Help!! This Dell is nothing but problems...

Question

I really need some help because I am so frustrated. I have a Dell 8400. I purchased it in October, so it is only 4 months old, but I've had nothing but problems.   First, the DVD RW drive didn't work, and it had to be replaced. Then, the CD rom door was very loose and that needed replacing, but with this last problem I don't know what to do or where to turn for help.   I was using my computer this past Sunday and the hard drive failed. I called Dell tech support and they sent a new one. Well, it was installed today, and I found out when it was being installed that it was refurbished. Now, will this refurbished hard drive have a shorter life span and cause more problems that a new hard drive? I stupidly assumed that Dell would put a new hard drive in.  I  don't know what I was thinking.   Secondly, this fan just gets noisier with time. It races constantly. It's like a car revving up it's motor. I can even hear it in the other room. I have had it!!! Can someone  please give me answers to these questions about the 'refurbished hard drive' and the constant LOUD fan? When I call tech support they tell me that the fans are supposed to be noisy. But this is ridiculous. I'm so fed up that I would return this computer if I could. Does anyone know of any chance of that? It's at the point where I don't even want to use it anymore. And it's not even paid up yet.   Now another problem. I had my ISP unhooked when I was reinstalling Windows today. That went find. After that I installed the drivers and installed Norton AV and made sure the Windows firewall was on. But tonight, when I was using my computer, pop up ads came on constantly. Could this be caused by the new 'refurbished' hard drive? Even when downloading Spybot and Adaware, I got tons of pop ups. I ran Spybot and it found 265 items. Adaware found tons of stuff too. I deleted the junk it found, but the pop ups remain. I ran a virus scan and it came up clean.   So, my question is, can somebody tell me how to get this thing going right? Or is that a lost cause? I am so frustrated with this Dell, I'll never buy another one. All I want is a computer that works and with this one, it's a major achievement to get anything done. I have a P4, but I noticed it is slow. I don't know where the real problem lies. Anybody else get one of these 'lemons'?   P.S. On the chance that I get this thing fixed, could I buy a hard drive at one of the stores like Staples and would it fit this computer, or is Dell's hard drives proprietary too?

robinhood42 · Answer

Thank you for the information. I have very  few programs running on my pc because I only reinstalled Windows today. I reinstalled the drivers, then installed Norton AV and before I hooked my pc up to the internet I ran Norton on my system. I also made sure that the Window's firewall was turned on. Then I installed about 5 programs onto my computer that were on here before the other hard drive went. Earlier I was on the internet and didn't get many popups. Later on tonight it was like they were coming out of the woodwork. I couldn't keep up with them all. I have run Adaware twice and Spybot twice and I have also run Spyblaster. I really wasn't on the internet long enough to get all this spyware, but it came from somewhere. Maybe I clicked on the wrong thing. With my other hard drive I never had this pop up problem, and I was running the same programs.

msil217 · Answer

robinhood42 wrote:

I have WinXP Pro with SP2. I don't have MSN Messenger Service running. It isn't even installed on my computer. It was before the other hard drive went, but not now. I've been running Spybot again as well as Adaware, and I downloaded Spyblaster. When I ran Spybot I got files that said this :

CoolWWWSearch:

Vx2-I don't know what that one was

Also alot of Malware was listed. I deleted it all.

Robin

I

You have messenger service. Unless you found a way to delete it.

Look at my example: HERE

Download and run "CWShredder" for CWS.

. HERE

Post at the spyware/virus forum.

Message Edited by msil217 on 02-08-2005 07:53 PM

robinhood42 · Answer

I have WinXP Pro with SP2. I don't have MSN Messenger Service running. It isn't even installed on my computer. It was before the other hard drive went, but not now. I've been running Spybot again as well as Adaware, and I downloaded Spyblaster. When I ran Spybot I got files that said this :

CoolWWWSearch:

Vx2-I don't know what that one was

Also alot of Malware was listed. I deleted it all.

Robin

I

msil217 · Answer

robinhood42 wrote:

I don't have MSN Messenger going. I think they are from IE.

Robin

No, this is not MSN messenger I am talking about.

This is "Messenger Service" which is not related to MSN messenger.

If you get popups with IE closed, then it is probably messenger service.

But if it's IE, Do you have windows XP service pack 2 installed?? That should block popups.

Message Edited by msil217 on 02-08-2005 07:20 PM

msil217 · Answer

Are the popups from Internet Explorer?

OR are they messenger popups?

How to DISABLE messenger.
1. Go to start>Run>Type in "services.msc"(without quotes)
2.In the list of services, find "messenger
3.Double click on it and a window will open .
4.Near the center of the window there is a drop down box: Manual,Automatic, Disabled.
5.Click on "Disabled" Apply, OK
6.Now Stop the service. And Messenger should be disabled from reboot. And stay that way unless you change it.

Download and use spyware blaster. This will block most spyware from being installed.

Remove existing spyware with adaware and Spybot.

If you still have problems, post at the virus/spyware forum.

