Filter
Top Products
4-8 Dell Inspiron 3000 Reference and Troubleshooting Guide
Output Device for Status Messages
Ordinarily, all status messages appear only on the dis-
play. This parameter allows you to direct status messages
to either a printer or a file, in addition to the display. Use
the right-arrow key to select the option you want. If you
choose the Printer option, status messages print as they
occur. If you choose the File option, status messages are
written to a file named result. This file is automatically
created on the diagnostics diskette when you run the
diagnostics. If the result file already exists on the dis-
kette, new status messages are added to it.
The result file is an ordinary American Standard Code for
Information Interchange (ASCII) text file. You can
access the result file through Windows Notepad by per-
forming the following steps:
1. Select Quit Menu to exit the diagnostics and return
to the MS-DOS prompt.
2. Remove the Dell Diagnostics Diskette from the
diskette drive.
3. Use the <Ctrl><Alt><Del> key combination to
reboot the computer.
4. If necessary, start your operating system.
5. Insert the Dell Diagnostics Diskette into the diskette
drive.
6. Double-click The Notepad Icon. Then Select Open
from the File menu.
7. In the File Name text box, type
a:\result
and
press <Enter>.
The contents of the file appear on the display.
You can also access the result file with the MS-DOS type
command:
1. Select Quit Menu to exit the diagnostics and return
to the operating system prompt.
2. At the operating system prompt, type the follow-
ing command and press <Enter>:
type
result
The contents of the file appear on the display.
After running particular diagnostic tests and viewing the
status messages generated by the tests in the result file,
you can delete the contents of the file so that it is empty
for the next set of messages generated. Otherwise, the
next messages are added to the end of the previous ones
in the file.
Output Device for Error Messages
Ordinarily, all error messages appear only on the display.
This parameter allows you to direct error messages to
either a printer or a file, in addition to the display. Use the
right-arrow key to select the option you want. If you
choose the Printer option, error messages print as they
occur. If you choose the File option, error messages are
written to the result file used for status messages. This
file is automatically created on your diagnostics diskette
when you run the diagnostics. If the result file already
exists on the diskette, new error messages are added to it.
The result file is an ordinary ASCII text file. You can
access and review the result file in Windows Notepad or
with the MS-DOS type command as described in the pre-
vious subsection, “Output Device for Status Messages.”
After running particular diagnostic tests and viewing the
error messages generated by the tests in the result file,
you can delete the contents of the file so that it is clear for
the next set of messages generated. Otherwise, the next
messages are added to the end of the previous ones in the
file.
Test Limits
NOTE: The diagnostics program sets default limits on all
tests. The only reason to change the defaults would be to
limit the amount of testing done. An exception is the
default limit for testing super video graphics array
(SVGA) modes. If you are testing an external monitor,
change the default to Yes.
The RAM test group, the Video test group, the Serial/
Infrared Ports test group, the Diskette Drives test group,
the Parallel Ports test group, and the Hard-Disk Drives
(Non-SCSI) test group allow you to designate limits.
Whether you select Test Limits for a highlighted test
group (from the Main menu) or a subtest (from the Sub-
test menu), you set the limits for all the subtests in that
test group. When you select Test Limits, a new screen
appears and the Key Help area lists keys to use with the
new screen.
55899BK1.BK : 55899c41.fm Page 8 Wednesday, February 4, 1998 1:20 PM