Serial/Infrared Ports Test Group; Subtests - Dell PowerEdge 6350 Installation And Troubleshooting Manual

5-20 Dell PowerEdge 6350 Systems Installation and Troubleshooting Guide
Read Test
Positions the read/write heads at each cylinder of the diskette for reading data
and verifies that all tracks on the diskette can be read correctly
Write Test
Positions the read/write heads at each cylinder of the diskette and verifies that all
tracks on the diskette can be written to correctly
Very often, a diskette drive problem may first appear to be a diskette problem. A box
of defective diskettes might produce faulty-drive error messages. The test results can
be confusing, so Dell suggests running the subtests in the Diskette Drives Test group
more than once using diskettes from different sources.
A command that is typed in an incorrect form (usually called a syntax error) is another
possible cause of diskette drive problems. Be sure you have entered the command in
the proper form.
If the diskette(s) and command syntax are eliminated as causes, the following symp-
toms usually suggest a drive problem and warrant running a subtest in the Diskette
Drives Test group:
An error message appears on the screen stating that the computer cannot read
from or write to a diskette.
A diskette cannot be properly formatted, or format error messages appear on the
screen.
Data on diskettes is corrupted or lost; these problems may be intermittent.
The subtests in the Serial/Infrared Ports Test group check the computer's interface
with external devices, such as a printer and a mouse, that are connected to the com-
puter through a serial or infrared port. The subtests in this test group are not intended
as a diagnostic test for the actual peripheral attached to each port.
NOTES: With certain modems installed, the subtests in the Serial/Infrared Ports Test
group may fail because the modem appears to the diagnostics as a serial or infrared
port, but it cannot be tested as a serial or infrared port. If a modem is installed and
one of the subtests in the Serial/Infrared Ports Test group fails, remove the modem
and run the diagnostic tests again.
If an external loopback connector is not attached to a serial or infrared port, the Serial
External Transmission Test will fail for that port and the results of this test should be
ignored. An external modem connected to the port does not substitute for an external
loopback connector.