How do you create the Dell diagnostic partition and load i..

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so when I
install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load it up
with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site has
is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that? No
harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers

 

[David]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On my system..2400.
There are multiple downloads (HD and floppy)
for the diags. They are not updates.
Hope this helps...what system do you have.
Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The system I am working on now is a Latitude C810 notebook with a new hard
drive. I'll also be getting a Latitude C840 notebook into shape as well as
Precision 330, 340, 350, and 360 systems... Ben Myers

On 11 Mar 2005 19:47:58 -0800, "David" <davids1165@gmail.com> wrote:

>On my system..2400.
>There are multiple downloads (HD and floppy)
>for the diags. They are not updates.
>Hope this helps...what system do you have.
>Dave
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The software that updates a diagnostic partition refuses to run if it does not
find the partition. So the real problem is how to create the Dell diagnostic
partition? ... Ben Myers

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:06:16 GMT, ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben
Myers) wrote:

>The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so when I
>install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load it up
>with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site has
>is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that? No
>harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ben Myers wrote:
>
> The software that updates a diagnostic partition refuses to run if it does not
> find the partition. So the real problem is how to create the Dell diagnostic
> partition? ... Ben Myers

I guess I'm missing something... Do the diagnostics *have to*
be installed in a special partition? Can't they be run from
anywhere?

Notan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ben Myers wrote:

> The software that updates a diagnostic partition refuses to run if it does not
> find the partition. So the real problem is how to create the Dell diagnostic
> partition? ... Ben Myers
>
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:06:16 GMT, ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben
> Myers) wrote:
>
>
>>The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so when I
>>install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load it up
>>with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site has
>>is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that? No
>>harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers
>
>
Well for what it's worth, the partition is simply a ~70MB FAT partition
placed and is the first primary partition of the drive. If you have one
machine running linux with a working partition, it'd be fairly simple to
scp it over. In fact, you don't even need a machine running Linux, you
just need a machine that already has the partition; then you can use a
couple live Linux distro's like knoppix to do what you want.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to this.
It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell provides and
that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get access to the
exact same utilities.

Tom
<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:42325b10.36472117@nntp.charter.net...
> The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so
> when I
> install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load
> it up
> with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site
> has
> is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that?
> No
> harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:iYzYd.134524$qB6.17525@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
> In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
> this. It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell
> provides and that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get
> access to the exact same utilities.
>
> Tom


That's pretty much my understanding as well. Recently and in the future
there may be a problem with that.

Since Dell is no longer including the Resource CD with new systems (the last
3 I've seen did not have it), then the diags would have to be downloaded
most likely. And as noted in the thread, the diag partition update download
simply updates an existing diags partition.

So I'm thinking that limits a user to attempting to run an older version of
the Resource CD (if the user has one, and IF it supports the newer system).
Or trying to download an older version of the ddiags from the website to
create the floppies or a bootable CD/USB key - which again might be too
dated to recognize some newer systems.

I have (3) versions of the CD here. They have different part numbers,
version numbers, and are dated from 1998 to 2001.

The last possible option is this: the new systems have an option (in the
original image) to create an image restore CD from the start/programs menu.
I've made these CD's, but I have never used them. I don't know what, if
any, effect that disc would have concerning the original partitions on the
drive as configured from the factory. I also do not know if that "restore
CD" is dependent on the original partitions being intact.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

As delivered from the factory, Dell systems have a hidden 40MB partition
containing the diagnostic software. Press the F10 key after the system boots
and the system switches to the diagnostic partition and starts running the Dell
GUI diagnostics.

My goal in refurbishing Dell systems is to set them up like they are when they
leave the factory, with the diagnostic partition alive and well and functional.
The partition is a hidden FAT16 and it has the partition type flag of 222
decimal, or 0xDE. The Dell diagnostics will only run automatically via the F10
key if they are present on a suitably set up partition.

Yes, if you have a CD with diagnostics that came with your system, you can boot
and run from CD. You can also make up floppy diskettes and run non-GUI
diagnostics that way.

