 2 would be saved to drive 1. The TechTool Pro Recovery

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19

panel knows to check all local volumes for protection data for any

particular drive.

While this method greatly increases the chances for a quick and

successful recovery of data there are two drawbacks:

■ The protection process will take longer since there will be more vol-

umes which must have the protection data saved.

■ There will be an additional loss of storage place, since there will be

significant redundancy in saved protection data.

These minor drawbacks are insignificant compared to the benefit this

feature provides.

Save only to protected drive

This option is the converse to Save to all local drives. Instead of saving

protection data to all local drives, it will only save to the drive being pro-

tected.This option allows for quicker updates and less redundancy

which means less disk space will be used.

Frequency:

This group of options allows you to select how often the protection data

will be updated.

Weekly

Choosing this option will only update your protection data once per

week.While this selection will greatly reduce the time utilized to update

protection data,it is the least safest option to use.For example,if the last

protection scan occurred on Monday and your drive crashed the follow-

ing Sunday, there would be a week’s worth of data that would not be eas-

ily recoverable. The week’s data could probably be recovered; but not

with the speed that full protection would offer.

Every other day

This option will update the protection data every other day.

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Micromat TechTool Pro 2 User manual

Micromat TechTool Pro 2 User manual

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