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How to Use Dell Diagnostics
Six comprehensive, menu-driven, online Help categories provide instructions on how to use the program and explain each menu item,
test group, subtest, and test and error result. To enter the Help menu, perform the following steps:
Highlight Select Devices to Test in the Diagnostics Menu.1.
Press <Enter>.2.
Press <h>.3.
The Help menu categories are Menu, Keys, Device Group, Device, Test, and Versions. The online Help also provides detailed
descriptions of the devices that you are testing. The Help categories are explained in the following subsections.
Menu Category
Menu describes the main menu screen area, the Device Groups, and the different diagnostic menus and commands and instructions
on how to use them.
Keys Category
Keys explains the functions of the all of the keystrokes that can be used in Dell Diagnostics.
Device Group Category
Device Group describes the test group that is presently highlighted in the Device Groups list on the main menu screen. It also
provides reasoning for using some tests.
Device Category
Device is the educational section of online Help. It describes the function and purpose of the highlighted device in the Device Groups.
For example, the following information appears when you select Device for Diskette in the Device Groups list:
Diskette drive A:
The diskette disk drive device reads and writes data to and from diskettes. Diskettes are flexible
recording media, sometimes contained in hard shells. Diskette recording capacities are small and
access times are slow relative to hard disk drives, but they provide a convenient means of storing
and transferring data.
Test Category
Test provides a thorough explanation of the subtest for each selected device group. For example, the following description is provided
for the Diskette Drive Seek Test:
Diskette drive A: - Diskette Drive Seek Test
This test verifies the drive's ability to position its read/write heads. The test operates in two
passes: first, seeking from the beginning to ending cylinders inclusively, and second, seeking
alternately from the beginning to ending cylinders with convergence towards the middle.
Versions Category
Versions lists the version numbers of the subtests that are used by the Dell Diagnostics.
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Dell Diagnostics: Dell Latitude LS Portable Computers User's Guide
file:///C|/Documents and Settings/Administrator/De.../New Web/Documentation/LS/LS User's Guide/diag.htm (4 of 4) [5/31/2000 9:45:31 AM]