Installed but wont recognise USB Dongle

[Thomas K]

PC-Doctor 7.9

I can use the USB Dongle, and software on my laptop, and it works fine.

When I plug it into a Acer Aspire (AX3990-EB20P) the software interface fails to find the USB Dongle 'license'.

When I run from from bootup, I also experience a freeze up or lock up at various points.  Anywhere from initial menu, to while running a SMART HD Test (Short)

Any thoughts please?

And yes, I restored the USB Dongle at least once, to attempt a fix, this did nothing.

Thomas

[James_PCD]

Hello Thomas,

Have you tried to restore the MUD, to see if that addresses the license issue that you are seeing on the Acer?

As for the freeze/lock up that you are seeing, does the system under test have a wireless mouse/keyboard attached at the time of testing?  Is the system attached to a KVM switch?  We have come across issues where the moving a wireless mouse or using a wireless keyboard or a keyboard attached to a kvm can cause the DOS UI to lock up.

[Thomas K]

No, in fact I did restore the MultiPurpose USB  Dongle after the first indication of issue. 

It didnt solve it.

That said, I have also tried it in 3 USB ports in the back, and in one of the ports at the front with no luck.

When under windows, while I can see it, and browse the directory, the SC 7.9 software from CD refuses to find it.

USB Mouse
PS/2 Keyboard
No KVM
Only thing that might be considered 'funky' is the video is the D-sub/vga runs to my main monitor that I use for servicing, and this hasnt occured before.

BootMed seems to run fine without 'freezing'.
AVG Rescue USB seems to run fine without 'freezing'.

I am hesitant to run the restore utility from the computer in question in case it does 'damage' to the device. (If it cant be found, who knows what might be in store).

Thomas

[Thomas K]

Follow up.

I attempted to do a restore from the selection menu (install, install for one run, run from cd, etc)

The message that came up was


'No Multipurpose USB Device were detected.  Insert Device.'

Attempted 2 or 3 USB Slots. (1 of the 2 in front, 2 of the 4 in the back).

Works fine in Personal Laptop, Desktop, and another customers laptop.  Self discovers fine.  Within WIndows on the previously mentioned acer aspire 5333 I cant even find the Multipurpose USB to browse.

Thomas

[James_PCD]

Hi Thomas,

What type of USB ports are on the system USB, USB2, or USB3?

It appears that the system in question has USB2 ports, so that should not be an issue.

You indicated that you are using a USB mouse, have you tried placing the MUD into the same port that your mouse was plugged into?  A suggestion from one of our techs was to try and boot into DOS from the CD, to see if the lock-up in DOS is resolved. 

[Thomas K]

My appologies, I have 2 systems on the desk being tested, and while the Aspire 5333 is being a pain, these pains are familiar.

The system in question, is a Acer AX3990-EB20P

Yes, I have moved the mouse, and used the mouse USB Port for the MultiPurpose device.

I have this morning run the 'quick test' from the CD, and it runs fine.

I then run the 'short test' from the main DOS screen.  It then freezes up at any random point. 1% & 1%, and just now 33% and 1%, being the last two (Current/Overall)

Im not overly sure if it successfully booted from CD vs the USB.  I did select the CD/DVD Drive, with, and without the MultiPurpose plugged in, without it, it simply booted into Windows 7.

From there I put in the Windows PE Disk, it booted fine, allowed me to run the tests, never froze (System Test) along with a short HDD test.

Windows PE from PC Doctor seems to be able to find the MultiPurpose USB Fine, allows saving to the drive, etc.  So far NOTHING has been found wrong with the system.

.. Further testing to commence .. (?)

Thomas

[James_PCD]

Hello Thomas,

Have you tried running the tests in the short test individually? 
From the menu, press R to run the DOS stand alone UI
From the diagnostics tab select the Fixed Disk category
Select and run a test
Continue down the line to see if a lock up occurs
If one does not occur, then select the same tests that are covered in the short hdd test.  You can do this by loading an overlay (f2 menu option) and running all tests on screen. 

There are currently three possibilities:
1.  A bad driver in Windows
2.  The HDD is going bad - which can cause #1 to happen
3.  The MUD is "flakey" and may need to be RMAed.  (if you wish to go this route, you will need to submit a tech support case @ http://www.pcdservicecenter.com/support.php, as I do not have the ability to perform an RMA via the forums.)

[James_PCD]

Any chance that you could be having a similar issue with this system that you were having with the other system you were trying to install XP on to?

In the past we have come across an issue where the SATA mode could cause the MUD to lock up.  Maybe you could try to switch the mode and retest in DOS to see if this gets around the lock up.  If you do try this, don't forget to change the SATA mode back prior to trying to boot back into Windows, or you will get a bluescreen 

[Thomas K]

I just did that, took a bit but found the option in the bios...  it amazes me at how well the bios designers, can hide something for such a simple setting..  It took me a whole 4 minutes of flipping through options where I felt it should be til I found it suddenly.. (LOL)

First boot, it hung/froze on the PC Doctor flash screen, it had never done this before, rather soon, so I rebooted again.

Second boot came up fine, I opted to take a slower approach, and not just set the short HD test to run, but went in to run each test interactively, one at a time.

It failed at 88% current, 88% overall, on the funnel seek test.

Third Boot, again failed on funny seek, only this time current task: 8%, overall: 6%

The MultiPurpose USB Device, shows yellow/orange, never showing a red warning error.

The MUD at this point still works on EVERYTHING else I've thrown on it, with the exception of this machine.

I want to note at this point, as I havent previously, occassionally it will drop to a DOS prompt, but will correct on a followup reboot, on this machine specifically, it has, on more then one occassion, and on a string of instances, locked up on the main menu with a series of 'extended' ascii characters.  You know, funky B's etc Funky Tildes, etc.

Ñœธ฿

as an example (not exactly, couldnt find the exact ones on the charmap utility)

At this point I've declared this computer fine, and decided its something to do with the combination of the MUD with this unit, Windows PE Tests it fine, I've been unable to duplicate the issues the customer has infered exist, Im gonna move on to moving data from an old drive which was part two of the servicing.

The Windows PE 'System test' came back A-OK, and DID find the MUD.

Thomas