Dell XPS 2720 boot failure

Question

Hello there,

Last week I bought the new Dell XPS 2720 and as off yesterday it will not boot past the windows 8 lockscreen anymore. I can't swipe up to enter my password nor can I use the keyboard or mouse to do so. I did not do anything strange with it other than just install Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. It worked fine during the day, I shut it down and later on in the evening after pressing the power button, the computer suddenly started to check and repair the harddisk?? After that was done the whole lockscreen error started.

I already tried the following:
- Pressing F12 during boot and tried to launch the Boot Manager. (No succes, ends up with non-responsive lockscreen)
- Give it a hard reset by pulling out the AC cord and press the power button for over 15 seconds.
- Run the PSA+ program which showed no errors.

I also noticed that the computer boots way faster than normal! The lockscreen appears after about 5 seconds where it normally takes about 12 - 15 seconds.

Dell support (the Netherlands) could not think of anything else but the reinstall Windows 8. So soon already? No recovery should be possible so I can start all over again with configuring the computer. So be it, but I remain with 3 questions.

1: Where can I find the Windows 8 product key?

2: What can I do to prevent this error in the future? As Dell claims that a recovery is not possible, a backup partition should be of no use?

3: The last time I did a full Windows install was in the time of Windows 98 SE, so I'm a bit rusted concerning this subject. Any helpful tips?

Thanks for the help.

jonesso · Accepted Answer

Hi

I see that this post is over a year old but it is the closest thing I've found to my own problem so I thought I would just mention my work around in case anybody else is out there looking. My boss's Dell XPS aio 2720 seems to have started refusing to boot after unwittingly upgrading to windows 10. The pc could restart ok after selecting restart. Starting up after a shutdown was hit or miss until finally refusing to start up at all. Unplugging/replugging the power cord meant it would not start at all. To get it to boot I had to unplug the power cable going to the mother board.

What I've finally done is change the power settings to Never Sleep and Never turn off the screen. Make sure when shutting down to login first and then shutdown (use the shutdown option on the start menu/windows button, not the shutdown option on the right hand side that is there before you log in).

In the Bios there is a setting to tell the pc what to do after a power cut i) power off ii) power on, or iii) as it was. I Changed it to ii) power on.

Before reaching this solution though I have also changed the boot sequence to i) boot from floppy, ii) boot from dvd and iii) boot from windows boot manager, because I read somewhere that the pc could be booting too quickly. Also, I uninstalled some programs that are meant to be incompatible with windows 10 and may have been causing a conflict (causing the pc to shutdown unexpectedly).

Dell-Rajesh R · Answer

Hi Zwepp,

Factory-installed Windows 8 computers differ from previous versions of Windows. Previously, the Product Key for Windows was attached as a label on the computer so that, in the event that the computer required reinstallation, the key could be referenced for activation.

For Windows 8, the Product Key is "injected" onto the computer motherboard at the factory, and the installation and activation processes refer to the BIOS of the computer to verify authenticity and activate Windows. No Windows Product Key is otherwise provided or needed by the customer.

If there is a SSD drive in the computer, follow the steps below in the link which can resolve the issue:

http://dell.to/1304Td9

For reinstallation of windows 8 on the computer, refer the following link:

http://dell.to/16yfP5G

Awaiting your response!

Zwepp · Answer

Thank you for your help!

NOTE: I have a Dutch installation, so i try to translate the options on my computer to English as best as I can. Sorry for any inconvinience.

I tried the first link you gave me and switched the sata mode from RAID to AHCI. This worked so far that I end up whit a blue Windows 8 screen which allows me to choose between 2 settings.

1: Solve problem

2: Shutdown PC

When I choose the first option I get 4 more options.

1: Refresh PC

2: Factory reset

3: Something French about DataSafe

4: Advanced options

Ofcourse I tried option nr.1 first, but I get the message "The station where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the station and try aigain".

Factory reset won't work as well. I get the message: "Factory reset cannot be excuted. The required partition is missing.

All of the other options give an error as well.

Seems that I'm screwed right?

RoHe · Answer

Did you enable Bit-Locker encryption in BIOS setup? If you did, try disabling it. If that doesn't help, see if there's anything useful here.

mfo31 · Answer

I have faced a similar problem with my new XPS 2720, that got RAID cache corruptions and Windows restarted with a repair that rebooted indefinitely after power off / power on (shutdown or sleep). After reinstalling I got again repair problems.

Yesterday I deleted the RAID configuration, reconfigured to AHCI and disabled UEFI and all the possible options in the BIOS, and after installing a native Windows 8 from Microsoft, I got it corrupted after each power off / power on cycle, with a systematic KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR showing a different DLL name after each power on.

So I think there is a bug still present in the current BIOS (I have the A02), that corrupts something in the memory during the power off / power on cycle, because my Windows 8 get never corrupted when doing a simple reboot without power off.

However I have found this workaround to restart OK after a power off, that works for me, but requires to disable the sleep mode:

- in Windows 8 / Power options, disable "Sleep" so the PC won't sleep by itself),

- from Windows 8, NEVER DO A SHUTDOWN OR SLEEP ANYMORE (and don't press the power off button anymore when windows is running),

- when you want to power off, instead Shutdown or Sleep, select RESTART,

- when the PC restarts, the screen becomes absolutely black, then a (very dark) grey background appears just before the DELL logo appears,

- as soon as the dark grey background appears, press the power button of the PC and the PC will power off.

Then when pressing the power button of the PC again to power on, Windows always restarts cleanly (at least until now!)

promomanagers · Answer

Here's the weird thing I'm in AHCA with a Plextor 256gb mSata and a 512mb Samsung as the main SSD.  Every single reboot it fails telling me there's no disk, I have to hit F1 and it carries on fine.   This is with A01.  Still some definite issues.

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Dell XPS 2720 boot failure

Was this post helpful?