smart not enabled

Apologies for missing the article -i will attend to it now.
The test I run comes from my desktop under programs called Dell Support Center.
I downloaded it from dell a long time ago.

I mentioned I checked the website for your machine yesterday but I was mistaken in telling you I only found limited BIOS info. I just visited it again and found more info but nothing significant related to hard disk SMART.

If Dell had hidden/blocked hard drive SMART in the BIOS I would think that CrystalDisk would've been blocked as well. It may be a limitation of the Dell diagnostics app itself.


Two things you can check:

• Reboot, immediately press F2 to get into the BIOS. In the Advanced menu check the status of System Configuration / SATA Mode. Is it set to AHCI or RAID?
• Reboot, immediately press F12 to get into the Boot Menu. See if there's a Dell provided diagnostics app that you can run while offline (Windows not running). If there is one, see if it reports SMART data. If not you can continue booting to Windows by selecting the hard drive.

Did you get a Dell Diagnostics CD with the computer?

It is set to AHCI

All is enabled except "on board lan boot rom.
Could this disabled item be why Ubuntu could not run from the dvd?
All other dvds work fine.

I got a drivers and utilities disc and an os disc

seven2 said:

It is set to AHCI

That's good, should allow complete access to the disk and its firmware. A RAID setting (a valid setting even though you may not be using RAID) can intercept and block some of that firmware access to other apps.

seven2 said:

All is enabled except "on board lan boot rom.
Could this disabled item be why Ubuntu could not run from the dvd?
All other dvds work fine.

No, don't think so. That's only for booting the machine from a network rather than from its own drives.

seven2 said:

I got a drivers and utilities disc and an os disc

If you didn't get a diagnostics disc Dell may have included a diagnostics program available via the F12 Boot Menu. The webpage for your machine stated it may include a separate Diagnostics disc. Or maybe they included the Diagnostics app on your Drivers & Utilities disc instead of on its own separate disc.

As I recall, there are two dx tests.
One is the Dell Support Center which you download to desktop and the second is the F12 one. I have run both and SMART isue only appeared on the first.
The second ran successfully too and at the end of memory testing asked if I wanted to go on for another 30 minutes to which I declined. Except for the "unable to run" regarding SMART in the first test, all seems to be fine.

I guess this all started with my wondering about the first test's inability to run smart.
As you suggested, it may be the application's inability to test it even though it is there and running.
Thank you for your help.
Peter

You're welcome! Good to hear you're satisfied.

When you pass by here again you can mark the thread as "solved" at the top left side of the page.