AOpen AK73-1394 Socket-A KT133 ATX

The Need for Diagnostics

If we look back at the development of the DIY (Do It Yourself) market for the past few years, building computers has become much more joyful now than it was back in the day.  These days, many motherboards include their own diagnostic tools to help you locate problems when they occur.

At the very beginning, these were done using beep codes during boot.  When a system booted up normally, there is only one beep.  When there is no beep at all, the problem is most likely CPU related.  When there are continuous beeps, the memory or video card was usually at fault.

Later on visual warnings came into play and provided another way to troubleshoot problems.   A set of LEDs, usually in a group of four, is located on the motherboard, and during system boot-up, the LEDs will toggle between green and red.  If the system boots fine, all the LEDs will eventually turn green, indicating that all the necessary parts of the system have been initialized.  However, if something goes wrong and the machine does not boot up correctly, users would be able to follow the sequence of the LEDs and determine the possible errors.  A set of four LEDs can provide sixteen (2^4 = 16) states, which is more than the previous beeping system.

However, these methods are still not exactly user-friendly, especially for beginners. The best way for them would be something that can directly tell them what is wrong with the system.  Is it the CPU, memory, VGA, floppy drive or the keyboard?

Several motherboard manufacturers have started to implement systems that can inform users about any problems with an actual human voice.  You just need to plug in a small module on the motherboard and speakers, and the tool will inform you of any problems.  With the AK73-1394, AOpen has included what they call Dr. Voice, which is a sound system that assists users in diagnosing problems.  You can even choose from English, German, Japanese, and Chinese languages.

MSI pioneered LED diagnostics in the DIY motherboard market, but AOpen has come up with their own version known as Dr. LED. They were nice enough to send us one of the Dr. LED modules for review as well, and turns out it is quite an interesting thing to play with.