Dell complaints

[bskik1]

oh yeah if i tell them i got a return code of 4, will it still be able to boot, and will the tests in the utility partition also pass. if they are really gay and dont wanna send me a new one, what would be a good way to push it over the edge so it wont work at all anymore. thanks

[possum0550]

90/90 is a hard drive diagnostic, its ok but if it fails you definitely have a hard drive issue. Remember this though its ok but not the best test on your system, when you turn on your system just like getting to 90/90 tap the "F12" key for like a good 6-8 second count, and should bring some choices on a black screen. You will be looking for utility partition or diagnostics, it has changed some over the years. go into that it may do a brief quick test just humor it and do it. Finally it should give you like 4 choices after (1)express test(2)custom test(3)extended test(4)if i remember right is symptom tree. If you just want to test the hard drive do a custom test and go down the list and find your hard drive, you can isolate any hardware in your system and test it this way individually and it not too long and for the hard drive its alot more thorough than 90/90 it can help find issues 90/90 can miss just cause this way is more thorough. If you do an extended tes it test everything in your system can take 4 hours or up to 7 hours. The first part of the test is sound and your monitor and ask did you hear the sound or see the box on your screen so this part is interactive, after thats done just let it run it can do the rest. Always, and I know this seems a bit of a pain but like that error code 7 write down the error code which cannot always be duplicated even if it does not come up ever again it can help any tech get an idea on whats going on and if something could fail even if it has not. I hope that helps and any other questions just ask.

[FallenAngel]

Your post said it was making a clicking sound. Best to just tell them that you can hear the drive clicking. That means that your assembly arm has been damaged and it making contact with the platters. Hardware replacement at that time.

[bskik1]

i did tell them that and the guy just kinda ignored that i said that, and he ignored the return code of 7. he was said that their utilities check out ok, so there was nothin wrong with it. and i continued to tell him it didnt work right but he wanted to be a prick

[miked]

[Dark Jedi]

[ishralene09]

Hey guys I need help. And no, I can't do a code 4, my Dell was a used equipment, don't have warranty and stuff. And don't blame me, my dad bought it, cheapest thing on the flea market.

I've installed a new hard drive and unfortunately, it won't work on my optiplex gx270. It is a samsung hard drive. When I test it on the hard drive diagnostics (press f12, choice number 6 i suppose), it returns a code 6. Now I have no idea what code 6 means. It would help me a lot with my future troubleshooting if I know what code 6 means. Usually what I see on the net is about code 7.

I instructed my friend to install a copy of XP on it, and then install it on the Dell to see if it works. The hard drive works on the other computer. When I put it back on the Dell, it's still code 6.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

The single-digit fail codes for harddrives are not Dell's work, that is a drive-industry diagnostic. It does not report false positives. If it says there is something wrong with the drive, there is.

Yes, you can install Windows on a failing drive. Odds of it running more than a week are almost zero.

You can no longer put a drive from a different chipset into a system to test it. Intel, Microsoft, and all the other hardware vendors have conspired to make this transposition impossible because their profits come from new systems, not swaps or upgrades.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[HellResident]

rachie, this is so weird, I'm almost certain I took your call. If not yours 1000 like it but something about your particular story rings a bell I cant put my finger on it.
Ok the reason you got the treatment you did when the drive failed is you likely own an optiplex. So you got preferential treatment so to speak. Consumers fight muc harder for a replacement.
The seagate is a better drive. The tech on the phone has the ability to swap brands for thee replacement as long as the specs are the same. He ( wheather it was me or not ) did the right thing.
The reason you got called back is something called Puresupport. Before you get too excited saying dell got something right dont it doesnt exist anymore. It was a pilot project that probably cost dell money but was well recieved by the techs and the customers.
Possum and delltech the reason your DSN says different things for the hard drive tree is you are in different departments, so your dsn profiling shows you different trees.Now I'm assuming that hard drives dont fail differently on how much you paid for your system so why is it that error code 7 is replace hdd in alll the small/medium business segment and it's reinstall OS on consumer lines like dimension? Because Dell is fornicating with the customer and their willingness to do so is directly proportional to how much money they think they have...or are hoping to get again...from you.

[raidernation99]

I am new to this forum, and I have always used Dell for my computing needs both in the US and in the UK. I originally thought their customer service was highly commendable, but after reading this forum, I am starting to have my doubts. I stumbled upon this forum because I am currently having problems with the Maxtor hard drive on my dimension 8400 desktop. Windows XP would not boot up, so I ran the hard drive diagnostics, and got the Drive 0, Fail. Return Code: 7, message. I also ran the diagnostics from the boot to utilities, and got repeated 0f00:02044 error when running the read test. I contacted dell, and they have agreed to swap out the hard drive for another maxtor or western digital, because I am still under warranty. Luckily, I had purchased a Lacie external Usb hard drive a couple weeks ago , so I have most of my data backed up Dell also suggested I run the chkdsk /p and chkdsk /r commands from the Windows recovery console, to try and help me recover more data. I did so last night, and the command said that it "fixed one or more errors on the drive." It did however completely uninstall Internet Explorer 7 , and some other Windows updates for some reason.? It seems to be working fine for the moment, and I immediately backed up everything again to the external drive. But I am a very weary, considering the previous errors which were reported. I have also just found out that Maxtor( now owned by Seagate) has their own free Diagnostics software called SeaTools which should be better than the Dell or Windows based diagnostics:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/

I am curious to try it, before replacing my current drive, but will most likely replace the drive anyway.

