I hate Dell because.......

[simple_gifts]

I've never been a fan of Dell, more ammunition for my arguement; just purchased (7) 2950's, which list Windoze 2003 R2 as a supported OS, and RHEL4 ES as a supported OS.

The Windows guys installed Windows and of course I can only get 2Mb/sec throughput on a gig connection because of the NON WORKING TCP OFFLOAD ENGINE BUILT INTO THE MOTHERBOARD. Can't disable it either; One guy on the web complained to Dell and the fix was dell sent him 10 Intel Gig cards. There is some KB patch for it, but we WANT TO DISABLE THE OFFLOADING. Why don't they just include the intel cards in the box?

Gotta love it.

Well the RHEL install went smooth too. Machine would not boot; manual says "do this if you have 16Gb" (remove banks of memory) which we did, but still no boot. Turns out machine would not boot with USB keyboard or mouse attached. Nice. Luckily we ordered DRAC cards and were able to install the OS thru the management port. DRAC is the only thing that makes me like these machines.

Two days down the toilet when both operations were 1 hour tops. Customer makes us buy Dell so no "out" there.

The "low cost" has been lost screwing around.... Should have bought Sun....

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Thanks for the info! We just got a 2900 (2xquad-core, 24GB RAM) and 2950 (1xquad-core, 4GB RAM) a couple weeks ago. Haven't installed the OS on them yet.

I've heard nasty things about the Broadcom TOE engine.

Should I just bypass the internal NIC's to avoid the headache?

 

[sprintman]

It's a four letter word!

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Interesting how you guys don't care for Dell. HP/Compaq has been the bane of my IT existence since 2003 with poor customer support for servers: incorrect parts troubleshooting, long hold times, 3 days to get parts, etc. Dell has taken over where HP has left off(-shore) it's support...and they've been dead-on accurate every time I've called for server support. Even delivered parts ahead of schedule.

I guess I get to find out how much fun a SLES 10 installation with USB KB/mouse will be with a server that has 24GB of RAM and 8 cores.

S_G, were you installing 32 bit version of RHEL or 64bit ???

 

[sprintman]

HP recently outsourced desktop repairservices here to AWA. Still a HP ProLiant or c-Class blade makes Dell or IBM for that matter look ordinary. Just come out of a HP Blade Workstation and remote graphics update. Lloys insurance have it and running their operation in london. Nice

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

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S_G, were you installing 32 bit version of RHEL or 64bits?

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64 bits. Machine is 16Gb RAM; it is almost laughable that "I have to pay extra" to use that memory with a windblows product. In case we are scoring here, Linux apparently supports this new hardware better than Windows. 8)

Made a quick backup of the NTFS partition with Knoppix and NTFStools; VERY nice cloning feature.

Update:Installed ALL the newest drivers and patches, still not working. Since we have platinum support and buy piles from Dell, it will be time to turn the screws.

 

[sprintman]

Piles from Dell. Yes they are piles of you know what

 

[Hermann]

Dont have any Dell server experience, but a Dell has never let me down. I am on my 7th over the years. Good Stuff Maynard.

 

[PandaBear]

I have been buying DELL for my home uses for over 10 years and my impression is they were great but now went downhill.

The P3 Optiplex we got has good build quality and fit/finish, but a stuck floppy button. Never a problem other than the PS cooling fan failed after 5 years (good enough).

The Inspiron 500M laptop I got had decent fit and finish, but the plastic flexes too much and eventually cracked near the connector of the power supply.

The Inspiron 700M my FIL got is a total piece of #@$%! cosmetic wise, it looks cheaper than the Chinese (Lenovo) branded or generic stuff on sale @ Frys.

The PowerEdge SC430 we got later has very bad fit and finish. The plastic shell will flex so much that you can close with the inside over the outside, and then, the power supply die after only 2 years.

Both PC had horrible Hitachi/LG based CDROM drives that almost couldn't read any CDs I burned.

All the DELL CRT 15 and 17 in. Monitor we got at work died earlier than other brands like Viewsonics or Sony. Every Dell keyboard has more crunchiness than a $5 generic, their Microsoft mouse has #@$%! internal compare to the retail MS mouse, etc etc as the list goes on.

I think you really get what you pay for with DELL, and less in some cases, but they usually have at least decent stuffs that are better than the worst out there, but never the best.

 

[sxg6]

I've had surprisingly good luck with dell. My only complaint would be that their pc's run like complete #@$%! when they arrive at your door, after a format they run very well.

Oh, also that their tech support is the worst that i have ever encountered before in my life.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

sgx6, I agree, if they're Inspirons or Dimension models. The Latitude or Optiplex seem to run A-OK. I was pleasantly suprised when the first GX745's rolled in with next to no 3rd party software on them. I'm still using that load...at my desk

There is a continual issue where the Dell-OEM load of XP doesn't work properly with Client32 from Novell. Reimaging with a fresh install (like you're saying above) cures the problem. I haven't seen this issue on the latest PC's.

 

[obbop]

"I hate Dell because......."

The bum has sooooo much more money than I.

Well, not actual hate. Envy?

But, I am sooooo much better looking than that rich guy.

Never have owned a mass-market electronic brain. Never will.

Either build myself or have a local shop do it.

Full retail Windoze O/S, not some version corrupted by a mass-market vendor.

A clean registry devoid of garbage added that meets the manufacturer's wants/needs/desires and not my own.

No shipping the brain of for repair or being forced to take it to a local shop for warranty work, a shop not of my choosing.

I'd rather pay $100 bux more for the local shop to build and get what I want along with what I consider to be better quality components. Plus, I get retail versions.... I get full warranties (often 3 years vice one) and get all the driver CDs, manuals, etc.

No. No hate. Just envious but not excessively so. I do enjoy reading the statements of the self-made rich folks who tell of the time spent garnering wealth, the efforts involved AND who also mention how there WAS a certain amount of luck due to timing, etc. And, the mention of how their wealth also required the efforts of others such as employees.

Let's see Bill Gates do all he did again but do it alone, from coding to packing the boxes of products and tossing them on the trucks. So many endeavors require a team. Sadly, all-too-often, the team isn't rewarded all that well. Sure, there are exceptions, but look at all the outsourscing, off-shoring, declining wages from competition via those who are undocumented, etc etc.

Sigh.................

Will work for food.