Running the System Diagnostics 121Running the System DiagnosticsIf you experience a problem with your system, run the diagnostics beforecalling for technical assistance. The purpose of the diagnostics is to test yoursystem's hardware without requiring additional equipment or risking dataloss. If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, service and supportpersonnel can use diagnostics test results to help you solve the problem.Using Online DiagnosticsTo assess a system problem, first use the Online Diagnostics. OnlineDiagnostics is a suite of diagnostic programs, or test modules, that includediagnostic tests on chassis and storage components such as hard drives,physical memory, communications and printer ports, NICs, CMOS, andmore. If you are unable to identify the problem using the online diagnostics,then use the embedded system diagnostics.The files required to run the online diagnostics for systems running supportedMicrosoft® Windows® and Linux operating systems are available atsupport.dell.com and on the CDs that came with your system. Forinformation about using diagnostics, see the Dell Online Diagnostics User'sGuide.Embedded System Diagnostics FeaturesThe system diagnostics provides a series of menus and options for particulardevice groups or devices. The system diagnostics menus and options allowyou to:• Run tests individually or collectively• Control the sequence of tests• Repeat tests• Display, print, or save test results• Temporarily suspend testing if an error is detected or terminate testingwhen a user-defined error limit is reached• View help messages that briefly describe each test and its parameters
