Acer Extensa 600 Maintenance Manual

                                                                                                  Troubleshooting Procedures  5-1
5
Troubleshooting Procedures
5.1 Introduction
This section provides an overview of the fault isolation process, provides guidelines for 
isolating 60x/65x Series computer malfunctions to replaceable subassemblies and 
provides instructions for executing diagnostics and interpreting error messages.
5.2 Overview of Fault Isolation Process
The fault isolation process  (summarized...

5-2   Troubleshooting Procedures
Figure 5-1  Notebook Computer Troubleshooting Flow Chart
START
COMPUTER
TROUBLE
INDICATION
?
DEA D
COMPUT ER
SYMPTOMS
?
RUN
SELF TEST
ERROR
MESSAGE
?
MODEM
PROBLEM
?
RUN
DIAGNOSTICS
DIAG NOSTI CS
E RROR MS G
?
NOYES NOYES
SEE PARAGRAPH
5.3.4
NO
YE SSee Paragraphs
5.3.3.1 and 5.3.3.2
NO
See Paragraphs
5.3.1 &  5.3.2 NO
YES
YES
See Paragraph
 5.4 
When Power button 
is pressed, no indication
of power is present (dark
LCD, no Status icons lit, 
no disk drive activity, etc.)...

                                                                                           Troubleshooting Procedures    5-3  
 
5.3 Troubleshooting Procedures
The built-in self test program and the disk resident diagnostics program (PC-Doctor) 
are useful tools in computer troubleshooting. However, if the computer has a power, 
keyboard or display problem, you must first solve this problem before running 
diagnostics. If the computer powers up and displays messages on the LCD or emits a 
series of...

5-4   Troubleshooting Procedures
light, check the following controls on the display):
¨LCD suspend mode - press Shift to terminate Suspend mode.
¨Brightness set too low - press Fn-Up Arrow keys to increase screen 
brightness
¨Notebook Set for External Monitor - press Fn-F12 to switch to the internal 
screen.
¨Faulty LCD - Replace the cover-display assembly as described in Section 6 
of this manual.
¨Low battery - Use a fully charged battery and/or plug in the AC adapter.
Table 5-1 contains fault...

                                                                                           Troubleshooting Procedures    5-5  
5.3.3 Fault Isolation Using Self Test 
When the computer is first powered up, it automatically performs a self test of its central 
hardware and memory functions. During self test (which lasts for a few seconds), the 
display shows copyright and version number information.
Note: Some procedures in this paragraph require you to use keystroke 
sequences, such as Ctrl-Alt-Del. To...

5-6   Troubleshooting Procedures
Table 5-2  Self Test Error Messages
Diskette drive 0 failure
This message indicates the internal floppy disk (drive A) has failed (or is not 
installed on the computer). Press Ctrl-Alt-Esc to ensure that drive type is 
correctly set (3.5 inch, 1.44 MB).
Run the Diagnostics to check Drive A as described in Paragraph 5.4.  Also try 
using a new, correctly formatted disk.
Diskette read failure - strike F1 to try to retry boot
This message indicates the disk is defective or...

                                                                                           Troubleshooting Procedures    5-7  
Table 5-2  Self Test Error Messages (Continued)
Try the keyboard keys to determine if they appear to be working properly and 
reboot the computer.
Note: Also, ensure that no key is pressed during power up and that no keys are 
jammed.
If the self test still fails, execute the diagnostics as described in Paragraph 5.4.
No boot device available - press F1 to retry boot
This message...

5-8   Troubleshooting Procedures
Table 5-2  Self Test Error Messages (Continued)
Memory tests terminated by keystroke
This message tells you that you have pressed the Space Bar while the memory 
tests were running. Pressing the Space Bar during memory testing stops the 
tests.
Press F1 to continue
This message tells you that an error was found during self test execution. Press 
F1 to attempt to reboot the computer.
Save-to-Disk file is too small
This message occurs when you add memory. Use the MS-DOS...

                                                                                           Troubleshooting Procedures    5-9  
Table 5-3   Self Test Beep Messages
Beep Code Port 80h Description
None 01h  CPU Register Test in Progress
1-1-3  02h  CMOS Write/Read Failure
1-1-4 03h  ROM BIOS Checksum Failure
1-2-1 04h Programmable Interval Timer Failure
1-2-2 05h DMA Initialization Failure
1-2-3 06h DMA Page Register Write/Read Failure
1-3-1 08h DRAM Refresh Verification Failure
None 09h  1ST 64K RAM Test...

5-10   Troubleshooting Procedures
Table 5-3   Self Test Beep Codes (continued)
Beep Code Port 80h Description
3-1-4 23h Slave Interrupt Mask Register Failure
None 25h Interrupt Vector Loading In Progress
3-2-4 27h Keyboard Controller Test Failure
None 28h CMOS Power Failure and Checksum in 
   Progress
None 29h CMOS Configuration Validation in Progress
3-3-4 2Bh Screen Memory Test Failure
3-4-1 2Ch Screen Initialization Failure
3-4-2 2Dh Screen Retrace Test Failure
None 2Eh  Search for Video ROM in...