Acer Extensa 450 Maintenance Manual

5
Troubleshooting Procedures
5.1 General
This section provides the following information:
·Overview of the fault isolation process
·Guidelines for isolating computer malfunctions to replaceable subassemblies 
·Instructions for executing diagnostics and interpreting error messages. 
5.2  Overview of Fault Isolation Process
The fault isolation process (summarized in Figure 5-1) consists of the following: 
·Quick Check of the following:
·Notebook power system (including battery packs and AC Adapter...

START
COMPUTER
TROUBLE
INDICATION
?
DEAD
COMPUTER
SYMTOMS
?
RUN
SELF TEST
ERROR
MESSAGE
?
MODEM
PROBLEM
?
RUN
DIAGNOSTICS
DIAGNOSTICS
ERROR MSG
?
NOYES NOYES
SEE PARAGRAPH
5.3.5 NOYES
SEE PARAGRAPH
5.3.4
NO
SEE
PARAGRAPHS
5.3.1 & 5.3.2 NOWHEN POWER SWITCH
SET TO ON,, NO
INDICATION OF POWER;
SCREEN DARK, STATUS
LEDs EXTINGUISHED
SET POWER SWITCH
TO ON. SELFTEST
AUTOMATICALLY RUNSYES
See Appendix D
(PC Doctor)
Figure 5-1  Troubleshooting Flowchart
   
5-2 Troubleshooting 

·Try rebooting the system (CTRL-ALT-DEL); restore system from diskettes, if
necessary.
·If the computer is capable of running the Setup program; check the serial and
parallel port configurations, and other features that may affect system
operation.
·Run Diagnostics to further isolate problem area (See Paragraph 5.3.5).
·For indicated hardware failures, cycle power and repeat self test to verify that a
hard failure has occurred. 
·Remove and replace suspect hardware (as described in Section 6 of this...

·If the AC outlet voltage, AC Adapter, and battery packs test normal but the
computer will not power up, replace the Power Supply Board and/or Battery
Board as described in Section 6.
 
5.3.2  Troubleshooting a Display Problem
If the LCD remains blank when you turn on the computer, and the status indicators
light, check the following controls on the display (See Figure 3-1):
Figure5-2  Troubleshooting Block Diagram
   
5-4 Troubleshooting 

·LCD standby mode - If the LCD backlight remains off, even with the Contrast
Control set to its highest position, the LCD may be in Standby Mode
. Press the
Standby
 or Power
 button to power up the system.
·Notebook Set for External Monitor- use CMOS Setup to reset notebook. 
·LCD - Replace the cover-display assembly as described in Section 6 of this
manual. 
·Low battery - Use a fully charged battery.
5.3.3  Fault Isolation Using Selftest 
When the computer is first powered up, it automatically...

5.3.5  Fault Isolation Using Diagnostics 
PC-Doctor supplied with the Extensa 450 Series Notebooks is a powerful
diagnostics tool that can help you scan an internal RAM system for viruses,
determine the hardware configuration of a local or remote system, benchmark its
performance, analyze the performance of all subsystems, and perform a suite of
interactive and non-interactive tests on attached devices. The test results are stored
in a log which can be printed out (by pressing F2) or saved in a disk file...

devices from your notebook and installing loopback plugs. The Non-Interactive test
categories include: 
·CPU and Co-Processor Tests
·Base RAM memory test
·System Board test
·Video Test
·Com1 and LPT1 serial port tests
·Parallel Port Test
·Fixed Disk test
·Diskette Drive tests
·Other devices (Sound card, PCMCIA options, etc.)
Interactive Tests 
The PC-Doctor diagnostic test includes a suite of seven Interactive tests that require
operator input during the course of the test. The Interactive Tests...

Supporting Online documentation 
The PC-Doctor Diagnostic contains the following online information sources: 
·Online Technical Manual- selected at any time by pressing F1 key twice or by
clicking on the Question Mark in the upper left hand corner of any PC-Doctor
Menu
·On-line Help system that provides context sensitive information from every
PC-Doctor screen- accessed by pressing F1 key once (pressing F1 twice gets
you into the online manual)
5.3.5.1    User Interface to PC-Doctor
PC-Doctor is...

Where the value 1440 is the capacity of the diskette (1.44 MB in this example). 
4.     Get into the PC-Doctor directory ( type CD C:\PCDR 
and press Enter
)
5.       Copy the PC-Doctor files to the bootable diskette using the following
command:
 XCOPY C:. A:.
After completion of this procedure, you should have a bootable diskette containing
PC-Doctor. 
5.3.5.3    Running PC-Doctor 
PC-Doctor is a DOS-resident program that can be run from either hard disk or from
the bootable diskette you previously...

6
Field Service
6.1  Introduction
This section contains preventive and corrective maintenance procedures for the
Extensa 450 Series Notebook Computers. The first part of the section describes the
computer cleaning procedures and preferred handling procedures for sensitive
components (e.g. disk drives, batteries).
The second part of the section identifies all field replaceable parts; the remainder of
the section contains removal and replacement procedures for the field replaceable
parts. 
6.2   Preventive...