Problems with Dell hardware support

Mon Jul 14 10:45:39 CDT 2008

On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 15:37 +0100, Brian O'Mahony wrote:
> Go to the drivers & downloads section for your server, scroll down to systems management, and there should be a Diagnostic CD ISO.
> 

Have you actually used this?  I downloaded both CD and DVD immages that
were supposed to be diagnostic CD's.  The CD actually booted but my
recollection was that it had a fairly useless bunch of documentation on
it.

There are standalone diagnostics which came on a machine that had vista
on it.  I was able to save and copy this diag partition and add it to
the boot menu so that it could be booted with grub.  I could not find
anything on the Dell support site that would install this standalone
diag partition for someone who did not have one already.

Nataraj

> -----Original Message-----
> From: linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com [mailto:linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com] On Behalf Of Dr A V Le Blanc
> Sent: 14 July 2008 14:27
> To: Rebecca_Warburton at dell.com; linux-poweredge at dell.com
> Cc: john.grannan at man.ac.uk; Andy.Fox at man.ac.uk
> Subject: Problems with Dell hardware support
> 
> Dear Ms Warburton,
> 
> I've been asked to mention to you some of the problems we have with Dell's
> hardware support.  I'll use as an instance the case of a poweredge
> with the tag number 8ZY2N2J.  This machine was reported to Dell on
> June 30 because it was reported to have a faulty disk drive.  On that
> day I gave to our operator Andy Fox, who liaises with Dell, the following
> information from the System Event Log on the DRAC card:
> 
> The server's system event log has this entry:
> 
> Record:      30
> Date/Time:   06/29/2008 08:54:49
> Source:      system
> Severity:    4
> Description: Storage Drive 2: drive slot sensor for Storage, drive fault was asserted
> 
> The person we contacted asked us to run some diagnostics.  First he sent
> us a URL for some windows executables.  We replied that we don't have
> windows on this machine; we have Debian Linux.  He informed us that
> this is not a supported operating system.  Well, we knew this.  He asked
> us whether we knew that we could 'easily' convert this to a supported
> version of Linux.  I confess, I found this rather insulting, as I know
> very well that getting all of our software to work on another version of
> Linux is by no means trivial, and we would have the serious problem of
> supporting it afterwards.  I currently look after some 73 Dell servers,
> none of which runs an OS supported by Dell.
> 
> I might add that Dell's OMSA 5.4.0 is installed on this machine, but
> it seems to be unable to see the disk drives or the Raid array.
> 
> Anyway, we have offered to try to run diagnostics from a floppy disk or
> CD if we were given one.  We received two URLs, one to a 32-bit diagnostics
> CD and one for poweredge diagnostics.  We can easily boot a DOS floppy
> image, but neither of these .exe files runs in DOS mode; they require
> windows.  I know this because I've tried both of them.  I have access
> to windows machines, but not as administrator.  One of these programs,
> if you run it on the NT box, complains that it must be run as administrator.
> The other runs and produces some other .exe files, but these also refuse
> to run unless you are an administrator.
> 
> Dell also sent us a URL for a shell script that is supposed to write an
> ISO image.  This shell script fails.
> 
> So, you should understand that we have not been able in several days to
> get access to a single diagnostic program that we were able to run on
> our sick server.  Someone at Dell finally sent a disk to us, and we
> replaced the disk.  Before replacing the disk, the Raid controller software
> that is accessible at boot time said that the old disk had failed.  After
> replacing the disk, the software said for about 90 minutes that the
> disk was rebuilding, but at the end of this process the controller says
> that the raid array is degraded.
> 
> We contacted Dell again, first by email on Friday July 11, to which
> we received no answer, and then again today.  The response from the
> contact person was:
> 
> (1)  There is no way to force the raid array to work normally on this
>      machine without either reinitialising it or installing a supported
>      operating system.  I believe this is simply false.
> 
> (2)  He accuses us of having REFUSED to run diagnostics on the machine.
>      We have been trying desperately for two weeks to obtain a diagnostic
>      program which we could run, but with no success.
> 
> (3)  He tells me that I can create a live CD based on various things
>      from which I can somehow run Dell diagnostics.
> 
> Dell's hardware support for people who do not run supported OSes is
> notoriously poor, but that is no reason to insult us.
> 
> I am a person who has received considerable help from Dell employees online,
> though various mailing lists, but rarely from your telephone support.  I'd
> like to suggest a few simple things that might help other people like me
> -- and if you don't believe there are other people like me, I can easily
> give you a few URLs.
> 
> (1)  Please, when a hardware problem is reported to Dell, the support person
>      should BEGIN by asking what operating system and version we are running.
>      This would avoid wasting days sending us inappropriate executables.
> 
> (2)  Please don't suggest to someone who is reporting a hardware fault
>      that he should change to a different operating system.  This is
>      rather simple minded, and does not create a favourable impression
>      of the intelligence or understanding of the contact person.
> 
> (3)  Please, in the future, any CD or floppy disk images which contain
>      diagnostic programs should also be available in ISO or floppy
>      image format, so that those of us who don't have access to a
>      suitable windows system can try things without being asked to
>      jump through hoops first.  You can even say that these are not
>      'officially supported' images; we don't care.  What we want
>      is to be asked to do something doable.
> 
> (4)  Each of the messages I have received from Dell support claims that
>      I can fill out a satisfaction survey.  I have not yet seen such a
>      survey, but I think I can say that I am grateful to whoever sent
>      the replacement disk, but otherwise the service is completely
>      inadequate, and the support skills of the person who dealt with
>      this particular query could do with some polishing.
> 
> Yours,
> 
>      Dr Owen V Le Blanc
>      I T Services
>      University of Manchester
> 
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