Have you installed any other disk drives? My 8950 kept changing the boot order after I added another NVMe and replaced the HDD with a SSD. I changed the BIOS from RAID to AHCI and it fixed the problem. There is a process that MUST be followed to change that setting. DO NOT just go into the BIOS and change it.
Note that the BIOS change is not made until step 4.
I don't understand how changing SATA Operation would change the boot order in the BIOS or why the boot order would change once it is set, but I would make sure that Secure Boot is Enabled, Deployed Mode is Enabled, and Audit Mode is Disabled.
A couple of weeks ago my 8950 would not boot. I got the message
checking media presence
Media present
Start PXE over IPv4 on mac
Start PXE over IPv6 on mac.
Support told me to boot into bios and change windows boot manager to 1st on the options list. The other two are IPv4 and IPv6. Did that and rebooted. A day or so later it did the same thing. Any ideas?
That usually means it can't find a bootable disk (so it's trying to boot from the network).
It's definitely weird. I have never had this problem until the 8950. There were a few more 8950 owners that had this issue as well, but we had all added additional drives and/or changed our original boot/Windows drive.
@JC PHX - With Windows Boot Manager first in the boot sequence in BIOS setup, click (highlight) IPv4 on that list and see if you get a popup with the option to disable it. Assuming you can disable IPv4, do the same for IPv6. Be sure to save the changes when you exit setup.
If this happens again, you might need a fresh motherboard battery, but an XPS 8950 shouldn't be so old that the OEM battery is dying, but you never know...!
And, you might also want to scan thoroughly for malware.
i never experienced this with my 8950 but i have an aurora r16 i upgraded to which just had the issue pop up. recently had a random stint of one of my ssd's not showing and there were also dell bios updates so i'm wary as to what exactly happened but am sure the bios boot order got adjusted in an update.
ipv6 or ipv4 in Bios USB boot? I changed to BOOT order to one of them away from my regular Windows Boot Manager just to see if it can read my Windows Creation media for a time when I need to restore a Clean Windows 11. However, If I choose the order as IPv6, IPv4, THEN Windows manager or switch the 1st 2 and let Windows manager last, I never get to boot from the USB, but it heads to Windows Login. It even tells me "Checking Media Present", then Media Present. I can abort or just let it boot to the USB with the 1st two in 1st place order. Suggestions?
kras1
2 Intern
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444 Posts
0
October 11th, 2022 16:00
Have you installed any other disk drives? My 8950 kept changing the boot order after I added another NVMe and replaced the HDD with a SSD. I changed the BIOS from RAID to AHCI and it fixed the problem. There is a process that MUST be followed to change that setting. DO NOT just go into the BIOS and change it.
Vic384
4 Operator
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3.2K Posts
1
October 11th, 2022 17:00
The procedure for changing SATA Operation in the BIOS fromRAID to AHCI is this: http://triplescomputers.com/blog/uncategorized/solution-switch-windows-10-from-raidide-to-ahci-operation/
Note that the BIOS change is not made until step 4.
I don't understand how changing SATA Operation would change the boot order in the BIOS or why the boot order would change once it is set, but I would make sure that Secure Boot is Enabled, Deployed Mode is Enabled, and Audit Mode is Disabled.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.4K Posts
0
October 11th, 2022 20:00
That usually means it can't find a bootable disk (so it's trying to boot from the network).
Yeah, it should never really do that.
kras1
2 Intern
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444 Posts
0
October 11th, 2022 21:00
It's definitely weird. I have never had this problem until the 8950. There were a few more 8950 owners that had this issue as well, but we had all added additional drives and/or changed our original boot/Windows drive.
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
0
October 12th, 2022 12:00
@JC PHX - With Windows Boot Manager first in the boot sequence in BIOS setup, click (highlight) IPv4 on that list and see if you get a popup with the option to disable it. Assuming you can disable IPv4, do the same for IPv6. Be sure to save the changes when you exit setup.
If this happens again, you might need a fresh motherboard battery, but an XPS 8950 shouldn't be so old that the OEM battery is dying, but you never know...!
And, you might also want to scan thoroughly for malware.
Frank210
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
0
July 27th, 2024 01:10
i never experienced this with my 8950 but i have an aurora r16 i upgraded to which just had the issue pop up. recently had a random stint of one of my ssd's not showing and there were also dell bios updates so i'm wary as to what exactly happened but am sure the bios boot order got adjusted in an update.
JerryttMon
1 Rookie
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8 Posts
0
May 30th, 2025 06:49
ipv6 or ipv4 in Bios USB boot? I changed to BOOT order to one of them away from my regular Windows Boot Manager just to see if it can read my Windows Creation media for a time when I need to restore a Clean Windows 11. However, If I choose the order as IPv6, IPv4, THEN Windows manager or switch the 1st 2 and let Windows manager last, I never get to boot from the USB, but it heads to Windows Login. It even tells me "Checking Media Present", then Media Present. I can abort or just let it boot to the USB with the 1st two in 1st place order. Suggestions?