DELL 2000 Reference Guide

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support.dell.com
Basic Troubleshooting
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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.
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The Dell Diagnostics provides a series of menus and options from which you choose 
particular device groups or subtests. You can also control the sequence in which the 
tests are run. The diagnostic device groups or subtests 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 device group or     
subtest is repeated 
The ability to display or print out 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 
A menu category called Devices that briefly describes each test and its 
parameters 
A menu category called Config that describes the configuration of the devices in 
the selected device group 
Status messages that inform you whether device groups or subtests were    
completed successfully 
Error messages that appear if any problems are detected 
Whenever a major component or device in your computer does not function properly, 
you may have a component failure. As long as the microprocessor and the input and 
output components of your computer (the display, keyboard, and diskette drive) are 
working, you can use the Dell Diagnostics. 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, read the rest of this chapter.
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To start the diagnostics, perform the following steps: 
1.
Turn on or restart the computer.
2.
Press <F2> at the Dell logo screen to access the system setup menu. If you wait 
too long and the operating system begins to load into memory, let the computer 
complete the load operation
. Then shut down the system and try again. 
3.
In the system setup program, go to the Boot screen and set the following boot 
sequence:
Removable Devices