Are there diagnostics available during post? Download and burn a Memtest86. Date and time correct?
Are there diagnostics available during post? Download and burn a Memtest86. Date and time correct?
Just another thought but are you installing from a retail disc? Or from the OEM Dell disc that it shipped with? I usually do a clean install from either my 32-bit W7 Pro or my 64-bit W7 Pro (both Dell OEM DVD's and I just go with whichever seems to have better driver support -- although if possible I like 64-bit just because I can add more memory, etc.). If possible, it would be best to install from the Dell OEM disc that hopefully has SP1 built in.
What about installing W8 on it? You'd spend a lot less time installing updates. That's what I did on my Dell at home. Even though I hate W8, I weighed it out as to which was worse -- my hatred of W8 or my hatred of installing massive amounts of W7 updates. I ended up going with W8. And now I know how to disable the lock screen and boot to desktop so it's not much different than W7 now (besides the horrible tiles of course). And if your kid is a student, can get a student discount and buy it for about $79.
I got mine here: http://www.journeyed.com/item/Microsoft#back
Whoa, I just noticed it's reduced to $69 now. Awesome.
Last edited by Webhead; 10-07-2014 at 03:44 AM.
It's a "retail" build. While I did not buy it, I think that is a good way of describing it. I downloaded it from Microsoft as part of a student program I once qualified for at the university I adjunct at. I do not recall the name of the program but it allowed me to download a whole bunch of stuff. Think of it as a basic version of TechNet for students.
No plans for Win8 right now.
I reboot the computer for an update that downloaded last night. After the reboot it gave me numerous messages about corrupt files. I reboot again and it stalled very early in the boot process. I ran a diagnostic utility that is offered as part of the Dell POST and it failed with a return code of 7. This was a refurbished drive I got through Amazon so I guess it is time to contact them.
Bad hard drive would definitely make sense as to why there are so many problems with the install. Thing is, drives are so cheap to buy brand new. I'm wondering what the benefit of buying one refurbished would be?
Since this is an older computer (2007?), I assumed anything brand new might run into backward compatibility issues. Also, I did not want to invest much into an older computer. Given the amount of time I have put into this, I would have been better offer buying her something newer but I never would have guessed I would have so many problems.
That reminds me of something I worked on yesterday. They were having many problems with a test system here at work and finally the called me to help out. It's this pressure appliance thing we have that hooks up via GPIB cables and has a large oven attached and uses LabView software. It's for testing these automotive sensors we do R&D on. It's running through this 8 year old computer. Celeron with 1gb of ram and WinXP. I decided to remove the existing NI software and reinstall. So I went to NI's website and got the latest things. First thing it did was complain about wanting the latest ".NET 4.x" So then I thought maybe I should make sure it has ".NET 3.x" and starting going into all these possibilities in my mind and decided it was probably going to be a lot of effort that didn't need to be spent. Finally I thought, "Heck, why not just put a new machine here with Win7 on it?" So I did that. Installed the NI software and it all went very smoothly and works great now.
Sometimes it's better to just to bite the bullet and dump the old stuff and just go with something new.
Given the range of problems you are having, Pinnacle, a bad hard drive sounds right. Thing about a refurb HD, you have to ask yourself whether the cost savings offset the hassle of possibly finding yourself holding a wet paper bag full of runny crap. But, Hey!, I've had my share of new DOA drives. Anyway, as long as we are discussing problems with Windows Update, my favorite troubleshooting tool is Microsoft's Fixit tool for Windows Update. You can do all of this stuff manually, but I've yet to find any real downside to just letting the tool automate the process.
I also gotta admit that I think drive manufacturers are really falling down on the job when it comes to bootable diagnostics. More and more often I find that the software doesn't recognize many controllers. WAY past time where they should have given up on DOS-clone based diagnostics and moved to Linux based tools.
Last edited by slgrieb; 10-09-2014 at 04:11 AM. Reason: YAFT
Yes, Mr. Death... I'll play you a game! But not CHESS !!! BAH... FOOEY! My game is...
WIFFLEBALL!