04 March 2011

Dell Studio 540 + HyperV = FAIL

I wanted to buy a computer that would be a virtualization behemoth. After looking in Best Buy’s site, I found the Del Studio 540 very decent: 8 GB of RAM, Quad Core, and 1 TB of hard drive: hardware specs made in heaven for a home-VM powerhouse.

I took the machine to my place and quickly wiped out the OS that was pre-installed. Installed Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, accessed Server Manager, tried to add Hyper-V role and (drumroll)…no cigar. I thought “no biggie just have to enable virtualization support on the BIOS”. Took a restart trip to the BIOS and the Virtualization option is nowhere to be found. My friend, Xavier recently purchased some Dell laptops and he could not find this option either.

I tried the next thing any rational human being would try – called Dell Tech Support. After battling with a plethora of options to reach a human being, I reached a person who could not understood what I was asking. Basically she told me “you bought it from Best Buy, you need contact Geek Squad…kthxbye.”

So I did. Geek Squad (ha!) told me, “you need to contact Dell.”



So I took the machine back to Best Buy and requested a refund, which they did without any issues.

This leaves with some questions Dell and others have yet to answer:

Why do computer manufactures completely disable the option to enable virtualization? What harm could possibly come from this?

Does anyone else find ironic that Macs can run Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V without a hitch and Dell computers can’t?

Does Dell really expect people to buy their machines when their support is nothing short of mediocre?

Until then, I will be purchasing a couple of mac minis to help me with my virtualization needs.

BTW, I found a utility for quickly checking if a machine can have VT enabled, the Intel® Processor Identification Utility. It is an MSI file, so you have to convince the people of Best Buy/Fry’s/Circuit City to let you install it. Like they told me when I was testing: “you break it – you buy it.”

27 comments:

  1. It's so incredibly frustrating when people chuck you back and forth because they don't want to help

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  2. Aw man that SUCKS. Sounds like it had amazing stats.
    too bad it wouldn't run that os :[

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  3. Mac race is superior race.
    Seriousness aside, though, that sounds pretty shitty. People redirecting you to each other? Bullshit.

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  4. Reading this takes me back my my experiences with Dell. Why do they still exist?

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  5. I also find that very odd that Macs are able to do that and Dells can't, and I hate the lobbing back and forth thing, it's infuriating.

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  6. I think it's a really good question why Dell would disable that functionality. But in truth, and this is no exaggeration, they are probably the worst manufacturer of PCs right now.

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  7. well that sucks. no idea why they'd disable that feature.

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  8. awe shiet here we go ...
    dude never ever EVAAAAAR BUY A DELL
    dell sucks xps suck mac sucks if you want a bad ass computer you gotta build it yourself there is no point in buying brand name computers if you cant choose your own os i dont know about you guiz but me i will never let some piece of shit company tell what os to run or what i can or cant do to my computer you might hear trend fags say that would never happen on a mac to those fags i say go back to your fucking coffee shop and look trendy you no mind having ass fag anyways this was me contributing my opinion ftw i was here

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  9. wow frustrating bro...I'd stick to macs

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  10. i made the mistake of getting a dell, the physical case itself has many defects and the psu sucks, but w/e as long as it turns on

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  11. Awww shucks. Hate it when that happen

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  12. following n $upporting

    comment back to hop in my loop

    therichesthappiest.blogspot.com

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  13. Id use a mac as a door stop and build my own dual boot windblows / linux!

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  14. So much for, "dude, you're gettin' a Dell"

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  15. DELL support? more like
    HELL support amirite

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  16. i would never purchase a computer from a computer company i would always build my own and save a few hndred bux

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  17. That's so stupid. First off, the option should be available, and secondly, Best Buy is the retailer. dell is the manufacture. Ergo, Dell should be the one that should know how to help.

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  18. I don't know what else you were expecting from Dell.

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  19. When it comes to the technical stuff, I've found it's always safer (though admittedly more expensive/time-consuming), to construct one's own computer from scratch.

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  20. It's silly that they wouldn't have the feature even available to turn on. It's kind of baffling.

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  21. Most tech support is useless. Phoned my internet company a couple of weeks ago cuz I couldn't get online. After an hour of going through their stupid questions and repeatedly checking my connections and logging into my router hundreds of times the guy finally looks at his screen and tells me that my whole area is down.

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  22. Its amazing how bad tech support can be.

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  23. AAAAAAAHHHHHH Best Buy and Geek Squad!!!! D=
    Be gone foul demons!

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  24. Yup, you're right on all counts.

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  25. What's so cool about virtualization?

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  26. Erick: See next post for the answer to this.

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