USB-Scope is a PC diagnostic tool consisting of a software program and a USB hardware device. The software comes on one 1.44 M floppy diskette. The diskette is bootable and contains its own proprietary operating system. The USB probe software, due to the fact that it is bootable, is usably for USB diagnostics without an operating system being required on the PC that is being tested. The bootable diskette contained two programs USB Scope Version 1.01 revision E and MakeCopy Utility Version 4.0.

Using USB-Scope
The USB-Scope program once booted displays a color screen with version, software serial numbers and copyright warnings as the first screen. After a few seconds the software will complete an inventory of all installed USB hardware and will then advance to the software diagnostics screen. This screen contains a menu bar across the top with three selections. The first selection is the Identify and Test menu, the second selection is the Report menu, and the third selection is the Quit button.

The Identify and Test menu once selected gives you three choices for test. The first choice available is the Identify Root Devices selection. This selection will collect and display information about any devices attached to ports on the selected root hubs. The second choice available is the Test Host Controller selection. This selection will run a complete battery of test on the USB controller selected and report a pass/fail result in the four categories tested. The categories are PCI, USB PM, USB Host, and Root Hub. The PCI test performs testing on the PCI Init function, PCI IRQ function, and BIOS initialization resources for the USB controller selected. The USB PM test performs testing on the USB interface registers with the system's power management. The USB Host test performs testing of the PCI functions of the host controller, checks allocation of resources for the controller, and checks for interrupt request from the controller. The Root Hub function checks the interface for the function of getting and setting the interface descriptor of attached devices, the Endpoint function test the function of getting and setting the endpoint descriptor of endpoint devices, the Memory /IO function test the allocation of memory needed to configure the controller, and the Config function checks the function of getting and setting the configuration descriptor.

The third choice available is the Test Host Port function. This function requires the USB hardware device supplied with this package to be connected to the USB controller being tested. With this device connected a complete check of port connections and controller functions can be performed. The Host port test is divided into six parts each of which shows a pass/fail indication when the test is completed. The six functions tested are a GET Device, GET Config, Get Interface, Bulk Transfer, Isochronous Transfer, and an Interrupt Transfer. The USB hardware device has five led's on it to also indicate transfer modes during testing.

The reports menu allows you to print the report file created during initial boot-up of the program and will contain information on all controllers and root devices detected at initial boot-up. This report can be printed or saved to a floppy drive. It is saved in a standard text format. (see included printout file off my ECS K785A motherboard USB controllers and devices connected to it.)

The Quit button reboots the PC.

Observations
When I received the package the USB Scope software included was revision E. With revision E software I was able to lock the program up fairly easily on my laptop with a Intel USB controller. I went to the Micro2000 website and found that they had two patch files available for download to enable usage with additional USB controllers and to improve product function. The patches were easily installed and seem to have fixed the problems I was having with being able to look up the program. This software seems to work well with any USB device and is fairly accurate on reporting connected devices. I do not believe this product is for everyone as it is much more extensive than is needed by the normal user. The software is available directly from Micro2000 for $299 and available from other outlets listed on their Web page. Micro2000 said that they would be willing to give discounts of this price.