Dell 2500 manual Running the Dell Diagnostics, Features of the Dell Diagnostics

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Running the Dell™ Diagnostics

Dell™ PowerEdge™ 2500 Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide

Features of the Dell Diagnostics	How to Use the Device Groups Menu
When to Use the Dell Diagnostics	Device Groups Menu Options
Starting the Dell Diagnostics	Error Messages
How to Use the Dell Diagnostics

Unlike many diagnostic programs, the Dell Diagnostics helps you check the system's hardware without any additional equipment and without destroying any data. By using the diagnostics, you can have confidence in the system's operation. If you find a problem that you cannot solve by yourself, the diagnostic tests can provide you with important information you will need when talking to Dell's technical assistance representative.

NOTICE: Use the Dell Diagnostics to test only Dell systems. If you use this program with other systems, incorrect system responses or error messages may result.

Features of the Dell Diagnostics

The Dell Diagnostics provides a series of menus and options from which you choose particular device groups or devices. You can also control the sequence in which the tests are run. The diagnostic menus also have these helpful features:

•Options that let you run tests individually or collectively

•An option that allows you to choose the number of times a test 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

•Help messages that briefly describe each test and its parameters

•Status messages that inform you whether device group or device tests are completed successfully

•Error messages that appear if any problems are detected

When to Use the Dell Diagnostics

Whenever a major component or device in the system does not function properly, you may have a component failure. As long as the microprocessor and the input and output components of the system (the monitor, keyboard, and diskette drive) are working, you can use the Dell Diagnostics. If you know what component(s) you need to test, simply select the appropriate diagnostic device group(s) or subtest(s). If you are unsure about the scope of the problem, read the rest of the information in this section.

Starting the Dell Diagnostics

You can run the Dell Diagnostics from either the utility partition on your hard-disk drive or from a set of diskettes that you create from the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD.

To run the diagnostics from the utility partition, perform the following steps:

1.Start the utility partition by pressing <F10> during POST.

2.From the utility partition's main menu, select the Run System Diagnostics option from Run System Utilities.

See "Utility Partition" in "Using the Dell OpenManage Server CD," in the User's Guide for additional information about the utility partition.

To run the Dell Diagnostics from the diskettes, perform the following steps:

1. Create a set of diagnostics diskettes using the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD.

See "Using the Dell OpenManage Server CD," in the User's Guide for information on creating diskettes.

2. Boot the system from the first diagnostics diskette.