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17R SE 7720 BIOS Will Not Allow Access Unless HDD Pulled
I have been having numerous problems with the BIOS where it will not allow boot device additions, required two power-ups to boot W8, and finally today I can not even get into the BIOS A12 (latest) with F2 or F12. Pushing F2 and F12 was completely ignored by the BIOS as it would only boot W8, even though it worked fine until yesterday. I finally had to pull the hard drive to get the BIOS to give up and let me in. Seems to have a mind of its own but it did present the BIOS menu. I had no problem using F2 & F12 on BIOS versions A10, A11, A12 before today except A12 did delete all the boot device priorities when initially loaded a week ago. That glitch caused the two power-ups everyone is starting to see. The two power-ups are gone now but I need access occasionally for DVD's. Seems like there is some type of adaptive "smart" (I call it "dumb") strategy in the BIOS that really confuses us users to the point where I am wasting way too much time chasing phantoms.
The really big problem is that there are zero (none) Manuals with this computer. The maintenance disassembly manuals are even gone. No one has any write-up of how the BIOS is supposed to operate? Can anyone with Dell explain how this BIOS is to be used to add boot devices? Pulling HDD's is not the answer for most users as we are just going to wear out the HDD electrical bus connector when you want to boot a legacy MBR ( or an .ISO) DVD.
I have one piece of advise from what I have read, if you already have BIOS A10 installed, LEAVE IT! Version A10 was the last unlocked BIOS while A11 and A12 are locked right up and very unpredictable in behaviour. Deleting A10 and the maintenance manuals from the download site is pretty vicious on Dells part in my mind. The maintenance manuals were called "Owners" or "User" Manuals of which the obvious intent was to cover up there are no real owners manual to explain the basics like the Function Keys to get into the BIOS and use it. Untrained users started taking their computer apart down to the motherboard with no antistatic wristband then made Dell take the technical hardware maintenance manuals off the site to avoid all the motherboard replacements I see on this Forum. Please at least let us know a manual is being worked on!
OakeyPara
15 Posts
0
January 20th, 2013 22:00
I too have an issue with accessing the BIOS in both A11 and A12. Both F2 and F12 are ignored. When I press either key combination they are highlighted so as to suggest that the key-press has been recognised but the laptop continues to boot to Win8. I haven't had any other other issues that you have mentioned. How do you now boot from USB or DVD if you need to perform a recovery?
Bill Alsip
92 Posts
0
January 21st, 2013 09:00
Hi OakayPara, I am surprised you have not had the Rescue Disk problem where the last disk always ends with an error. I had to use a USB stick and store it after the usual stack of nonworking disks to learn about the problem second hand. Can not even use a R/W disk which is bizarre, probably would have been a few more lines of code that costs $. I have NEVER in all my posts had a Dell representative reply to my questions even though I have never sworn or been vulgar. So do not hold your breath for a response. Unless one has a service contract the User is on his own with no manuals or documentation of any kind. I would not have bought this machine knowing that at the beginning. I can put in my Service Tag and drivers do come up. The "original installed drivers" at the bottom of the page is GONE as if they never existed, just as A10 has been pulled on the "previous Version" pull-down?! Dell does not want us to get that A10 back where we can modify the BIOS boot-up entries?. I know A10 exists because one user on this site swears it will never change in his 7720 because of the lock. I was stupid enough to put A11 in my machine on day one because I trusted Dell at that point. I really believe that the engineering and development department, which would have had to work with the documentation department, has left the entire support staff of Dell in the dark such that the above questions can not be answered by field personnel at Dell. So it is the customer that suffers by guessing and trial and error and many many futile hours of wasted time that no corporate buyer would stand for. I worked for a very large corporation as an engineer that bought almost all Dell but I know that this type of issue would have resulted in a ban on particular models and operating system versions until they were sorted out. Funny enough our department was always allowed Toshiba ($8,000 laptops in 1994) because of the pull of our boss (a Vice President) and extensive field travel use and I now see why.
Do not get me wrong. This would have been my ideal machine for a desktop replacement that I could still take home and out into the field. The support and documentation just needs to catch up as this machine was rushed to Win 8 just before Christmas buying season and lacked testing time.
