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Philip42h

103 Posts

56680

January 5th, 2007 15:00

E521 hangs on restart with BIOS 1.1.4

I recently updated the BIOS on my 'new' E521 from version 1.0.3 (as delivered) to 1.1.4 which appeared 1/1/2007 (in the vain hope that this might help with some DVD writing problems I have been having).
 
It now - sometimes but not always - hangs  when I attempt to restart the PC with the display showing the BIOS screen and the 'gray bar' about half way.
 
Pressing and holding the power switch forces shutdown, and, thus far, it has always restarted successfully.
 
Has anyone else experienced this and/or got suggestions as to the cause / resolution?

Majestic

9.4K Posts

February 20th, 2007 20:00

One way to double check would be to use a powered USB hub and see what happens.

jonville

62 Posts

March 12th, 2007 19:00

I got my E521 a couple of weeks ago.  It came with BIOS 1.1.4 and MS Vista.  I haven't started to debug this but so far it sounds similar to what you are seeing.  When powering on the system from off state the BIOS screen is stuck about half way for several minutes until I get tired of waiting and durn it of.  I have to hold the Power button down for several seconds until it shuts down. Ctrl-Alt-Del will not work.  I have several USB devices on my system (back ports) but nothing crazy:
 
1) Printer Dell Photo 926 (printer was powered off)
2) Dell Keyboard (DP/N MW437)
3) Dell Mouse (DP/N YH958)
4) Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000
 
It does not fail all of the time.  Last I tried it was hung 3 times and it worked the 4th time. 
 
My DVDRW is a Sony AW-Q160S and hard drive is WDC WD25 00JS-75NCB3
Video is nVidia GeForce 7300 LE
Monitor (using digital connection) (DP/N CK630)
Speakers (DP/N TH760)
I also have a cable modem (roadrunner) connected to nic.
 
So far my guess is a USB problem
 

theRealCassiope

3 Posts

March 12th, 2007 19:00

On my side I have: 1) same printer, also powered off 2)+3) a basic keyboard, an optical mouse 4) video = 256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO 5) screen = flatscreen UltraSharp 19" 1907FPv 6) DVD+-RW = TSSTcorp TS-H653A 7) hard-drive = WDC WD3200KS-75PFB0 I'm asking myself if this actually is covered by the DELL warranty clause, because I'm getting a bit nervous on the subject :-( I'm now unplugging everything until it (finally) gets started and then plug in what I need when I need it ... Anybody an idea about the warranty coverage ? I got once a response from DELL-technician saying I should not plug USB devices in the front ports (no printer, ...) since these ports is more designed for digital camera's Plugging the printer in a rear-side port does not improve things though. Guy

andreychuk

527 Posts

March 12th, 2007 19:00

This only happens with Mass Storage Devices. my 250gb WD My Book USB 2.0 HD causes a boot stall for 30 seconds sometime. I just let my computer go to sleep when I am not using it to solve this frequent issue instead of powering up and rebooting all the time.

Nniixx

59 Posts

March 12th, 2007 20:00

If you have a internal card reader installed, it is connected to an internal USB connector but there's not much you can do about that.

Also if you don't have a floppy drive (because you have a card reader) then disable the floppy in the BIOS, otherwise it tries to find it at boot time which causes a stall of about 15secs plus a warning message.

theRealCassiope

3 Posts

March 12th, 2007 20:00

Hm,
we are not talking about a 30 sec boot-stall here.
+ I don't want my computer ON all the time, even in sleep mode, but OK,
that's a personal choice of course.

dba_dave

3 Posts

March 17th, 2007 02:00

Same BIOS restart problem. Stops half way through. If I shutdown and then start, no problem. Seems to be a problem on restarts.
 
I have several items (printer, BTooth adapter, Mic) plugged into usb.
 
Seems obvious from the number of people with this same problem on the E521 that something is wrong with the design/configuration as it comes from the factory.
 
I would like to know if Dell sees this as a problem with the desgin/configuration of the system, considering the number of complaints.

Majestic

9.4K Posts

March 22nd, 2007 12:00

If anyone feels lucky, Dell just released a new BIOS version for the E521 which contained some USB enhancements.  Listed below is the description of that update.
 
*****************************************************************************
System:        Dimension E521
Version:       1.1.5
Release Date:  3/20/2007

The following changes were made to BIOS revision 1.1.4 to create 1.1.5:

1.Enhanced USB boot speed when boot from USB device

2.Enhanced USB device compatibility

3.Fixed error message at POST when disable/enable SATA-0

4.Enhanced event log function.

