Customer Reviews

StarTech.com PCI POST PC System Diagnostics Test Card with 2 x 7 Segment LED (PCIPOST)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This PCI Post Card is barely acceptable. I bought this unit because time was very short for me. I needed to test a dead computer as quickly as possible and Amazon could get this to me quickly.

The card installs in the PCI slot so that the LCD unit mounted on it is upside down and you have to tilt the system unit backwards, hunker yourself down, and generally experience discomfort in order to view the code coming on the card. For the money one pays, it would be better to include a cable with an LCD display on the end which plugs into the card.

The worst point about this POST card is the horrible, misspelled, incomplete documentation. You might as well make sure you have several websites handy which list POST codes and explains their meaning and what action, if any, you should take. The documentation was written by an Asian person who learned English as a second language and learned it poorly at that. The vendor ought to hire a qualified technical writer fluent in English to write the manual. By this I mean a technical writer who natively speaks, reads, and writes English. Poorly done documentation should be unacceptable for technical equipment.

The manual doesn't explain what a POST code of 00 means. It does not list what corrective actions might be appropriate for a given code. I had to Google search for such information. That might be the best thing to do with this type of hardware, I don't know; I just feel that if a manual is included with the hardware it should be well written and decently comprehensive.

In summary, the biggest reason for not buying this card is the miserable documentation. Also, this card should have an LCD attached to a cable which can plug into the card body, making it easy to read the POST codes. This should come standard for the price.

Requires a 5 volt PCI slot, which rules out some newer systems (mine included). They should've made this a universal PCI card that could be used in either 3.3V or 5V slots.

I bought a motherboard from ANTONLINE which was defective, despite repeated requests for assistance I purchased this product to definitively identify the problem as a defective motherboard. The product is a little expensive but when ordering from vendors like ANTONLINE which have poor return policies, it is helpful to be able to identify whether they have sent you a defective produce or not. This card is a helpful addition to my diagnostic toolkit.

I purchased this item to add to my tech toolbox hoping it would decrease the time to diagnose hardware issues. However I find that a rarely need it. All of the info I need is usually given through the bios beep codes. The times I tried to use it, it was had to see the codes on the LCD and they didn't make make sense once I rigged up a way to view them.

I would recommend this diagnostic card to anyone who needs fast fixes on Computer repairs. Grab one today, you will be glad you did. Makes troubleshooting so much easier.

This simple PCI board shows the BIOS boot code during the system POST making troubleshooting mainboards and peripherals no guesswork. Each of the POST (self test) stages outputs a hexadecimal code as the test progresses, and when the error is located, the system halts and the code remains on the readout for referencing in the manual.