XPS 8910, Freezing at Dell logo after POST

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@R_Canada wrote:

 

1. I have been able to enter the BIOS and Dell Diagnostics, and everything returns perfect checks—everything functioning well, and I've run it probably 10-15 times.

2. I've tried booting into Windows recovery, and the automatic repair has tried to start but it results in the same experience as above.

 

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1. Well, that's good. So maybe your power-supply, motherboard, and video card are good.

My guess is your HDD crashed.

Try Windows Safe-Mode. If you can get in, the first thing you should probably do is backup your data-files to a flash-drive (I'm guessing you have no backup).

2. Yeah, something to try, but it rarely works.

Hey, thanks for the fast response.

I've tried to get into Windows Safe Mode through the standard channels, but I haven't found a solution that works.

Can you make any suggestions?

I've tried swapping out the main HDD with a brand new WD Blue and booting from a USB to install on that, and the PC still hangs at the same screen.

I'll add that I would like to keep what's on the drive, but there's nothing crucial that I cannot afford to lose. It's mainly a gaming and my Windows dev machine. Didn't store anything critical locally for long.

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@R_Canada wrote:

 

1. I've tried swapping out the main HDD ... and booting from a USB to install on that, and the PC still hangs at the same screen.

2. with a brand new WD Blue

 

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1a. Are you sure it passes long ePSA ?

1b. Install a new/perfect high-quality SATA-3/600 rated cable.

1c. Are you doing it like this?

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/M-2-NVMe-bootable-options/td-p/6073037

2. Why a spinner and not a (small) 128gb-256gb SSD for testing? Seems punishing for no reason. 

Recently, I have seen some old spinners die running Windows-10 clean-installs and/or upgrades. I've also seen installs and upgrades that would not complete with a spinning HDD, but work fine with a SSD installed. Later, that HDD checks fine (good SMART) ... end-up using it for data or other use.

Your hard drive is corrupted and may be physically bad.

If you disconnect the sata drive data cable it will get to hard drive error.

Windows is crashing.

Time for a clean install OFFLINE with no windows account but rather a local account.

You can always add an online microsoft account later.

100% Sure it passes the test. I've swapped parts, removed the drives, put them back, moved the memory slots, tried with new drives, old drives, etc. It passes every time. Long test and short.

I did follow those very same steps multiple times with different drives.

Frankly, I just don't need SSD performance there. I need the storage space on this machine. There's no technical reason a WD Blue would not be able to have Windows installed, so I'm not sure what you're driving at.

--> But I will definitely have a look at the cables and try swapping them. I haven't tried that yet. 

Thanks again.

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@R_Canada wrote:

1. 100% Sure it passes the test.

2. I've swapped parts,  moved the memory slots, It passes every time. Long test and short.

3. I did follow those very same steps multiple times with different drives.

4. Frankly, I just don't need SSD performance there. I need the storage space on this machine.

5.  I'm not sure what you're driving at.

6. But I will definitely have a look at the cables and try swapping them. I haven't tried that yet. 

 

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1. Good

2. If ePSA passes, about 90% chance all hardware is good (including the memory).

Passmark's MemTest86.com is also good. Memory that completes 2 full passes of that with zero-errors ... almost impossible for it to still be bad.

3. Good

4. Never heard of a developer who didn't want faster and more responsive Windows (and main programs). That is a tower-desktop, so what other storage drives you install is irrelevant. 

5. I can't explain it any clearer.

6. Good

Does the XPS-8910 have on-motherboard video? Is that what you are using already?

You said you tried resetting the BIOS, have you tried removing the CMOS battery and/or clearing the BIOS with the CMOS reset jumper (CMCLR) on the system board?

A developer who allots money where it's needed, given the job it needs to do ;)

It does have on-board video, but I'm using an MSI GTX 1060 that is working just fine as well.

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@R_Canada wrote:

 

It does have on-board video, but I'm using an MSI GTX 1060 that is working just fine as well.

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Remove the GTX-1060. Install the new SATA cable.

Get on-board video working and try another clean-install to a completely blank/raw drive.

A non Dell GTX 1060 will require Secure boot OFF and Legacy option roms on. In order to get the PC to boot with a graphics card that does not contain OEM UEFI security certificate, the end-user must first disable the secure boot feature in the system's BIOS.

 https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3156/

Thanks to you both. I'll give this a try. If it doesn't work I'll probably be contacting Dell support directly.

I've tried all of the proposed fixes including a new hard drive and cables without success. Mine started occasionally not booting when it was 11 months old but it was very infrequent. Now it won't boot at all. I removed the hard drive and it works fine in another computer so I think it's a motherboard or bios defect since it seems to be a pretty common problem. It would be nice if Dell stepped up on this one and replaced the defective? motherboards. I guess illIgo back to buying HP since my 4 year old desktop is still working fine!

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@Murchkey wrote:

I've tried all of the proposed fixes including a new hard drive and cables without success. Mine started occasionally not booting when it was 11 months old but it was very infrequent. Now it won't boot at all. I removed the hard drive and it works fine in another computer so I think it's a motherboard or bios defect since it seems to be a pretty common problem. It would be nice if Dell stepped up on this one and replaced the defective? motherboards. I guess illIgo back to buying HP since my 4 year old desktop is still working fine!

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If the machine lived it's life connected to a good UPS (like APC with AVR) ... yeah, that would be sad.

Now-days, you have to keep machines under extended warranty contract. At least then, you are guaranteed 3-4 years of use.

Not sure about XPS-8910, but looks like same year as Aurora-R5. That was first year Dell switched from (long time) MSI motherboards to Pegatron. Back then, similar (upscale consumer ) HP machine was using same Pegatron-made motherboard.

There is a longer, more detailed older post of mine in an old Laptop forum here somewhere, but this is a recent summary I could find.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Alienware-Alpha-R2-was-a-costly-mistake/m-p/6153985/highlight/true#M5246

On these machines with high failure rates, I think Dell is just hoping it won't cost them too much to keep them running (with allotted backup parts and/or system swap-outs) before contracts expire or people replace them on their own. Years ago, users reported Dell/Alienware refunding their contract money and leaving them stranded with a boat-anchor (but I haven't heard of that in over 6 years).

I see some XPS-8910 motherboards on eBay and similar. Who knows if they are 100% working. I do notice that they are pricey. At this short age, that often means 100% (still) working ones are rare.