The cylinder number counts down to 0. At the end of the test, you see a table showing the results of the test. For example, for a 20MB hard disk with three bad tracks, you see:

BAD TRACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

READ ERROR TRACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3” GOOD TRACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2457

Press Enter to return to the menu after viewing the table. Don’t worry if there are some bad tracks on the disk. They have been blocked out by the manufacturer and will not be used to store data.

Run all above tests

To run all the tests on the menu in sequence, press 4 and then Enter.

When you choose this option, all checks for the hard disk drive and controller are performed automatically in sequential order. Although you do not start each test, you must still supply the appropriate responses to progress from one test to the next.

When you see a prompt warning you that the data on the highest physical cylinder may be destroyed, press Y and then Enter to continue with the test. (The cylinder is reserved for diagnostics, and is never ‘used for storage by MS-DOS. Therefore, data created by MS-DOS is not destroyed.)

Alternate Parallel Port Check

Use this option to test the functions of an additional parallel port. To perform the test you must insert a special loop-back connector into the alternate parallel port so that the computer can check the port’s individual pins.

This test is identical to the check for the primary parallel port. For more details, see the section describing the parallel port check earlier in this chapter.

Performing System DiagnosticsD-21