All is fixed (>> last post)

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-16 11:25am

Just tried rebooting with the reinstall disk in the drive. It Did Not Work. It booted up as it normally would. What do I do now, F2 or F12 just as it boots?

EDIT: And what action do I select thereof?

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2005-08-16 11:34am

The CD may not be bootable. Or, you may not have set the boot options in your BIOS. Usually, it is F1 or delete to get into the BIOS, although it might be something else. Mine is F10. Does it say "Press F12 to enter Setup" or something like that? Do it, and change the boot priority so CD-ROM or Removable Device is first, before hard disk. Then save settings and try again. If it doesn't work chances are you don't have a bootable CD in the drive.

Maybe try taking out the hard drive, and doing the chkdsk thing by hooking up the hard drive to another computer, and chkdsk from the other computer. This might be complicated since you might need to change jumper settings.

Brian

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-16 03:11pm

It's F12, I believe. I'll try that, thanks.

To everybody else-- where can I find a cheap, *reliable* hard drive? I'm certainly open to ordering from teh intarweb, but if you can recommend a make I could find at Best Buy or something I'd be more than willing to go for that...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-16 11:59pm

Elheru Aran wrote:It's F12, I believe. I'll try that, thanks.

To everybody else-- where can I find a cheap, *reliable* hard drive? I'm certainly open to ordering from teh intarweb, but if you can recommend a make I could find at Best Buy or something I'd be more than willing to go for that...

With a few notable exceptions - mainly, the IBM Deskstar debacle where 60GXP and 75GXP hard drives were known to have manufacturing defects - statistically, no hard drive brand is significantly more reliable than another. Don't let anyone sell you a line of bullshit about "omg Maxtors suck" or "Western Digitals die all the time", because it will be worthless anecdotal evidence.

Your best bet is to find hard drives with five year warranties - these are more likely to be more reliable, as it indicates the manufacturer is willing to gamble on enough of them not failing over the course of five years that warranty replacements won't cost them an arm and a leg. At the very least, if the drive goes tits-up you can get it replaced for free (or close to it).

But even then, hard drives can and will fail. There is no escaping this.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-18 03:31pm

Well.

I had one of the school techs come look it over. He dicked about with it a bit (it'd stuck on 2% reformated for the past half-hour), we transferred it to another monitor (where it did precisely fuck-all), and he declared it a video card issue and advised me to send it back to Dell.

So, polite guy that I am, I thank him, and go to dell.com on a lab computer. Open up my account, chase down tech support, go through hoops. Hit "Submit" on the email. And the goddamn thing bounces!

I'm about to the point of just buying an HD online and installing it myself, even though that'd void the warranty, and getting a new video card maybe...

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-18 05:29pm

*BUMPBUMPBUMPITY*

Hello?! Desperate guy in need here???

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-18 05:57pm

I'm reading your latest post for a question and not finding one.

Maybe Dell's email server was down for a bit and you need to try again later?

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-18 06:29pm

Uraniun235 wrote:I'm reading your latest post for a question and not finding one.

Maybe Dell's email server was down for a bit and you need to try again later?

Er. You're right. Though I was kinda, y'know, asking for advice... should've been more specific, I guess.

Anyway! Dell sent an email back, apparently my roomie (said Dell fanwhore who recommended it to me, he went to their site with my account info) got through.

Dell Tech Support wrote: ***THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED ACKNOWLEDGEMENT -- DO NOT
REPLY***

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for choosing Dell E-Mail Support. We have received your
message and look forward to serving you. This message is being sent to let
you know we received your request for assistance. We value you as our
customer and your satisfaction is important to us. We are working 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, to answer customer inquiries.

Our e-mail technicians normally respond to email inquiries within one
business day (6 -12 Hours).

**********

All Dell Computers come with free lifetime access to
Dell's award winning online support site at:

www.support.dell.com

Here you can:
* Get answers to commonly asked questions
* Talk directly with other Dell users in the Dell Community forum
* Check out thousands of tutorials and videos on subjects like Windows,
gaming, the
Internet, and much more!

*Windows XP Users*
You may also have additional customized support right on your desktop.
If you have
a Dimension or Inspiron running Windows XP, just go directly to the
Dell Solution
Center icon on your desktop or in the Start menu and click "Support".

