Can't find TEST.LOG

[nnn]

Hello,
I have a Lenovo SL500 laptop under Windows XP.

I ran "PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD" from my CD-R disk.
When completing the Full test I saved the TEST.LOG
I did not change the name I just saved the default.

Then I selected the Reboot exit option.
It rebooted but stopped with error messages as follows:

                American Megatrends
                …
                …
                1004 – Unauthorised WAN cad is plugged in
                Power Off and remove the WAN Card
                Fatal Error…..System Halted


I took out CD-R disk and rebooted again and it booted to windows.
I did a full search of my Hard Drive for TEST.LOG but it's not there!  Also not found on the CD-R disk either.  This test took ages to run.  Where is the TEST.LOG file saved by default?  I assumed C:\ but it's not there.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[fwilson]

nnn,

By default PCDR saves the test log to the ram drive, which goes away when you reboot.  If there is a FAT32 partition on your hard drive you could save it there or you may have to use a USB thumb drive or floppy disk.

-Fred

[nnn]

Thanks Fred for the response.

So the save option is a bit misleading.  I have a NTFS disk so I guess I can only save to my USB key.  My problem now is that I won't know what drive letter it will use as PC Doctor for DOS is run from bootup before Windows is loaded.  This is getting a bit tricky.  Is it not capable of saving log file to C:\ drive when in NTFS format?

[colinc]

You are correct. DOS can only write to FAT file systems. Technically, there are 3rd party NTFS file system drivers for DOS. But, they aren't supported by anyone, so they are a "use at your own risk" option. If something goes terribly wrong, you are on your own with that.

You should be able to identify the drive letter of your USB key, through the PCDR system information tools, provided it was inserted upon system boot. DOS doesn't do hotplug detection so well either.

[nnn]

Thanks colinc for the info.

I ended up taking a pic of my laptop monitor displaying Test Summary and emailing that to laptop support team. 

[fwilson]

nnn,

Colinc is right on.  Practically when booting from CD or USB in DOS that device will be assigned as a:, the next drive that DOS recognizes (Fat drive) will be assigned c:.  If there are no other valid DOS devices the the ram drive will be assigned c:.  So, if you boot from a USB key saving the logs to a: will work.  If you boot from CD with a USB Key inserted or have a hard drive with a FAT partition on it they are usually assigned c: with the ram drive being moved up to d:.

It takes a little getting used to and your point about it not being obvious is well taken, we will look into rectifying this in the future.

-Fred