Dell OptiPlex N Troubleshooting Manual

Also see for OptiPlex HUB: Owner's manual Quick start guide Owner's manual Setup guide Technical guidebook

Contents

Dell OptiPlex N Troubleshooting Manual Manual pdf 62 page image

4-20 Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guidethe appropriate subtest in the Parallel Ports TestGroup.• If your software and the Dell Diagnostics do not rec-ognize that you have a parallel port, you shouldcheck the Parallel Port category in the System Setupprogram, and if necessary, run the appropriate sub-test in the Parallel Ports Test Group.SCSI Devices Test GroupThe subtests in the SCSI Devices Test Group check thefunctionality of up to four SCSI host adapters and all theSCSI devices attached to them.NOTES: Before conducting these subtests on CD-ROMdrives, insert a CD with audio and data tracks (such as amultimedia CD) into each CD-ROM drive. All of the sub-tests, except for the Audio Output Test, require a CD withdata tracks. The Audio Output Test requires a CD withaudio tracks.If a CD-ROM drive is empty or if it contains a CD thatdoes not have the required data or audio tracks (depend-ing on the subtest[s] being conducted), the subtest(s) willfail.SubtestsThe seven subtests in the SCSI Devices Test Group con-firm the following drive functions:• Internal DiagnosticCauses the device to run its internal self-test.• Seek TestChecks the device’s ability to search for a specifiedtrack on the device and to position its read/writeheads to all tracks.• Read TestPositions the read/write heads at each block of thedevice for reading data and verifies that all tracks onthe device can be read correctly.• Write TestPositions the read/write heads at each block of thedevice and verifies that all tracks on the device canbe written to correctly.• Audio Output TestCauses the CD-ROM drive to begin playing the firstaudio track on an audio CD. To determine whetherthe test passed, listen to the audio output of the drive.NOTE: To conduct the Audio Output Test, you mustselect it individually. It will not run as part of the testgroup.• Eject Removable MediaCauses a CD-ROM drive to eject its CD or a SCSItape drive to eject its tape cartridge.• Display InformationDisplays a screen of information about each SCSIhost adapter in the computer, the resources allocatedto each SCSI host adapter, and a list of target devicesattached to the SCSI host adapter.Why Run a SCSI Devices Test?If you check your SCSI 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. The hard-disk drive keeps a record of this space so that yourcomputer will not attempt to use it. Identification ofunusable disk space, unless it is an unusually largeamount (over five percent of the possible total), shouldnot be regarded as a cause for testing the hard-disk drive.These are the most common symptoms that might promptyou to test a SCSI device:• A SCSI hard-disk drive fails during the boot routine.• Seek errors are reported by the operating system orapplication programs.• An error message appears on the screen stating thatthe computer cannot read from or write to a SCSIdevice.• Data on a SCSI device is corrupted or lost; this prob-lem may be intermittent. Once saved by a program,files cannot be properly recalled.