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January 23rd, 2018 14:00
Solution to BIOS 2.2.1 upgrade problem and failure to fully boot
I'm an IT Analyst by profession for 25+ years. I spent many hours fighting the results of the Dell BIOS 2.2.1 upgrade that caused the machine to soft-brick. I couldn't boot into my OS (Windows 7) nor could I install a new OS from scratch (Windows 10). I tried dozens of things with no success. Finally, someone on these groups posted a tidbit which proved the answer.
If you're having a BIOS upgrade problem due to 2.2.1, first, you need to downgrade your BIOS to a previous version. This by itself won't solve the issue. The second step to this is to disconnect power from your PC, pop open the case, and pop out the CMOS battery on the motherboard. Once the battery is out and the PC is unplugged from AC, hold the power-on button for 30 seconds to drain any leftover capacitance power and then let it sit for a while. I let it sit for several hours. Plug the CMOS battery back in and fire it up. Mine started a chkdsk right away which is further than it's gotten since i did the upgrade. Once the chkdsk was complete, it rebooted all the way into my OS login screen. Yeah!!!
mlit
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January 23rd, 2018 20:00
I spoke too soon. A cycle of one does not a pattern make... So, it did boot all the way through after doing the CMOS battery process. BUT, when I shut down properly, it reverts back to hanging on OS load. So the temporary workaround is to do the CMOS battery trick each time but obviously this is not a long term solution. I'm back to working with Dell and Costco.
RoHe
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January 24th, 2018 12:00
If it hangs while trying to load Windows, it probably completed the POST.
You might try booting from a bootable USB with the ISO file for whatever version of Windows you have (free download from Microsoft) and running a repair.
But be sure to back up all your files on external media first, to be safe!