Dell Inspiron 3700 Reference And Troubleshooting Manual page 54


An error message
The power indicator
The keyboard status
indicators
The diskette-drive access
indicator
The CD-ROM/hard-disk
drive access indicator
A series of flashes
An unfamiliar constant
scraping or grinding
sound when a drive is
accessed
The absence of a familiar
sound
NOTE: For the full name of an abbreviation or acronym used in this table, see the Glossary in the system Help.
3-6 Dell Inspiron 3700 System Reference and Troubleshooting Guide
Looking at and listening to your computer is important in determining the source of a
problem. Look and listen for the indications described in Table 3-1.
If the problem is still not resolved, see the next subsection, "System Setup Program
Options."
 
See Appendix C, "Error Messages and Flash Codes."
If the computer's power status indicator does not come on, see "Troubleshoot-
ing a Power Failure" found later in this chapter.
Press the <Num Lock> key, the <Caps Lock> key, and the <Scroll Lock> key to
toggle their respective status indicator. If the indicators do not light up, run the
PC-AT Compatible Keyboards device group in the Dell Diagnostics (for
instructions, see "Running the Dell Diagnostics" found later in this chapter).
The diskette-drive access indicator lights up when data is accessed on the
diskette drive. You can test this indicator by inserting a diskette into the drive,
typing dir a: at an MS-DOS prompt, and pressing <Enter>. If the
diskette-drive access indicator does not light up, see "Troubleshooting the
Diskette Drive" found later in this chapter.
The CD-ROM/hard-disk drive access indicator lights up when data is accessed
on the CD-ROM drive or the hard-disk drive. You can test this indicator by
typing dir c: at an MS-DOS prompt and pressing <Enter>. If the CD-ROM/
hard-disk drive access indicator does not light up, see "Troubleshooting the
Hard-Disk Drive" or "Troubleshooting the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive" found
later in this chapter.
See Appendix C, "Error Messages and Flash Codes."
Make sure the sound is not caused by the application program that is running.
The sound could also be caused by a hardware malfunction. See Chapter 5,
"Getting Help," for instructions on obtaining technical assistance from Dell.
When you turn on the computer, you can hear the hard-disk drive spin up, and
the computer tries to access the boot files from the hard-disk drive or the
diskette drive. If your computer does not boot, call Dell for technical assistance.
(See Chapter 5, "Getting Help," for instructions.) Otherwise, see "Running the
Dell Diagnostics" found later in this chapter.
You can easily correct certain computer problems by verifying the settings for System
Setup program options. When you boot the computer, it compares the system
configuration information with the current hardware configuration. If the computer's