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canuhelppls
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August 11th, 2026 15:28
Inspiron 153535 with after-market items causing problems
FYI, Dell tech support discovered that there were two after-market items on this laptop that I purchased from Amazon (seller Lucky Tech LLC) last year. After-market items were Samsung 2TB SSD (within spec) and 64 GB of RAM (not within spec). Win 11 Pro OS.
History: the laptop worked fine until Support Assist attempted to install large upgrades to the system components (eg. OS recovery tools). Installs failed and Windows Defender got involved with the warning that some tmp files could not be identified as legitimate. I contacted tech support and first, there was remote service (did not solve), second, they spent all of a day working through me to test components and try installs (did not solve). The issue seemed to be the SSD, so they sent a local tech to replace it. This was when it was discovered that the SSD was after-market, so that was the end of official tech support on this issue.
Samsung is a reputable manufacturer, and a 2TB SSD is within specs, so I'm wondering whether it's really the out- of-spec RAM that's causing the problem. AND, can this problem be remediated?
Community experts, I invite your opinions! And thank you in advance for advice!..
(edited)
1. After-market items were Samsung 2TB SSD (within spec)
2. and 64 GB of RAM (not within spec). Win 11 Pro OS.
3. Support Assist attempted to install large upgrades ...
3. It's lame, uninstall it like us.
1. As @Kflash08 says, check it's SMART status.
If it's retail-version, check it's firmware with Samsung Magician.
If still a problem ...
- Backup data files
- DiskPart clean it (all back to raw).
Then repartition/format it. A clean Windows install will properly initialize a GPT, properly partition, and format as NTFS.
2. Not sure what "not within spec" means as of course, any inserted DIMMs but be 100% compatible. Exactly matching pairs work best. Must show properly in BIOS.
If it 100% passes (no errors) with 2 long passes of bootable memtest86.com, then pretty much impossible for ram not to be good.
(edited)
Dell Rockstar
Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS Developer (Retired)
- Like many of you, I can appreciate a good game-engine.
- I answer questions here, but I'm not a Dell employee.
- Consider giving posts you like a "thumbs-up"
- Posting models-numbers and software versions speeds trouble-shooting.
- Click "Mark as Accepted Answer" on any post that answers your question best.It did sound like both aftermarket components are fine but SA bloatware caused trouble. Dell tech support should have recommended deleting SA.
Yeah, there are several posts from people saying that SA detects a failing storage device, where all other programs and tools state that it is perfectly fine. Sounds like an unnecessary service job or an attempt to sell a new device.
(edited)
@redxps630 SupportAssist has AI now?! Man, it has been quite a while since I've uninstalled it from my Dell computers.
canuhelppls
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Posted August 12th, 2026 02:13
@Tesla1856 Well, the Inspiron 153535 owner's manual says maximum memory configuration is 16 GB. Does that mean that having 64GB is unacceptable? How would I know? Tell me more, please.
canuhelppls
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Posted August 12th, 2026 02:16
@redxps630 I will take SA off the laptop and use the other Dell apps available. I'll let you know. Thx.
canuhelppls
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Posted August 12th, 2026 14:40
I forgot to add that Dell tech support had me download and install Win 11 repair version ... so I have two versions of Win 11 on my laptop.
canuhelppls
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Posted August 12th, 2026 14:42
@canuhelppls AND Windows Defender is warning about Windows updates installation now!
Kflash08
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Posted August 11th, 2026 20:35
It sounds like during the update process, Windows Defender caught something that it didn't like and botched something up. This has nothing to do with your SSD or RAM. If the RAM was the problem, your computer would be crashing/freezing/blue screening etc. If the Samsung SSD was working fine before this issue occurred, then I doubt that there's a compatibility issue with it and your computer. Use a program like CrystalDiskInfo to check and see if the drive is healthy. If it reports any warnings or errors with the drive, then it's highly recommend that you backup your data and replace the drive.
SupportAssist has become very bloated. I uninstalled it years ago as I deemed it unnecessary and useless. Most of what it does I can do manually or better with 3rd party software. The only useful feature was driver/application updates, and I can use the much more useful Dell Update app for that. Try using Dell Update to install the OS recovery tools. I just got an update for that and had no issues installing it through Dell Update.