Most people want to recover the 40MB diagnostic partition and use it for
something else. With a 20GB or larger hard drive, 40MB is not much of a loss of
space and gives the owner the convenience of running the diagnostics. Of
course, if the hard drive croaks, the convenience of running diagnostics is
lost, isn't it? ... Ben Myers

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 23:07:47 -0700, Notan <notan@ddress.com> wrote:

>Ben Myers wrote:
>>
>> The software that updates a diagnostic partition refuses to run if it does not
>> find the partition. So the real problem is how to create the Dell diagnostic
>> partition? ... Ben Myers
>
>I guess I'm missing something... Do the diagnostics *have to*
>be installed in a special partition? Can't they be run from
>anywhere?
>
>Notan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

It might also be noted that if the diag partition is removed with the (idea
of using the) original OS and restore image, then neither can be booted to
once the util. partition is gone.

At this point in time, I'd only remove it if I were planning to perform a
clean install of the OS.


Stew





<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:423300a4.3205153@nntp.charter.net...
> As delivered from the factory, Dell systems have a hidden 40MB partition
> containing the diagnostic software. Press the F10 key after the system
> boots
> and the system switches to the diagnostic partition and starts running the
> Dell
> GUI diagnostics.
>
> My goal in refurbishing Dell systems is to set them up like they are when
> they
> leave the factory, with the diagnostic partition alive and well and
> functional.
> The partition is a hidden FAT16 and it has the partition type flag of 222
> decimal, or 0xDE. The Dell diagnostics will only run automatically via
> the F10
> key if they are present on a suitably set up partition.
>
> Yes, if you have a CD with diagnostics that came with your system, you can
> boot
> and run from CD. You can also make up floppy diskettes and run non-GUI
> diagnostics that way.
>
> Most people want to recover the 40MB diagnostic partition and use it for
> something else. With a 20GB or larger hard drive, 40MB is not much of a
> loss of
> space and gives the owner the convenience of running the diagnostics. Of
> course, if the hard drive croaks, the convenience of running diagnostics
> is
> lost, isn't it? ... Ben Myers
>
> On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 23:07:47 -0700, Notan <notan@ddress.com> wrote:
>
>>Ben Myers wrote:
>>>
>>> The software that updates a diagnostic partition refuses to run if it
>>> does not
>>> find the partition. So the real problem is how to create the Dell
>>> diagnostic
>>> partition? ... Ben Myers
>>
>>I guess I'm missing something... Do the diagnostics *have to*
>>be installed in a special partition? Can't they be run from
>>anywhere?
>>
>>Notan
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Stay tuned, Tom. I may yet have a solution. I set up a Latitude C810
yesterday, but got things a little out of order. I don't want to blow away the
hard disk contents and start over to get it right. Most Dell models have
software to update the diagnostics, available for download on the Dell web site.
But the update software needs the diagnostics partition present to begin with.

My next victim will be a Latitude C840 when the warranty replacement hard drive
arrives here from Dell on Monday. I also have a few Dell Precisions loaded with
Linux, and they need setting up with either XP or 2000. I do not know whether
their previous owner blew away the diagnostic partition on the Precisions.

My goal in refurbing these boxes is to set them up to operate the way they work
when they leave the factory, with F10 activating the diagnostics. 40MB or so is
a drop in the bucket on today's 20GB and larger drives, so it's not like the
diagnostics "waste" much disk space... Ben Myers

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:59:26 GMT, "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote:

>In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to this.
>It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell provides and
>that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get access to the
>exact same utilities.
>
>Tom
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:42325b10.36472117@nntp.charter.net...
>> The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so
>> when I
>> install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load
>> it up
>> with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site
>> has
>> is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that?
>> No
>> harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

This is a very interesting thread. I'm taking notes.

I had no idea it would be so difficult to reinstate the diagnostic
partition. I have no problem with running the diags from the CD - not that I
ever need to; I run 'em once a year just for fun - but if the diags are no
longer shipped with systems that means they're gone if a user ever has to do
a clean install.

My idea sounds too simple to be correct: Image the diagnostic partition as
soon as the machine is set up. Of course, that won't do any good for Ben.

