Dell OptiPlex 170L - Manual (Page 126)

CD drive problems
Problems writing to a CD-RW drive
DVD drive problems
Hard drive problems
Dropped or Damaged Computer
Adjust the Windows volume control — Click the speaker icon in the lower-right corner of your screen.
l Ensure that the volume is turned up by clicking the slidebar and dragging it to the right.
l Ensure that the sound is not muted by clicking any boxes that are checked.
Test the drive with another CD — Insert another CD to eliminate the possibility that the original CD is defective.
Check the speakers and subwoofer — See " Sound and Speaker Problems ."
Ensure that Windows recognizes the drive — Click the Start button and click My Computer. If the CD drive is not listed, perform a full scan
with your antivirus software to check for and remove viruses. Viruses can sometimes prevent Windows from recognizing the drive.
Clean the disc — Use a commercially available cleaning kit.
Close other programs — The CD-RW drive must receive a steady stream of data when writing. If the stream is interrupted, an error occurs.
Try closing all programs before writing to the CD-RW.
NOTE: Because of different regions worldwide and different disc formats, not all DVD titles work in all DVD drives.
Test the drive with another DVD — Insert another DVD to eliminate the possibility that the original DVD is defective.
Ensure that Windows recognizes the drive — Click the Start button and click My Computer. If the DVD drive is not listed, perform a full scan
with your antivirus software to check for and remove viruses. Viruses can sometimes prevent Windows from recognizing the drive.
Clean the disc — Use a commercially available cleaning kit.
Check for interrupt request conflicts — See " Resolving Software and Hardware Incompatibilities ."
Test the hard drive —
Windows XP and Windows 2000 — Run the Check Disk utility:
1. For Windows XP, click the Start button and click My Computer. For Windows 2000, double-click My Computer on the Windows
desktop.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Under Error-checking, click Check Now.
4. Click Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
5. Click Start.
MS-DOS
Type scandisk x: at an MS-DOS prompt, where x is the hard drive letter, and then press .
Run the Dell Diagnostics — If the tests indicate a faulty drive or drive controller, contact Dell.
Check the cable connections —
1. Ensure that the DC power cables from the power supply are firmly connected to the connectors on each drive.
2. Verify that the interface cable for each drive is firmly connected to the drive and to the system board.
3. Ensure that the control panel cable is firmly connected to the system board.
If the hard drive activity light does not blink during the boot routine, contact Dell.
If a drive error message displays, see " Error Messages " for an explanation.
If the primary hard drive that contains the operating system does not boot, files in the operating system might be corrupt. For more
information, see your operating system documentation.
CAUTION: Before you begin this procedure, follow the safety instructions in the Product Information Guide.