Service Manual

12 Troubleshooting
System Messages
NOTE: If the message you received is not listed in the table, see the documentation
for either the operating system or the program that was running when the message
appeared.
A
LERT! PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT BOOTING THIS SYSTEM HAVE FAILED AT
CHECKPOINT [NNNN]. FOR HELP IN RESOLVING THIS PROBLEM, PLEASE NOTE THIS
CHECKPOINT AND CONTACT DELL TECHNICAL SUPPORT — The computer failed to
complete the boot routine three consecutive times for the same error (see "Contacting
Dell" on page 137).
CMOS
CHECKSUM ERROR — Possible system board failure or RTC battery low.
Replace the battery (see "Replacing the Coin-Cell Battery" on page 118).
CPU
FAN FAILURE — Processor heat sink/fan failure. Replace the heat sink/fan
assembly (see "Processor Heat Sink/Fan Assembly" on page 99).
H
ARD-DISK READ FAILURE — Possible hard drive failure during hard drive boot test.
K
EYBOARD FAILURE — Keyboard failure or keyboard cable loose (see "Keyboard
Problems" on page 22).
N
O BOOT DEVICE AVAILABLE — The system cannot detect a bootable device or
partition.
• If the hard drive is your boot device, ensure that the cables are connected and that
the drive is installed properly and partitioned as a boot device.
• Enter the system setup program (see "System Setup Program" on page 129)
and
ensure that the boot sequence information is correct.
NO TIMER TICK INTERRUPT — A chip on the system board might be malfunctioning
or system board failure (see
"System Setup Program " on page 129 for assistance).
NOTICE – H
ARD DRIVE SELF MONITORING SYSTEM HAS REPORTED THAT A
PARAMETER HAS EXCEEDED ITS NORMAL OPERATING RANGE. DELL RECOMMENDS
THAT YOU BACK UP YOUR DATA REGULARLY. A PARAMETER OUT OF RANGE MAY OR
MAY NOT INDICATE A POTENTIAL HARD DRIVE PROBLEM.—S.M.A.R.T error,
possible hard drive failure. This feature can be enabled or disabled in BIOS setup.
Hardware Troubleshooter
If a device is either not detected during the operating system setup or is
detected, but incorrectly configured, you can use the Hardware
Troubleshooter to resolve the incompatibility.
Windows
®
XP:
1
Click Start → Help and Support .