World's first USB 'doctor' out

The world’s first true USB loop back plug to rapidly diagonise USB ports and troubleshoot, is out in the market. Released by PassMark Software recently the plug is used in conjunction with PassMark’s testing software and BurnInTest.

These plugs facilitate faulty or intermittent USB ports to be rapidly diagnosed. The tricolour LED's on the front of the plug provide a quick visual indication of data transmission activity when the USB bus is powered. Up to 10 plugs can be simultaneously connected to a PC and they require no external power supply nor make use of parallel or serial ports to loop data. When used in conjunction with BurnInTest it is possible to check that data and can be sent and received from the port. The plugs also check whether the USB support has been correctly installed in Windows.

The plugs comply with the USB1.1 standard but are forwardly compatible with the USB 2.0 standard and all USB hubs. The plugs are capable of transfer speed of around 1Mbit/sec. They also provide software reports on data errors and transmission speeds. These plugs have emerged as cheaper and more efficient alternatives to test equipment worth thousands of dollars. These plugs are expected to dramatically improve the troubleshooting and diagnostic ability of computer technicians and system integrators.

Each plug requires the PassMark BurnInTest Professional software package which runs on Windows 98,ME, 2000 or XP. BurnInTest is available for free as a 30-day evaluation copy.

For more information contact PassMark Software at http://www.passmark.com/about/.