Checking internal hardware on laptops that don't have OS installed?

[ionosphere]

Sometimes the staff at a vendor do not have the real knowledge of the hardware, and the printed spec shows too little. Most of the time, I always bring CPU-Z, Furmark, etc. with me in a USB. For Linux side, I got Hardinfo.

However, there are some cases that the vendors do not install any OS in the laptops. (or sometimes, they just install FreeDOS) In this case, if I want to know the real hardware inside these laptops, what are my choices?

I can think of using Ubuntu LiveCD, and download Hardinfo from there, that is if the vendor allows me to access their WiFi and run from LiveCD.

 

[hang-the-9]

Linux live CD should do it, you may want to make a USB drive if there is no CD/DVD player or if it's broken. I don't know if boot disks like Ultimate Boot CD have hardware info utilities, but they may.