XPS 8700, Windows 8 in IRQL boot loop

Question

I have a Dell XPS 8700 running Windows 8. Endless boot loop, with an IRQL BSOD .

I was able to run the pre-boot diagnostics. Did it 4 times. The first time, everything passed except hard drive 0. It also indicated that I had an additional hard drive 1. Hard drive 0 had error code 2000-0151, which I assume means it died.

I tried to find the hard drive 1 to try and boot from that, but it didn't appear. There should only be one hard drive in this machine anyway, so I'm not sure what ti was seeing. I ran the diagnostics two more time, and this time all the components passed, included drive 0. Drive 1 did not show up. I had an external drive for back-up, but that was disconnected this morning. It wasn't backing up properly, however, so I need to recover the data. I realize the data should have been backed up, but another family member uses this computer and I assumed they had it backing up to the external hard drive.

Reset the BIOS to default.

All peripherals were already unplugged.

Can't get into Safe Mode.

It starts up, completes POST. Starts 'Loading Automatic Repair', spinning circle, blue screen IRQL, then restarts again.

Any ideas appreciated.

At this point just want to rescue data. Thanks

redxps630 · Answer

do you know that 8700 comes with a default Dell 32GB mSATA which may be detected as a second hdd on ePSA? it does not show up on Windows explorer because the mSATA is used as a cache device associated with the hdd as in Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST)

to rescue data on hdd, uninstall the hdd first, inspect that your motherboard does have the mSATA present. do a clean install of Win 10 on the 32 GB mSATA which is sufficient. After install is complete and pc boots successfully, power off, reinstall HDD, power on again. this time if PC prompts which OS to boot from, choose Win 10 which is installed on mSATA as C:. then the HDD should show up as D: drive for you to retrieve data.

Chino de Oro · Answer

Some XPS 8700 were shipped with mSATA SSD as hard drive cache to improve HDD performance. Maybe that was one of the drive indicated by system BIOS. For a visual verification, the mSATA drive would be connected to a mini-PCI slot on motherboard, right below the graphics card if the system was shipped with a dedicated graphics card.

If the mSATA SSD was paired with the HDD in RAID mode for system cache, a failure of cache drive would caused the system unbootable.

To rescue data at this point, put the HDD on a hard drive dock or HDD enclosure and connecting it to a working computer via USB.

As for the XPS, replace the coin cell battery with a new CR2032. Remove both drives and replace with a new 2.5" SATA SSD. Performing a clean installation of Windows on the new SSD.

Use the manual as reference when working on the system https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_xps_desktop/xps-8700_owner's%20manual_en-us.pdf

scubakitty · Answer

@redxps630​ Thank you for your response. Looking into this now.

scubakitty · Answer

@Chino de Oro​ Thank you. Working on it now.

scubakitty · Answer

@Chino de Oro​  I removed the hard drive and placed it in a docking station. The good news, there's data there. The bad news .... there's quite a bit missing. The data I can see is what I would say was on the 'public' area of the computer, like shared photos, etc. What's missing is what my husband stored on his desktop (I know....) which include our financial data, taxes etc. Is this a password protection issue? Is there another reason why we can't see this data?

Chino de Oro · Answer

The missing data is on the Users folders (not public folders) and those folders are probably obscured (contents not displayed) due to security and sharing settings from the XPS. While there is certain setting and process that will allow the current PC to take ownership of the drive to make those folders accessible, its files structures may also be altered and causing permanent data loss if not done properly. Except for encrypted drives, most folders and data on a password protected drive are accessible from a different PC.

If the data is very important for recovery, make a clone (duplicate) of the drive first. A dual slot HDD dock (20 to 30 usd) can be used to duplicate drive image. Use the clone as a working drive and any mistake that altered or corrupt the data can be redo with another clone. Being not certain of the extensive damage to the drive sectors, the data recovery can be attempt but the result will also be uncertain.

One easy method is to put the drive back into the XPS, remove the small SSD cache drive. Boot the XPS system up and immediately tapping F2 (continuously) to access BIOS settings menu. Changing the SATA mode from RAID to AHCI, save and exit. When the system reboot, it will crash with bluescreen (BSOD). Allow the system to crash twice, on the third time, a Windows repair menu will come up. Select Startup repair, then select option 4 to startup in Safe Mode. After the system boot into Safe Mode, just select to restart and the system will boot in normal mode. The whole intention is to change the driver and allowing the boot drive to independently boot by itself without the cache drive (which was assumed crashed).

It's easy to do than giving instructions. But, if you can understand and follow those steps properly, there is a high chance of getting your data back again. If the process is successful, you will have the PC operates as normal as before. It will run slower without the SSD cache but it should be good enough for accessing all your data for recovery. Afterward, you can replace a new drive and restore the XPS to its working condition.

scubakitty · Answer

@Chino de Oro​ Thank you very much. I am going to give this a try.

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XPS 8700, Windows 8 in IRQL boot loop

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