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Dell Diagnostics: Dell Dimension C System Reference
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Dell™ Diagnostics: Dell Dimension™ C System Reference
Unlike many diagnostic programs, the Dell Diagnostics helps you check your computer's
hardware without any additional equipment and without destroying any data. By using the
diagnostics, you can have confidence in your computer system's operation. If you find a
problem you cannot solve by yourself, the diagnostic tests can provide you with important
information you will need when talking to Dell's service and support personnel.
NOTICE: Use the Dell Diagnostics only to test your Dell
computer system. Using this program with other computers may cause incorrect computer
responses or result in error messages.
The Dell Diagnostics provides a series of menus and options from which you choose
particular test groups or subtests. You control the sequence in which the tests are run.
The diagnostic test groups or subtests have the following helpful features:
- Options that let you run tests individually or collectively
- An option that allows you to choose the number of times a test group or subtest is
repeated
- The ability to display or print test results or to save them in a file
- Options to temporarily suspend testing if an error is detected or to terminate testing
when an adjustable error limit is reached
- A menu category called Devices that briefly describes each test and its
parameters
- A menu category called Config that describes the configuration of the
devices in the selected device group
- Status messages that inform you whether test groups or subtests were completed
successfully
- Error messages that appear if any problems are detected
Whenever a major component or device in your computer system does not function
properly, you may have a component failure. As long as the microprocessor and the input
and output components of your computer system (the monitor, keyboard, and diskette drive)
are working, you can use the Dell Diagnostics. If you are experienced with computers and
know what component(s) you need to test, simply select the appropriate diagnostic test
group(s) or subtest(s). If you are unsure about how to begin diagnosing a problem, read
the rest of this section.
Turn on your printer if one is attached, and make sure it is online. Enter the system
setup program, confirm your computer's system configuration information, and enable
all its components and devices, such as ports.
- Turn on (or restart) your system.
- Enter the
system setup program by pressing <Del> when the blue Dell logo appears.
If you wait too long and the operating system begins to load into
memory, let the system complete the load operation. Then shut down the system and
try again.
- Change the first bootable device to IDE CD-ROM in
the Boot
Options screen.
Write down the first bootable device option that you are changing
(usually Floppy Disk A:) so you can change the setting back after you run
the diagnostics.
- Insert the Dell
Dimension ResourceCD into the optical drive.
- Press
<Esc> to exit and save the system setup program settings.
- When the
boot menu appears on the screen, select the Start computer with CD-ROM support option
and press <Enter>.
- Verify that the prompt drive letter is the optical drive letter in
which you placed the Dell Dimension ResourceCD (usually d:). If not, type the
optical drive letter followed by a colon (:), and press <Enter>.
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NOTE: Press <Shift> and < ; > to type the colon
< : > character on the Japanese keyboard. |
- Type dimcdiag
and press <Enter>.
The Diagnostics Menu appears (see the following
figure). The menu allows you to run all or specific diagnostic tests or to exit to the
MS-DOS� prompt.
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NOTE: Before you read the rest of this section, you may want to
start the Dell Diagnostics so that you can see it on the screen of your monitor. |
- After running the diagnostics, repeat steps 1 through 3 to reset the first bootable device to its
original option (usually Floppy Disk A:).
For a quick check of your system, select the Quickly
Test All Devices option. This option runs only the subtests that do not require
user interaction and that do not take a long time to run. Dell recommends that you choose
this option first to identify the source of the problem quickly. For a thorough check of
your system, select the Fully Test All Devices option. To check a
particular area of your system, select the Select Devices to Test option.
To select an option from this menu, highlight the option
and press <Enter>, or press the key that corresponds to the highlighted letter in
the option you choose.
When you select Select Devices to Test from
the Diagnostics Menu, the main screen of the diagnostics
appears (see the
following figure). The main screen lists the diagnostic test device groups, lists
the devices of the selected device group, and allows you to select categories from a menu.
From this screen, you can access the main screens.
Information on the main screen of the diagnostics is
presented in the following areas:
- Two lines at the top of the screen identify the version
number of the Dell Diagnostics.
- On the left side of the screen, the Device Groups
area lists the diagnostic test groups in the order they will run if you select All
from the Run Tests menu category. Press the up- or
down-arrow key to highlight a test device group.
- On the right side of the screen, the Devices for
Highlighted Group area lists the computer's currently detected hardware and some
of the relevant settings.
- Two lines at the bottom of the screen make up the menu area.
The first line lists the categories you can select; press the left- or right-arrow key to
highlight a menu category. The second line gives information about the category currently
highlighted.
When you boot your system from your diagnostics diskette,
the diagnostics checks your system configuration information and displays it in the Device
Groups area on the main screen.
The following sources supply this configuration information
for the diagnostics:
- The system configuration information settings (stored in
nonvolatile random-access memory [NVRAM]) that you selected while using the system setup
program
- Identification tests of the microprocessor, the video
controller, the keyboard controller, and other key components
- Basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration information
temporarily saved in RAM
Do not be concerned if the Device Groups
area does not list the names of all the components or devices you know are part of your
computer system. For example, you may not see a printer listed, although you know one is
attached to your computer. Instead, the printer is listed as a parallel port. The computer
recognizes the parallel port as LPT1, which is an address that tells the computer where to
send outgoing information and where to look for incoming information. You can test your
printer connection in the Parallel Ports tests.
Six online help categories provide instructions on how to use the application program and explain each menu
item, test group, subtest, and test result. To enter the Help menu,
perform the following steps:
- Highlight Select Devices to Test in the Diagnostics
Menu.
- Press <Enter>.
- Press <h>.
The six Help menu categories are Menu, Keys, Device Group, Device, Test, and Versions. The online help
also provides detailed descriptions of the devices that you are testing. The Help
menu categories are explained in the following subsections.
Menu Category
The Menu help category describes the main menu
screen area, the device groups, and the different diagnostic menus and commands and
instructs you on how to use them.
Keys Category
The Keys help category explains the functions of
all keystrokes that you can use in the Dell Diagnostics.
The Device Group help category describes the test
group that is currently highlighted in the Device Groups
list on the main menu screen. It also provides reasoning for using some tests.
The Device help category is the educational section
of online help. It describes the function and purpose of the highlighted device in the Device
Groups. For example, the following information appears when you select
the Device help category for Diskette in the Device
Groups list:
Diskette drive A:
The diskette disk drive device reads and writes data to and
from diskettes. Diskettes are flexible recording media, sometimes contained in hard
shells. Diskette recording capacities are small and access times are slow relative to hard
disk drives, but they provide a convenient means of storing and transferring data.
Test Category
The Test help category thoroughly explains the test
procedure of each currently highlighted subtest. For example, the subtest Diskette
Drive Seek Test of the Diskette device group lists the following
information:
Diskette drive A: - Diskette Drive Seek Test
This test verifies the drive's ability to position its
read/write heads. The test operates in two passes: first, seeking from the beginning to
ending cylinders inclusively, and second, seeking alternately from the beginning to ending
cylinders with convergence towards the middle.
The Versions help category lists the version
numbers of the subtests that are used by your Dell Diagnostics program.
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