Altos 486 Setup guide

~_~ ALTOS _
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486
DiAqNOSTics

486 Diagnostics

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ALTOS is a registered trade-
mark of Altos Computer
Systems.
WorkNet is a trademark of
Altos Computer Systems.

HOW THIS
MANUAL IS
ORGANIZED
iii
About this Manual
This manual explains how to use the System
Diagnostic Executive (SDX) verification programs
and utilities.
The verification programs can help you pinpoint
problems should the 486 system malfunction.
The programs and utilities are loaded from the
diagnostic floppy diskette supplied with your
system. You are then asked to respond to a
series of questions and prompts provided by
the program.
The ~ Diagnostic Manual contains three
chapters and two appendixes.
Chapter 1 contains general information about the
recommended test sequence and instructions for
loading the Diagnostic pr'ograms.
It also contains information for copying
diskettes, which is the first thing you should do
with your Diagnostic diskette.
Be sure to read Chapter 1 before running any of
the verification routines.
Chapter 2 contains instructions for using the
utility programs that are contained on the
Diagnostic diskette.
Chapter 3 describes each of the diagnostic
programs that test the components of the 486
system.
Appendix A explains error messages you may
encounter while running the diagnostic programs.

DATA ENTRY
CONVENTIONS
RELATED
PUBLICATIONS
iv
Appendix B describes how to construct a loopback
connector, which you will need to run two of the
Serial Port diagnostic tests.
Special type conventions are used throughout this
manual. The most important of these are:
o Information that you enter in response to a
prompt appears in boldface type; for example,
enter Y.
o The Escape key appears in this text as <ESC).
o The RETURN key appears in this text as <CR).
Pressing the RETURN key usually enters the
data that was previously typed.
o Alphabetic data can be entered in upper or
lower case.
o The CONTROL key is used in combination with
other keys. When you use the CONTROL key,
press it and hold it down while you press the
other key.
o nnn, nn or n stands for a number that appears
on the screen; nnn indicates a three digit
number, nn, a two digit number, and so forth.
o To erase the last character typed, use CONTROL
H, or BACK SPACE. This will work in most cases.
o To erase an entire entry, use the RUBOUT or
DELETE key.
486 Setting Up Guide, PIN 690-15889-001
486 Maintenance Manual, PIN 690-15683-001
486 System Reference Manual, PIN 690-15707-001

v
1-1 BEFORE YOU BEGIN
1-2 GENERAL INFORMATION
1-2 BEFORE YOU START
1-3 RECOMMENDED TEST SEQUENCE
1-3 HOW TO BEGIN
2-1 USING THE UTILITY PROGRAMS
2-2 HARD DISK DISPLAY FLAGGED SECTOR
2-5 HARD DISK FLAG BAD SECTOR
2-7 HARD DISK FORMAT
2-9 FLOPPY DISK COpy
2-12 FLOPPY DISK FORMAT
2-14 RETURN TO MAIN MENU
3-1 USING THE DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAMS
3-2 MEMORY VERIFICATION
3-5 MEMORY MANAGEMENT VERIFICATION
3-7 SERIAL PORT
Menu Descriptions
Select Terminal Port
Echo Test
Barber Pole Test
Serial Memory Verification
Serial Channel Single Pass
Serial Channel Long Loop
3-16 SYSTEf.tl TEST
With Hard Disk Not Included
With Hard Disk Included
3-21 WORKNET LOOPBACK
3-23 RETURN TO MAIN MENU
APPENDICES
A-I ERROR MESSAGES
B-1 CONSTRUCTING A LOOPBACK CONNECTOR
Contents

CONTENTS
1-1
1-2 GENERAL INFORMATION
1-2 BEFORE YOU START
BeforeYou Begin 1
1-3 RECOMMENDED TEST SEQUENCE
1-3 HOW TO BEGIN

GENERAL
INFORMATION
BEFORE YOU
START
1-2
This manual explains how tOr use the Diagnostic
diskette that comes with your 486 system.
The System Diagnostic Executive (SDX) diskette
contains menu-driven utility and verification
programs to pinpoint problems with your system
and perform such tasks as copying floppy disks.
You can test the following components of your
system:
0 Cen
tral
processing
unit
(CPU)
0 Random Access Memory
(RAM)
0
Serial communication channels
0 WorkNet
interface
0
Hard disk drive
0 Floppy
diskette drive
The utility programs on the Diagnostic diskette
include:
o Floppy diskette format
o Floppy diskette copy
o
Hard disk format
o Flag hard disk bad sector
After a test is run, a pass or fail message
appears on the display screen. If a failed
message appears, contact authorized personnel
or your local dealer.
The first and most important thing you should do
with your Diagnostic diskette is to format
diskettes and make copies of the Diagnostic
diskette and operating system diskettes that
are shipped with your 486 system. This way you
always have a backup disk. Be sure to write-
protect your backup copies.

