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If the system fails to boot, see "Getting Help," for instructions on obtaining technical assistance.
When you start the diagnostics a message is displayed telling you that the diagnostics is loading. The Diagnostics menu appears. The menu allows you to run all or
specific diagnostic tests or to exit the Dell Diagnostics.
For a quick check of the system, select Test All Devices and then select Quick Tests. This option runs only the device tests that do not require user interaction and
that do not take a long time to run. Dell recommends that you choose this option first to increase the chance of tracing the source of the problem quickly. For a
complete check of the system, select Test All Devices and then select Extended Tests. To check a particular area of the system, choose Advanced Testing.
Selecting Exit to MS-DOS exits the diagnostics and returns you to the MS-DOS®operating system environment.
To select an option from the Diagnostics menu, highlight the option and press <Enter>, or press the key that corresponds to the highlighted letter in the option you
choose.
How to Use the Dell Diagnostics
When you select Select Devices to Test from the Diagnostics menu, the main screen of the diagnostics appears.
Information on the main screen of the diagnostics is presented in the following areas:
l Two lines at the top of the main screen identify the diagnostics and give its version number.
l On the left side of the screen, the Device Groups area lists the diagnostic device groups in the order they will run if you select All under the Run Tests
submenu. Press the up- or down-arrow key to highlight a device group.
l On the right side of the screen, the Devices for Highlighted Group area lists the specific devices within a particular test group.
l Two lines at the bottom of the screen make up the menu area. The first line lists the menu options you can select; press the left- or right-arrow key to highlight an
option. The second line gives information about the highlighted option.
How to Use the Device Groups Menu
The Device Groups menu at the bottom of the screen provides options that enable you to select and run specific diagnostic tests from the diagnostics main screen.
Press the left- and right-arrow keys to select the options on the menu. As you move from one menu option to another, a brief explanation of the highlighted option
appears on the bottom line of the screen.
If you want more information about a device group or device, highlight the Help option and press <Enter>. After you read the information, press <Esc> to return to the
previous screen.
Device Groups Menu Options
Five options are listed at the bottom of the diagnostics main screen: Run Tests, Devices, Select, Config, and Help.
There are two ways to select a menu option:
l Look on the screen to see which letter in the option is capitalized, and type that letter (for example, type r to select the Run option).
l Move the highlight to the option you want to select by pressing the left- or right-arrow key, and then press <Enter>.
Whenever one of the options is selected, additional choices become available.
The following subsections explain the menu options as listed from left to right in the Device Groups menu.
Run Tests
Run Tests displays seven options: One, All, Select, Options, Results, Errors, and Help. If you select One, all the devices within the highlighted device group are
run. If you select All, all of the tests in all of the device group tests are run. (The device group tests are run in the same order as they are listed.) If you choose Select,
only the selected device groups or the devices that you selected within the device groups are run. Before you test any device groups or devices, consider setting global
parameters within Options. Global parameters offer you greater control over how the device group tests or device tests are run and how results are reported. Help
displays a series of help options, including Menu, Keys, Device, Group, and Test.
Devices
NOTE: Before you read the rest of this section, you may want to start the Dell Diagnostics so that you can see it on your monitor screen.