Ted Zieglar

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:4233032c.3853497@nntp.charter.net...
> Stay tuned, Tom. I may yet have a solution. I set up a Latitude C810
> yesterday, but got things a little out of order. I don't want to blow
> away the
> hard disk contents and start over to get it right. Most Dell models have
> software to update the diagnostics, available for download on the Dell web
> site.
> But the update software needs the diagnostics partition present to begin
> with.
>
> My next victim will be a Latitude C840 when the warranty replacement hard
> drive
> arrives here from Dell on Monday. I also have a few Dell Precisions
> loaded with
> Linux, and they need setting up with either XP or 2000. I do not know
> whether
> their previous owner blew away the diagnostic partition on the Precisions.
>
> My goal in refurbing these boxes is to set them up to operate the way they
> work
> when they leave the factory, with F10 activating the diagnostics. 40MB or
> so is
> a drop in the bucket on today's 20GB and larger drives, so it's not like
> the
> diagnostics "waste" much disk space... Ben Myers
>
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:59:26 GMT, "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net>
> wrote:
>
>>In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
>>this.
>>It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell provides
>>and
>>that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get access to the
>>exact same utilities.
>>
>>Tom
>><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>>news:42325b10.36472117@nntp.charter.net...
>>> The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so
>>> when I
>>> install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load
>>> it up
>>> with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web
>>> site
>>> has
>>> is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try
>>> that?
>>> No
>>> harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers
>>
>>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

My goal is to set up a Dell exactly the way it was when it left the factory.
The diagnostic partition is more than simple. It is FAT16 and hidden with a
partition type of 222 decimal, or 0xDE... Ben Myers

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 08:32:13 GMT, Nicholas Andrade <sdnick484@nospam.yahoo.com>
wrote:

>Ben Myers wrote:
>
>> The software that updates a diagnostic partition refuses to run if it does not
>> find the partition. So the real problem is how to create the Dell diagnostic
>> partition? ... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 03:06:16 GMT, ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben
>> Myers) wrote:
>>
>>
>>>The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so when I
>>>install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load it up
>>>with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site has
>>>is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that? No
>>>harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers
>>
>>
>Well for what it's worth, the partition is simply a ~70MB FAT partition
>placed and is the first primary partition of the drive. If you have one
>machine running linux with a working partition, it'd be fairly simple to
>scp it over. In fact, you don't even need a machine running Linux, you
>just need a machine that already has the partition; then you can use a
>couple live Linux distro's like knoppix to do what you want.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Of course, the imaging software needs to be able to create an image of a very
non-standard partition type, and one needs to have a way to restore that image
back again in the event of a hard drive replacement. But, as I said earlier,
stay tuned. I'll crack this problem yet.

It's snowing like mad here and I'm not going out again until it is over. It
took me 45 min just to shovel out enough space to half-park my car in the
driveway. I'd be crazy or life-threatening desperate to have to venture out
again.

If I get really motivated or bored by the reading and TV material at my
disposal, I'll grab one of the Dell Precisions with Linux on it, see whether or
not it still has its diagnostic partition and use it as a guinea pig if its diag
partition was blown away by the previous owner company. Otherwise, I'll wait
until Monday and start fresh with a Latitude C840 and Dell replacement hard
drive... Ben Myers

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 12:47:43 -0500, "Ted Zieglar" <teddyz@notmail.com> wrote:

>This is a very interesting thread. I'm taking notes.
>
>I had no idea it would be so difficult to reinstate the diagnostic
>partition. I have no problem with running the diags from the CD - not that I
>ever need to; I run 'em once a year just for fun - but if the diags are no
>longer shipped with systems that means they're gone if a user ever has to do
>a clean install.
>
>My idea sounds too simple to be correct: Image the diagnostic partition as
>soon as the machine is set up. Of course, that won't do any good for Ben.
>
>Ted Zieglar
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Tom Scales wrote:
> In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to this.
> It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell provides and
> that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get access to the
> exact same utilities.
>
I got a solution, it's an old unix program (often used for forensics)
called dd (disc duplicator). It's a very low level (we're talking block
to block, even byte to byte) copy program. Obviously you'd need a
working drive to use it, but it ought to work. Thw way I was planing to
suggest earlier in the thread was to simply boot to linux, run fdisk to
create a FAT partition, and scp everything over. From there just setup
Grub to give you the option to boot the dell utility (rootnoverify,
chainloader +1), Windows or whatever other OS. With dd, you'll
basically get an exact mirror of a working drive.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Nicholas Andrade" <sdnick484@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:uRGYd.17586$Pz7.16668@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
> Tom Scales wrote:
>> In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
>> this. It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell
>> provides and that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get
>> access to the exact same utilities.
>>
> I got a solution, it's an old unix program (often used for forensics)
> called dd (disc duplicator). It's a very low level (we're talking block
> to block, even byte to byte) copy program. Obviously you'd need a working
> drive to use it, but it ought to work. Thw way I was planing to suggest
> earlier in the thread was to simply boot to linux, run fdisk to create a
> FAT partition, and scp everything over. From there just setup Grub to
> give you the option to boot the dell utility (rootnoverify, chainloader
> +1), Windows or whatever other OS. With dd, you'll basically get an exact
> mirror of a working drive.

