Be careful with newer Dells

[Maverick]

Most of you may know about this already, but avoid the newer Dells if you plan on installing a new OS or re-partitioning your hard drive.

My friend recently bought a P4 1.7Ghz Dell machine (it costed him like 4 grand). Unfortunately it came preloaded with Win ME. It also came with a 60 GB HD, which of course was partitioned into one huge 60 GB C partition. I told him that partitioning drives is a good idea especially if you ever plan on reinstalling the OS since you can just dedicate an easy-to-format partition for it.

So I get him on the phone and walk him through doing everything in fdisk. He tells me that fdisk only allows him to allocate 57GB of the drive. I said "oh thats just the way the system partitions the drive...you never get the full spec of the HD". I had no idea how wrong I was.

So everything's going fine, he makes 3 partitions, everything's great. He starts installing Win98 and we get off the phone. Later that night he reports the system is running fine.

Then the next day, the whole thing crashes and refuses to boot. He calls up Dell and they tell him that there's a safety measure in all new Dells that puts a "ghost partition" on all drives to prevent customers from repartitioning and reformatting. Basically his whole computer is hosed. Luckily, Dell sent him a totally new machine.

Sorry for the long story, but I hadn't read anything about this on the message board. I assumed doing a low level format would get around it. Anyone else run into this problem?

 

[Vegito]

i have crap loads of dell here... when i get the pc, i ghost the machine based on the service tag, so i have like a 700 meg image.. when hosed, reload the parition image, and it boots like it's never been touch before...

 

[Kwad Guy]

Yeah...When I get a new computer from HP, Dell, or Compaq that
is preloaded with software/OS, the very first thing I do is
attach a CD writer and run drive image from a DOS diskette.
I image the entire system as it arrived from the factory to
CDroms. Then, and only then, do I actually boot the machine up.

Too many of these machines come with recovery disks that require
certain secret watermarks on the disc (or don't even come with
a proper recovery disk at all if you buy through certain
channels!) The way around that is to simply have your own
recoverable image...

Kwad

 

[Maverick]

this was the first time I heard of Dell doing that. How long have they been doing it?

 

[MrBond]

Shiva, I've heard that too. I wonder if there's any way to undo that? IBM did this (still does?) on their laptops too, they keep diagnostic stuff there. Except you can see it in Fdisk.

 

[Vegito]

too long, the precision 410 i had since 99 has the boot part, the inspiron 8000 last week has it, the precision 420 from december 2000 also has it... so does the poweredge 4300 from 99 and poweredge 6300 from may 2000.... it's a scam.... they have these little hidden dell/microsoft virus in those partition waiting to hit you up for service charges... why them little dell bugs...

 

[GregMal]

I will never purchase a new machine from a vendor that does not
give me the full OEM OS package, CD and docs. None of that
restore CD for me. If I bought the machine with the OS license I
want the full OS.........Greg

 

[Maverick]

Yeah thats BS...I can't believe they charge you the same OEM licensing fees but only give you a damn recovery disc. I used to recommend Dell to people who didn't build their own machines, but now I'll tell them to steer clear.

 

[joinT]

OK guys, i need your help.
a good friend of my gf brought over her laptop for me to upgrade & after trying to format it, it's 100% FVCKED. STUPID DELL
Should I call them to get it replaced ??
I don't understand how this can be legal ?? I mean I don't want to buy a computer where I can't DO anything to it without their fvcking permission.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Just another reason to build your own!

 

[astroview]

I can't image the Hard drive that belongs to my parents' new Dell and i want to repartition it and reformat. Should I not do this now?

Maybe I should use PQMAGIC for repartitioning it?

any comments would be good, b/c I am worried now

 

[Duvie]

for most of dell's customers this is probably ok...Most people (like my mom) would never reformat or partition on her own anyway. This way I think dell is assured the OS is in the condition they want it to be to better serve in tech support...

