Dell 4100/200, 4100/180 manual Diskette Drives Test Group, Why Run the Mouse Test?

•When you press a key and the response is different from the usual response or the response you antici- pated, the key contact may be damaged. Run the Keyboard Interactive Test.

•When a key does not work at all, run all of the sub- tests in the Keyboard Test Group.

Mouse Test

The Mouse Test checks the functionality of the mouse controller (which coordinates cursor movement on the screen with corresponding movement of the mouse or touch pad) and the operation of the mouse keys/touch pad.

Subtests

There are no subtests for the Mouse Test Group.

Why Run the Mouse Test?

Mouse or touch pad problems are as likely to originate in RAM as they are to be caused by a faulty mouse or touch pad. Three sources of RAM-related problems include the configuration of a program (which changes the function of the mouse or touch pad), memory-resident programs, and failure of a device driver (the software that controls the function of the mouse or touch pad). If these possibil- ities have been eliminated and the following symptoms persist, run the Mouse Test:

•When you press a mouse button or the touch pad, the function of the button (or touch pad) continues; that is, the button (or touch pad) seems to be stuck.

•If the response when you press a mouse button or the touch pad is different from the usual or anticipated response, the button (or touch pad) contact may be damaged.

•A mouse button or the touch pad does not work at all.

•The cursor does not respond on the screen in accor- dance with the movements you make with the mouse or touch pad.

Diskette Drives Test Group

The subtests in the Diskette Drives Test Group allow you to test both 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch diskette drives of all capacities.

Subtests

The four diskette drive subtests in the Diskette Drives Test Group and the drive functions they confirm follow:

•Change Line Test

Checks for bent pins on the diskette drive controller and for defective lines on the diskette cable

•Seek Test

Checks the drive’s ability to search for a specified track on the diskette and to position its read/write heads to all tracks

•Read Test

Positions the read/write heads at each cylinder of the diskette for reading data and verifies that all tracks on the diskette can be read correctly

•Write Test

Positions the read/write heads at each cylinder of the diskette and verifies that all tracks on the diskette can be written to correctly

Why Run a Diskette Drives Test?

Very often, a diskette drive problem may first appear to be a diskette problem. A box of defective diskettes might produce faulty-drive error messages. The test results can be confusing, so Dell suggests running the subtests in the Diskette Drives Test Group more than once using dis- kettes from different sources.

Another possible cause of diskette drive problems is human error—typing a command in an incorrect form (usually called a syntax error). Be sure you have entered the command in the proper form.

When the diskette(s) and command syntax are eliminated as causes, the following symptoms usually suggest a drive problem and warrant running a subtest in the Dis- kette Drives Test Group:

•An error message appears on the screen stating that the computer cannot read from or write to a diskette.

Running the System Diagnostics 5-15