Sunday, September 18, 2005

Re: Dell Dimension 2200 - This machine is still sitting in my shop. It was preloaded with Windows XP Home Edition when my client purchased the machine. I called him to see if he could locate the software for it. He seems to think not. I looked through the software he gave me when I first picked up the machine and it's not there. Three days ago I called my client to let him know that I am up against a wall with this one. I have two options, 1) get the original system recovery disk 2) call Dell and order a replacement system recovery disk.

I have worked on several computers over the past week. One was another Dell, this was the 4600 Dimension with Windows Media Center installed. I picked it up after working at my new job Dealer.com on Thursday. My plan was to clean it up that night and return it the following morning. Instead I found out that this particular Dell would not work with any one of three monitors that I have. I joined a chat session with a Dell support person to find out what the deal was. First he told me that there was a problem with the video card. Then I explained to him two things, 1) the machine has onboard video (built into the motherboard) 2) the computer see the clients Dell monitor just fine. The support person insisted that the machine does not have onboard video - I told him that I was starting into the belly of it and indeed, the VGA port was built into the motherboard. What he was talking about was the tv tuner card. Anyway, after finding out that this Dell would only work with a digital monitor I switched my flat panel display to digital and booted the machine. Again, it would not recognize the monitor. The support person from Dell eventually disconnected me from the chat. I guess that's what happens when they can't answer a question.

I returned the computer to the client the following morning and set up the machine with his monitor to get a feel for what the original problem was. He was complaining that his DSL connection was slow. He was correct. I ran an AdAware scan and removed twenty five problems but none of them were critial. Eventually I ran out of time due to a previous commitment. I told him that I would be back after the weekend to give his computer a full "once-over".

I worked on a few other machines but their problems were similar to those you can find in previous posts.

Sunday, September 4th, 2005

I just wanted to update you on the Dell Dimension 2200 I am working on. Yes, I did say "I am working on". This computer is the most bothersome computer I have ever worked on. As I said in my last post, spyware, viruses and adware had a hold on the poor machine. It took over twenty four hours to run a virus scan in safe mode! Anyway, I tried everything. Running Adaware removed over 600 spyware/adware infected files. Running Avast AntiVirus removed a few items but they returned on reboot. The main problem seems to be with Nail.exe! I spent a week working on the computer. Each day the processor seemed to have sped up just a tiny bit. I called the client and told him that his computer was really screwed and that I was amazed that I could not remove the problematic software. I also informed him that it has become a personal battle and that I would not charge him for the total amount of time I was putting into his machine (I estimate that I have put in thirty hours, which would cost over a $1000!). I told him that if I didn't have it cleaned up by Friday that I would need the software to reinstall his operating system (Windows XP Pro). Well, I began walking down that path yesterday at about 6:00 PM. After a few hours of loading the operating system files (I booted to the Windows XP CD and re-partitioned the hard disk) the final stages of a successful installation were unfolding. The computer rebooted, setup continued and then just when I thought I would be lying in bed happy that the computer was fixed, I got the old blue screen with an error that stated the file vga64k.dll was stuck in an infinite loop and setup could not continue! I said to myself, holy shit! Then I gathered my thoughts and downloaded an updated version of the file, booted to the CD again and selected the Recovery Console to try to repair the installation. At the command prompt I copied vga32k.dll from a floppy disk to the Windows\system32 folder to overwrite the file. Then I rebooted - same problem. I decided to start over, just for the hell of it! It didn't work!

Anyway, another 10 hours into this damn machine and the only thing I can think of is that the Dell came preinstalled with another operating system (probably Windows XP Home Edition) and that I might need to get that software from my client and after restoring the initial configuration I could perform an upgrade to XP Pro.

At this point I am attempting to use the Format command at the command prompt to erase the drive one more time. I guess that I am hoping to get lucky or something!

This is the first computer that I have been unable to fix, so far! I will apolgize for using such language but this thing is really pissing me off! Part of me wanted to toss this thing off a bridge (then pick up all the broken pieces and recycle them) and buy the guy another computer, but I know it can be fixed! It's a damn computer that's all!

I will keep you posted of the outcome.