OptiPlex 5000 won't boot with USB inserted

The issue is I need to boot to the USB, which I cannot do if the USB is not plugged in before booting to the F12 One-Time Boot Menu.

You do not need to plug in Dell assist usb prior to boot.  Just plug it when you need it after boot.  There are some files on that usb confusing UEFI boot.  If the usb were blank you probably would not have issue.

Are you trying to boot from usb to reinstall OS?  Try use one of your own non-Dell usb flash drive and make it bootable using Win 11 media creation tool.  Try if pc can boot from that.  If yes it would show Dell usb is the problem.

I'm using a Dell Image Assist USB install media that I need to boot to in order to deploy the image. It's the latest version as recommended by Dell and the software on it is also provided by Dell. This is only happening with the new OptiPlex 5000 model and not the OptiPlex 5080 series.

I do not have the option of creating a normal Windows install drive as I am required to use the .wim provided to me. It's not the image itself causing a problem it's the computer refusing to boot when the USB drive is plugged in. I cannot find which BIOS setting is preventing the computer from properly booting when a USB storage device is plugged in. All USB ports are enabled in the BIOS.

This may help.

https://dl.dell.com/content/manual29747648-image-assist-dynamic-for-multiple-platforms-version-11-0-user-s-guide.pdf?language=en-us&ps=true

Unfortunately, this was not helpful. I'm working with a Dell tech at the moment and will update if I am successful.

The story so far:

• Both the OptiPlex 5000 model and the Latitude 5430 model, in the past two weeks, no longer boots when the Dell Image Assist USB drive is plugged in
• • I get the Dell logo and when I press F12 for the One-Time Boot Menu, the computers simply reboot
  • The “Preparing one-time boot menu…” dialogue does appear but then the computer reboots
• I tried with our known good compatible Image Assist version 11.0.0.7 and also created a fresh install media drive with version 11.0.3
• The BIOS version in the OptiPlex 5000 is 1.7.0, which is the most current
• The BIOS version in the Latitude 5430 was 1.4.0, and I flashed it to 1.7.0 and it still did not resolve the issue
• I was able to successfully boot to other bootable media, such as a Hirens drive I have.
• The USB drive itself was not the culprit because I formatted one of them, added some normal files, and was able to access the F12 boot menu with it plugged in
• I kept the drive unplugged until I selected to enter the F12 boot menu, quickly inserted the drive, and it still rebooted the computer
• • This was less than a second between drive insertion and reboot. My suspicion for this is that when the computer reads the boot devices/USB devices to list in the One-Time Boot Menu, something with the Dell Image Assist drive formatting is causing the computer to crash/reboot. There are no BIOS logs.
  • The logs: Chassis Intrusion Detection is disabled and there are no logs indicating an event. There are no relevant BIOS event logs
  • • There are no Windows crash dumps or event logs because Windows is not installed on the OptiPlex 5000s
  • If I plugged in the drive after getting into the F12 boot menu, I could browse the drive for files, which is how I flashed the BIOS on the Latitude
• I tried changing the following BIOS settings one-by-one to see if one of them was causing the issue:
• • Disabled HTTPS Boot from Boot Configuration
  • Disabled Secure Boot
  • Disabled USB Boot Support
  • • When I did this, I could F12 into the boot menu with the drive attached, though it wouldn’t show as an option (as expected)
  • Disabled HTTPS Boot from Connection
  • Disabled TPM 2.0 Security
  • Disabled Chassis Intrusion
  • Disabled Firmware Tamper Detection
  • Changed Pre-boot Behavior for FastBoot from Minimal to Thorough and also tried Auto

Up until two weeks ago I was imaging Latitude 5430s all day every day with these exact same drives. I have no idea what could have changed since the BIOS on the Latitude in question was 1.4.0 which started failing to boot with the drive plugged in, and did not change behavior after flashing the BIOS to 1.7.0.

Are you able to browse files on these usb if you plug them in a non-Dell desktop and press F12?  Sounds like these usb used to work w your latitude but stops working now.  A hardware error occurred w these usb?  As suggested before, erase the usb by preparing Windows installation media on it, just for a boot test (even though you can not use MS installation media to install OS).  If this works then it proves the drive has no hardware issue.  If also does not boot, then use a fresh new usb drive to prepare your imaging.

Not only can I browse through the files on the USB, I made a second USB install drive with the earlier version of Image Assist. The drives work fine when plugged into a normal computer, and I can even browse the files from the F12 boot menu if I plug the drive in after getting into that menu. I was able to flash the BIOS using these exact drives on those computers. Something about the way the Image Assist drives are formatted is causing the computer to crash when it loads those drives as boot options, and no other time.

Have you made any headway with this?  I'm having the exact same problem on 4 Optiplex 5000's.  I confirmed that I can boot from my USB drive on a Dell 5090 and a Dell 5040.

TL;DR: Check your imaging drives and see if you have any that are not USB 3.0 and give them a try. I can say with certainty that 3.2Gen1 works.

So far I have discovered that any BIOS version from 1.4.0 and on will have this problem specifically with USB 3.0 drives. I wasn't able to confirm if it's all brands, and could be specific to SanDisk for whatever reason, but their 3.2 Gen 1 drives do not have this issue.

As you can see from the photos, the UEFI SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 is a bootable device in the F12 menu on BIOS 1.2.2 but in the updated BIOS version 1.7.3, these same drives cause a reboot loop when entering the F12 boot menu. The UEFI USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1 do not cause this issue. These drives look identical as well.

I noticed the drives were listed differently when I plugged them in and opened Dell Image Assist.

Only the 3.2Gen1 USB drive will work to deploy images on BIOS versions 1.4.0 and later for the Latitude 5430. This is true of the OptiPlex 5000 models as well (just with slightly different BIOS version numbers), and I'm assuming all new dell devices that use this similar BIOS.

I spoke with a senior imaging tech at Dell after going back and forth with the OS Imaging Service Desk for a while. He and I both concluded that this appears to be a bug in the newer BIOS versions.

Check your imaging drives and see if you have any that are not USB 3.0 and give them a try.

Interesting bug.  Curious if usb will boot if you plug in old 2.0 port at back of 5000.

Unfortunately it does not work in any USB port. I tried them all on the 5000 on my desk and with different known-good 3.0 USB drives that worked on older BIOS systems. I have no idea why but it seems to specifically be with how the newer BIOS loads the bootx64.efi file as a bootable device in the F12 menu. I deleted that file from the \EFI\boot folder on the IA_DYNAMIC partition and I can boot into the F12 menu without a issue, although the drive is not listed as a bootable device because that file is missing.

In my case I am using DELL vostro 3910 If i use actual old Sandisk ultra USB 3.0 no issues  with both BIOS Version  1.0.33 and  1.7.3 . But on 1.7.3 if USB 3.2 gen 1 USB is plugged desktop goes  power loop continuously until we unplug the usb 3.2 gen 1 pendrive.

I am seeing a similar issues on Dell Optiplex 7000 with 1.9.0 firmware. But I see a little different behavior.

I am trying to do a clean install of win 11, Created use media creation tool twice. The system refuses to go into boot menu. Freezes and restart if usb is plugged in.

But then I tested a old win 10 usb and it loaded up in bios fine. Both same usb from same manufacturer ,size and design.

I tried all ports as well and will refuse to boot or load bios when USB is plugged in. .

Just an update. 

Using Scan disk USB bios detects it but then having issues with Keyboard being detected. 

So Fails

I did open a case with Dell and they ended up replacing the MB twice. Second time it started working with any usb. 

Now having audio issues during teams call with New MB. Another case opened