Hello Experts,
I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.
It was a Windows ME / 128 RDRAM/60 Gig /1.6Ghz.
I was like ME, noooooooooooooo but she was an old lady didnt wanna hurt
her feelings so figured i will take a look at it and see what I can do
Issues.
Everytime it would start it would go striaght to SafeMode and restart
it self.
I decided I will just format the whole hard drive and reload the baby
with XP.Well first I figured I will try my best to recover the data so
took the hard drive out made it slave and tried to grab the data,but
couldnt exactly comeup with proper jumper settings so gave up on
that.So I put the drive as it is and started to reformat the drive and
load XP and then all the misery started.
I just put the default jumper settings back on the hard drive ( which I
think was Cable Select)First install took 46 hrs and finally XP came
up and it was extremely slow,just the first startup took 45 mins,I
have reformated many computers before but havent seen a behavior like
this.I was patient I figured I will run windows update everything
should be OK but couldnt get connected to internet.(Ethernet drivers
were loaded fine in device manager just this check took 20 mins)
Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so finally
found the right vendor and bought the most expensive RAM in my life I
bought two 256MB chips and now the system has 128+518=640MB RAM and
guess what system is still running at same speed.
I have no clue whats going on, I flashed BIOS,ran diagnostics on
harddrive and memory got sucess results but still system is slow.
So finally figured I will just reinstall XP again as new memory is
installed and guess what its been 3 days and its still installing.This
morning it said 6 mins to finish the install and its almost time for me
to go home and it still says 4 mins to finish install (Saving Settings)
I have no idea what in the world is making this system run so slow.I
ran every diagnostic possible,hard drive looks ok ,memory is good, i
can see it says memoy 640 in bios.
Any one had an issue like this with Dell Dimension 8100 ...****piest
system of all time ...
I was helping a friend by fixing this machine ,thought i will take it
over the weekend fix it and return it trust me its been 2 months and
iam still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it.
I can call my friend and junk it but I have put so much time into it
,wanna know what the heck is wrong with this machine.

Rahman wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hello Experts,
> I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
> brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.
> It was a Windows ME / 128 RDRAM/60 Gig /1.6Ghz.
> I was like ME, noooooooooooooo but she was an old lady didnt wanna
> hurt her feelings so figured i will take a look at it and see what I
> can do Issues.
> Everytime it would start it would go striaght to SafeMode and restart
> it self.
> I decided I will just format the whole hard drive and reload the baby
> with XP.Well first I figured I will try my best to recover the data so
> took the hard drive out made it slave and tried to grab the data,but
> couldnt exactly comeup with proper jumper settings so gave up on
> that.So I put the drive as it is and started to reformat the drive and
> load XP and then all the misery started.
> I just put the default jumper settings back on the hard drive ( which
> I
> think was Cable Select)First install took 46 hrs and finally XP came
> up and it was extremely slow,just the first startup took 45 mins,I
> have reformated many computers before but havent seen a behavior like
> this.I was patient I figured I will run windows update everything
> should be OK but couldnt get connected to internet.(Ethernet drivers
> were loaded fine in device manager just this check took 20 mins)
> Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so
> finally found the right vendor and bought the most expensive RAM in my
> life I bought two 256MB chips and now the system has 128+518=640MB RAM
> and guess what system is still running at same speed.
> I have no clue whats going on, I flashed BIOS,ran diagnostics on
> harddrive and memory got sucess results but still system is slow.
> So finally figured I will just reinstall XP again as new memory is
> installed and guess what its been 3 days and its still installing.This
> morning it said 6 mins to finish the install and its almost time for
> me to go home and it still says 4 mins to finish install (Saving
> Settings) I have no idea what in the world is making this system run
> so slow.I ran every diagnostic possible,hard drive looks ok ,memory is
> good, i can see it says memoy 640 in bios.
> Any one had an issue like this with Dell Dimension 8100 ...****piest
> system of all time ...
> I was helping a friend by fixing this machine ,thought i will take it
> over the weekend fix it and return it trust me its been 2 months and
> iam still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it.
> I can call my friend and junk it but I have put so much time into it
> ,wanna know what the heck is wrong with this machine.[/color]


Arrgghhh!!! You should have left it alone! *You* are the one who cr*pped
it up! We'll never know what was wrong with it now. You are right that
you have no "clue what's going on". I usually try to be a lot more
polite than this, but you should not be playing tech with someone
else's machine. Take the machine to a real professional computer repair
shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA) and give them the RAM you
bought and have them straighten out this poor lady's machine.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
[url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

first you say "his Dell Dimension" and then it is "but she was an old lady".

kind of gives you a clue of the problem!!

then you admit it." I have no clue whats going on".

So. yes. it is best to take to repair shop or someone with more experience!!