An interesting (if complex) solution if you have a working drive, but this
is usually required when the drive dies. I'm interested in a solution that
starts with the Resource CD and an empty drive.

Tom

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In article <42325b10.36472117@nntp.charter.net>, ben_myers_spam_me_not @
charter.net (Ben Myers) says...
> The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so when I
> install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load it up
> with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site has
> is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that? No
> harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers

Ben,

You can't. What you can do is get ahold of a Dell system of the same
model and use DriveImage or Ghost to copy the utility partition from one
system to another. But there is no way to "create it".

I should also note that if the system is under warranty and you get the
drive replaced, the new drive will NOT have the utility partition on it.
You can ask tech support to image the drive with the partition but it
will add 3 to 7 business days to the amount of time it takes to get it
out to you. I don't know very many people who are willing to wait that
long.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ben, I had tinkered with the DellUtil partition awhile back because I wanted
to add my own utils to it. This thread has spurred me to go back and take a
look at my notes, and explore a little more. BTW, I've never had any
trouble making an image of the partition with DriveImage 2002, so it
shouldn't be that difficult with other tools.

A discussion of the DellUtil partition involves three basic topics: the
environment (the partition itself), the DellDiag.exe utility, and the
Seal.exe utility.

TOPIC I: The environment

The partition is simply a FAT16X partition (type 0x0E) with the
partition-type byte in the partition table tweaked to 0xDE instead. The OS
is an ordinary DOS OS (in the case of my 4600, MS-DOS 7.0--the version from
a Win95 boot floppy), with a config.sys and autoexec.bat that simply
launches the delldiag utility automatically, then reboots the computer upon
exit from delldiag. Edit the autoexec.bat file and you can prevent it from
automatically launching delldiag, or from automatically rebooting after
delldiag. The DellUtil partition size is not material (yours is 40MB, mine
is 32MB), and it does not need to be first on the disk nor first in the
partition table. When booting into DellUtil from the bios (you press F10,
it's F12 on my 4600), the bios looks for the 0xDE marker, active partition
or not, and if it doesn't find one among the four partition table entries,
it boots the active partition instead.

TOPIC II: The DellDiag utility

This is the same utility found on the Resource CD and downloadable from the
Dell website. Nothing new here--we all know about that. BTW, the "update"
software is simply a zipfile of the latest files, so just unzip the files
from the update package and replace the existing delldiag files. The update
for my 4600 did not keep any of the old files.

TOPIC III: The Seal.exe utility

For the end user, this is an optional component. It's a one-trick pony--all
it does is force the user to accept the Dell EULA when you get a new
computer, display the service tag and express service code, change the
active partition, and reboot into the active (Windows) partition. After
seal.exe has been run once, it replaces config.sys and autoexec.bat so that
thereafter booting into the DellUtil partition launches delldiag.exe instead
of seal.exe, and seal.exe is not used again. (BTW, an interesting aside:
the service tag is read from a text file, seal.ini, and not by accessing the
actual bios, so is only as accurate as the text file. The express service
code is *calculated* from the service tag by some algorithm, not by reading
it from anywhere. Fiddle with the service tag in seal.ini and you get all
sorts of different express service codes. Oh, and you'll love the
rube-goldberg way seal.exe uses to draw those giant letters and numbers
onscreen!)

RESTORING THE DELLUTIL PARTITION

Create an ordinary FAT16 partition, make it active, boot from a Win9x boot
floppy and "sys c:" to install an operating system to it. Copy all the
DellDiag files (either from the Resource CD or extract them from the update
package) into the partition. Create a config.sys and autoexec.bat file that
launches "delldiag" automatically, and runs a reboot utility when delldiag
returns. Config.sys, autoexec.bat, and the reboot utility are not included
as part of the package downloadable from Dell, but they're nothing special.
There are plenty of DOS reboot utilities around--I use one called reset.com,
the one Dell uses on my 4600 is called dellboot.exe. After the DellUtil
partition is loaded up, change the partition type to 0xDE and change the
active partition back to your Windows partition.

