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Stuck in a boot loop
I restarted my 8-month old 15R a couple of days ago, but it got as far as the desktop, then reloaded the desktop, then reloaded the desktop... you get the picture. It's stuck looping through the last few seconds of a boot. Nothing holds still for long enough to tap click or otherwise start something up, and the only F-keys I seem to have at my disposal are F2 and F12 which if I reboot holding them give me various choices but not 'safe mode'. I don't know whether this is a hardware or a software problem, and I don't know how to get into the laptop for long enough to do some tests. There's a system test behind F12 which I ran and which came up fine, but the system is still acting like a slow-mo strobe light. Anyone got any suggestions?
Worst case I'll take out the hard drive and back up the data - it's been a while... ;0( and then reset it to factory status. Anything short of that would be good...
Cheers in advance for any light on the matter!
DELL-Shawn B
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April 28th, 2014 14:00
Hi gazumped!
Thanks for your post. Certainly sounds like OS trouble from what your describing being that the diagnostics passed. Have you been able to attempt powering the system up with all external devices removed to make sure no interference from an external device is causing this?
Safe Mode would be an excellent environment to test the system in and should be available by, As soon as the computer starts up, pressing several times until the Advanced Boot Menu appears. If the computer loops up into Windows, restart the computer and try again. If in safe mode the system works problem free, the issue is likely the result of a malfunctioning driver installation or software failure, removing start up programs from ‘msconfig’ / updating drivers will hopefully help resolve.
If safe mode is inaccessible, you might try booting with Windows operating system installation media, for a possible system restore this way restoring to your last system restore point rather than erasing all data.
How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft Windows on a Dell Computer
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/04/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=52182
Thanks!
gazumped
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April 28th, 2014 14:00
Hi Shawn
Thanks for your quick response - I was trying F8 but maybe not frantically enough - it just kept on booting into Windows. After a few attempts I wondered whether F8 was disabled. I'll give it another shot.
I'll let you know what happens!
Thanks again.
Gaz
gazumped
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April 28th, 2014 19:00
Hi again
OK after some experimenting I can confirm that F8 does not work on my Dell. No matter how often or when I press it during startup I get a standard sign-in screen.
Having done a little more research into the glories of Windows 8 I now know that the 'refresh your system' dialogue is hidden away behind the "Change PC Settings" and "General" links - and scroll to the bottom of that window!
I used that, and now have a stable machine again. I seem to have all my data though any software I had installed appears to have been trashed.. the explanation mentioned that any apps not from the Windows store would be removed **and listed** but there was no mention of other software being affected!
I do have one remaining problem - I think - I'm getting a warning message which says "Your system does not appear to have Rapid Start Technology enabled". It actually started fine, but there's still apparently an issue.
Any further thoughts on that?
PudgyOne
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April 28th, 2014 21:00
Gaz,
Please continue with DELL-Shawn B
Maybe this article will help.
Windows 8 shutdown to bring up troubleshooting mode
Rick
DELL-Shawn B
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April 29th, 2014 08:00
Happy to hear your back in the OS Gazumped!
Sounds like IRST was disabled through the recovery, we have a guide for just this situation though that goes over the process of Enabling it again.
How to setup or reconfigure your computer for use with Intel® Rapid Start Technology with Smart Response Enabled
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=601275
The Intel® Rapid Start Technology is used to quickly wake your computer from the power-saving Hibernate mode.
If your original factory solid-state drive (SSD) was replaced, a new SSD or mSATA/minicard SSD was installed, or the Rapid Start partition is erased, use these instructions to restore the functionality.
These instructions are intended for computers with Intel Smart Response.
Download the Intel Rapid Start Technology software If the Intel Rapid Start Technology software is available for your computer, you can download it from the Dell support website.
Change the SATA Operation mode in the BIOS Setup Utility
Open the Diskpart.exe command line utility
Create the Hibernation partition on the SSD
Enable Intel Rapid Start in the BIOS Setup Utility
Install the Rapid Start Technology software