[RKinner]

The Quick Test is pretty worthless. You need to do the Extended test. It may take a long time.

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C drive passed everything (after 44 hours... )
Do you need any of that info? (I didn't see how I could cut & paste or attach though)

Presume I should run G too?

Edited by ToniB, 15 February 2012 - 11:31 AM.

[ToniB]

C drive passed everything (after 44 hours... )
Do you need any of that info? (I didn't see how I could cut & paste or attach though)

Presume I should run G too?

Edited by ToniB, 15 February 2012 - 11:31 AM.

[RKinner]

seems awfully slow. yes. run it on G too.

Might be time to try updating the BIOS or setting it to the defaults

[ToniB]

Will do. How do I update the BIOS? How do I know if to update it or restore it to the defaults? (If the explanation isn't too time-consuming for you, what will that do?)

I thought 44 hrs was long but wasn't sure. This computer seems slow quite a bit. For example, the files you had me download; would start out saying 5 minutes & end up taking an hour. Consistent problem but not sure what it means. Ran speed test when that was a problem but it showed pretty much what it should (~2.85 Mbps download speed).

It's OK to use the computer when the G drive is checking, I presume?

[RKinner]

To flash the BIOS

http://www.dell.com/...2731114925#2Win

The file A11GX620.EXE is using the Universal (Windows/ DOS) format and is designed to be directly executed from Windows environment.


Click Download now.
The File Download window appears.
Click the Save button.
The Save As window appears.
Select Desktop using the drop-down menu to the right of Save in.
Click the Save button.
A progress meter moves as the download is completed.
If necessary, click X in the upper right-hand corner of the Download Progress Window to close it upon completion.


NOTE: Shut down all other applications prior to running the BIOS update utility. The update utility reboots your system in order to get the new BIOS loaded.


Run the BIOS update utility from Windows environment

Double click the Icon on your desktop labeled A11GX620.EXE.
The Dell BIOS Flash window appears
Click the Continue button.
The message Pressing OK will close all applications, shut down Windows, Flash the BIOS, then reboot. appears.
Click the OK button.
The system will restart and the BIOS Flash will be completed.


To reset CMOS to the default:

http://support.dell....0.htm#wp1132466

Note: It is a good idea to go into the BIOS ahead of time and write down the settings so that if it doesn't work you can put it back to the way it is now.

[ToniB]

Will do, thanks. How do I get into the BIOS to write down the settings?

Rookie question -- I need to
1) install 8 Windows updates,
2) flash the BIOS,
3) run Data Lifeguard on G.

Does it matter/ you have a suggestion as to the order I should do those in?

Edited by ToniB, 15 February 2012 - 08:05 PM.

[RKinner]

Might as well install the updates first. You might get lucky and it will fix everything.

To look at the BIOS you do whatever it says to do when the PC maker's logo shows up at boot. It's usually something like F1 or F2 but sometimes its F10 or ESC or DELETE to get into SETUP.

[ToniB]

OK, thanks.

Something is definitely wrong. I'm using the duplicate file finder & it's taking the computer several minutes each time to access the menu items. Could that be the BIOS?

Just noticed something really strange! -- the QOOBOX folder no longer contains the Seagate backup folder -- it somehow is now directly in C:/ -- I did nothing that would directly have caused that -- just had the duplicate program move a few selected files to a new folder (called Master backup) so that I could try to sort through that mess. What could have made that subfolder move? (i.e. Virus, program finishing what it was doing weeks ago, etc?) That's rather spooky. Size is still huge though. Guess I can now get rid of ComboFix...?

Edited by ToniB, 16 February 2012 - 06:13 AM.

[RKinner]

I thought I had you move the folder out of Qoobox several posts ago. To uninstall Combofix:

To uninstall combofix, copy the next line:

"%userprofile%\Desktop\combofix.exe" /Uninstall

Start, Run, cmd, OK then right click, Paste, then hit Enter.

[ToniB]

Was going to but when I determined that some of the document files had ONLY the copy that was in QOOBOX, I wanted to be sure they were somewhere else first so they wouldn't get lost. (You had said uninstalling combofix might eliminate the QOOBOX folder.)

WIll do that, then update, then BIOS, then scan G. Will get back to you when done or I when hit issues. Thanks!

[ToniB]

More strange happenings....

Was gone a few days; am in the middle of updating, flashing bios, etc.

Know how I couldn't get the firewall on? When I restarted it the last time, it came back on but the security system check didn't notice the virus protection (ad-aware) that IS on. Can't change that now. Mean anything to you?

You were right though -- uninstalling Combofix got rid of the QOOBOX folder. I'm glad I got all those needed documents out of there first! Thanks for the heads-up!

Edited by ToniB, 19 February 2012 - 04:11 PM.

[ToniB]

Used F2 to get into the settings. Found that I have BIOS version A11 (11/30/06) but can't figure out how to get the further information you referred to ("go into the BIOS ahead of time and write down the settings so that if it doesn't work you can put it back to the way it is now.")

Also, do I reset the CMOS to the default only if I am still having problems after flashing the BIOS or do it in any case after flashing the BIOS?

[RKinner]

I'd reset it to default before flashing it. To get the options you just use the arrow key and probably Enter when you get to a option.

[ToniB]

I'd reset it to default before flashing it. To get the options you just use the arrow key and probably Enter when you get to a option.

Just to be sure I understand... try setting the cmos to default first?

I can't get anything from the F2 screen -- it just says there is nothing that is changeable (or something similar)

[RKinner]

Seems rather odd that there are no options but if that is the case then it may not have a reset to default option but if it does we want to do that first.