Confirming The System Configuration Information - Dell Inspiron 2600 Service Manual

Hide thumbs Also See for Inspiron 2600:

System information manual (168 pages)

Owner's manual (134 pages)

Factory service manual (77 pages)

Table Of Contents

Table of Contents

to use them.

Keys

Explains the functions of the all of the keystrokes that can be used in the Dell Diagnostics.

Device

Describes the test group that is presently highlighted in the Device Groups area on the main menu screen. It also provides reasoning for using

Group

some tests.

Device

Describes the function and purpose of the highlighted device in the Device Groups area. For example, the following information appears when

you select the Device Help category for Diskette in the Device Groups list:

Diskette

Drive A

The diskette disk drive device reads and writes data to and from diskettes. Diskettes are flexible recording media, sometimes

contained in hard shells. Diskette recording capacities are small and access times are slow relative to hard disk drives, but

they provide a convenient means of storing and transferring data.

Test

Provides a thorough explanation of the test procedure of each highlighted test group subtest. An example of the Diskette subtest floppy drive

Seek Test is as follows:

Diskette

Drive A - floppy drive Seek Test

This test verifies the drive's ability to position its read/write heads. The test operates in two passes: first, seeking from the

beginning to ending cylinders inclusively, and second, seeking alternately from the beginning to ending cylinders with

convergence towards the middle.

Versions

Lists the version numbers of the subtests that are used by the Dell Diagnostics.

Confirming the System Configuration Information

When you boot your computer from your Drivers and Utilities CD, the diagnostics checks your system configuration information and displays it in the Device

Groups area on the main screen.

The following sources supply this configuration information for the diagnostics:

The system configuration information settings (stored in NVRAM) that you selected while using the system setup program

Identification tests of the microprocessor, the video controller, the keyboard controller, and other key components

BIOS configuration information temporarily saved in RAM

Do not be concerned if the Device Groups area does not list the names of all the components or devices you know are part of your computer. For example,

you may not see a printer listed, although you know one is attached to your computer. Instead, the printer is listed as a parallel port. The computer

recognizes the parallel port as LPT1, which is an address that tells the computer where to send outgoing information and where to look for incoming

information. Because your printer is a parallel communications device, the computer recognizes the printer by its LPT1 address and identifies it as a parallel

port. You can test your printer connection in the Parallel Ports tests.

Back to Contents Page

Table of Contents