22.3. Using HP System Information References

The manuals and CDs that ship with HP systems and options can help identify normal activity and proper system setup. HP also provides two other very useful resources for troubleshooting:

• Maintenance and Service Guides

• PartSurfer Service Parts Information

Depending on your situation, you might find the online or printed reference more useful for finding a part number, upgrade information, jumper setting, or other detail.

22.3.1 Maintenance and Service Guides

Maintenance and Service Guides (MSGs) provide system specifications as well as symptoms of failures and troubleshooting hints.

An individual MSG is published for each HP computer product line. The MSG is designed to be used as a troubleshooting guide and reference tool when servicing HP computers.

MSGs are available by product category from the HP Reference Library at http://www3.compaq.com/support/home/selectproduct.asp?destination=reflib.

22.3.2 PartSurfer Service Parts Information

The PartSurfer Service Parts Information tool, shown in Figure 22-2, provides access to parts information for a wide range of HP products.

Figure 22-2. PartSurfer Web site.

HP PartSurfer provides fast, easy, online access to parts information for a wide range of HP products.

With this PartSurfer, you can

• Look up failure codes.

• Search for part information by product name or model number.

• Look up part information by keyword, category or part type.

• Cross-reference exchange to new part numbers.

• Identify all HP products that use or reference a specific part number.

• Generate onscreen and hard-copy reports.

• Display exploded product and part views.

Because of occasional performance issues on the Internet, many customers prefer to use the HP Service Parts Information CD-ROM as a complement to HP PartSurfer. The Service Parts Information CD accesses the same data as HP PartSurfer, but with a slightly different interface.

You can access the HP PartSurfer and also Server Parts Information at http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi/main.

For information on how to order the Service Parts Information CD, go to http://partsurfer.hp.com/hp-spi/.