5-12 Dell PowerEdge 6100/200 System Installation and Troubleshooting Guide• The speaker no longer functions. The problem couldbe a failure of the system timers as well as a failureof the speaker itself. Run the Timers Test, followedby the Speaker Test.• If a peripheral device appears to malfunction, run theInterrupt Controller Test.• A spreadsheet program or other type of mathemat-ical application runs abnormally slow, generateserror messages concerning calculations or opera-tions, runs incorrectly, or generates incorrect results,or a proven piece of the program appears to mal-function and you confirm that the software itself isnot at fault. You can confirm that the software is notat fault by moving the program to another computerand running it there.• The computer periodically locks up, especially atdifferent places and times in different programs.• The computer halts in the middle of performing cal-culations or complex mathematical operations.Video Test GroupThe subtests in the Video Test Group verify the properoperation of the video controller and the video controlcircuitry installed in the computer. These subtests checkfor the correct operation of the readable registers in thevideo circuitry and the controller. They write, read, andverify data patterns in the cursor registers of the control-ler. The Video Test Group also tests all the video memoryand provides additional subtests to test the color featuresof a color monitor.NOTE: Most of the subtests are interactive; that is, youmust respond before the diagnostics continue to the nextsubtest.SubtestsThe subtests in the Video Test Group and the video func-tions they confirm follow:• Video Memory TestChecks the read/write capability of video memory invarious video modes.• Video Hardware TestChecks the cursor registers and the horizontal andvertical retrace bit registers in the video controller.• Text Mode Character TestChecks the video subsystem’s ability to present datain text modes.• Text Mode Color TestChecks the video subsystem’s ability to present colorin text modes.• Text Mode Pages TestChecks the video subsystem’s ability to map andpresent all available video pages on the screen, onepage at a time.• Graphics Mode TestChecks the video subsystem’s ability to present dataand color in graphics modes.• Color Palettes TestChecks the video subsystem’s ability to display all ofthe available colors.• Solid Colors TestChecks the video subsystem’s ability to showscreens full of solid colors. Allows you to check formissing color subpixels.Many of these tests display characters or graphics on thescreen for you to verify. Samples of these screens areshown in Appendix B, “Diagnostic Video Tests.”NOTE: The default limit for testing super video graphicsarray (SVGA) modes is No. If you are testing an externalmonitor, change the default to Yes.Why Run a Video Test?Many of the symptoms that would prompt you to run asubtest in the Video Test Group are obvious, because themonitor is the visual component of the computer system.Before you run the Video Test Group or any of its sub-tests, you should make sure that the problem is not in thesoftware or caused by a hardware change. You shouldalso try running all of the software support utilities pro-vided for the monitor and the video subsystem.
