Dell Latitude XPiCD Reference Manual

Also see for Latitude XPi CD: Manual User guide Service manual

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Dell Latitude XPiCD Reference Manual Manual pdf 87 page image

Running the Dell Diagnostics 4-17• If the response when you press a trackball or mousebutton is different from the usual response or theresponse you anticipated, the button contact may bedamaged.• A trackball or mouse button does not work at all.• The cursor does not respond on the screen in accor-dance with the movements you make with thetrackball or external mouse.SubtestsThere are no subtests for the Mouse Test.Diskette Drives Test GroupThe subtests in the Diskette Drives Test Group allow youto test diskette drives of all capacities.NOTE: Before running the Diskette Drives Test Group,install a CD-ROM drive in the options bay and attach thediskette drive to the parallel connector on the back of thecomputer. The subtests in the test group will fail if you donot have a diskette drive attached to the parallelconnector.Why Run a Diskette Drives Test?Very often, a diskette drive problem may first appear tobe a diskette problem. A box of defective diskettes mightproduce faulty-drive error messages. The test results canbe confusing, so you should run the subtests in the Dis-kette Drives Test Group more than once using diskettesfrom different sources.Another possible cause of diskette drive problems ishuman error—typing a command in an incorrect form(usually called a syntax error). Be sure you have entered thecommand properly.When the diskette and command syntax are eliminated ascauses, the following symptoms usually suggest a driveproblem and warrant running a subtest in the DisketteDrives Test Group:• An error message appears on the screen stating thatthe computer cannot read from or write to a diskette.• A diskette cannot be properly formatted, or formaterror messages appear on the screen.• Data on diskettes is corrupted or lost; these problemsmay be intermittent.SubtestsThe four diskette drive subtests available in the DisketteDrives Test Group confirm the following drive functions:• Change Line TestChecks for bent pins on the diskette drive controllerand for defective lines on the diskette cable• Seek TestChecks the drive’s ability to search for a specifiedtrack on the diskette and to position the read/writeheads of the drive to all tracks• Read TestPositions the read/write heads at each cylinder of thediskette and verifies that all tracks on the diskettecan be read correctly• Write TestPositions the read/write heads at each cylinder of thediskette and verifies that all tracks on the diskettecan be written to correctlyHard-Disk Drives (Non-SCSI) TestGroupThe subtests in the Hard-Disk Drives (Non-SCSI) TestGroup check the functionality of up to two hard-diskdrives of any capacity. The subtests check the storagecapability of a drive as well as the hard-disk drive con-troller (which affects the ability to read from and write tothe drive).Why Run a Hard-Disk Drives Test?If you check your hard-disk drive to determine theamount of available space, your operating system willprobably report problem areas. Problem areas on hard-disk drives are common, because most hard-disk driveshave a small amount of space that is not usable. Thehard-disk drive keeps a record of this space so that thecomputer will not attempt to use it. Identification ofunusable disk space, unless it is an unusually large