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88 Troubleshooting
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive
The Dell Diagnostics is located on a hidden diagnostic utility partition on
your hard drive.
NOTE: If your computer cannot display a screen image, contact Dell (see
"Contacting Dell" on page 164).
NOTE: If the computer is connected to a docking device (docked), undock it. See
the documentation that came with your docking device for instructions.
1
Ensure that the computer is connected to an electrical outlet that is
known to be working properly.
2
Turn on (or restart) your computer.
3
Start the Dell Diagnostics in one of the following two ways.
NOTE: If you wait too long and the operating system logo appears, continue
to wait until you see the Microsoft
®
Windows
®
desktop; then, shut down your
computer and try again.
– When the DELL™ logo appears, press <F12> immediately. Select
Diagnostics
from the boot menu and press <Enter>.
NOTE: Before attempting the following option, the computer must be
powered down completely.
– Press and hold the <Fn> key while powering the computer on.
NOTE: If you see a message stating that no diagnostics utility partition has
been found, run the Dell Diagnostics from the Drivers and Utilities media.
The computer runs the Pre-boot System Assessment (PSA), a series of initial
tests of your system board, keyboard, display, memory, hard drive, etc.
• During the assessment, answer any questions that appear.
• If a failure is detected, the computer stops and beeps. To stop the
assessment and restart the computer, press <n>; to continue to the
next test, press <y>; to retest the component that failed, press <r>.
• If failures are detected during the Pre-boot System Assessment, write down
the error code(s) and contact Dell (see "Contacting Dell" on page 164).
If the Pre-boot System Assessment completes successfully, you receive the
message
Booting Dell Diagnostic Utility Partition.
Press any key to continue
.
4
Press any key to start the Dell Diagnostics from the diagnostics utility
partition on your hard drive.
book.book Page 88 Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:00 PM