5
Diagnostics
If you experience a problem with your computer, run the ePSA diagnostics before contacting Dell for
technical assistance. The purpose of running diagnostics is to test your computer's hardware without
requiring additional equipment or risking data loss. If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, service
and support personnel can use the diagnostics results to help you solve the problem.
Enhanced Pre-Boot System Assessment (ePSA)
Diagnostics
The ePSA diagnostics (also known as system diagnostics) performs a complete check of your hardware.
The ePSA is embedded with the BIOS and is launched by the BIOS internally. The embedded system
diagnostics provides a set of options for particular devices or device groups allowing you to:
• Run tests automatically or in an interactive mode
• Repeat tests
• Display or save test results
• Run thorough tests to introduce additional test options to provide extra information about the failed
device(s)
• View status messages that inform you if tests are completed successfully
• View error messages that inform you of problems encountered during testing
CAUTION: Use the system diagnostics to test only your computer. Using this program with other
computers may cause invalid results or error messages.
NOTE: Some tests for specific devices require user interaction. Always ensure that you are present
at the computer terminal when the diagnostic tests are performed.
You can launch the ePSA diagnostics by two ways:
1.
Power-on the computer.
2.
As the computer boots, press the <F12> key as the Dell logo appears.
3.
On the boot menu screen, select the
Diagnostics
option.
The
Enhanced Pre-boot System Assessment
window displays, listing all devices detected in the
computer. The diagnostics starts running the tests on all the detected devices.
4.
If you wish to run a diagnostic test on a specific device, press
<Esc>
and click
Yes
to stop the
diagnostic test.
5.
Select the device from the left pane and click
Run Tests
6.
If there are any issues, error codes are displayed.
Note the error code and contact Dell.
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