Diagnosing Problems; System Test Procedures - Gateway P-79 Service Manual

Diagnosing problems

System test procedures

Testing the optical drive
140
CHAPTER 4: Troubleshooting
Use the following procedure as a guide for diagnosing notebook problems.
Important
The diagnostic tests are intended to test only Acer products. Non-Acer products,
prototype cards, or modified options can give false errors and invalid system responses.
1
Obtain the failing symptoms in as much detail as possible.
2
Verify the symptoms by attempting to re-create the failure by running the diagnostic
test or by repeating the same operation.
3
Use the following table with the verified symptom to determine which page to go to.
Symptoms (Verified)
Power failure. (The power indicator does
not go on or stay on.)
POST does not complete. No beep or error
codes are indicated.
POST detects an error and displayed
messages on screen.
Other symptoms (LCD display problems or
others).
Symptoms cannot be re-created
(intermittent problems).
Use the following procedure to isolate a problem in an optical drive controller, driver, or
drive.
Important
Make sure that the CD-ROM does not have any label attached to it. The label can
cause damage to the drive or can cause the drive to fail.
To test the optical drive:
1
Boot from the diagnostics diskette and start the diagnostics program.
2
Run the CD-ROM Test and see if the test completes successfully.
3
Follow the instructions in the message window.
If an error occurs, reconnect the connector on the system board.
If the error still remains:
4
Reconnect the external optical drive to a USB jack.
5
Replace the external optical drive.
Go To
"Testing the power system" on page 141
"Power-On Self-Test (POST) error
message" on page 143
"Undetermined problems" on page 155
"Index of error messages" on page 144
"Power-On Self-Test (POST) error
message" on page 143
Use the customer-reported symptoms
and go to "Power-On Self-Test (POST)
error message" on page 143
"Intermittent problems" on page 155
"Undetermined problems" on page 155