Running hardware test in snow leopard

Luis:

Apple Hardware Test would be on the installer that shipped originally with the computer.

😉 cornelius

Hardware test will be on the install dvd that shipped with your hardware.

To boot from DVD hold the 'C' key.

Cheers

Michael

To boot from DVD hold the 'C' key.

Holding down the C key will boot from the installer disk. To boot from AHT hold down the D key.

😉 cornelius

Do you have symptoms that would imply that your card or video ram is bad? If not, then I'd just forget about it until you have concrete symptoms.

If you are out of warranty, then you don't want to know more. And, if you are in warranty and have no symptoms, then you can't get it repaired.

If you have concrete symptoms and are in warranty, then I'd contact Apple. I wish the least expensive possible outcome for you.

i've been trying to do a diagnostic test all day. i did as you described using the installer disk and holding down the "D" key when restarting. however, i had to abort it as i had to leave the office and attend to something important. i then came home and attempted to do the test again but this time repeated attempts at rebooting holding down the "D" key have failed to produce the test. my mac repeatedly reboots as normal. could you explain what is happening?

SuperK:

i had to abort it as i had to leave the office and attend to something important. i then came home and attempted to do the test again but this time repeated attempts at rebooting holding down the "D" key have failed to produce the test.

I have no idea what happened when you aborted. You could hae let it boot and then come back to it when you were done with whatever you had to do.

Try this:
Insert disk in optical drive
Hit Power button
Hold down Option key immediately after chime.
Select AHT and click straight arrow.

😉 cornelius

If what's above does not work, then, presuming you are well backed up, you might try to repair your installation by installing Sno over Sno using an upgrade install.

I have posted a topic about the aht on snow leopard: before SL I was able to launch the aht from the hard disc during the boot but now it is no longer possible. Why? Is this normal? Only solution is to use the apple dvd rom but no more the hard disc. What happened? Please advise. Cheers.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10384805&#10384805

Message was edited by: califfo1975

The OEM installer sets up a hidden partition that could be accessed without the OEM DVD being present. That feature was added for the Mac Pro in Early 2008, maybe part of any 10.5.x Leopard system, or any OEM Snow Leopard now.

I wondered if installing 10.6 would alter or "disrupt" the ability or remove access to, or the AHT routine and partition. Guess it does.

Looking at what happened to me, it seems that you are fully right. I would like to know about other people having encountered the same issue. How can i make apple aware of this? Thanks.

Actually it may be totally normal and no retail install DVD for Mac OS could avoid it or leave it in place. If you liked it, best bet is to keep one hard drive with 10.5.x - not a bad idea anyway.

Cloning a drive only copies the user volume, and won't retain such hidden partitions.

If you want to find out more, you may need to install from your OEM and then look at the partition map from the terminal and compare the two.

I can live without it but I would like to know what happened and if I am the only one to have gone through this problem. How can I acknowledge apple? Cheers and thanks again

califfo1975:

I am a bit unclear about what you are attempting, even after reading the thread you linked. Your reference to "before SL I was able to launch the aht from the hard disc during the boot but now it is no longer possible." I am not aware that launching AHT from the HDD during boot was ever possible, so that confuses me.

AHT is included on the install DVD on computers that came with the installer on DVD. In computers that came with installers on CD, the AHT is on a separate CD. This line in your linked thread adds to my confusion:

If i can run it only from the dvd rom, the day this latter will fail i will have no more hw test possibilIty though...

AHT on DVD will fail if your HDD becomes damaged or unreadable, or lost, or if your optical drive fails. As far as I am able to determine, unless you installed AHT or a separate partition on your internal HDD and boot directly from it, you were never able to run AHT from your internal HDD.

That said, my present knowledge does not exclude other possibilities, and I am open to learning new options.

😉 cornelius

Take a look and search MacIntouch and others. In 2008, just holding down 'D' on startup IF you used the original OEM drive, it was installed from the factory with AHT; or, if you used the OEM DVD to install (someone here tested for that).

Intel Macs came with 10.4.x, OEM only, never retail, on DVDs, but AHT was on #1 (part of dual-layer design).

Having AHT on hard drive never removed the ability to still use it the old way, from DVD, just another option - created in part to allow MacBook Air to run AHT. - you don't even need a hard drive to run AHT off DVD (yes you need optical drive that functions).

*MacBook Air: Using Apple Hardware Test Application*
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2644

*Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Using Apple Hardware Test after erasing your disk*
Some Intel-based Macs ship with Apple Hardware Test and Mac OS X 10.4.x preinstalled on the hard drive. If an Erase and Install installation of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is performed using a retail Leopard installation disc, Apple Hardware Test will be erased and not reinstalled on these Macs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24969