Note this does not get you the seal.exe utility. I'd question whether
there's any point in trying to restore this, but if you want it, the only
way to get it seems to be to copy the files from another system's DellUtil
partition (and don't forget to edit the seal.ini file with your own service
tag code). Change the config.sys file and you can put the computer back in
its virgin state, where turning it on the first time displays the Dell EULA.

The stimulus for this project was to see if I could use the DellUtil
partition for my own purposes. I expanded the partition size, replaced the
DOS 7.0 (Win95) system files with DOS7.1 (Win98), added my own utils (the
DOS version of DriveImage and PartitionMagic, plus more), and changed the
autoexec.bat to show a menu from which I could run any of the utils, not
just the delldiag util. It all works fine-- I press F12, boot into the
utility partition, and I get a menu of my custom utilities.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Tom Scales wrote:
> "Nicholas Andrade" <sdnick484@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:uRGYd.17586$Pz7.16668@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
>
>>Tom Scales wrote:
>>
>>>In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
>>>this. It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell
>>>provides and that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get
>>>access to the exact same utilities.
>>>
>>
>>I got a solution, it's an old unix program (often used for forensics)
>>called dd (disc duplicator). It's a very low level (we're talking block
>>to block, even byte to byte) copy program. Obviously you'd need a working
>>drive to use it, but it ought to work. Thw way I was planing to suggest
>>earlier in the thread was to simply boot to linux, run fdisk to create a
>>FAT partition, and scp everything over. From there just setup Grub to
>>give you the option to boot the dell utility (rootnoverify, chainloader
>>+1), Windows or whatever other OS. With dd, you'll basically get an exact
>>mirror of a working drive.
>
>
> An interesting (if complex) solution if you have a working drive, but this
> is usually required when the drive dies. I'm interested in a solution that
> starts with the Resource CD and an empty drive.
>
> Tom
>
>
Have you tried simply specifying the partition type as DE in fdisk? I'm
not sure about the DOS version, but the unix version requires you to
give the partition type (normally 83 for Linux ext2, or 82 for Linux Swap).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thanks for the info. I'll follow the recipe for the next Dell I get needing a
utility/diagnostic partition. It's pretty much as I had surmised after my
recent not-quite-successful attempt at it. The diagnostic partition needs to be
the first partition on the drive, i.e. created and loaded up before the main
operating system partition (2000, XP, Linux or whatever) is created and
loaded??? ... Ben

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 00:52:43 GMT, "dg1261" <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> wrote:

