Norton Bootable Recovery Tool (NBRT) Boot & Scan Problems - Dell XPS 8910 (desktop)

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1

Hi everyone,

Thank you in advance for reading and helping. It is most appreciated!

Overview

About Me

I've been around the block too many times starting with Commodore, Apple, IBM and all its clones. I've been using Norton products since at least Windows 95. I build computers and program. In IT, I've worked in support for years. Every now and then, it's refreshing to learn something new that I never did. And it always seems like I'm learning because everything keeps changing--a case in point are my problems below.

The Problem

Trying to use NBRT to clean my parents' computer, I had boot issues. After solving the UEFI vs. Legacy Boot problems in the BIOS, the Hibernation issues caused by Fast Boot, I got NBRT to load. Unfortunately, it could not detect the wired ethernet connection and it scans only 7 files, which makes me believe it cannot see the hard drive.

The Questions

Primary Questions

How do I get NBRT to recognize the ethernet connection? And how do I get NBRT to see and scan the full drive?

Secondary Questions

I'd also like to download the latest definitions and place them in NBRT; however, after reviewing posts here and looking at the contents of the burned image, I don't think that's possible as it was in earlier versions. Can it be done, and if so how?

The Details

On the computer that I built for myself, NBRT works like a charm. On my parents' computer, I can't get it to work as expected or in comparison with my machine.

Parents' Computer Specs

Dell XPS 8910 (Desktop) - [Official Dell Page with Specs] [Official Service Manual - PDF]
Purchase Date: 2017
OS: Windows 10 Pro (64bit)
CPU: 6th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6400 Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.3 GHz)
Hard Drive: 1TB 7200 rpm SATA HDD

To get more details, I will have to boot up the machine (~6-8 min. boot time), and I'd be glad to in order to provide the ethernet adapter name as well as the strange BIOS that is missing a ton of options. That info may not be required (yet). I did notice that there is a BIOS update from December, and I have never updated this PC's BIOS, so I suspect that *might* help.

2

We do update the definitions on the ISO, but it has been a while. Hopefully we will get that done again soon.

Yes, I would like to provide the download and build ISO feature that was once available. Not sure when however.

Hopefully the suggestions above get you to the C drive.

Jeff

3

Change your boot method in the BIOS using this article as a general guide. Legacy boot may be the reason the HD isn't being detected.

Cheers

4

Thanks, @SoulAsylum. 

The 7 files being detected are the USB stick. NBRT is not even giving the option to retrieve files, so I suspect it is not seeing the hard drive (likely because of the legacy boot). I am not sure how to use NBRT via shell yet, so that could be helpful (if there were instructions).

Also, the NBRT cannot update automatically without an Internet connection, which was why I was asking a twofold question on how to detect the ethernet connection and download the definitions manually as we admins used to be able to do in the past. The "Always Connected" presumption by companies needs a backup plan. It shouldn't be too hard to enable since that's how they used to operate.

5

Hello.  I can answer at least one of your questions about the issue with updated definitions. The NBRT will automatically update the latest definitions when it is ran. 

Are the 7 files being detected and scanned in the c:\ volume? If so AND they are the only files present the below suggestions may apply:

Concerning your BIOS statement. If there are areas where settings are missing or look corrupted, I would flash the BIOS before going forward. Another thing to note is that on some systems. having "secure boot" enabled will cause a legacy boot to fail. Also, changing a factory system from UEFI to legacy can cause a no boot issue to appear as well. UEFI will look for a secure file in the BIOS. One of these issues are the most likely reason for the NBRT not seeing your boot drive as the BIOS may be corrupted.

Your other concerns MAY be addressed by reading this article on the NBRT usage. 

Cheers