Dell Latitude XPi Reference Guide - Page 87

• If the response when you press a trackball or mouse button is different from the usual response or the response you anticipated, the button contact may be damaged. • A trackball or mouse button does not work at all. • The cursor does not respond on the screen in accor- dance with the movements you make with the trackball or external mouse. Subtests There are no subtests for the Mouse Test. Diskette Drives Test Group The subtests in the Diskette Drives Test Group allow you to test diskette drives of all capacities. NOTE: Before running the Diskette Drives Test Group, install a CD-ROM drive in the options bay and attach the diskette drive to the parallel connector on the back of the computer. The subtests in the test group will fail if you do not have a diskette drive attached to the parallel connector. Why Run a Diskette Drives Test? 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 you should run the subtests in the Diskette Drives Test Group more than once using diskettes from different sources. Another possible cause of diskette drive problems is human error-typing a command in an incorrect form (usually called a syntax error). Be sure you have entered the command properly. When the diskette and command syntax are eliminated as causes, the following symptoms 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. Subtests The four diskette drive subtests available in the Diskette Drives Test Group confirm the following drive functions: • Change Line Test Checks for bent pins on the diskette drive controller and for defective lines on the diskette cable • Seek Test Checks the drive's ability to search for a specified track on the diskette and to position the read/write heads of the drive to all tracks • Read Test Positions the read/write heads at each cylinder of the diskette 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 Hard-Disk Drives (Non-SCSI) Test Group The subtests in the Hard-Disk Drives (Non-SCSI) Test Group check the functionality of up to two hard-disk drives of any capacity. The subtests check the storage capability of a drive as well as the hard-disk drive controller (which affects the ability to read from and write to the drive). Why Run a Hard-Disk Drives Test? If you check your hard-disk drive to determine the amount of available space, your operating system will probably report problem areas. Problem areas on harddisk drives are common, because most hard-disk drives have a small amount of space that is not usable. The hard-disk drive keeps a record of this space so that the computer will not attempt to use it. Identification of unusable disk space, unless it is an unusually large Running the Dell Diagnostics 4-17