A system and method provides for direct control of a high speed data link in a
computer system for purposes of testing the data link under a full range of anticipated
operating conditions. The transmission of test data is preferably under hardware
control and preferably does not encounter interference from other data sources
in the computer system thereby enabling the intended test pattern data to be experienced
by the data link under test in unaltered form. The tested data is preferably compared
to the original data in order to evaluate the status of the link under test.
