Users Guide

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Finding Software Solutions: Dell
®
PowerEdge
®
1300 Systems Installation
and Troubleshooting Guide
Overview | Installing and Configuring Software | Using Software
Overview
Because most computer systems have several application programs installed in addition to the operating system,
isolating a software problem can be confusing. Software errors can also appear to be hardware malfunctions at first.
Software problems can result from the following circumstances:
Improper installation or configuration of a program
Input errors
Device drivers that may conflict with certain application programs
Interrupt conflicts between devices
You can confirm that a computer system problem is caused by software by running the System Set Test Group as
described in Running the Dell Diagnostics. If all tests in the test group are completed successfully, the error condition is
most likely caused by software.
This file provides some general guidelines for analyzing software problems. For detailed troubleshooting information on
a particular program, see the documentation that accompanied the software or consult the support service for the
software.
Installing and Configuring Software
You should use virus-scanning software to check newly acquired programs and files for viruses before installing the
programs on the computer's hard-disk drive. Viruses, which are pieces of code that can replicate themselves, can
quickly use all available system memory, damage and/or destroy data stored on the hard-disk drive, and permanently
affect the performance of the programs they infect. Several commercial virus-scanning programs are available for
purchase, and most bulletin board services (BBSs) archive freely distributed virus-scanning programs that you can
download with a modem.
Before installing a program, you should read its documentation to learn how the program works, what hardware it
requires, and what its defaults are. A program usually includes installation instructions in its accompanying
documentation and a software installation routine on its program diskettes.
The software installation routine assists users in transferring the appropriate program files to the computer's hard-disk
drive. Installation instructions may provide details about how to configure the operating system to successfully run the
program. You should always read the installation instructions before running a program's installation routine.
When you run the installation routine, you should be prepared to respond to prompts for information about how the
computer's operating system is configured, what type of computer you have, and what peripherals are connected to the
computer.
Using Software