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Dell Diagnostics: Dell OptiPlex GX110 System User's Guide
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Dell™ Diagnostics: Dell OptiPlex™ GX110 System User's Guide
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 System
Setup, confirm your computer's system configuration information, and enable all its
components and devices, such as ports.
See "Using System Setup" for instructions on
entering and using the program.
After you complete the preliminary instructions outlined in the previous section, perform the following steps to start the
diagnostics:
- Turn off your system.
- Insert the Dell Diagnostics media (for example, a diskette or CD) into the
appropriate drive.
- Turn on your system.
When you start the diagnostics, the Dell logo screen
appears, followed by a message telling you that the diagnostics is loading.
After the diagnostics loads, the Diagnostics
Menu appears (see Figure
1). The menu allows you to run all or specific
diagnostic tests or to exit to the MS-DOS® prompt.
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.
Figure 1. Diagnostics Menu
When you select Select Devices to Test from
the Diagnostics Menu, the main screen of the diagnostics
appears (see Figure 2).
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.
Figure 2. Dell
Diagnostics Main Screen
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 System Setup
- 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. Because your printer
is a parallel communications device, the computer recognizes the printer by its LPT1
address and identifies it as a parallel port. You can test your printer connection in the Parallel
Ports tests.
Six comprehensive, menu-driven, online help categories provide instructions on how to
use the 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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