Dell OptiPlex E1 Troubleshooting Manual

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Contents

Dell OptiPlex E1 Troubleshooting Manual Manual pdf 34 page image

3-2 Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guideavailable for use by application programs. Some pro-grams require more than 640 KB of memory and,therefore, cannot be run with conventional memoryalone. Other programs run much faster when they havemore than 1 MB of memory to use.When you boot your computer, MS-DOS recognizesmemory in excess of 1 MB as extended memory. Some,but not all, programs are able to use extended memory.For example, the Microsoft Windows 3.x operating sys-tem and Lotus ® 1-2-3 take advantage of extendedmemory.Other programs are able to use extended memory only ifit is first converted into expanded memory by anexpanded memory manager (EMM).NOTE: Not all Dell computers have an EMM driver. Seeyour system documentation to determine whether anEMM driver is provided with your system.Under the following conditions, expanded memory cangreatly enhance the system’s ability to use applicationprograms that require more memory than is available inthe conventional memory area:• The application program is written for use withexpanded memory.• The memory has been properly allocated using theSystem Setup program. (See your system documen-tation for more information on the System Setupprogram.)• The EMM driver is installed and properly initialized.Improper use of an EMM can lead to conflicts betweenthe expanded-memory operation and any installed expan-sion cards, which may be assigned memory areas thatoverlap memory areas that the EMM is using. For moreinformation about these types of conflicts and how toavoid them, see “Checking for Memory Address Con-flicts” found later in this chapter.Using SoftwareThe following subsections discuss errors that can occuras a result of software operation or configuration.Error MessagesError messages can be produced by an application pro-gram, the operating system, or the computer. Chapter 2,“Messages and Codes,” discusses the error messages thatare generated by the system. If you receive an error mes-sage that is not listed in Chapter 2, check your operatingsystem or application program documentation.Input ErrorsIf a specific key or set of keys is pressed at the wrongtime, a program may give you unexpected results. See thedocumentation that came with your application programto make sure the values or characters you are entering arevalid.Make sure the operating environment is set up toaccommodate the programs you use. Keep in mind thatwhenever you change the parameters of the computer’soperating environment, you may affect the successfuloperation of your programs. Sometimes, after modifyingthe operating environment, you may need to reinstall aprogram that no longer runs properly.Memory-Resident ProgramsThere are a variety of utilities and supplementary pro-grams that can be loaded either when the computer bootsor from an operating system prompt. These programs aredesigned to stay resident in system memory and thusalways be available for use. Because they remain in thecomputer’s memory, memory conflicts and errors canresult when other programs require use of all or part ofthe memory already occupied by these TSR programs.Typically, your operating system’s start-up files (such asconfig.sys and autoexec.bat) contain commands to startTSR programs when you boot your system. If you sus-pect that one of these TSR programs is causing a memoryconflict, remove the commands that start them from thestart-up file. If the problem you were experiencing doesnot recur, one of the TSR programs probably created theconflict. Add the TSR commands back into the start-upfiles one at a time until you identify which TSR programis creating the conflict.