Dell 8300 odd behaviors

"BillyBaloney" wrote in message
...
Disk management does not indicate that there's a hidden partition. However
I do have the Dell Resource CD. (still sealed, hehehe)

What would you recommend I do?

TIA

Joe



F12 at the Dell splash to boot from the CDROM. Run the "custom" test,
select "non-interactive tests" (be sure all removable drives - CD/DVD drives
and floppy have media with readable files), select (1) extended loop (not
'quick test only') and let it run. Heck, let it run for (5) loops and see
if you can produce any errors.

I will do that first thing tomorrow and if anything looks wonky I'll report
back.

what the heck I'll report back anyway. :-)

thanks

Joe


"S.Lewis" wrote in message
...

"BillyBaloney" wrote in message
...
Disk management does not indicate that there's a hidden partition.
However I do have the Dell Resource CD. (still sealed, hehehe)

What would you recommend I do?

TIA

Joe



F12 at the Dell splash to boot from the CDROM. Run the "custom" test,
select "non-interactive tests" (be sure all removable drives - CD/DVD
drives and floppy have media with readable files), select (1) extended
loop (not 'quick test only') and let it run. Heck, let it run for (5)
loops and see if you can produce any errors.

Ran the tests and everything checked out okay. It took a number of hours to
run the SATA tests. I'm guessing 3-4 hours just for one hard drive since I
didn't sit and watch the progress of the tests. I have two internal hard
drives and I'm assuming that it tested the C drive first. When it started
testing the 2nd drive I exited out because there's nothing but data on there
and I didn't want to wait 4 more hours for that to finish.

I didn't have the suspected bad memory installed either but since everything
tested okay it's possibly a good indicator that the issues I've had are
indeed caused by bad RAM.

also, I did not run 5 iterations. I initially set it for 2 but if it takes
8-9 hours to run 1 loop that would be 40+ hours to complete all the loops.
For now, this is a good enough indicator for me.


"S.Lewis" wrote in message
...

"BillyBaloney" wrote in message
...
Disk management does not indicate that there's a hidden partition.
However I do have the Dell Resource CD. (still sealed, hehehe)

What would you recommend I do?

TIA

Joe



F12 at the Dell splash to boot from the CDROM. Run the "custom" test,
select "non-interactive tests" (be sure all removable drives - CD/DVD
drives and floppy have media with readable files), select (1) extended
loop (not 'quick test only') and let it run. Heck, let it run for (5)
loops and see if you can produce any errors.

"BillyBaloney" wrote in message
...
Ran the tests and everything checked out okay. It took a number of hours
to run the SATA tests. I'm guessing 3-4 hours just for one hard drive
since I didn't sit and watch the progress of the tests. I have two
internal hard drives and I'm assuming that it tested the C drive first.
When it started testing the 2nd drive I exited out because there's nothing
but data on there and I didn't want to wait 4 more hours for that to
finish.

I didn't have the suspected bad memory installed either but since
everything tested okay it's possibly a good indicator that the issues I've
had are indeed caused by bad RAM.

also, I did not run 5 iterations. I initially set it for 2 but if it takes
8-9 hours to run 1 loop that would be 40+ hours to complete all the loops.
For now, this is a good enough indicator for me.





Eggcellent.

Hi!

William is correct but the only other thing I can think of, tho a
long shot, is the wrong ram sticks for your pc???

I suppose it's possible. What I wouldn't have expected is for the
incorrect memory to work satisfactorily for as long as it did.

I'm not sure if the Dim8300 can use slower memory or not. Given that
its motherboard does support all the way down to a 400MHz FSB (not
listed as supported by Dell), slower RAM might work and the timings
adjusted by the BIOS.

PC3200 can still be had at a reasonable price if you need it. I topped
off my Dim8300 to 3GB recently. Look on eBay.

(And when I did, I noticed that the BIOS and motherboard differ on how
channels are reported. If you followed the printing on the
motherboard, you'd force the system into single channel memory mode,
even though the printing states that two slots next to one another are
on the same channel. In reality, slots 1 and 3 are channel 1 while 2
and 4 are channel 2.)

William

Hi!

I didn't have the suspected bad memory installed either but
since everything tested okay it's possibly a good indicator that
the issues I've had are indeed caused by bad RAM.

Here's what you do.

With the good RAM in your computer (so it works) go and get yourself a
copy of Memtest 86 or Memtest 86+. (I find the original to be better,
but both of them work fine.) Install it to a floppy disk or a CD (if
you don't have a floppy drive).

Put the bad RAM in (remove the good stuff) and start the computer up
from the media that you put Memtest on. If you have bad RAM, you will
know for sure within about an hour. Red print, sudden rebooting or
crashing means you've got a memory problem. You can even find out
which module is the culprit by testing one and then the other. (The
Dim8300 has no problem working with a single "stick" of memory.)

The Dell diagnostics are good, and you should be able to single out
the memory test by itself if you want to do so. However, Memtest 86 is
*very* good at beating on memory and finding problems.

William

I'm sure I had the right memory. Double-checked each time I made a purchase
and always got the PC3200.

As far as the slots on the mobo, they are color-coded too. 1 and 3 are
white, 2 and 4 are black. It was also easy to see how they were installed
since the original Dell memory was in 1 and 3.

