maae10-ga:
The challenge in your question, of course, is that if the computer has
no OS, then that means the CD will need to contain both an OS, and the
diagnostic utilities to obtain the information you seek.
The solution that comes closest to what you are looking for, is the
Ultimate Boot CD:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
This CD image, when burned to a CD-R, will allow you to boot up any
computer configured to boot off of a CD (in other words, the
assumption is that the BIOS automatically allows you to boot from the
CD, or else you have the necessary privileges to configure the BIOS to
do so), and run a selection of DOS-based utilities that allow you to
diagnose typical computer issues.
One of the utilities included in the Ultimate Boot CD distribution is
AIDA16, a now-discontinued DOS-based utility that provides a complete
inventory of all of the components installed in a PC, and as much
information about the capabilities of the PC as the PC will volunteer.
Please do take the time to read through the FAQ on the
ultimatebootcd.com website, as almost every conceivable question has
already been asked by other users of the UBCD, and the answers
provided in the FAQ.
One item of note is that sometimes it is not possible for the utility
to detect the number of USB ports present on a motherboard, since it
is after all a bus technology. For motherboards where each port is
individually controlled/powered, there will be a separate root hub
device for each; on some systems, though, multiple connectors may
appear as a single root hub device. The utility also will not be able
to differentiate between parallel/serial ports with s standard D
connector versus those with just a header on the motherboard for an
optional ribbon cable to a D connector; as far as the motherboard is
concerned they are identical, and will be reported as just parallel
ports or serial ports.
Printer support will be extremely unlikely, unless you have an ASCII
printer that you can redirect the console output to in DOS. Many
modern printers do not support direct ASCII printing.
If you have the luxury of working with a computer with Windows
installed, then you can instead download and use Everest, the recently
released successor to AIDA32 (the 32-bit version of the DOS AIDA16
utility):
http://www.lavalys.com/index.php?page=product&view=1
I hope that these links meet your needs! Please let me know using the
Request Clarification button above if you would like any part of this
answer clarified.
Regards,
aht-ga
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