"Rahman" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hello Experts,
> I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
> brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.
> It was a Windows ME / 128 RDRAM/60 Gig /1.6Ghz.
> I was like ME, noooooooooooooo but she was an old lady didnt wanna hurt
> her feelings so figured i will take a look at it and see what I can do
> Issues.
> Everytime it would start it would go striaght to SafeMode and restart
> it self.
> I decided I will just format the whole hard drive and reload the baby
> with XP.Well first I figured I will try my best to recover the data so
> took the hard drive out made it slave and tried to grab the data,but
> couldnt exactly comeup with proper jumper settings so gave up on
> that.So I put the drive as it is and started to reformat the drive and
> load XP and then all the misery started.
> I just put the default jumper settings back on the hard drive ( which I
> think was Cable Select)First install took 46 hrs and finally XP came
> up and it was extremely slow,just the first startup took 45 mins,I
> have reformated many computers before but havent seen a behavior like
> this.I was patient I figured I will run windows update everything
> should be OK but couldnt get connected to internet.(Ethernet drivers
> were loaded fine in device manager just this check took 20 mins)
> Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so finally
> found the right vendor and bought the most expensive RAM in my life I
> bought two 256MB chips and now the system has 128+518=640MB RAM and
> guess what system is still running at same speed.
> I have no clue whats going on, I flashed BIOS,ran diagnostics on
> harddrive and memory got sucess results but still system is slow.
> So finally figured I will just reinstall XP again as new memory is
> installed and guess what its been 3 days and its still installing.This
> morning it said 6 mins to finish the install and its almost time for me
> to go home and it still says 4 mins to finish install (Saving Settings)
> I have no idea what in the world is making this system run so slow.I
> ran every diagnostic possible,hard drive looks ok ,memory is good, i
> can see it says memoy 640 in bios.
> Any one had an issue like this with Dell Dimension 8100 ...****piest
> system of all time ...
> I was helping a friend by fixing this machine ,thought i will take it
> over the weekend fix it and return it trust me its been 2 months and
> iam still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it.
> I can call my friend and junk it but I have put so much time into it
> ,wanna know what the heck is wrong with this machine.
>
>[/color]

Dixonian69 wrote:
[color=blue]
> first you say "his Dell Dimension" and then it is "but she was an old
> lady".
>
> kind of gives you a clue of the problem!!
>
> then you admit it." I have no clue whats going on".
>
> So. yes. it is best to take to repair shop or someone with more
> experience!![/color]

You know, I worried about my response to this poster after I'd posted
it. I usually try to be nice, but his post made me so angry because in
my business I see this a lot. Some guy (and I'm sorry, but it's usually
a guy) thinks he knows tech and completely hoses someone else's
machine. Anyone who doesn't even know what RDRAM is has no business
playing tech on anyone's machine except his own. And most probably the
perpetrator will not swallow his pride and do the right thing because
his ego will get in the way. I can only hope for the "old lady" that
Rahman sucks it up and behaves responsibly.
[color=blue]
> "Rahman" wrote:[color=green]
>> Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so[/color][/color]

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
[url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
"Don't Panic"

This is a topic I sometimes want to jump in on, but I figure I've
already got enough "Rants" on record to embarrass me for a long time.
I see too many Systems mucked up by:
(A.) "Techy Friends"
(B.) Neighborhood Computer Wizard
(C.) Unqualified Shops, Technicians
(D.) Even "Idiots" who do it via a Remote Assistance session.

Our business is the modern day equivalent of a "User Car" lot. It does
not matter what Certifications or Training they tell you they have. We
(Small Independent operations) are wedged between the "Big Store",
Geeks-on-Call and the indifferent large providers who want a yearly
contract to be your support facility.

99% of the time this newsgroup provides good, solid PC advice. If
further assistance is required - find a small, "REPUTABLE" Computer
shop or service.

"Malke" <notreally@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:%23iVwUqZ$FHA.1312@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> Dixonian69 wrote:
>[color=green]
>> first you say "his Dell Dimension" and then it is "but she was an old
>> lady".
>>
>> kind of gives you a clue of the problem!!
>>
>> then you admit it." I have no clue whats going on".
>>
>> So. yes. it is best to take to repair shop or someone with more
>> experience!![/color]
>
> You know, I worried about my response to this poster after I'd posted
> it. I usually try to be nice, but his post made me so angry because in
> my business I see this a lot. Some guy (and I'm sorry, but it's usually
> a guy) thinks he knows tech and completely hoses someone else's
> machine. Anyone who doesn't even know what RDRAM is has no business
> playing tech on anyone's machine except his own. And most probably the
> perpetrator will not swallow his pride and do the right thing because
> his ego will get in the way. I can only hope for the "old lady" that
> Rahman sucks it up and behaves responsibly.
>[color=green]
>> "Rahman" wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so[/color][/color]
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> Elephant Boy Computers
> [url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
> "Don't Panic"[/color]

Rahman wrote:[color=blue]
>
> I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
> brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.[/color]

Next time find a phone book. Look for Computer | Sales And Service




--
[url]http://www.bootdisk.com/[/url]

DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE HEADER
THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.

Rahman wrote:
[color=blue]
> DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE
> HEADER THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
> I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.[/color]

Keep your day job, Sunshine. And let's hope it isn't in the tech
industry.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
[url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Ah, the tercentennial poster child for my Essay on Criticism.
"Rahman" wrote:
[color=blue]
> DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE HEADER
> THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
> I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.
>
>[/color]

Rahman wrote:[color=blue]
> DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE
> HEADER THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
> I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.[/color]

I don't see any replies from sissies or whiners. You got excellent
evaluations of your issue and spot on advice.