I've owned my Dell Dimension E520 for three years I believe. Tonight I went to look at the Dell Support Center software residing in my Vista Home Premium (SP1) System Tray and discovered there was no information displayed when I clicked on 'my system' (or whatever it's called). All the other icons in that software also displayed no information.
I went to Control Panel \ Programs and Features to remove that program and received the following error message:
Error 1314 The specified path Profiles\All\Users\Application\SupportSoft\DellSupportCenter\SYSTEM\data\ is unavailable.
I cannot completely uninstall it from Programs and Features (in Vista Home Premium, SP1) and cannot install the newer version of that same program because the older one in still there.
What do I do? It would appear the required 'Dell system' information is gone and cannot be recreated. How do I uninstall the Dell Support Center software to be able to install the new Dell Support Center software (if it will even let me since the required information is gone).
Thanks, Dave Horne
A little more information - I rebooted the computer and now see all the 'system' information that I normally see when I click on theDell Support Center 'system' icon. I still cannot remove that program and receive that same error message. I wouldn't say the problem is solved per se but at least I now see the information I expect to see.
That's it. DH
2 things to try:
1) Assuming this is just a path problem: Do a search on your PC for d*.msi to find all installers starting with D. The Dell Support Center installer is most likely something like dsc20.msi, but to be sure right click the file - Properties - Summary to confirm it. Then try running the .msi file directly to see if it gives you an uninstall option.
2) If that doesn't work, Windows Installer Cleanup should clean up the installer for Dell Support Center so you can re-install it again (note it doesn't remove the program, just the installer information to allow a clean re-install):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
Interesting - it appears there was a new version released just 2 days ago. Wonder if it didn't try to update itself and made a mess of it.
Axexandra,
I tried a search for d*.msi - nothing (even with 'show hidden files' option checked).
I downloaded the file from that Windows link (which was an Office updater I believe) and that also made no difference.
For what it's worth, the version of Dell Support Center I have is 2.0.07282. Is that the latest?
(A correction - my computer is just over two years old, not three as I wrote earlier.)
The latest one is 2.2.
I just reread your initial post, and am now not sure you've actually tried yet to just download and install the newest version - if it works correctly it will overwrite the old one and you're done.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R210377&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_E520&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=13213&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=6&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=25&fileid=299887
If that doesn't work, the Windows installer Cleanup is the next step. I think you didn't read it completely: the top paragraph says "do not use this utility with 2007 Office system products" ; the link to the "How to uninstall Office" provides an alternative removal method. The whole point of the utility is summarized in the next section on the page under Summary - in particular, these 2 sentences:
Or, maybe you have problems trying to remove an old program because the installation files are corrupted.
Be aware that Windows Installer CleanUp Utility will not remove the actual program from your computer. It will remove the installation files so that you can start the installation, upgrade, or uninstall over.
I'd strongly recommend you read the whole thing through, including the read-me, to prevent any mishaps, but here's the rundown of how it works:
1) Install the utility by clicking on the msicuu2.exe file you downloaded.
2) Go to Start - Programs and find "Windows Install Cleanup".
3) Click it, and it will pop up a list of all programs installed using Windows Installer. Be careful - you do NOT want to remove anything except the Dell Support Center; if you do whatever you remove may have to be reinstalled completely from scratch. Scroll through the list and find Dell Support Center, select ONLY that entry, then click Remove.
4) Now, go back to the link above and download and install the new version.
I used that utility and during the removal process I kept receiving a message that a file or process sprtcmd was 'busy/active/could not be removed or something - I forget' and I clicked retry several times until I had the bright idea of stopping that process in Task Manager. Once I did that the installation process of the newer version of Dell Support Center completed apparently without errors.
I now have one problem and that is, if I open Support Center I receive the following message Content for this page is not yet available. Please close this program and check again later.
Well, I attempt to close the program and receive a pop up message stating Dell Support is busy. Please wait and try again.
I click OK and the circle starts again and I cannot close the program. Shall I assume that at some point in the near future the specific information re my Dell computer will be recognized, downloaded, uploaded, whatever and everything will be just fine?
A follow up ...
Since I have a fair amout of free time on my hands I decided to uninstall the Dell Support Center and reinstall it. This time instead of choosing the default country - the US, I chose Netherlands (since I live here).
I still do not have any information regarding my system but now at least I can open and close the program at will. If I still have no information re my system by the middle of next week, I'll post here again. I assume(?) that my computer and a Dell server communicates and perhaps the servers for this kind of information are not running on the weekend(?).
I still receive the Content for this page is not yet available. Please close this program and check again later message though.
At any rate, the situation has been improved. I also assume that the specific Dell information (Customer number, whatever) is safely stored somewhere on my hard drive and the removal of the Dell Support Center software did not remove that information as well.
Thanks, DH
Well, this didn't take long - I now no longer receive that error message and the software is showing everything and is working just fine.
Alexandra, thank you for your help! Case closed.
DH
Yup, it can be a pain, but seems it's straightened up.
Just FYI, though - the software is strictly optional and does not do anything special you cannot do yourself either manually, through the Dell Web Site, or with a couple of free utilities - and it tends to be buggy, as well as consuming resources unnecessarily by running full time with no easy way to turn it off.. I and many other regulars here do not use it and have removed it permanently .