RECOMMENDED
TEST SEQUENCE
HOW TO BEGIN
1-3
You should make two backup copies of the Diagnostic
diskette. Store the master diskette in a secure
place and use one of the copies to run the Diagnostics.
Formatting and copying floppy diskettes are
explained in Chapter 2.
After formatting and copying your diskettes,
it is recommended that you run the System Test,
with the hard disk not included, to verify that
your system is operating properly. The System Test
verifies the floppy disk drive and the memory.
It is a good idea to run this test before you install
an operating system.
Refer to the System Test section in Chapter 3
for instructions.
The following step-by-step instructions tell you how
to load the SOX (System Diagnostics Executive)
programs into the Altos 486 Computer System.
Step 1. Insert the diagnostic diskette as shown
in Figure 1-1.

1) Open the Floppy Driye
Sl..Q.t..
Press in the door latch
where shown.
2)
Insert the diskette.
With the label side
facing up and toward
you, carefully insert
the diskette until it
locks in place.
3) Close the drive door.
Slide the door latch down
until it locks in place.
Figure 1-1. Loading the Diskette into the Disk Drive
1-4 .

1-5
Step 2. Turn ON the system. The following prompts
appear on the screen.
NOTE
Be ready to quickly press a key when the
screen says "PRESS ANY KEY TO INTERRUPT
AUTO-BOOT. II
486 MONITOR nn.n
Power-up test ••• passed
System configuration:
Memory size (KB)= nnn
Hard disk(s): 1
Floppy drive(s): 1
PRESS ANY KEY TO INTERRUPT AUTO-BOOT
NOTE
If you do not press a key at this point,
the system may attempt to load the current
operating system from the hard disk. If
the system does boot from the hard disk,
you will have to turn off your system and
repeat the previous steps.

1-6
Step 3. After pressing any key to interrupt
the auto-boot, the screen displays:
Select
[1]
to boot
from
Hard Disk
[2] to boot from Floppy Disk
[3]
to
boot from Worknet
[4] to enter Debugger
Enter option:
Step 4. Type 2 to load the Diagnostic diskette
from the floppy disk drive. After a
few
seconds, the Main Diagnostic
Menu appears:
S Y S T E M D I A G NOS TIC E X E CUT I V E
Main Diagnostic Menu
(A) utilities
Enter:
version - nn.n
(B) Diagnostics
If for some reason the Main Diagnostic Menu does
not appear, repeat the steps above.

CONTEMS
2-1
2-2
2-5
2-7
2-9
2-12
2-14
Using the Utility Program 2
HARD DISK DISPLAY FLAGGED SECTOR
HARD DISK FLAG BAD SECTOR
HARD DISK FORMAT
FLOPPY DISK COpy
FLOPPY DISK FORMAT
RETURN TO MAIN MENU

HARD DISK
DISPLAY
FLAGGED
SECTOR
2-2
This chapter describes the utility programs included
on your SDX diskette. You can use these programs to
format and copy floppy diskettes, format the hard
disk, and flag and list hard disk bad sectors.
To use the utility programs, load the Diagnostic
diskette as described in Chapter I and select A
from the Main Diagnostic Menu.
The
screen displays:
utilities Kenu
(A) Bard Disk Display Flagged Sector
(B) Bard Disk Flag Bad Sector
(e) Bard Disk Format
Enter:
(D) Floppy Disk Copy
(E) Floppy Disk Format
(F) Return to Main Menu
The following paragraphs describe each selection of
the Utilities Menu.
This program displays a summary of all the flagged
sectors that exist on your hard disk.
To run this program, select A from the utilities
Menu. The screen displays:
Hard Disk Display Flagged Sector nn.n
Press <ESC> to quit
(A) Drive "
(B) Drive 1
Flag sectors are displayed at the end of pass,
press <CR> to begin or <ESC> to quit

