UNSOLVED
Cash for crash??
Have any Community Forum members been able to solve a problem like mine? I'll provide
specific details in my next post (providing Dell doesn't decide it's 'against their
interests' that I do).
Not a techie, using PCs for 21 years, my 4 month old Dell PC has CRASHED. Totalled. No
Not a techie, using PCs for 21 years, my 4 month old Dell PC has CRASHED. Totalled. No
Resource CD, XP disk, or Users Manual supplied. Not sure, hardware may be 'working',
but is it working correctly?? Although helpful & polite, phone support was dismal: no
diagnostic tests, advice, emails. Nothing. Couldn't solve the problem. "80% sure it's
a software problem", I'm told. How could she know that? It is, by definition,
impossible to discover the fault with 100% accuracy over the phone. Dell-installed XP
system is a "software problem" - "80% sure" - and they want to charge for software
repair.
The 'Sale of Goods & Services Act, 1980' here in Ireland forbids this behaviour:
The 'Sale of Goods & Services Act, 1980' here in Ireland forbids this behaviour:
"Goods must be fit for the purposes for which they are sold, and be of merchantable
quality" etc, etc. Is a PC with a (possibly) faulty operating system fit for the
purpose for which it was sold?? Mmmm. Or a (possibly, 20% sure) faulty motherboard?
The only way to find out is for a technician to call. I'm entitled by Irish law to a
refund, a replacement, or a repair, whichever I insist on. Or to go to the Small
Claims Court. But it would be more convenient for me, and for Dell, for a technician
to call.
Yes, I know, Dell sells cheap goods, and they cut corners in order to do so. But does
Yes, I know, Dell sells cheap goods, and they cut corners in order to do so. But does
anyone have any advice??
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Posted May 11th, 2006 14:00
You can download the ISO image of the Dell Diagnostics CD from http://support.dell.com350
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Posted May 12th, 2006 23:00
I see lots of complaining in your posts on 2 different Dell forums, but not a single mention of exactly what the problem is. So if you want some help here, save the Irish law lessons for the pub, and tell us exactly what the PC does/not do that makes you think it isn't working correctly. Be specific. Post exact text of any error messages, etc.
And remember, we're Dell users, not Dell employees.
Ron
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Posted May 16th, 2006 13:00
Yes, Ron, I understand your point. But I did preface my same post to two fora by addressing Community Forum members and by saying that I would give specifics in my next post, which I will. The post was not addressed to Dell employees. I asked other Dell users who have had a similar experience to mine whether they had any advice. I received several replies offering advice and suggestions. As they don't work, I've been drafting replies in order to see what I may be doing wrong, or to see whether the problem is resolvable at all. I have sent you a separate reply with the specifics.
On the 'law lessons', Ron, unlike many other Dell users, you may not be interested in this aspect. Besides being a Dell user, I am a journalist; certain instincts kicked in when I detected some curious and unconventional customer service practices. The service personnel are superb, but are acting under the constraints of unusual protocols.
Luckily, I have a 2nd PC and a notebook, so I can still do my work. However, not so luckily, I've had to waste many hours trawling the Dell Forum and the Web in order to fix a brand new Dell PC. I would not have to do the same for, say, my new Ipod, or indeed, for any other new product.
I have no desire to be on the Judge Judy Show, Ron. I just want a Dell techie to fix my new Dell PC. Until that happens, I have to make other enquiries.
Kind regards,
Des (beanbags)
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Posted May 16th, 2006 14:00
(The PC is a Dimension 3100. I burned 8 audio CDs and then decided to reboot.)
I press the power button and the Dell screen appears. This then changes to a dos-like screen saying, "Your computer has been stopped in order to protect your data....." and offers 5 options: Safe mode, Safe Mode with prompt, Safe Mode with networking, Last Known Good Configuration, Start Normally.
At the bottom it says, "We are sorry for the inconvenience. This may have been caused by a recent hardware or software change..." This screen counts down and then changes to a BSOD (details below).
I have rebooted and tried each of the five options several times; while some are followed by the Windows splash screen, all result with the same BSOD. I have not made any hardware changes for two months (USB scanner); it is at least a month since I made a software change (installed AutoCad & The Oxford Dictionary). It may be a hardware problem as there has been a 'scraping' noise from the HDD at startup for at least a month. When I experienced this on my other PC about a year ago, the hard drive needed to be completely replaced. But I didn't think this could possibly be a problem on a brand new Dell PC. I do not know how to follow the suggestions offered in the BSOD (below).
BSOD:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need. If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.
