Not able to print on Dell 968w AIO; Printer tech suggested Malware & provided your links

Hi JJ8765,

Your event viewer logs did not produce the results that I was expecting and we need to pinpoint what is causing all of your errors. Please do not make any other changes to your system until after you follow the instructions in this post and we review your new event viewer logs. I have no idea what other technicians have done by remoting into your computer and it will be impossible to keep up if changes are being made constantly.

First

Check your Device Manager for Errors.

1. Click Start>Type devmgmt.msc in the Search Bar>Press ENTER
2. Take a screen shot of any hardware entries that may have a yellow exclamation point or a red X.

Second

Clear the Event Viewer Logs

• Navigate to and select each of the the event logs (System & Application)>Right Mouse Click>Select Properties>Clear Log

Perform a Clean Startup of your computer to try and pinpoint what is causing your errors

• Click Start>Type msconfig in the Search Bar>Press ENTER. Allow the UAC prompts.
• Click the Services tab>Check Hide All Microsoft Services box>Click Disable All
• Click the Startup tab>Click Disable All >Click OK
• Restart the computer and test the issue. Perform some normal functions with your computer (printing, etc.)

Return to Normal Startup

• Click Start>Type msconfig in the Search Bar>Press ENTER. Allow the UAC prompts.
• Click the General tab>Click Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services>Click OK
• Restart the computer and test the issue. Perform some normal functions with your computer (printing, etc.).
• Note any differences between Normal Startup & Clean Startup.

Third

Attach a new set of Event Viewer Logs.

Review What to include in your response.

1. Let me know if you experienced any errors with the instructions and tell me exactly what problems you are still experiencing.
2. Post ant screen shots if there were any yellow exclamation pointsor a red X in the Device Manager.
3. Describe any differences between Normal Startup & Clean Startup.
4. The system.evtx & application.evtx (zip file) attached.

Thank you,

Faith

Hi JJ8765,

I do apologize for the delayed response to you. I had some medical & family issues to sort out. Thank you for explaining your seeking other help while we were working with you. I did not have any problems with Rick's help, it is just that it is hard to keep up with the constant changes. There are too many errors that keep returning to your computer and the blue screen was caused by the remote session and your Wireless connection. The Quickbooks errors have returned too. It would be futile to continue chasing these errors one at a time.

I have found one more thing that we can try-

Open your Device Manager again and expand the Display Adapter>Right Mouse Click on the Graphics Card>Select Properties>Click on the Driver Tab

Compare the version hat you have with this article-

Dell XPS M1330, Latitude D630/D830 notebook suffers data corruption (e.g. data loss, bluescreens, ...) in Windows Vista 32Bit if you install one of those graphics drivers from intel or dell:

7.14.10.1437 (v15.8)
7.14.10.1409 (v15.7.3)

If you suffer data corruption, please use this alternative driver by dell, since the bug is not present in this older driver:

7.14.10.1253

You can try to install the older driver if that is what is causing your issues. If you need more help with that process, please let me know.

If this does not work you will only have two options left, you could seek support from Dell and after many diagnostic tests you might end up performing a factory restore of Vista or you could choose to perform a factory restore of Vista at this time or at a time you can plan for to avoid an interruption to your business.

Please let me know if you have any questions and what your decision will be.

Thank You,

Faith

Due to the lack of feedback this topic is closed. If you need continued support, please begin a new thread, and provide a link to this topic. This applies only to the original topic starter. Other members who need assistance please start your own topic in a new thread. Thanks!

The fixes and advice in this thread are for this machine only. Do not apply the instructions from this thread to your own machine. Please start a new thread describing your issue and someone will be along to assist you.

Bugbatter,

What? I don't understand how you "closed" my topic that has been ongoing and is not quite done.

Also, in your text, you wrote, "If you need continued support, please begin a new thread...." -- I would appreciate it if you (Bugbatter, the addressee of this post) will, in the future, state who "you" is when you post to the forum. You did not address anyone in particular in your post. How is anyone supposed to know who you mean by "you"?  "The original topic starter" has a user name. Please use it!

Thank you.

JJ8765

Faith,

Thanks for this latest idea.

The current card is Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family - 7.14.10.1409

I decided to try the 7.14.10.1253 that you had in your post & linked.

After saving it and running it, just before it should have completed, I got the following error message:

 I don't know what the "minimum requirements for installing the software" would be. Too much unexplained there to even guess.

So I probably do need to go with your next suggestion.

How do I seek support from Dell, as you wrote? I don't want to call them & get into a voicemail loop.

 (My PC is also on an extended plan right now. Not sure what is covered there w/o re-reading the fine print.)

 Thank you.

JJ8765

JJ8765, to answer your questions, it is our policy to close topics after there has been no reply from the original poster for several days - usually 3. For a topic being handled by a trainee, we give them an extra day so they can have their reply reviewed by their instructor. By doing this, it allows us to work with other members who have been waiting for help.  There was no reply from you since March 30. You had stated: "There are issues for which I cannot wait 3 or 4 days to address."  Today was the fifth day with no input from you until just now. Faith had suggested the options of contacting Dell Support or doing a Dell Factory PC Restore. It appeared from your forum absence that you had moved on with one of those projects.Therefore, your topic was closed.

Bugbatter,

Seriously? I'm challenged to review my responses by date/time.

I looked back to 3/24/11 and in no way do I see that it took me 3 days to respond to any of Faith's or Rick's posts.

Yes, I responded on Wednesday, March 30 at 6:21 pm in response to Faith's last post also on March 30 (her response was a few hours earlier at 2:32 pm). So in that post, I responded 4 hours after Faith's last post.

After I posted on March 30th at 6:21 pm, I waited. Faith responded on April 2nd at 1:49 pm (3 days after my last post). This April 2nd post was on a Saturday. Sometimes I am able to go through emails on the weekend; sometimes I am not able to do that. It's the weekend. I planned to get back to my next post on Monday morning, which is today, April 4th. But then I encountered your post dated 4/4/11 at 3:50 am.

Still, my response to Faith's last response? (April 2nd at 1:49 pm for her, and April 4th at 9:11 am for me....) =  That's less than 2 days.

What I do not see is how you count 3 days. Since my last post? What? Am I supposed to reply to myself?

If you're going to count # of days to respond, shouldn't you count the # of days it takes me to respond to Faith's last post? Not to my own post?

Then you wrote, "Today was the fifth day with no input from you until just now. "

I do not see how you calculate that. Fifth day? Since I responded to whom? Myself?

Oy!

JJ8765

Please contact Dell Support using one of  the available options, or proceed with a Dell Factory Restore and see if that solves the problem. This thread is closed.