2-3
You must specify which hard disk to test. Select
A to test the built-in disk. Select B to test an
added hard disk.
After you specify which hard disk to test, the
screen displays:
flag sectors are displayed at the end of pass,
press <CR> to begin or <ESC> to quit
Press <CR> to continue. If you wish to return to
the Main Diagnostic Menu, press <ESC>.
After pressing <CR>, the screen displays:
recalibrating
This message usually appears on the screen
briefly, then disappears. Do not be alarmed
if it doesn't appear on your screen.
Next, the screen displays:
~l: Mn
Hd: n

2-4
The program reads through the cylinders and heads,
then lists these as they are checked. One complete
pass reads all cylinders and takes about four minutes.
At the end of a complete pass, or after you press
(ESC), the screen displays the status of the
sectors checked up to that point.
If no flagged or bad sectors were detected, the
screen displays:
**.. Summary ****
No flagged sectors were detected.
Do you wish to run this program again? (y or n)
If you select Y, the system will run the program
again. If you select N, the program returns to
the Main Diagnostic menu.
If flagged or bad sectors were found, the screen
displays:
**** Summary ****
Found nn bad sectors on this disk.
Cylinder Bead Logical Sector
Physical Sector Status
nnn n nn nn
FLAGGED
nnn n nn nn
NOT FLAGGED
Press <CR> to continue.

BARD DISK
FLAG BAD
SECTOR
2-5
NOTE
The program displays up to 40 flagged
and bad sectors. If there are more than
40, the remainder will not be displayed.
If sectors appear that are not flagged, make a
note of the information displayed on the screen.
You will need this information to flag these sectors
as bad so that they will not be used for storing
information.
To flag a bad sector, see the next section of this
chapter, "Hard Disk Flag Bad Sector."
Press <CR> to continue and the following message
appears:
Do you wish to run this program again? (y or n)
If you select Y, the program runs again. If
you select N, the program returns to the Main
Diagnostic menu.
This program flags known bad sectors on the hard
disk so that they will not be used for storing
data.
Each system is tested before it is shipped from the
factory, and any known bad sectors are flagged at
that time.
The Hard Disk Flag Bad Sector program should be
used only if the Hard Disk Display Flagged Sector
program reports an unflagged sector.

2-6
CAUTION
After you begin to enter data into your
system, do not use this program to set
additional bad sector flags, unless you
have a backup of your files.
Once you have flagged a sector as bad, the
system will stop accessing that particular
sector. Any data located in that sector
is lost.
You will usually have to reinstall your
operating system after flagging additional
bad sectors.
Follow these instructions to run the Hard Disk
Flag Bad Sector program.
Select B from the utilities Menu. The screen
displays:
Hard Disk Flag Bad Sector Routine nn.n
CA) Begin Execution
(B) Return to Main Menu
Enter:
Select A to begin the program. The program
prompts you for information regarding the sectOr
you wish to flag as bad. This is the same
information provided by the Hard Disk Display Bad
Sector program.
You can flag only one sector at a time. Enter
the information as prompted and press <CR>. Enter
either the physical or logical sector number; you
do
not need to enter both.
If you bypass the sector number (by pressing
<CR», you are prompted to enter the byte number
in either decimal or hexidecimal form.

BARD DISK
FORMAT
2-7
This information can be found on the Hard Disk
Error Map (also called a Media Defect Report)
attached to the hard disk in side 486 system.
You have to remove the 486 cover to see the map.
It lists flagged bad sectors by track, head,
byte count, and length in bits.
If you enter the byte number in decimal, you will
not see the hexidecimal prompt.
If you decide not to flag a sector as bad after
entering the information, or if you make a mistake
while entering the information, press <ESC> to
return to the Hard Disk Flag Bad Sector Menu.
After you flag a bad sector, you can choose to
flag another bad sector. If you choose not to,
the screen displays:
Do you wish to add this information to the list? (y or n)
You should answer y to this prom~t so that the
newly flagged sector becomes part of a permanent
list of flagged sectors. The Hard Disk Format
program uses this list to automatically flag bad
sectors after reformatting the hard disk.
If you answer N, this sector will not automat-
ically be flagged if you reformat the hard disk.
After responding to this prompt, the program
returns to the Hard Disk Flag Bad Sector Menu.
The
hard disk is formatted prior to shipment from the
factory. Formatting places the cylinder and sector
addresses on the disk, and blocks out areas that can
be written to.
It is usually not necessary to reformat a hard disk
once it is formatted. Doing so destroys all data
(user files, applications, operating systems) on
the disk.