Whenever a major component or device in your computer does not function properly, you may have a component failure. If you are experiencing a problem with your computer, perform the checks in "Solving Problems" and run the Dell Diagnostics before you call Dell for technical assistance. Running the Dell Diagnostics may help you to resolve the problem yourself quickly without having to contact Dell for assistance.
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, see "Starting the Dell Diagnostics" and "Advanced Testing."
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's operation. And 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 to test only your Dell™ computer. Using
this program with other computers may cause incorrect computer responses or
result in error messages.
The diagnostic test groups or subtests also have these helpful features:
Options that let you perform quick checks or extensive tests on one or all devices
An option that allows you to choose the number of times a test group or subtest is repeated
The ability to display 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
Extensive online Help screens that describe the tests and how to run them
Status messages that inform you whether test groups or subtests were completed successfully
Error messages that appear if any problems are detected
HINT: An alternate way
of starting the Dell
Diagnostics is to select
Diagnostics from the one-time boot menu.
The computer begins to run the Pre-boot System Assessment, a series of embedded diagnostics that perform initial testing on your system board, keyboard, hard drive, and display.
During the assessment, answer any questions that appear.
If a component failure is detected, the computer stops and beeps. To stop the assessment and reboot to the operating system, press
; to continue to the next test, press
; to retest the component that failed, press
.
If failures are detected during the Pre-boot System Assessment, write down the error code(s) and then contact Dell before continuing on to the Dell Diagnostics. See your Owner's Manual for contact information.
If you receive a message stating that no Diagnostics utility partition has been found, follow the instructions on the screen to run the Dell Diagnostics from your Drivers and Utilities CD.
If the Pre-boot System Assessment completes successfully, you receive the message Booting Dell Diagnostic Utility Partition. Press any key to continue.
Press any key to start the Dell Diagnostics from the Diagnostics utility
partition on your hard drive.
After the Dell Diagnostics loads, the DiagnosticsMenu appears. To
select an option, highlight the option and press
, or press
the key that corresponds to the highlighted letter in the option you
choose.
When you have finished running the Dell Diagnostics, press
until you return to the Diagnostics Menu. To exit the Dell Diagnostics
and reboot the computer, either type
, or highlight Exit and
press
.
Performs extensive diagnostic tests or quick diagnostic tests on all devices.
Test One Device
Performs extensive diagnostic tests or quick diagnostic tests on one device after you select it from a list of device groups. After you select Test One Device, press
for more information about a test.
Advanced Testing
Allows you to modify the parameters of a test and select a group of tests to perform. You can access online Help for more information about Advanced Testing.
Information and Results
Provides test results, test errors, version numbers of the subtests used by the Dell Diagnostics, and additional help on the Dell Diagnostics.
Program Options
Allows you to change the settings of the Dell Diagnostics.
Exit
If the Dell Diagnostics are being run from the Diagnostics utility partition on the hard drive, reboots the computer.
If the Dell Diagnostics are being run from a CD or floppy disk, exits to the MS-DOS® prompt.
For a quick check of your computer, select Quick Tests from the Test All Devices or Test One Device option. Quick Tests 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 Quick Tests first to increase the odds of tracing the source of the problem quickly.
For a thorough check of your computer, select Extended Tests from the Test All Devices option.
To check a particular area of your computer, select Extended Tests from the Test One Device option, or select the Advanced Testing option to customize your test(s).
When you select Advanced Testing from the Diagnostics Menu, the following screen appears, listing the diagnostic test groups and devices of the selected device group, and the screen allows you to select categories from a menu. Press the arrow keys or
to navigate the screen.
HINT: The test groups
reflect the configuration
of your computer.
Information in the Advanced Testing screen is presented as follows:
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
or
to highlight a test 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 (see "Advanced Testing Help Menu"). The first line lists the categories you can select; press
or
to highlight a menu category. The second line gives information about the category currently highlighted.
Provides descriptions of the main menu screen area, the device groups, and the different diagnostic menus and commands and instructions on how to use them.
Keys
Explains the functions of the keystrokes that you can use in the Dell Diagnostics.
Device Group
Describes the test group that is presently highlighted in the Device Groups area on the main menu screen. It also provides reasoning for using some tests.
Device
Describes the function and purpose of the highlighted device in the DeviceGroups area. For example, the following information appears when you select the Device Help category for Diskette in the DeviceGroups area:
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
Provides a thorough explanation of the test procedure of each highlighted test group subtest. An example of the Diskette subtest floppy drive Seek Test is as follows:
Diskette
Drive A - floppy 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.
Versions
Lists the version numbers of the subtests that are used by the Dell Diagnostics.
When you boot your computer from your Drivers and Utilities CD, 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 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
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. 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.
; to continue to the next test, press 
; to retest the component that failed, press 
. 
, or press
the key that corresponds to the highlighted letter in the option you
choose.
until you return to the Diagnostics Menu. To exit the Dell Diagnostics
and reboot the computer, either type 
, or highlight Exit and
press 
.
for more information about a test.
to navigate the screen.
or 
to highlight a test group.
or 
to highlight a menu category. The second line gives information about the category currently highlighted.
.
, or press the key
that corresponds to the highlighted letter in the category you choose.