CHECKING MEDIA FAIL

Hi,

I'm facing the same problem with my XPS14.

Two Checking media [fail] before Windows finally starts.

The HD was the changed and the system reinstalled with a official DELL-Windows8 USB stick. Without any result. All Dell system checks were OK.

Any body out there with the same problem, or, even better, with a solution?

Regards,

Michael

Same problem here. Bought an xps14 for my son. One minute he's using it, no problem. Next minute says it needs to reboot. Goes to a blackscreen and gives the  "Checking Media - FAIL" message twice then tries to reboot. Bios is seeing both hard drives. Diagnostics report everything is normal. Anyone?

Finally the computer repaired itself  over night. I did nothing special. I'm not aware of any service pack or software update.

The french support suggested me to do the following steps:

1) Changez l'option SATA AHCI Dans  «Rapid Storage Technology»

2) Ensuite, Windows Boot Manager apparaît  dans le menu UEFI, bouger le Windows Boot Manager à la première position dans la liste.

3) Ensuite, remettre SATA  sur la valeur initiale  Dans  «Rapid Storage Technology»

4) Sortez et sauvegardez les réglages

5) Rebootez l‘ordinateur

Obviously, as the computer is running fine now, I did not test this.

Good luck

I, too, am having the same problem.  My 10 year old daughter saved her money for 2 years to be able to buy her own laptop for Minecraft.  We received it about two weeks ago.  Today I ran windows update and installed the recommended and optional updates.  While installing the updates, windows said it had encountered an error and needed to restart.  Upon restarting it went into the endless loop mentioned above; "Checking Media - FAIL".  I have found a few other forum topics here and elsewhere online that offer solutions, including the one offered in French above, but I do not have an option to choose Windows Boot Manager.  I am also at a loss as to where to find the serial code to contact Dell Support.  There are no stickers anywhere on the machine.

I should add that I did the diagnostic and everything appears to be OK.  Any help is most appreciated!

I am not 100% positive on this, but I think these are the optional updates I installed: 

A15 BIOS (12/6/2013)
- Improve System BIOS stability (!?)
- Driver Details | Dell US

nVIDIA GeForce GT 630M/640M Graphics Driver (12/10/2013)
- Improve display quality and power management
- Driver Details | Dell US

Per this topic on another forum: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/673546-xps-14-ultrabook-owners-lounge-188.html

I have never had a Windows update brick a machine before.  I am hoping there is an easy solution!  I can use a PC, but I don't feel savvy enough to go around changing BIOS or other things under the hood.

That's exactly what I am having. My Dell is no special computer, just a regular laptop, and one night I downloaded Minecraft. I've played it for ages now, and I stayed up late one night playing. Perfectly fine, then the next morning my laptop wouldn't even turn on. I got a new hard drive and it works just like before it crashed but has the "checking media fail" twice before it turns on. A solution would be awesome, but I am factory reseting my laptop as I type. Hopefully it will fix itself.

Sincerely, Heather

:emotion-9: I have that same thing after installing a new hard drive I received from dell because my original hd went blank?crashed and died .so I put new one and it has find media fail.

I suddenly started to get this message about 2 weeks ago after a Windows 8 update.  First I see the Checking_Media: Fail message twice then Dell logo.  Once Dell loads, I hear the Windows alert but have a blank screen for a minute before finally getting the log on screen.

I called Dell and allowed remote access.  The tech did not seem to know how to resolve the issue and went to several sites to do adware scans.  I told him I use Norton 360 and had done a total scan finding no viruses, Trojan horses or worms.  There were only a few tracking issues which while were not a threat, Norton removed.

The tech asked me to 'show me what you are seeing' after the desktop loaded and I explained that it occurs prior to the computer booting.

Since first seeing this message, I have noticed that Windows takes much longer to load but once I am logged on, I do not seem to encounter any problems with my programs.

I am glad to see that I am not the only Dell owner seeing this message and hopefully someone will know why it is occurring.  I do not want to reinstall Windows 8 so hope there is a solution without that option.

Windows, drivers and bios appear to be up to date.

Nancy