*****************************************************************************

andreychuk

527 Posts

March 22nd, 2007 18:00

I am now wondering if this fixes the slow USB detection issue in Windows Vista.

Burglnar

5 Posts

March 28th, 2007 20:00

sorry.. the last one posted twice..

Message Edited by Burglnar on 03-28-2007 04:14 PM

Burglnar

5 Posts

March 28th, 2007 20:00

Yep. same problem. Hangs about half the time on re-boot. I installed new BIOS driver and disabled floppy from the boot sequence.. no help. PLEASE let me know if anyone finds a permanent solution.. Looks like I may have to buy a new case and motherboard and move all my stuff from anything having to do with Dell.. I've been a loyal customer until I began wanting to OC my CPU and 800mhz RAM and now I realize that my brand new machine is already obsolete and unable to upgrade.(READ: NO FREAKING AFTERMARKET MOTHERBOARD WILL FIT IN THIS CASE!!!) VERY disappointed..

dba_dave

3 Posts

March 29th, 2007 00:00

I thought I would update everyone on my post (see above in this thread).
I tried to update Bios to 1.1.5. BIOS failed. Left system dead.
Called support. They said that I had a motherboard problem and that it needed to be replaced. I think they were telling me that the BIOS upgrade failed because of a bad motherboard.
A tech replaced the board. Left it on BIOS 1.1.3 (I was upset that the BIOS was not put at 1.1.5. Tried to reach support by calling and chat. Got tired of waiting and performed a BIOS upgrade. This time it worked. I'm at 1.1.5. The system restarts fine (no hang half way through). Worked fine under 1.1.3 and 1.1.5. The biggest problem with BIOS 1.1.3 for me was USB incompatibility.
 
My system also suffers from not waking up from sleep. I turned off sleep, but it still goes to sleep and will not wake up. I had hoped that a new motherboard and bios upgrade would fix that problem.
 
Happier--but not happy.

Majestic

9.4K Posts

March 29th, 2007 14:00

Regarding the bad BIOS flashes that are occurring on the Dimension E521 model,  Dell is replacing the motherboards if you experienced a bad BIOS flash.  They will also reimburse those folks who wound up paying for the motherboard replacement due to being denied service under warranty.
 
Click here for a thread on the topic of replacement and reimbursement.

Burglnar

5 Posts

April 1st, 2007 20:00

OK.. so it appears I have fixed my problem. see if this helps anyone else. I run 2 Dell 19 digital flat panels from my 7950GT PCI-express card. Each monitor has a USB hub for 4 additional USB 2.0 ports. Each monitor was connected to one of the 4 USB ports on the back of the case. Since I was not using one of the monitor's ports at all, I disconnected its usb cable and replaced its open slot on the case with my new printer's usb cable. PRESTO.. no more boot hang ups. (knock on wood) I have tested this for at least 30 restarts now and haven't had a problem yet. It appears Dell's motherboards can't handle that many open USB ports at once (at least not enough to ensure consistent start-ups). If anyone else has a hub (or in my case 2 was too many) they may want to try disconnecting it and maybe that will solve the problem. BTW: I am now on bios 1.1.5 and it seems to be fine once I got this taken care of.. I'll let everyone know if it starts happening again. Thanks for everyone's help on this forum!

Philip42h

103 Posts

June 1st, 2007 12:00

Going back to Dell sounds favorite so far ...
Dromedary wrote:
Ditto, except I have just the one monitor.  If I unplug the USB cable to the monitor, it starts up fine, otherwise it's 2,3 or even 4 hard boots to get it to start.
 
Apart from unplugging the cable, do you have a resolution, or do I need to go back to Dell? I'd like to use the USB ports on the monitor as it saves having to climb under the desk, but it's a pain having to unplug the cable every time!
 
PS  I'm on Bios version 1.1.4 and am reluctant to upgrade unless I know there's a good chance of curing the problem.


Message Edited by Dromedary on 06-01-2007 08:38 AM
As of this week 1.1.4 is again the latest BIOS - 1.1.5 and 1.1.8 having been withdrawn

I am currently running 1.1.8 - it has the same issue

I didn't have this problem with 1.0.3 - Dell introduced it with 1.1.4 - but my attempted flash back to 1.0.3 killed my first mobo. So I'd advise against that ... :smileywink:

I've settled for unplugging the display on boot or restart ... I can always plug it into one of the front slots when I need the extra ports ...

If enough of us tell Dell that it doesn't work maybe eventually they will believe us and do something about it ...




Message Edited by Philip42h on 06-01-2007 08:52 AM

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