Gateway p-79 manual Diagnosing problems, System test procedures, Testing the optical drive, Go To

CHAPTER 4: Troubleshooting

Diagnosing problems

Use the following procedure as a guide for diagnosing notebook problems.

Important

The diagnostic tests are intended to test only Acer products. Non-Acer products, prototype cards, or modified options can give false errors and invalid system responses.

1Obtain the failing symptoms in as much detail as possible.

2Verify the symptoms by attempting to re-create the failure by running the diagnostic test or by repeating the same operation.

3Use the following table with the verified symptom to determine which page to go to.

Symptoms (Verified)	Go To
Power failure. (The power indicator does	“Testing the power system” on page 141
not go on or stay on.)
POST does not complete. No beep or error	■	“Power-On Self-Test (POST) error
codes are indicated.		message” on page 143
	■	“Undetermined problems” on page 155
POST detects an error and displayed	“Index of error messages” on page 144
messages on screen.
Other symptoms (LCD display problems or	“Power-On Self-Test (POST) error
others).	message” on page 143
Symptoms cannot be re-created	■	Use the customer-reported symptoms
(intermittent problems).		and go to “Power-OnSelf-Test (POST)
		error message” on page 143
	■	“Intermittent problems” on page 155
	■	“Undetermined problems” on page 155

System test procedures

Testing the optical drive

Use the following procedure to isolate a problem in an optical drive controller, driver, or drive.

Important

Make sure that the CD-ROM does not have any label attached to it. The label can cause damage to the drive or can cause the drive to fail.

To test the optical drive:

1Boot from the diagnostics diskette and start the diagnostics program.

2Run the CD-ROM Test and see if the test completes successfully.

3Follow the instructions in the message window.

If an error occurs, reconnect the connector on the system board. If the error still remains:

4Reconnect the external optical drive to a USB jack.

5Replace the external optical drive.

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