Technical information:
***STOP 0X0000006B (OXC0000034,0X00000002,0X00000000,0X00000000)
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Posted June 5th, 2006 18:00
I have exactly the same problem with my 5 month old Dell Inspiron B130 laptop.....see below, I have added no hardware to it nor software except what I put on when I got it, and this is the 3rd time it has crashed like this, the other times I went into the Bios set it to default setting's then it allowed me to re-boot in safe mode to do a system recovery, Then last night I kept getting an error message any time I tried to do any thing telling me that "Windows Security file was corrupt, run CHDisk, which I had already done, I ran Spybot, Lavasoft, Avast and all said the laptop was clean, I also went to Bitdefender, TrendMicro Housecall, and Symantecs and did free scans all came up clean.
I was also told by Tech support by phone they were pretty sure it was a softwre problem...I told them I hadn't added any software since I bought it, a tech PC friend is telling my Hard drive is finished....I now cannot re-boot into safe mode or get into the bios, all I get is the screen below.
Patsangel
I press the power button and the Dell screen appears. This then changes to a dos-like screen saying, "Your computer has been stopped in order to protect your data....." and offers 5 options: Safe mode, Safe Mode with prompt, Safe Mode with networking, Last Known Good Configuration, Start Normally.
At the bottom it says, "We are sorry for the inconvenience. This may have been caused by a recent hardware or software change..." This screen counts down and then changes to a BSOD (details below).
I have made no hardware changes at all and have added no new software since I got it
BSOD:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
PROCESS1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need. If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.
Technical information:
***STOP 0X0000006B (OXC0000034,0X00000002,0X00000000,0X00000000)
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Posted June 6th, 2006 04:00
GoBack software can cause the 6B error you reported. GoBack is part of Norton SystemWorks. So if you have SystemWorks that may be the problem. Assuming you have the XP CD (if not, insist Dell send it to you), you may be able to do a Repair/Reinstall of XP on the hard drive. You won't lose any of your personal files or software you installed, but all XP updates and hotfixes will have to be reinstalled.
Here are instructions to do the Repair/Reinstall. If you can get it to run Repair/Reinstall, immediately back up your personal files, then remove GoBack, and then install all the XP updates.
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dn=1056993
If that won't work, you can try doing a PC Restore (press Ctrl-F11 before XP starts to load) which will reset the system to exactly the way Dell shipped it, but you'll lose all your personal files and you'll have to reinstall all the XP updates and any other software again.
Good luck!
Ron
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Posted June 11th, 2006 14:00
I don't use GoBack or Norton I use Avast pro so that was not the problem I also tried all the F keys one after the other to get the recovery but all of them take me to the start page of boot in safe mode, last known good configuration ect....all except F2 that takes me to the Bios and I have set factory defaults and when I try to boot in safe mode still I get the blue screen with the message I said above, I have absolutely no way to access the system at all.
But thanks for the advice anyway.
Jan
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Posted June 11th, 2006 15:00
@PatsAngel wrote:
I don't use GoBack or Norton I use Avast pro so that was not the problem I also tried all the F keys one after the other to get the recovery but all of them take me to the start page of boot in safe mode, last known good configuration ect....all except F2 that takes me to the Bios and I have set factory defaults and when I try to boot in safe mode still I get the blue screen with the message I said above, I have absolutely no way to access the system at all.
But thanks for the advice anyway.
Jan
You can hit Fn keys all you want, none of them restore your system. You need to reread the info provided. CTRL F11 on reboot restores the computer to "as shipped". Going into bios and setting to factory defaults does nothing...
Prior you should reboot and hit F12 to run diagnostics on your hard drive.
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Posted June 11th, 2006 18:00
As Rick said, run all hardware diagnostics on your system. Then re-read my previous post. Try booting from your XP CD before using Ctrl F11 to run PC Restore. If you can do XP Repair/Reinstall you won't lose your personal files. If they're all backed up, it doesn't matter, just run PC Restore.
Ron
SR45
2 Intern
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12138 Posts
350
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Posted May 11th, 2006 08:00
User Guide Manual are right here for each system http://support.dell.com/support/systemsinfo/documentation.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~cat=12&~subcat=84 Just look up your model number and click on it.
As far as the OS CD that did not come with the system, read the below.....
Windows XP operating system CD is no longer shipping on some systems starting in early 2005. If you did not purchase this OS CD at time of sale for $10.00, contact Dell, and request the CD. Some have had problems with tech support in getting them to send one to you, and others have not. If you are having problems getting one tech support personnel to send you one, call another. Be as polite as you can be.
Systems shipped after July 15, 2004 came with Symantec PC Restore. This utility restores the computer to an "as-shipped" condition. If you haven't reformatted, repartitioned, or modified the master boot record, this should work.
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_mediaexp&message.id=2495 How to get an OS CD
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090151&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19 How to use the Symantec Restore Utility, and to make a copy of the operating system
http://www.djdenham.com/Install%20Procedures.htm How to reformat, and reinstall windows from Dennys web site