How to Run Diagnostic on Dell - See if Hard Drive OK

[deebeee]

I've been working with exile360 and AdvancedSetup on getting my computer to run correctly, but it seems to be more of a system or hard drive problem at this point.

A friend advised me to first run the Dell diagnostic -- I remember doing this years ago and can't remember the exact steps, just that you tap on the F7 or F something key as you are starting your computer.

Does anyone know the exact F key to use and the steps in this.

This would tell me whether there are problems on my hard drive.

Thanks.

[arfamow]

I've been working with exile360 and AdvancedSetup on getting my computer to run correctly, but it seems to be more of a system or hard drive problem at this point.

A friend advised me to first run the Dell diagnostic -- I remember doing this years ago and can't remember the exact steps, just that you tap on the F7 or F something key as you are starting your computer.

Does anyone know the exact F key to use and the steps in this.

This would tell me whether there are problems on my hard drive.

Thanks.

Hi deebeee

I have also been reading up about Dell diagnostics today, here is what I read.

1 Restart the system.

2 Press the <F12> key to enter the one time boot menu.

3 Insert the Dell Resource CD into the CD-ROM drive.

4 In the Boot Device Menu select the option for the IDE CD-ROM Device

5 The Dell Resource CD will boot to a menu allowing you to boot from the CD-ROM or the hard drive. Choose to boot from the CD-ROM.

6 After the CD-ROM boot process completes, another menu will appear. Select the option to "Run the 32 Bit Dell Diagnostics".

7 A message is displayed that describes what will happen after the diagnostics run. Press the <enter> key after reading the message.

8 When more than one version of the diagnostics are present on the Dell Resource CD there will be a menu to select the version. Select the version that lists your model number.

That's about all it says, hope it's of some use.