The software installed & ran splendidly on most of the computers, but one was giving me a bit of trouble – when running the software on a Dell Dimension e520, the fan would kick up & run constantly, and it was loud as hell.

At first, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me – none of the other computers I was using had the same problem, and one of them had a nearly identical configuration.

I tweaked BIOS settings, monitored the machine using Speedfan, and even opened the thing up to investigate the matter.  It was only then that I discovered the (obvious, in retrospect) problem:

That’s right – I have about half a dozen of Dell computers with this exact body style, and it never occurred to me that this is where the CPU’s cooling fan draws its air.  Talk about feeling like a dummy.(!)

The air intake was caked so full of dust & debris that the CPU fan was taking in very little, if any, cooling air at all. 

I cleaned out about a quarter inch of solidified dust and guess what?  The problem went away.

If you are having a problem with a loud computer fan, particularly when doing processor-intensive tasks, check your air intake & make sure it’s clear.  If you don’t have a Dell, your air intake may be located in another position.  Look for big piles of dust on your computer case & clean them out.

Your computer will be much happier, much quieter, and will live a longer, healthier life.

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The machine is a few years old Dell Dimension e520.

The problem:  The computer wouldn’t reboot.  After running through a little RAID dialog, the computer just hung, right after showing the message “Press Ctrl-I to enter configuration utility”. 

The solution:  I discovered that the problem was caused by my Amazon Kindle.  Yes, you read that right, my Amazon Kindle prevented my computer from booting properly.  I unplugged the Kindle, rebooted, and everything was magically fixed.

Discussion:  I was a little nervous when I saw that this computer wouldn’t boot. I assumed that I had a hard drive failure, or hard disk controller failure. The message isn’t helpful at all, it just happens to be the message that gets spit out right before whatever caused the hang caused the hang…  Anyway, I only use this computer as a media manager, so I wouldn’t have lost any irreplaceable documents, but it would have been a pain in the neck to deal with.

After rebooting a few times, and getting the “Press Ctrl-I to enter configuration utility” error each and every time, I started the process of narrowing down the problem.  Fiddle with BIOS settings to verify everything is in order.  Boot with some hard drives disconnected, in an attempt to narrow the problem down to a particular hard drive. 

After about 15 minutes of messing with it, I noticed that my Kindle was connected via USB cable to the computer.  I thought, “Hmm, I wonder if this Dell is trying to boot from the Kindle or something…” So I unplugged the Kindle.  Voila!  Problem solved!

Was the computer trying to boot from the Kindle?  Probably not.  I assume that the BIOS was trying to get information from the Kindle about what sort of device it was. The computer was asking, “Hey, you there on USB port 1, it’s KIndle, right?  Ha, that’s a funny name.  Anyway, what are you?  Can I boot from you?”  To which the Kindle probably replied, “DuuuurrrrrrrR?”  

So anyway… If you’re having problems booting your computer, and if you’re getting the “Press Control –I to enter configuration utility” message, try unplugging all of your USB devices before you spend a lot of time troubleshooting.

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You’re not alone.

In my home, we currently have 6 Dell desktop systems, 5 of them have a broken CD or DVD drive. (Last I checked, that number was 4. But I just went to use one that *used* to work and found that now, it too, is kaput.)

It’s not that we’re high-drive users. I’d say we use them 2-3 times per year, on average. Dell drives just seem to break. A lot.

People tend to come to me with their computer problems. “My CD burner isn’t working” is a popular complaint. Before even asking any standard troubleshooting questions, the first question I ask now is, “Is it a Dell?” If the answer is “Yes,” the solution is easy – “All Dell CD/DVD drives break.”

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The Vista install was fairly painless. The only problem I had was that Vista (like the new Ubuntu) was unable to use my wireless card. When I asked Windows Vista to “Diagnose” the problem for me, it suggested that I:

“Turn on wireless capability”

Gee, thanks, Vista. If I knew how to do that, I wouldn’t have asked!

Fortunately, I was able to discover the solution. Now, the way that the Dell 5150 is *supposed* to work is that hitting “fn-F2″ is supposed to turn the wireless card on and off. Unfortunately for me, however, fn-F2 does absolutely nothing for me.

To remedy the problem, I made a simple change in the BIOS. First, I rebooted the computer, then hit “F2″ to get into the BIOS. Once inside, I navigated to the page that contained my onboard wireless card’s settings, and changed the mode to “Application” controlled.

After restarting the computer, Vista was able to find my wireless card, and everything is now running smoothly.

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