Fault Isolation Using Diagnostics - Texas Instruments Extensa 450 Series Maintenance Manual

5.3.5
PC-Doctor supplied with the Extensa 450 Series Notebooks is a powerful
diagnostics tool that can help you scan an internal RAM system for viruses,
determine the hardware configuration of a local or remote system, benchmark its
performance, analyze the performance of all subsystems, and perform a suite of
interactive and non-interactive tests on attached devices. The test results are stored
in a log which can be printed out (by pressing F2) or saved in a disk file (by pressing
F3).
Features of the diagnostic program are accessed through a series of pull-down
menus and basic keyboard keys (cursor keys to move highlighted pointer, Enter key
to select a highlighted feature, ESC key to cancel a function and move back one
level.
PC-Doctor is typically user friendly but if you don't understand a feature,
context-sensitive "help" information is available at any time by pressing the F1
function key; pressing the F1 function key twice accesses the online Technical
Reference Manual for PC-Doctor.
A powerful set of utilities within PC-Doctor (that can be run locally or remotely)
simplify the task of determining system configuration data, allocating and using
system memory, IRQ and DMA use, what device drivers are installed, what COM
and LPT ports are assigned and what ports are available, identifying partitioning
data for fixed disk drive(s), determining the VGA setup information, reading the
software interrupts/interrupt vectors, etc.
Functionally, PC-Doctor includes the following:
The PC-Doctor diagnostic program contains a group of nine non-Interactive
diagnostics, available from the Diagnostics heading in the main menu, that
permits testing various hardware sections without operator input. You can select
one, several, or all tests from the Diagnostics menu. These tests are
non-destructive; the serial and parallel port tests require disconnecting external
5-6 Troubleshooting

Fault Isolation Using Diagnostics

Group of nine non-Interactive diagnostic tests that perform a non-destructive
test of the major hardware functions in the notebook (Processor, Memory,
System board, video section, serial and parallel ports (when loopback adapters
are installed), hard disk and floppy disk.
Group of seven Interactive tests (require operator input) for testing the
keyboard, video sections, sound subsystem, mouse, joystick, diskette drive,
printer subsystem and SCSI/CD-ROM Drive subsystems.
Utility that provides detailed system information such as configuration data,
allocation and use of system memory, IRQ and DMA use, what device drivers
are installed, what COM and LPT ports are assigned and what ports are
available, partitioning data for fixed disk drive(s), VGA setup information,
software interrupts and interrupt vectors.
Group of special purpose utilities to run other tests from PC-Doctor, perform a
virus scan of the internal RAM system, edit configuration files, surface scan
hard drives, measure system performance, open a DOS prompt, provides
terminal access to devices connected to serial ports, supports memory debug
operations, enables remote operations, permits deep discharge of notebook
batteries and provides an extensive test reporting function.