Antonio Santangeli

Hello I ran a PC and Hardware scan with dell support center installed in my computer and the Smart Short Self Test was timed out. what does that mean? and how can I fix it? I have a dell laptop INSPIRON 1525 WINDOWS VISTA 32 BIT. THANKYOU!

A "time out" of the SMART Short Self Test does not indicate a failure of the hard drive.  This simply means that the drive took longer than expected to run the self-test.  It is possible that other applications were accessing the drive during the test which prevented it from completing in a timely manner.  When the results were displayed, there should have been some suggestions for how to proceed.  Among these suggestions may have been a tip to close any applications that may be accessing the drive and run the test again.  Another possibility is that this drive's firmware needs updating.  I see that there are two firmware updates available on Dell.com for your system.  If you click the Detailed System Information and view your hard drive information, you will find the make and model as well as the current firmware version listed.  Once you have this information, you could visit http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1525&os=WLH&osl=en to see if there is an updated firmware available for your drive in the "SATA Drives" section.

If after trying these steps, the test continues to time out, you may want to run the diagnostics contained in the Utility partition by pressing F12 during the first screen of the system startup.  Here the same self test can be run without other windows applications accessing the drive.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

UPDATE: If your system has a program called Dell Network Assistant installed, it is possible that this could be the cause of the timeout.  We have seen this test take longer than usual (hours!) when this software is installed.  Apparently the Dell Network Assistant accesses the hard drive quite frequently. 

Also, you may want to verify that you have the latest version of Dell Support Center installed.  In the latest version, which is available for download at www.dellsupportcenter.com the application will notify you if the test seems to be taking longer than expected.  This prompt will give you the option of ending the test or continuing to wait.