-----------Original Message Follows:---------------
Body: * * * PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE SUBJECT WHEN REPLYING * * *

******************************************************************
Service Tag =CHX3181
System Type =Dimension 5100
System Product Family =Dimension 5100
System Ship Date =8/2/2005 12:00:00 AM
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP
***********************************************
Name: Jeff Faulk
Contact Address:
Landrum Box 20833 Landrum Center
Statesboro, GA 30460-
Phone: 912-688-7563
Email: jprussia07@yahoo.com
***********************************************
Current Case ID : 000000109533282
Original Case ID:
Problem: Computer
***********************************************
Problem Description:

Screen goes out at times and after turning on it quickly goes to the
blue screen telling that the memory was dumbed. Does it even after
restart.

***********************************************
Referring URL: 141.165.139.175
Date Received(K): 8/18/05 03:33:15 PM

----------
Begin Customer Configuration
----------
System Profiler has gathered the information in this form.
If you did not run System Profiler the fields will be blank.
----------
sp_service_tag:{}
sp_system_model:{}

sp_bios_vendor:{}
sp_bios_ver:{}
sp_bios_date:{}

sp_os_name:{}
sp_os_version:{}
sp_os_installdate:{}
sp_os_servicepack:{}

sp_num_cpus:{}
sp_cpu_mfgr:{}
sp_cpu_cache:{}
sp_cpu_speed:{}

sp_num_disk_drives:{}
sp_disk_drive_model:{}
sp_disk_drive_size:{}

sp_num_ide_controllers:{}
sp_ide_controller_model:{}

sp_num_logical_disks:{}
sp_logical_disk_name:{}
sp_logical_disk_filesystem:{}
sp_logical_disk_free:{}
sp_logical_disk_size:{}
sp_logical_disk_used:{}

sp_scsi_controller_model:{}
sp_num_optical_drives:{}
sp_optical_drive_model:{}

sp_num_memory_slots:{}
sp_mem_info:{}
sp_total_memory:{}
sp_available_memory:{}
sp_mem_perc_free:{}
sp_virtmem_total:{}
sp_virtmem_perc_free:{}
sp_pagemem_total:{}
sp_pagemem_perc_free:{}

sp_num_network:{}
sp_network_model:{}
sp_network_mac:{}

sp_num_video:{}
sp_video_model:{}
sp_video_ram:{}
sp_video_driver:{}

sp_num_sound:{}
sp_sound_model:{}

sp_num_software:{}
sp_software:{}

----------
End Customer Configuration
----------

So, what are they saying? And does this email mean anything whatsoever?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-18 07:13pm

That email just says "hey we got your email, we'll get back to you."

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-18 07:14pm

Bah. Okay. What advice? I know getting a new HD (and possibly video card) will screw the warranty, but at this point I'm utterly unimpressed with Dell's customer service/tech support, so that's not too huge of a deal for me...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-18 07:30pm

If I had gone through the extra expense to purchase a preassembled system from Dell, I would personally take full advantage of the warranty to save myself the money.

However, if you're determined to abandon the Dell warranty, I suggest you first find out the brand, model, and serial number of your hard drive so that you can see if the hard drive is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

If, however, you're hell-bent on taking advantage of the situation to just get a completely new hard drive, here is the SH/SC Hard Drive guide. (Also on that page is the Video Card guide)

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-08-18 07:41pm

Dell uses Maxtor hard drives, which, quite frankly, suck.

My HD died (As in DEAD!) less than a year after I purchased my computer from them. I said "fuck it" and bought a 200GB Seagate SATA for myself.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2005-08-18 07:58pm

DaveJB wrote:ATI and nVidia's drivers can both override Window's default refresh rates in DirectX (which is almost always set to 60hz). It's possible that it's trying to do an override, but screwing it up in the process. What graphics card do you have? (Please don't say it's an Intel on-board solution... they suck and I have no experience with their drivers)

they use ATI lite (or basically a fucked up raped/castrated version of the ATI card, that THEY manufacture/knock off with permission.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-08-18 07:58pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Dell uses Maxtor hard drives, which, quite frankly, suck.

My HD died (As in DEAD!) less than a year after I purchased my computer from them. I said "fuck it" and bought a 200GB Seagate SATA for myself.

I think your HD dying was just a fluke, DP. Each of the original HDs on our four Dells still work fine, even though our oldest was bought in 1998.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2005-08-18 08:03pm

yeah Maxtor drives aren't that good, I usually get other brands. Strangely I am insanely loyal and forgiving of Creative Labs since I bought my first sound blaster back in 1991. And despite their fucked up ATI/Voodoo "Monster Fusion" cards still prefer them for my CD/DVD/Sound/modem/graphics needs...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-18 08:05pm

Hard drives die. This is true for every brand, every manufacturer, every model. There will be drives that die within a year, and drives that plow on for over five. It's the nature of the technology.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-18 08:06pm

Uraniun235 wrote:If I had gone through the extra expense to purchase a preassembled system from Dell, I would personally take full advantage of the warranty to save myself the money.

