Problems with SupportAssist 3.10.0.47

Hi @DELLKaren 

We have removed System Repair settings from SA from 3.9.2 release onwards due to some major issue with SA OS Recovery tool during partitioning process.

I don't understand your statement about removing System Repair from 3.9.2 onwards. 

In the earlier version of SA (3.9.2.57), SA > Settings listed System Repair on my Inspiron 7569 and my Inspiron 5482.   On both machines, it was turned ON.   3.9.2.57 is "onwards" from 3.9.2, but it was there on both machines.

As for 3.10.0.47, I have it on both the 7569 and the 5482. System Repair is not missing on the 5482.  But, it is missing on the Inspiron 7569.  The 5482 upgraded on July 9 and the 7569 upgraded on July 10. 

The 7569 upgraded on July 10 when I opened SA and there was a dialog box asking if I wanted to upgrade to a newer version and I said "yes".  I then booted up the Inspiron 5482 and saw that it had upgraded automatically in the background a day earlier (on July 9).  So, the upgrade process was different on the two machines. 

Here is the Settings page for SA on the 5482.  You can see that System Repair is listed and it says it is turned ON.

Another problem with this new version of SA (3.10.0.47) is that at Control Panel > SA OS Recovery, you get the opening message that capturing repair points has been paused due to insufficient space, even though the maximum space of 18GB has been selected. Here is the opening message:

In earlier versions of SA, the 18GB space was sufficient.  For some reason, the 18GB space now is not enough, but there's no way to choose more than 18GB. 

And even though it says that it's paused capturing repair points, it still seems to be capturing them, a) according to the hidden files in C:\ProgramData\SA Remediation\System Repair.

and b) according to the SA OS Recovery > Settings screen.

T

T

Those repair points were created on July 13 and July 14.  Looking back, 5 days ago on July 10 right after SA 3.10.0.47 was installed, the last repair points were 07/09/2021 4:59:03 PM and 07/09/2021 9:15 PM. 

Moreover, this is the image of repair points from today, July 15.

And the image below is from the 2nd time I checked, about 5 minutes after the 1st time.  Notice the duplication.  

So, contrary to what the opening message of SA OS Recovery says, it is still capturing repair points day by day.

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OK, so you have removed System Repair.  But that shows up at SA > Settings on only 1 of my laptops.  The other laptop hasn't removed it at SA > Settings.  And SA Remediation still seems to be working in the background on both machines... as illustrated by the SA OS Recovery > Settings and the TreeSize screenshots above, even though the opening SA OS Recovery screen (1st screenshot above) says that it has paused capturing repair points.

All very confusing. The main point here is that we have no reason to believe that Dell is dispensing something that we can rely on to give us a dependable recovery, should we need it.

I am not going to fiddle with my latest post any longer.  Obviously, the spacing is off and I can't figure out how to fix it and I've run out of editing time.  But, I think you can get the gist of the message!!

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@NikhilKiroula wrote:

...We have removed System Repair settings from SA from 3.9.2 release onwards due to some major issue with SA OS Recovery tool during partitioning process.

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Hi DELLKaren:

Is there any possibility that you are running out of free disk space on the C:\ drives of both your Inspiron 5482 and 7569? The C:\ drive of my Inspiron 5584 currently has 137 GB of unused disk space.

I updated to Dell SupportAssist v3.10.0.47 on 12-Jul-2021 after I launched SA and a pop-up recommended I install an available SA update (note that I have all automated scanning in SA DISABLED at Settings | Automate Scans and Optimizations | Scan Your System and Drivers, although I have no idea if that makes any difference on how self-updates are installed).  When I open the Support Assist OS Recovery Tools settings manager at Control Panel | System and Security | Support Assist OS Recovery Tools I currently see the message "This feature is temporarily unavailable. Feature controls and settings will return when service is back online".

You should note, however, that I DISABLED System Repair in my SA settings [Options (gear icon) | Settings | System Repair] and then DISABLED my Dell SupportAssist Remediation service (Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services) back on 09-May-2021 after reading balji's SupportAssist Deleted My Partitions While Installing OS Recovery.  @NikhilKiroula would have to tell you what the  the "expected" message is for users like you who still had System Repair enabled in their SA settings prior to the release of SA v3.9.2.

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64-bit Win 10 Pro v20H2 build 19042.1052 * Firefox v90.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2106.6 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.4.2.123-1.0.1358 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.0.47 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.4.1.14954 * Dell Update v4.2.1 * Macrium Reflect Free v7.3.5925 * TreeSize Free Portable v4.5.0
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G 256 GB NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

Hi,

This is a follow-up messaage to keep you posted that we are tracking this case and keep you posted once we have an update on this.

-Prashanth

@DELLKaren 

Sorry to hear about your issues with SAC, and specifically SA Remediation.  That is why I completely uninstalled SA on both of my newer Dell computers (desktop and laptop) using Revo Uninstaller Pro.  The software is buggy and you can't easily control it, if at all.  It chews up disk space with abandon, 44 GB on my desktop when I finally blew it away.

I use Macrium Reflect Home Version 8 and Easeus Todo Backup Home 13.5, alternating weekly, to back up all of the partitions on my primary disk.  I have no need to backup SA backups in my system images.  If you decide to do what I do, ensure that you create an "Emergency Boot Disk" for which ever imaging software you select, so that you can boot your computer in the event of a catastrophic disk failure, and restore your image to your new disk.

Just my two cents.  Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

Hi @NikhilKiroula

Would you please read the thread https://www.dell.com/community/SupportAssist-for-PCs/Problems-with-SupportAssist-3-10-0-47/m-p/7977570#M91706 , which is a  reply to your post of July 15,1:56 AM.  Your post said "We have removed System Repair settings from SA from 3.9.2 release onwards due to some major issue with SA OS Recovery tool during partitioning process."

I had responded to you on 07-15-2021 07:09 AM stating that SupportAssist 3.10.0.47 on my Inspiron 7569 does not list any System Repair feature at SupportAssist >Settings, but that on my Inspirion 5482 it DOES list System Repair and says that it is turned ON.  For some reason, the image that I posted for the 5482 seems to be blocked, but I can send you another image to prove that System Repair is THERE on that machine and that it says that it is turned on.  So, how is that if System Repair has been removed, my 5482 is still showing it in SupportAssist?

Then I responded again to you  on 07-15-2021 12:52 PM to ask how can it be that even though you say that System Repair has been removed (and the opening message at Control Panel > SA OS Recovery on both machines says System Repair is not capturing repair points), the SA OS Recovery > Settings tab (on both machines) says System Repair is ON and it lists current repair points? TreeSize even shows that backup files do exist for those current repair points.

Could you post a reply to these two questions?