As I mentioned earlier, I thought the Crucial memory was the one going bad.
Don't know why, maybe because the Dell stuff had been in there for so long I
figured it would just last forever. But it may be that the Crucial was okay
and the Dell stuff was going bad. I knew about memtest but didn't run it. I
didn't know about the Dell Resource CD tests until after I had sent the
Crucial sticks back.

I have put the suspected bad memory back in for now because I can't get
anything done with 1GB. If it starts acting up I'll run the resource CD or
memtest.

As an aside to all of this, I got an email from Crucial today acknowledging
that their RMA lab had received the memory. The salutation said, and I'm not
making this up, Dear Joe Loserman. My last name ends in man but it doesn't
sound anything like Loserman!! I was ****ed, hehehe. I shot them off an
email right away and I told them I damn well better get good service or
someone was in big trouble.

Joe

"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
Hi!

William is correct but the only other thing I can think of, tho a
long shot, is the wrong ram sticks for your pc???

I suppose it's possible. What I wouldn't have expected is for the
incorrect memory to work satisfactorily for as long as it did.

I'm not sure if the Dim8300 can use slower memory or not. Given that
its motherboard does support all the way down to a 400MHz FSB (not
listed as supported by Dell), slower RAM might work and the timings
adjusted by the BIOS.

PC3200 can still be had at a reasonable price if you need it. I topped
off my Dim8300 to 3GB recently. Look on eBay.

(And when I did, I noticed that the BIOS and motherboard differ on how
channels are reported. If you followed the printing on the
motherboard, you'd force the system into single channel memory mode,
even though the printing states that two slots next to one another are
on the same channel. In reality, slots 1 and 3 are channel 1 while 2
and 4 are channel 2.)

William

BillyBaloney wrote:
Ran the tests and everything checked out okay. It took a number of hours to
run the SATA tests. I'm guessing 3-4 hours just for one hard drive since I
didn't sit and watch the progress of the tests. I have two internal hard
drives and I'm assuming that it tested the C drive first. When it started
testing the 2nd drive I exited out because there's nothing but data on there
and I didn't want to wait 4 more hours for that to finish.

I didn't have the suspected bad memory installed either but since everything
tested okay it's possibly a good indicator that the issues I've had are
indeed caused by bad RAM.

also, I did not run 5 iterations. I initially set it for 2 but if it takes
8-9 hours to run 1 loop that would be 40+ hours to complete all the loops.
For now, this is a good enough indicator for me.


"S.Lewis" wrote in message
...
"BillyBaloney" wrote in message
...
Disk management does not indicate that there's a hidden partition.
However I do have the Dell Resource CD. (still sealed, hehehe)

What would you recommend I do?

TIA

Joe


F12 at the Dell splash to boot from the CDROM. Run the "custom" test,
select "non-interactive tests" (be sure all removable drives - CD/DVD
drives and floppy have media with readable files), select (1) extended
loop (not 'quick test only') and let it run. Heck, let it run for (5)
loops and see if you can produce any errors.






3-4 hours for a diagnostic test on a SATA drive seems excessive to me,
and possibly the indicator of some bad sectors, which may or may not
have been repaired.

I suggest running HDAT2 or a similar freeware utility to look at the
drive's SMART data, and to see whether or not the drive has experienced
some serious errors. Also, run the manufacturer's own drive diagnostics
posthaste... Ben Myers

I received the replacement RAM and installed it last Thursday. Everything
seems to be running okay i.e.; no bsod's, no odd behavior.

I ran chkdsk /f over a week ago and it did find a few bad sectors which were
fixed.

As far as the 3-4 hours goes . . . .it was checking something like
625,000,000 blocks and it seemed to be moving along at a pretty good clip.
:-) I believe it ran a read test, an access test, and a verify test so that
was 3 times through those blocks of whatever it was testing. It seemed like
it was a long time but it didn't seem to be stalling along the way.

I can run the WD diagnostics and if anything shows up I will take prompt
action. One of my first thoughts was the drive was about to go. Even though
I do regular backups I decided to order another external drive so I can
ghost the C drive which I will be doing in the next day or two.

Joe



3-4 hours for a diagnostic test on a SATA drive seems excessive to me, and
possibly the indicator of some bad sectors, which may or may not have been
repaired.

I suggest running HDAT2 or a similar freeware utility to look at the
drive's SMART data, and to see whether or not the drive has experienced
some serious errors. Also, run the manufacturer's own drive diagnostics
posthaste... Ben Myers

"BillyBaloney" wrote in message
...
I received the replacement RAM and installed it last Thursday. Everything
seems to be running okay i.e.; no bsod's, no odd behavior.

I ran chkdsk /f over a week ago and it did find a few bad sectors which
were fixed.

As far as the 3-4 hours goes . . . .it was checking something like
625,000,000 blocks and it seemed to be moving along at a pretty good clip.
:-) I believe it ran a read test, an access test, and a verify test so
that was 3 times through those blocks of whatever it was testing. It
seemed like it was a long time but it didn't seem to be stalling along the
way.

I can run the WD diagnostics and if anything shows up I will take prompt
action. One of my first thoughts was the drive was about to go. Even
though I do regular backups I decided to order another external drive so I
can ghost the C drive which I will be doing in the next day or two.

Joe



The Dell diag short tests detect any previous errors written to the system
event or SMART logs, I believe.

I love their diag suite. My only beef with them is the occasional 'false
failure' from outdated diags on newer systems.

Good luck.