I am not defending this!!! I definitely think a person buying the system should get a full oem os and not a recovery disc...I think dell should allow some sort of way to disable this so this can be done properly, especially after warranty period. It probably saves them time in tech support, and probably why they have such a wide ranged warranty. You buy win me and switch to 2000, and then have problems and call them and they probably get all hosed up on helping you as well as they may have sold parts intended only to be used with win me do to lame 2000 support.

I agree, who owns this computer???? Seems like getting a disabled system or a car that has a lock on the hood, truck and radio you can't get into...pretty much just turn on and go with some steering...

 

[ElFenix]

is zztop there?

seems like this is causing more problems than the old way. now people format their disk, and it causes people to fark sh!t up. used to be, big deal.

interestingly my xps from march 2k didn't have that partition. formated it the day i got it.

 

[userpete]

A-Men to building your own puter.

On a friends ComCrap puter, i noticed a D:\> partition where a copy of the OS is stored but didn't see any hidden part while using fdisk.

Pete

 

[lazyboy]

Yes this is why I started building my PC's. Dell was becoming a hassle and I was sick of dealing with it.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I'll never buy a Gateway for myself again. They got rid of most of the important options, and their standard telephone service only lasts 1 year after purchase. I think you have to pay an extra $99 of the three-year service.

 

[knutp]

Well actually this isn't any of the oem makers fault. This is microsoft. They have stopped the shipping of oem computers and windows cd's! The obious reason are illigal copying of the windows cd. I just started working at a new place and they told me that. They are dealing compaq, hp and fijutsu siemens. And all are the same now, because of microsoft. They started this in descember or something like that.

Oh btw the work is the dreaded support. But it isn't much todo... I got one phone call in 6 hours!!! and that was for 2 people on work. So we started watching movies instead.

 

[Maverick]

Wow you're totally right Microsoft stopped shipping OEM Windows CDs. I haven't seen any Win2000 OEM discs for sale. Come to think of it I don't even think I've seen WinME OEM discs. Can anyone correct me on the existence of these discs?

 

[Kwad Guy]

Here's a question: If I buy a machine that comes with Windows
loaded, and I have a license key, is it legal for me to make
a copy of the standard Windows install disc and supply that
with the computer if I sell it? I suspect not, and I haven't
done this, but what's the hurt in asking...

Kwad

 

[acronym]

Here's another reason to stay away from Dell. They include a "recovery" cd.
Basically, if you need to restore your system, you put in the recovery cd which checks the hardware to make sure you aren't trying to install windows on another machine. Guess what? If you upgrade the hard drive, you can't use the recovery cd, you have to BUY another copy of windows. Congratulations, welcome to the world of Windows OEM licensing.

 

[kingz]

<< Just another reason to build your own! >>



Well, Im shopping for a dell, only because Im looking for a Laptop I hope a low level format will do the trick. You cant see the partition in FDISK?

 

[Maverick]

Wow what a pain in the ass. Can't even upgrade that machine without BUYING windows. Thats ridiculous.

Can anyone recommend a good online buyer that lets you custom configure a machine of choice that doesn't do this recovery disc/ghost partition crap? I know of Alienware and Falcon Northwest. But if I wanted to recommend something reasonable for a family member or a friend what would you suggest? Keep in mind it should be high quality and have a good warranty. Thanks.

 

[dcdomain]

Fvcking christ. I read about this stuff a while back but never knew how much trouble it would cause. Weird thing is this though. My little cousin got this kick ass Dell computer during winter break. I went over there and formatted and reinstalled no problem. Thank god I didn't run into that 'ghost partition.' Anyway, this stuff is b.s. and we gotta deal with that stupid Microsoft activation crap when XP arrives. Hell this only turns off the customers. Those damn pirates they are trying to get at will always find ways behind their stupid protection schemes.

 

[Maverick]

One more thing I wanted to ask.
Do all laptop manufacturers pull this stunt too?

I had dreams of buying a halfway decent laptop and dual booting windows 2000 and linux on it. Most laptops only come with WinME so I'd undoubtedly have to hose the system.

Any info on this?

 

[Adul]

Microsoft is doing anything possible to bend over the customer. :|:|:|