A) Does anyone have any experience with this SeaTools diagnostics?

B) Should I go ahead and replace the drive with a new Maxtor or Western Digital?

Any suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I hope my comments were of some use.

[HellResident]

Raidertools, yes it definitely sounds like the drive has failed. It should be replaced. I dont think you can get a maxtor branded drive anymore, not that you'd want to..they were junk. I'm hearing issues about seagates I've not heard before, so Caveat Empor I'd say on those though they may be the relabelled maxtors. I'd stick with Western digital .

HellResident.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

You can play with the diagnostics but you don't need them. If any one of them says you have a problem, then you do. You can shuffle things around on the drive to undamaged sectors and remove scraps of files that can no longer be read (what chkdsk does), but you can't fix error codes. And once the drive starts coming apart internally it is just a matter of time before it won't work at all. Don't bother replacing the missing stuff onto the bad drive, you'll just have to do it again, and again. Replace the drive.

Oh, how to get warranty to do that? Well, with the Delldiag fail code, they should have already. But they always try to cheat you, with chkdsk and reinstalls until it will no longer respond. So do this. Unplug the drive power connector, turn system on, write down the error message, call them back and read it to them. You shouldn't have to go to those lengths, but it's Dell, and you do.

Heheheh, Western Digital used to be the 'dog' drive and Seagate was the good one. They take turns being dogs. Many failures result from Dell assemblers being rushed and handling them roughly. Speaking of which, unmounted drives are extremely fragile. So if you do the installation, handle it very gently. Plopping it down on a tabletop is all it takes to insure that it will fail before too long.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[raidernation99]

many thanks Rocke and Hell Resident...Dell technician is coming tomorrow to replace the drive...I doubt it will be a brand new drive. I asked them for a new one, and not a refurbished drive. The agent said their replacement parts are not "refurbished" parts but "logistic" parts? I questioned them on this, and to quote the Dell agent :

"the drive will not be a used part. It will be sourced not from a production unit but the storage depot. As such all parts we replace have Refurbished label on it to distinguish it as one being sent out to replace an in warranty part. The drive itself will not be refurbished"

This sounds like a load of bullsheit to me, but I don't really have a choice. They are doing the complete install also, so I don't have to worry about messing it up. I thought about doing it myself, but decided not to.

[anonymous guest]

UMMMMMM! as a former field tech who job it was to replace parts, I would ask clients, "And just who told you I would stay here and reload the OS?" And then give them the bad news that they were lied to.

The field tech is NOT an Dell employee but works for a company that sells technical support to replace the parts and trouble shoot if the part does not work. All software issues are yours to work with. If fact, at one time we were told not to even reload the OS as a side job because legally my employer of the day could have been sued for my screwup.

The only time a client got an os with a replacement drive was within the 90 day software warranty when an imaged drive was shipped and then I was to stay long enough for it to be sure of starting (roughly 5 min). Then I was running for the high grass.

Now that the offical spew is out of the way, cash ususally worked if I had the time to spend reloading an OS. Good Luck with the tech. If you irratate him, he will take great delight in leaving you to reload your system. Not all replacement hard drives have the image in the hidden parttion.

AG

[PhoneMonkey]

Speaking from personal experience.

a 90/90 fail code 7 can sometimes be fixed witha CHKDSK /R as it is really reporting unreadable data.

This si the way I handle the calls.

1) customer reports no boot and 90/90 reports fail code 7
2) boot to recovery console and run chkdsk /r
3) Reboot and rerun the diagnostics. if it still reports a fail code 7, then I replace the drive.

Now, that's not what I put in the logs to dispatch a hard drive as the dispatcher will immediately put the call on hold and ask for all sorts of ridiculous and pointless diagnostics (please reinstall the OS, run the 32 bit diags on the HD which take about 4 hours, pray to the great God Mujumbo etc etc) so I will lie to get the call put through. It just depends on if you get a tech who knows the bullshit and will cut through it for you or if you get a tech who sticks to the Dell policy no matter how infuriating it is for the customer.

As for the Engineer reinstalling the OS, in my department if we send an engineer out to replace a HD we MUST put in the comments if an OS install is required or not. The call will not get dispatched unless this is in.