Dell complaints

anonymous guest · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 51

I just spent some time on the phone with a dell tech support professional. Diagnostics tell me hard drive 0 Maxtar (some number) - Fail - return code: 7. At the moment it is performing a chkdsk /r. The drive is SATA. Not being real familiar with them is this legit? Or is my Dell script reader just trying to not send a hard drive that will fail in time wheather this repair works or not?

Thanks.

FallenAngel · Emperor of Dellhateology Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1604

They'll tell you it's a software issue and either :
A)get you to reinstall the OS or PC RESTORE
or
B)get you to do a DEBUG

By the way, either one will do nothing for your problem. Tell them out of a hunch you ran a 90/90 again and this time it reported a CODE 4.

That's going to be an automatic replacement. If they insist that it's not a hardware failure, demand a Supervisor and accept nothing less than a replacement hard drive.

If not, make a date with Dell in a few months while you still have them on the phone, because you'll be calling them again before you know it for the same issue (happens all the time...).

wintech · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 3

The drive is failing and needs to be replaced, insist on it. It is a hardware failure. CHKDSK /R will recover bad sectors and you may be able to get your data off of the drive, but it is a software solution that repairs the file system and relocates data out of the bad areas. The bad areas are still there and the drive will eventually fail to the point of no return. Just so we are clear, CHKDSK /R is not a permanent solution on a failing hard drive no matter what the Dell person says. I see more and more customers that can't get proper help from Dell when their machine fails. Last week I had a customer that spent four hours on the phone with the tech trying to get the machine to boot to the Windows XP cd. He had no luck so he brought it in to me. The first thing I discovered was his DVD drive was defective which is why the XP cd didn't work. I couldn't run my diagnostics disc. I used the Dell built in diags and the HDD failed. The person he talked to is not a technician. A good tech knows that hardware diags are always the first thing you run. It is silly to try and reinstall windows on a failing hard drive. The customer was very happy because I got the proper diagnosis and was able to recover his data. If the Dell 'tech' had be able to get him to start a reinstall who knows what would have happened to his data.

sickofdell · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject:

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:11 pm Post subject:

Welcome, guest. Novel screenname. Horrendous as it sounds, all the above posts are right. Dell WILL try to con you into reinstalling over a diagnostic error, which NEVER works for more than a week if at all. DO tell them it's error 4 and get another harddrive, that's the only solution.

I don't know if you can 'demand' a certain brand of replacement--worth a try--all brands can fail, especially if they're mishandled during installation.
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anonymous guest · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 51

The chkdsk /r failed as I knew it would. A new hard drive is on the way. I have a what I belive to be a valid dispatch number.

I have been a member for over a couple of years now but I don't post often. I do read often to keep up on the current issues with Dells. The name came from an era of parinoia on the bunktek forums. When guests where no longer allowed to post I joined as the anonymous guest. A little humor from a bygone day.

I now run a small computer/network service and people pay me to talk to Dell tech support. It is worth it to pay someone who can talk technical than go through the aggivation themselves.

sickofdell · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:21 am Post subject:

Congrats Guest, you cracked the system, so to speak. Here's to many years of a working hard drive.

You are right rocke, the script monkey's will only replace it for what it is. I saw Maxtor's fail so many times, that when I was dispatching, I would order a western digital or seagate for the customer, so they wouldn't have to call back in 6 months with another failed drive. And yes, if the drive is mishandled, it will fail. I just think that all maxtor's were dropped on their head as a baby. Laughing

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Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:46 am Post subject:

Has anyone, ever heard of 9090 giving a false positive? The guy (gal?) who instructed Dell support to reinstall on top of a 9090 error must be a genuine misanthrope.
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sickofdell · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:52 am Post subject:

FallenAngel · Emperor of Dellhateology Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1604

No such thing as a false positive with diagnostics like that. There are however, several incidents where the diags gave a false OK.

A clicking hard drive is just one example of many I know of. The 90/90 said it was A-OK.

Rolling Eyes

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:40 pm Post subject:

delltech_jeremy · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:23 am Post subject: 90/90

In our tools, when we are directed to use a 90/90, if we get a return code 7, it can *sometimes* be fixed by running an OS repair (and I stress sometimes). This is usually when the hdd is missing OS startup files, or blue screens. The only thing that an error code 7 indicates a read failure.

These are the actual diagnostic return codes:
DST Error Code 3 - Fatal Error.
DST Error Code 4 - Previous SMART Failure.
DST Error Code 5 - Electrical Failure.
DST Error Code 6 - Seek Failure.
DST Error Code 7 - Read Failure.
DST Error Code 8 - Nonfunctional.
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Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:31 am Post subject:

FallenAngel · Emperor of Dellhateology Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 1604

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 5:34 pm Post subject:

Ya know what's really perverse about telling phone jockeys to reinstall over a failure? Number one, the only cost in replacing a drive for Dell is answering the phone, plus the logistics (inventory, shipping, handling) of supplying the part. The vendor replaces the drive itself. Dell still has to answer the phone and still has to maintain inventory--virtually all they save is shipping.

But wait! They don't even save that. The drive will outright fail in a matter of days. Then they bear the full original cost of what they should have done in the first place, PLUS having to answer the phone again! It actually costs them MORE--but they're so convinced that stonewalling support customers saves money, they bought this BPI (business process improvement--what Dell employees are strongly encouraged to submit) hook, lie and stinker.
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