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Alienware 14 partitions
Hi everyone
I have an Alienware 14 with Windows 7 that has recently been giving me problems and running slowly for a couple of weeks. Two days ago I tried to do a large Windows update. It failed to completely install the updates. I tried again and all the updates eventually went through.
After that the computer was very slow and gave me a message that there was not sufficient space to do anything. After scrounging around I found out that the RAID Dev Cache had been disabled, and I was getting error messages concerning Intel Rapid Storage not working. I do not remember how, but I was able to find an assist program that let me reallocate memory and enable the partitions. At the bottom of this post I have attached an image of the current set up on this machine. Do the current partitions look okay or should I change something?
I also tried doing a system restore to an earlier date, and either I didn't go back far enough or something because Chrome wouldn't load when I was done. I undid the restore and the computer is running very well right now except for occasional error popups. I uninstalled the Dell Survey programs so those popups have stopped. I still get others that seem to rectify themselves without causing any problems.
Sorry for the long post but I really don't understand the need for partitions or how they work, so if someone could tell me if my current setup is okay I'd appreciate it.
Alienware - Rodrigo
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May 15th, 2015 11:00
That configuration looks fine but check with the Intel Rapid Storage Technology program to make sure the caching is enabled on the mSata SSD drive. Click here to view an article that explains how to set this up.
Carmen Piranha
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May 15th, 2015 12:00
Thank you, Rodrigo - that sets my mind at ease! I have attached screen snips of my current IRST setups and apparently everything is normal now.
I do have one more question. When I used the snipping tool to get the attached images, everything went fine until I went to save the images in my library. I get the error message that "the ordinal 349 could not be located in the dynamic link library iertutil.dll" If I just close out the error message box my image library opens and the image can be saved with no problem. This happens every time I use the snipping tool. Any ideas as long as you're here?
Thanks again!
Carmen Piranha
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May 19th, 2015 16:00
Thanks for the follow-up! Actually, as I was getting repeated error messages I realized they all had a common iertutil.dll theme going on. The odd thing was that if I closed out the error popup I could complete whatever action I had been attempting.
Long story short, about a month ago I had uninstalled Internet Explorer since I only use Chrome as a browser. That was when we noticed the Alienware started bogging down. Apparently some Windows 7 functions on Alienware require some aspect of Internet Explorer that I had blown away. I haven't had any problems on my Dell desktop with Win 7 and no Internet Explorer.
Anyway, I downloaded IE11 to the Alienware 14, updated Windows until no more important updates were available, and the computer has been back to its super-speedy self. I really needed a backup browser anyway, so everything is great now.
Thanks again for your help :)
Alienware - Rodrigo
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May 19th, 2015 16:00
Try to do a system restore to your last restore point. Click here to view an article on how to do a system restore. Let me know if this does not work.