>Ben, I had tinkered with the DellUtil partition awhile back because I wanted
>to add my own utils to it. This thread has spurred me to go back and take a
>look at my notes, and explore a little more. BTW, I've never had any
>trouble making an image of the partition with DriveImage 2002, so it
>shouldn't be that difficult with other tools.
>
>A discussion of the DellUtil partition involves three basic topics: the
>environment (the partition itself), the DellDiag.exe utility, and the
>Seal.exe utility.
>
>TOPIC I: The environment
>
>The partition is simply a FAT16X partition (type 0x0E) with the
>partition-type byte in the partition table tweaked to 0xDE instead. The OS
>is an ordinary DOS OS (in the case of my 4600, MS-DOS 7.0--the version from
>a Win95 boot floppy), with a config.sys and autoexec.bat that simply
>launches the delldiag utility automatically, then reboots the computer upon
>exit from delldiag. Edit the autoexec.bat file and you can prevent it from
>automatically launching delldiag, or from automatically rebooting after
>delldiag. The DellUtil partition size is not material (yours is 40MB, mine
>is 32MB), and it does not need to be first on the disk nor first in the
>partition table. When booting into DellUtil from the bios (you press F10,
>it's F12 on my 4600), the bios looks for the 0xDE marker, active partition
>or not, and if it doesn't find one among the four partition table entries,
>it boots the active partition instead.
>
>TOPIC II: The DellDiag utility
>
>This is the same utility found on the Resource CD and downloadable from the
>Dell website. Nothing new here--we all know about that. BTW, the "update"
>software is simply a zipfile of the latest files, so just unzip the files
>from the update package and replace the existing delldiag files. The update
>for my 4600 did not keep any of the old files.
>
>TOPIC III: The Seal.exe utility
>
>For the end user, this is an optional component. It's a one-trick pony--all
>it does is force the user to accept the Dell EULA when you get a new
>computer, display the service tag and express service code, change the
>active partition, and reboot into the active (Windows) partition. After
>seal.exe has been run once, it replaces config.sys and autoexec.bat so that
>thereafter booting into the DellUtil partition launches delldiag.exe instead
>of seal.exe, and seal.exe is not used again. (BTW, an interesting aside:
>the service tag is read from a text file, seal.ini, and not by accessing the
>actual bios, so is only as accurate as the text file. The express service
>code is *calculated* from the service tag by some algorithm, not by reading
>it from anywhere. Fiddle with the service tag in seal.ini and you get all
>sorts of different express service codes. Oh, and you'll love the
>rube-goldberg way seal.exe uses to draw those giant letters and numbers
>onscreen!)
>
>RESTORING THE DELLUTIL PARTITION
>
>Create an ordinary FAT16 partition, make it active, boot from a Win9x boot
>floppy and "sys c:" to install an operating system to it. Copy all the
>DellDiag files (either from the Resource CD or extract them from the update
>package) into the partition. Create a config.sys and autoexec.bat file that
>launches "delldiag" automatically, and runs a reboot utility when delldiag
>returns. Config.sys, autoexec.bat, and the reboot utility are not included
>as part of the package downloadable from Dell, but they're nothing special.
>There are plenty of DOS reboot utilities around--I use one called reset.com,
>the one Dell uses on my 4600 is called dellboot.exe. After the DellUtil
>partition is loaded up, change the partition type to 0xDE and change the
>active partition back to your Windows partition.
>
>Note this does not get you the seal.exe utility. I'd question whether
>there's any point in trying to restore this, but if you want it, the only
>way to get it seems to be to copy the files from another system's DellUtil
>partition (and don't forget to edit the seal.ini file with your own service
>tag code). Change the config.sys file and you can put the computer back in
>its virgin state, where turning it on the first time displays the Dell EULA.
>
>The stimulus for this project was to see if I could use the DellUtil
>partition for my own purposes. I expanded the partition size, replaced the
>DOS 7.0 (Win95) system files with DOS7.1 (Win98), added my own utils (the
>DOS version of DriveImage and PartitionMagic, plus more), and changed the
>autoexec.bat to show a menu from which I could run any of the utils, not
>just the delldiag util. It all works fine-- I press F12, boot into the
>utility partition, and I get a menu of my custom utilities.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Nope. The DOS FDISK program (any version, but preferably Win 98 or Win ME) is
simply brain-dead, as Microsoft would want it. DOS FDISK doesn't even tell you
what the partition number is, just that it is FAT16, FAT32, NTFS or Non-DOS.

I used the Ranish partition editor to change the partition type, make one or the
other partition bootable, etc... Ben Myers

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 01:23:36 GMT, Nicholas Andrade <sdnick484@nospam.yahoo.com>
wrote:

>Tom Scales wrote:
>> "Nicholas Andrade" <sdnick484@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:uRGYd.17586$Pz7.16668@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
>>
>>>Tom Scales wrote:
>>>
>>>>In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
>>>>this. It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell
>>>>provides and that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get
>>>>access to the exact same utilities.
>>>>
>>>
>>>I got a solution, it's an old unix program (often used for forensics)
>>>called dd (disc duplicator). It's a very low level (we're talking block
>>>to block, even byte to byte) copy program. Obviously you'd need a working
>>>drive to use it, but it ought to work. Thw way I was planing to suggest
>>>earlier in the thread was to simply boot to linux, run fdisk to create a
>>>FAT partition, and scp everything over. From there just setup Grub to
>>>give you the option to boot the dell utility (rootnoverify, chainloader
>>>+1), Windows or whatever other OS. With dd, you'll basically get an exact
>>>mirror of a working drive.
>>
>>
>> An interesting (if complex) solution if you have a working drive, but this
>> is usually required when the drive dies. I'm interested in a solution that
>> starts with the Resource CD and an empty drive.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>Have you tried simply specifying the partition type as DE in fdisk? I'm
>not sure about the DOS version, but the unix version requires you to
>give the partition type (normally 83 for Linux ext2, or 82 for Linux Swap).

