SupportAssist will not scan hardware

I see that two other people have this issue.  I did receive a response from a Dell rep, via PM, and they told me to run the pre-boot diagnostics (F12).  I did and everything passed.  Then I never heard anything more from Dell.  It is clearly a SupportAssist issue that Dell is not addressing adequately, in my opinion.   I am running the latest version: 3.4.1.

Some assistance to resolve the issue would be appreciated.  Why is SupportAssist telling me, in History:

Hardware Scan Result (Manual) - Default scan - Test Not Started - February 12, 2020 3:33:16 PM

Thank you and have a great day.

Regards.
-Phil

Update:

I have posted over at the Malwarebytes Forums.  My post can be found here.

Thank you and have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

Thank you for this, been trying to solve this for weeks now and on my own and with Dell Tech Help, to no avail, and saw your post. All I needed to do was add one folder (C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssistAgent), into the Malwarebytes Premium "allow list", rebooted and the Support Assist hardware scan worked.

Regards

Cliff

Cliff:

You are very welcome.  Malwarebytes has opened a ticket on this and are working on a solution.  I provided them with ProcMon files tracing the event.  I added both Dell SA folders because there were two of them.  I did not try to determine which SA folder/process was triggering Malwarebytes.  Thank you for the information.

Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

We have seen some customers experiencing this issue in v3.4.1.49 with HW Scan going from 0-100 really fast and the results\history show Test not Started. 

According to the PCDr team, the binaries to call HW Test are being blocked by some anti-virus software like McAfee LiveSafe and in some versions of Malwarebytes.  Teams are investigating the issue.

I’ve tested the following workaround
Steps
1. Quit the Malwarebytes (right click and quit) or other type of Anti-virus
2. Open up Services and restart Dell Hardware Support
4. Launch SA and run Scan
5. After scan completes, open Malwarebytes

jbilinski:

I can't speak to the McAfee issue, but with Malwarebytes, there is no need to quit Malwarebytes and leave your computer vulnerable to a malware infection.  All you have to do is add the folder C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssistAgent to the "Allow List" in Malwarebytes, under "Settings" and then the "Scan Hardware" component will work properly.

I visit the Malwarebytes Forums daily and have reported the issue to them, and they are working on a fix.  This is just a temporary solution.

Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

Thanks @garioch7, I saw your response on the Malwarebytes forum and noted the workaround and have also communicated this with the SupportAssist and PC-Doctor teams.  I see Malwarebytes has logged a defect but I’m trying to find out if any actions need to be made on SA\PCDr side.

@jbilinski 

From what I understand, Malwarebytes is treating this as a defect on their side.  If you check my topic over on their Forums, they are asking me to keep them informed of any information I might gather from my topic here in the Dell SAC Forum.  I will update my Malwarebytes for Windows Support Forum topic with your post.

I will respond to your PM next with the requested information.  Thank you and have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

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@jbilinski wrote:

...According to the PCDr team, the binaries to call HW Test are being blocked by some anti-virus software like McAfee LiveSafe and in some versions of Malwarebytes.  Teams are investigating the issue....

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@jbilinski:

I have an Inspiron 15 5584  running Support Assist v3.4.1 that came bundled with a one-year subscription for McAfee LiveSafe.  I've removed McAfee from my system with the McAfee Removal Tool MCPR.exe and I don't have my Malwarebytes Premium license activated on this this laptop , but I'm sure there are many other users who have purchased a Dell home computer in the past year who are using McAfee LiveSafe as their primary antivirus.

If this issue also affects users who don't use Malwarebytes Premium v.4.x as their primary antivirus (i.e., with Settings | Security |  Windows Security Center |  Always register Malwarebytes in the Windows Security Center | OFF)  I would assume the PC-Doctor team should be taking the lead on finding the fix, regardless of whether Malwarebytes is currently treating this as a defect on their side.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v1909 build 18363.592 * Firefox ESR v68.5.0 * Windows Defender v4.18.2001.7 * Malwarebytes Free v3.8.3
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U@1.60/1.80 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

@lmacri 

Just a clarification of your post.  Malwarebytes Premium, not the Free version, does not need to be registered in the Windows Security Center to block the Hardware Scan.  My primary anti-virus is Bitdefender Total Security 2020, and I have Malwarebytes Premium set to "Never Register in the Windows Security Centre."

Malwarebytes Premium will still block the SA Hardware Scan, regardless of whether it is registered in the Windows Security Center.  To solve that problem, until there is a fix, you have to add the folder C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssistAgent, to the Malwarebytes Premium, "Allow List" under Settings.

Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

I do not have malwarebytes but still have same problem.   hardware scan will not work with SA or on dell.com.   it just sits there saying it is gathering the tools

I allowed C:\Program Files\Dell\SARemediation and C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssistAgent in Malwarebytes and SupportAssist still won't scan hardware, stays on 0%.....SupportAssist  and always has.

NO I DO NOT.   I JUST USE WINDOWS SECURITY