Junk out of the box - Inspiron 3000

[oniondip]

Hello friends,

 

I have two Inspiron 3000s that I bought for my sons at the end of '16. 500GB, 4GB RAM.

 

The performance has been brutally slow since day one. Browsers and other programs take 20 seconds just to open. Updates take HOURS. While on warrantee we tried many things will Dell Support with no avail. I cannot run tests here because I can not log in with an email address. Says it's not in database, though my profile says it is. Only the forums allow you to log on with user name..

 

Anyone want to help me tackle this... it's a last gasp before we move on .

[Tx Redneck]

You're able to run the OverDrive test anonymously from the bottom of the page. http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/default_ie.asp

 

 

The above is a small snippet of a screen shot and blends in to the forum background, it's not the actual link. I pasted that up top.

 

Edit:Be sure to copy/paste the link here after the test, but before you close Internet Explorer out as you'll not be able to get the test ink back afterwards.

[oniondip]

Brutal process. Continually says No Session in Progress at the end.

 

Most I can give you is PC 7.2/ SOFTWARE 5.0/ MALWARE 2.0/ PERFORMANCE 52.6

 

*** Same after creating a brand new account

Edited May 29, 2019 by oniondip

[Tx Redneck]

Sorry for the problems, I'm in contact with our developers and will update as I get info. Thanks for your patience.

 

Tx

[oniondip]

Now the results are shown. All checkmarks except "change internet receiver buffer" and a 1323 result on Defragment

[Tx Redneck]

Can you post a link? 

[oniondip]

pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=26060110&report=Summary

Edited May 30, 2019 by oniondip

[nigsy]

Looking at the report that unit should not be slow! OK the i3 isn't the fastest cpu but paired with enough memory it should be fine.

 

Have you run 'memtest'

 

https://www.memtest86.com/

 

(better than running memtest from the cmd line)

[Tx Redneck]

That's about the expected performance out of a U series processor. They're the low power variant that gets used in NUC,Laptops and other SFF pcs. The part that's makin it feel slow I'm confident is the reg hdd, an ssd would change the overall feel considerably.

[oniondip]

remember, this computer has barely been used! can you suggest how to solve the hdd/ssd?

[Tx Redneck]

I don't know if solve is the right way to put it, but you can clone/image the drive that's in the machine to and SSD and swap them out. The pc will be none the wiser and will considerably more responsive. For clarification, what is slow when you use the machine? 

[oniondip]

Opening programs, say a browser, takes a minimum of 10 seconds. Updates take hours. Spinning blue thingy on almost everything.

[Tx Redneck]

That's likely access time from the hdd. An ssd would solve most of the concerns you present. 

 

I won't own a pc without an ssd. 

[oniondip]

Great. Should I already know how to clone a drive and SSD?

[oniondip]

Thanks. Though I have no clue how to do the swapping and SSD stuff.

[Tx Redneck]

It's all plug and play. Once the clone has completed, shut the pc down, take the cover off, locate the hdd and swap the ssd in its place.

[oniondip]

I'm sorry. I'm not sure how to clone. After that I can locate hdd and swap ssd (after I look up what those things actually are!)

[Tx Redneck]

HDD=hard disk drive SSD=solid state disk drive hdd has spinning platters and moving armatures, ssd is just a bunch of solid sate chips that store the bits and such. Cloning can be done via freeware(Macrium Reflect is one) or paid software(Acronis True Image Home is one such paid).

[oniondip]

Thanks! I'll give it a whirl.

 

[oniondip]

Finally gave it the "whirl." Bought a Samsung 860EVO and a drive enclosure. Pretty much broke three pieces on the inside opening the Dell up.

 

Anyway, are you willing to walk me through the process? Take out old drive and put it in enclosure? Connect to PC through port? Then what? I am old and not good at this.

 

I'm going to use Macrium to clone. 

 

Happy New Year...

[Tx Redneck]

You'll need to put the new one in the enclosure to clone, then swap them out when it's complete. 

 

Tx 

[oniondip]

It does not read the enclosure in Macrium (no disks are available). It's clearly plugged in to port.

[Tx Redneck]

You'll have to go into disk management and initialize the drive, format and create a simple volume for it to be "seen".

[oniondip]

It read the drive (E) after putting it in the other usb slot(?!). Macrium asked me to "build" to make a bootable disk and I did. After that the cloning took 3.5 hours (it said "successful")  Swapped it out annnnnd... got nothing. (no bootable devices found. cause could be corrupt OS image or a boot device is not enabled in BIOS setup) . there are no boot items in the BIOS.

 

All I can think of is a just cloned the C Drive but didn't copy the partitions.

Edited December 28, 2019 by oniondip

[Tx Redneck]

I haven't used Macrium in years, but I know it works. Look over this post from the forums at Macrium and see if it helps. 

 

https://forum.macrium.com/Topic2881.aspx

 

Tx