HERE

robinhood42 · Answer

I don't have MSN Messenger going. I think they are from IE. Robin

bernard0110 · Answer

I also have the same problem before, Dell had to replace my hard drive because of some error. I was upset too at first to know that the hard drive that is supposed to be new was a refurbished drive. But it came to my knowledge that this hard drive is not actually refurbished. The replacement hard drive is actually a brand new hard drive. They called it refurbished because it has stayed with Dell for quite some time because the drive has been installed with utilities and diagnostic tools before they send it out to me. Also, some of the hard drive that was shipped in error (e.g. a cd-rom should have been shipped instead of a hard drive) are returned to Dell and are considered by them as refurbished. So, the drive you recieve is 'not used' by any of Dell's customer. The pop-ups is normal when you connect to the internet. But beware of the things you download from the internet. Some of the files downloaded through the internet came with softwares (spyware/adwre) that install itself without you knowing it. What I do most of the time, I check for control panel>add/remove programs. You will see a list of the programs installed on your pc. you can remove/uninstall programs that you think are spyware/adware and programs that you don't really need/use. Or you can disable programs that run on startup. Improve your system's performance http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1089806&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19 Learn more about spywre and how to remove it. http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1077228&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19 http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1091640&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

robinhood42 · Answer

I used to have CW Shredder on my computer with the other hard drive. I clicked on the link you sent and it says 'Page not found.'

msil217 · Answer

The only way I could think of is if a Hard-Drive causes popups, that means it had spyware on it to begin with. If you did a clean install of Windows, the hard-drive should not be cause popups.(Unless you have a pirated version of windows that happens to have spyware on it)

Doing a clean install of XP involves deleting the partition(s), reformatting, and installing Windows.

And before connecting to the internet for the first time after reformatting and installing Windows, make sure your Firewall is turned on , and you have an anti-virus installed.

Oh, the link is:

http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder

Now, spyware may be preventing you from accessing the site. If so, I can upload it to my website, and see if you can download it.

Also try this address:
http://cwshredder.net/bin/CWShredder.exe

Alternatively, you can right click on the following link, and choose "Save target as"

I renamed the CWShredder file to hopefully trick your spyware into allowing it.

CWSHREDDER from my site

Message Edited by msil217 on 02-08-2005 08:13 PM

jswartz1 · Answer

'I really wasn't on the internet long enough to get all this spyware, but it came from somewhere. Maybe I clicked on the wrong thing.' You sure did, it does not take long to get spyware just visit the wrong internet site. XXX rated sites are famous for this, but they are not the only ones so don't assume that someone using your computer has been on a porn site. Just use Ad-aware frequently. Popups - I am not getting any on this site & neither should you. Go to http://www.pcworld.com/ which is a good site & you will. Internet Explorer now blocks most but not all. I use firefox so I do not have this problem at all.

robinhood42 · Answer

I guess Dell couldn't have sent me a new drive if I got all those pop ups. I know that on the side of the box that the drive came in, it said "refurbished." So, I wonder who had it last and what is on it. By rights I should have been sent a new one. That is what I paid for when I received my computer. I wonder if Dell would send a brand new one. But then again, I really wouldn't know if it is new or not unless I purchased one. I'm just wondering. Can hard drives be bought in Staples and those kinds of stores and fit these Dell computers? I was curious as to how proprietary Dell is.

I have always done a "clean" install when installing windows. It's just a habit. I delete the partition, reformat it and then install Windows. But I didn't install Windows this time. The technician did. He set it on the Quick Format option and it took about 20 minutes. I should have just done it myself.

I also make sure the Firewall is on before hooking up to the internet. And I install my Norton AV and run that. Then I go on the internet.

I'm debating on whether I want to do a full format before I get all my programs reinstalled.

I went to http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder it brought me to that "Page Unavailable" page for a few minutes then I went to www. intermute.com. I didn't notice a link to CWShredder. When I went to the other link it brought up the file to download. It was the same with the third link. It brought the file up to download.

I have Spyblaster on my system now. I'm just curious as to whether I should do a clean install so I know that the drive is really clean. What do you think?

msil217 · Answer

Well, if you want to be sure, go to the virus/spyware forum as linked in my first post.

They will probably suggest you download a program called "hijack this" and post the results. If you can eliminate all of the spyware, trojans, and viruses you might have, as long as your computer is working OK, there would be no need to reformat at this time.

But, if you are willing to start over (I've done it dozens of times), make sure you delete the partitions on the HD before reformatting and installing windows. (You can back up downloaded programs to CD if you have a CD Burner)

AND BEFORE you connect to the internet, make sure your Firewall is enabled, and you have a good Anti-Virus program installed.

It is all up to you. :)

robinhood42 · Answer

msil217,   I have started getting pop ups when I reply to messages in this forum. Does that mean it could be a virus? Maybe I should do a full reformat on the hard drive.   Robin

msil217 · Answer

Strange. You should post at the spyware/virus forums. If you had XP service pack 2, that should block the pop-ups.

But it seems you have been hijacked. Maybe a clean install (meaning deleting the partitions on the HD, then reformatting with the XP CD, and then installing Windows might be the way to go. Before connecting to the internet, Have a Firewall and antivirus installed, then first thing, download and install Windows updates.

Do not install anything except the basics, no third party programs, except a Firewall, antivirus, and Spyware Blaster.

BMWBOB · Answer

If it's any concelation my 8400 bought in December runs great! I had the fan noise issue fixed by Dell replacing the CPU, heat sink and fan. Consensus is the heat sink is the problem.

By law if a manufacturer looks sideways at hardware and sell it, they call it refurbished. I buy refurbished hardware on a regular basis knowing a possible problem may have been already fixed!

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Help!! This Dell is nothing but problems...

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