However, if you're determined to abandon the Dell warranty, I suggest you first find out the brand, model, and serial number of your hard drive so that you can see if the hard drive is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

If, however, you're hell-bent on taking advantage of the situation to just get a completely new hard drive, here is the SH/SC Hard Drive guide. (Also on that page is the Video Card guide)

Yeah, well, I'm not interested in their warranty if they're gonna brush me off like that. I'm giving them a week to send me a more detailed response that says more than "Thank you for sending us a email", and then I'm going to start searching..... I do have 74 days left on that warranty, though (I was spending enough on the computer already that I couldn't be arsed to get a longer warranty than the default 90 days).

What would you recommend, hmm?

EDIT: Oh yes, and which should I replace first, video card or hard drive? The tech I talked to said it was probably the video card which was screwed up... but I don't know why that would be a problem with the computer freezing solid when trying to reformat the drive. Blacking out, yes; freezing, no. But if you have recommendations, by all means...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-08-18 08:36pm

If you're not convinced it's your hard drive, I'm pretty sure you can download a bootable floppy disk image with diagnostics for your hard drive from the manufacturer's website. The diagnostic tools are generally good at being able to tell you if your drive is dead or not.

You might ask him why he thought it was the video card. Certainly nothing you've told us leads me to believe your video card has anything to do with it.

The SH/SC hard drive guide should have more than enough information for making a hard drive purchasing decision.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-08-18 08:39pm

Sometimes Dell's tech suport always seems to think it's the video card's fault. I have no idea why.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-08-18 10:59pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:Dell uses Maxtor hard drives, which, quite frankly, suck.

My HD died (As in DEAD!) less than a year after I purchased my computer from them. I said "fuck it" and bought a 200GB Seagate SATA for myself.
I think your HD dying was just a fluke, DP. Each of the original HDs on our four Dells still work fine, even though our oldest was bought in 1998.

Maxtor only went downhill in quality in the past few years.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-19 09:36am

Okay, is this what I should do?

Dell Tech Support *finally* wrote:
Dear Mr. Faulk,

Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support.

I have reviewed your e-mail and understand that the screen goes out at
times and displays a blue screen telling that the memory is dumped.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this matter
has caused. I assure you to provide the best possible information and I
have taken ownership of this case.

Mr. Faulk, I have checked the details of the Service Tag CHX3181
provided by you and researched further. I would request you to perform a PC
Restore by following the steps to resolve the issue. Before you perform
a PC Restore please back up all important data from the computer.

1.Remove all External Devices such as (except monitor, keyboard and
mouse):
a.Scanner
b.Printer
c.Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

2.Run PC Restore:
a.Power the computer on.
b.When the Dell screen appears press and hold the Ctrl key on the
keyboard, press the F11 key, then release them both at the same time.
The Dell PC Restore by Symantec window appears.
c.Click the Restore button.
A caution message appears advising that all data will be lost.
d.Click the Confirm button.
The progress window appears.
When the restore is complete the message. The system recovery process
was successful appears.
e.Click the Finish button.
The computer will restart.

Please refer to the below web link for further details on performing a
PC Restore:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/ ... =dhs#step1

If you have further concerns please email us back without changing the
subject so we could assist you further.

We value your business and would provide you with the best customer
experience in the industry. Thank you for your time and patience in this
matter, both have been greatly appreciated.

Thank you for choosing Dell.

Respectfully

Neelkumar
Dell Rep # 0115173
Dell Technical Support
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dell E-mail Support operates 24/7, and if your reply is received while
I am not in, to ensure a speedy resolution of your problem, your issue
would be handled by one of my colleagues.

The problem is, I already began reformatting the drive, and while it's nowhere near formatted-- it stuck at 2% for >30min before I gave up on it-- the drive has been blanked... suggestions? Help?

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-19 04:11pm

And now my monitor won't even display! The connection is fine as far as I can see... unless I open the box... which might void the warranty... so grrrrrr!

Anybody? Any ideas?

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-08-23 03:47pm

Wouldn't you know it. Dad tells me to check the video card, it might be loose. I take a look in the case, push the card home tight, decide I might as well do the same with all the other cards so I go ahead and shove them in tighter. Boot her up. AND SHE COMES ON!

I don't have Internet back yet, but hot fucking damn, am I ever glad...