Sorry this is going to be
long but I am at my wits end at this point.
I am in the process
of doing a rebuild of a system and have run into an issue I just
can't find a solution for, or a reason for it to be happening. Client
wants to rebuild the system and supplied system, OS License, and
drive. Existing drive was NOT to be touched other than removal
and return. I checked the system prior to starting work, nothing was
wrong with it, to be honest, and told client this. He wants this done and
purchased an additional Windows 8.1 Pro license so he could have both a working
Windows 8.1 and 10 drives for the same hardware.
Now to the problems I have
encountered which I am at this point thinking it is either the Dell Data
Protection
software or drive.
OS installed, and
used Dell Command Update to update drivers. No issues were seen. Installed
Dell Data Protection software, and problems start happening. Never the
same issue every time I load the system, each load has had different issues all
appear to start as soon as DDPE is installed. DDPE or companion software
Dell Data Protection Security Tool will not appear in uninstall programs so
removal is not possible. Malwarebyes will appear to load but again does
not show in uninstall programs. Malwarebytes will not open. DDPE or
DDPST will open. Cannot get to Intel Speedstep controller for the
processors, and could not get it to install unless it was done before DDP
software. Fingerprint reader will not
function due to Speedstep being too low and not changeable. Admin level users
have lost access to
programs that would normally allow them to work. Drive will hit 100%
utilization with nothing happening. Network fails but does not drop offline,
i.e. pages will not load but ping responds.
Options for the source of
the issues are:
1. Hard drive not working correctly
with UEFI boot, drive was originally a legacy boot drive. It is a Seagate
ST9250410AS 250GB
SATA.
2. Dell
Data Protection software
3. Dell
driver for hard drive (I question it but don’t know if it is a valid question)
4. Some
Microsoft update (valid question as there are about 190 MOL updates applied to
the system)
5. Something
I am just not seeing
What I have done so far. Tested the
machine with another hard drive (160 GB but can’t tell you any more than that)
loaded with Windows 10 x64 using UEFI boot.
DDP comes up all Dell drivers load without issue no quirks seen, and yes
I know Windows 8.1 x64 is not Windows 10.
Same method of install was done with both drives. The 160 GB drive was
originally a UEFI boot
disk, the 250 GB was originally a legacy boot disk. I will be trying tonight
loading Windows 8.1
x64 on the 250 GB drive using legacy boot to see if the problems reoccur or
not. Problems normally start within the
first few minutes of loading so it may not take long to find out if it is
hardware or software based.
I would appreciate any suggestions to assist me in getting to the root cause
on this. I REALLY hate hitting issues
without a reason!
Jon