CyberMaxX360
272 Posts
0
January 21st, 2013 12:00
Same here same issues. I also had to resort to creating my Rescue Software onto a USB stick it just wouldn't complete using a CD-R or DVD-R nor any R/W media as @Bill Alsip states.
Time to raise a stink with Dell Support this should be good for some LOLZ - been doing this type of Technical work for well over +25 years it's not like I don't know what the heck I'm doing. So, being retired and all I'll just badger the <ADMIN NOTE: Profanity removed as per TOU> of them till it gets resolved I don't care if they have to send a dude to replace the mother board, replace this, replace that -BUT I will tell them it's going to be futile and a waste of their money to begin with as I want the unit to have the latest POSTED drivers installed as well as the latest POSTED BIOS and I want it to work where I can get to the BIOS and make changes to the Boot device or Select the Boot device or add a User installable option like say the mSATA cache.
Time for some fun.
Thanks Bill for the good posts on this subject... hopefully it will get all resolved but like you said I'm not holding my breath.
OakeyPara
15 Posts
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January 21st, 2013 23:00
I've been on the phone to Dell today and the phone tech was scratching his head over why F2 and F12 don't work. I was able to use the Fn start up tests and they were all ok. I couldn't restore using the factory DVD that I made the day the laptop arrived. It hangs at 57% asking for the 2nd disc but I never made a second disc. I was able to install Win7 and update to Win8 and it appears my GeForce card is no longer being recognised. Anyway, they are sending out a tech tomorrow. I will let you know if I find out anything about the locked out BIOS.
staggerwing17
18 Posts
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January 22nd, 2013 18:00
I have an Inspiron 17R Owner's Manual. I have the 17R SE 7720 and this was the Owner's Manual previously listed for my machine. I posted the original file under its original name at
http://www.dempler.com/inspiron-17r-se-7720_Owner's%20Manual_en-us.pdf
Don't expect too much but it is something!
CyberMaxX360
272 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2013 18:00
Staggerwing17 and OakeyPara - I recall thru my many reads of this forum in regards to 7720 issues, there is a specific order on installing video drivers being that the 7720 has the integrated intel hd400 as well as the NVidia GPU.
Problem is I read so many threads which one is it, and the search on the forum isn't all that great since most people don't use the nice little TAGS option on the bottom of their post.
Rest assured I have seen this, there is a fix outlined on how to do it. If I stumble upon it I'll be sure to post.
Stagerwing17 I see in another post after 2 MOBO replacements dell sending you a brand new system - one way to have it all working. No wonder why DELL is having a hard time making money, perhaps they need to find better qualified field techs yes??
staggerwing17
18 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2013 18:00
OakeyPara can you update your progress with the GeForce not being found? I have this same issue, 2 mobo replacements and no progress. They are sending new machine finally but I do not know what caused the problem nor do I know how to resolve. My long sad story is posted earlier on in this thread.
Thank you!!
staggerwing17
18 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2013 20:00
CyberMaxX360, your info had me combing through the forums but alas, no luck. I will keep looking and thank you for letting me know it is out there someplace!
Embarrassingly enough, I never noticed the tags part of posting. Will use them henceforth. EpicTagsFail!
CyberMaxX360
272 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2013 22:00
starggerwing17 - ok not trying to derail this thread since it's more on having no access to BIOS unless the HHD is pulled and not on Nvidia Graphics perhaps best to move convo back to the other thread where you and others have stated this issues.
Just post an update on that thread and I'll find it carry conversation on that. D
But in regards to what your seeing.
OK Mobo replaced twice and I assume that the OS did not have to be reinstalled, but wondering when Win 8 starts does it by chance start claiming that new devices are being found. and If so happen to notice what it found first and installed a driver for.
I see via google that systems with Intel HD4000 and Nvidia GT650n the Intel HD4000 drivers must be installed first before Nvidia Drivers.
OakeyPara
15 Posts
0
February 3rd, 2013 01:00
I have had my motherboard replaced under warranty by Dell and all is working again. Not sure if anyone else solved this another way.
Ghost76
20 Posts
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February 5th, 2013 13:00
OakeyPara, I no longer wonder why Dell barely breathe ... everything that you need to do is unpack 7720A12.exe, save BIOS.cap and on Dosflash.exe of USB stick (bootable DOS), restart 7720 on this of USB stick and run dosflash -file bios.cap -cvar