 

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

S.Lewis wrote:
> "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote in message
> news:iYzYd.134524$qB6.17525@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
>
>>In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
>>this. It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell
>>provides and that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get
>>access to the exact same utilities.
>>
>>Tom
>
> That's pretty much my understanding as well. Recently and in the future
> there may be a problem with that.
>
> Since Dell is no longer including the Resource CD with new systems

Not true across the board, however, my refurb 8400 delivered 03/03/05
includes one, along with an XP install CD, plus the application CD's.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Sparky Singer" <Sparky@moon.sun.org> wrote in message
news:48UYd.14095$PQ1.9973@fe12.lga...
> S.Lewis wrote:
>> "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net> wrote in message
>> news:iYzYd.134524$qB6.17525@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
>>
>>>In five years of being on this list, no one has posted the solution to
>>>this. It is generally accepted that it cannot be done with what Dell
>>>provides and that in this situation, you just boot the Resource CD to get
>>>access to the exact same utilities.
>>>
>>>Tom
>>
>> That's pretty much my understanding as well. Recently and in the future
>> there may be a problem with that.
>>
>> Since Dell is no longer including the Resource CD with new systems
>
> Not true across the board, however, my refurb 8400 delivered 03/03/05
> includes one, along with an XP install CD, plus the application CD's.




I won't dispute that at all. However, I've got a new 8400 coming in here
tomorrow, and I'd bet it doesn't have one ;-) I have no idea what the
factory outlet is doing......

The next "new" Resource CD I get my hands on I plan to make a copy for
myself since it may be the last one I see ( since it would have support for
the latest Dell systems).


Stew

 

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Brad Licatesi <brad@pitt.jennifer> wrote:

>(Ben Myers) says...

>> The subject says it all. I have a Dell system with a hosed up drive, so when I
>> install the new drive I want to create the diagnostic partition and load it up
>> with the diagnostics for the model of Dell machine. All that the web site has
>> is software to UPDATE the diagnostic partition. Maybe I oughta try that? No
>> harm if the drive is clean and has no partitions yet... Ben Myers

>You can't.

Message-ID: <v9MYd.9191$C47.6251@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>

Who is correct, Brad?
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote:
> Thanks for the info. I'll follow the recipe for the next Dell I get
> needing a utility/diagnostic partition. It's pretty much as I had
> surmised after my recent not-quite-successful attempt at it.
> The diagnostic partition needs to be the first partition on the
> drive, i.e. created and loaded up before the main operating
> system partition (2000, XP, Linux or whatever) is created
> and loaded??? ... Ben

It depends on whether or not you intend to try restoring that silly seal.exe
function. I don't know why anyone would want to restore seal.exe (all it
does is show the Dell EULA and service tag one time only and never again),
but if you do, then it seems to place additional requirements on the diag
partition: it must be the first partition on the disk, must be the first
listed in the partition table, and seems to be restricted to a particular OS
(though I haven't yet determined if it's an ordinary Win95 version of DOS or
includes custom Dell changes).

If you don't need seal.exe, then it doesn't matter whether the diag
partition is created first or not. It can be done before or after loading
the main OS, and be anywhere on the disk. For anyone interested, here's a
quick step-by-step of how I did it; if you're familiar working in DOS, you
should be able to read between the lines and figure out how you'd do it:

(1) Use PartitionMagic to create a FAT16 partition anywhere on the disk,
any desired size. It doesn't seem to matter what FAT16 flavor it is (0x04,
0x06, or 0x0E). I made the partition active so I could get at it as drive
C: in the next steps.

(2) Reboot from a Win98 boot floppy (DOS 7.1), then format c:, then sys c:.

(3) Copy all the diagnostic files from the resource CD (the A1236 directory
on my Dimension 4600 CD), or get them from the download file from the Dell
site, or get them from the A1246 'update' download. Dell dumps them all in
the root directory, but I preferred to group them together in a c:\delldiag
directory.

(4) Find any common reboot utility (reboot.com, reset.com, warmboot.exe,
dellboot.exe, to name a few) and copy it to c:.

(5) Create a config.sys and autoexec.bat that launches
c:\delldiag\delldiag.exe, and finishes with reboot.com. (For the purists, I
can tell you what Dell puts in those files, though it really isn't that
critical.)

(6) Use the freeware ptedit.exe or similar partition table editor, change
partition type to 0xDE, and switch the active partition flag to the main OS
partition.

That's it. The diagnostic partition now works just like it was designed to.
The only glitch I ran into was in step 2, where 'sys c:' installed a mostly
blank msdos.sys file. This resulted in squirrely screen colors until I
padded it out.

I subsequently went back in and customized step 5, adding my own utilities
and creating a DOS text menu to choose among them. Now I can also run my
own utilities from the Dell utility partition.