XPS 8930, can't boot into BIOS

To properly create a BIOS recovery drive, go to this page and download the second file, it's a BIOS recovery image file.  Copy the downloaded file to a FAT32 formatted USB drive for use with recovery process.

To perform BIOS recovery, remove all USB devices except for mouse and keyboard.  With the recovery USB drive plugged in, press and hold CTRL + ESC key and power on the machine.  As soon as you see the CAPS LOCK key lights up, release both keys.  The BIOS recovery screen should display.  Using keyboard to navigate and select the only recovery file to execute the process (as some users had indicated that the file was not selectable by mouse).

It may require to repeat the process a few times if the timing of holding CTRL + ESC while introducing power to the system was not correctly to trigger the recovery process.

If it failed after few attempts, remove the OS drive from the system and perform the recovery process again.  The computer will restart several times during the recovery process, do not interrupt or disconnect power.

Note that some of black screen prior to Windows loading could be caused by the type of cable and monitor setup.  Test with different monitor, change cable connection type, or connecting monitor to integrated video port (require to remove video card on some models).

Really appreciate your attempt to help!

I followed your instructions to the letter. I did the USB in FAT 32 and placed the BOOT_IMG. rcv file into it.

Held the Ctrl and ESC keys before the power button turned on. Withdrew when the keyboard light came on.

Tried 4 times.

Then disconnected main OS drive and two other storage HD's within the tower. Tried identical process 3-4 times.

Reconnected all drives and tried the process again, just to be sure.

I have a monitor connected by HDMI cable to graphics card. It has been this way for years. I have been able to enter BIOS in the past and have seen Dell logo screen in the past. So I didn't change the cable or attach to the integrated video. The monitor only uses HDMI. No other connection type.

What the process did accomplish is a really fast boot up now. Makes no sense but greatly appreciated.

Interestingly the Dell video on BIOS recovery says to hold the keys until the recovery screen shows up. So I held the keys longer a few times hoping the screen would finally show up. No go.

Thanks again for the help.

Let me know if you feel adamant I have to remove the graphics card and attach integrated video to another monitor.

 I felt guilty so I moved the HDMI cable to the integrated video port. Did the same processes as before but no difference.

Hello MNMarty,Does you're Pc Boot To Windows?.

There are other approaches, you can try to get to BIOS to reset it to default.  In some cases, certain type of keyboards was the cause, see if you have access to test with different keyboard. 

Another method is when OS drive is removed, a system should trigger error message such as No boot device found, and giving you options:  insert a boot device and hit F1 to continue, F2 to enter system setup (BIOS), you can try to boot the computer up without the OS drive to see if given options will display on screen.

Last but not least, locate a blue jumper on system board and follow the imprint instruction to perform CMOS reset.  If I remember correctly, the XPS 8930 may have onboard jumper for ROM recovery.

Yes. That's the crazy part. I boot to windows and the computer functions just fine. I just can't get into BIOS or BIOS recovery.

I'll try. I did disconnect the OS drive as per Chino De Oro's suggestions above. I never got any visible messages on the screen. Granted, I was doing the Ctrl and Esc key when powered up. I can try to start the computer with no OS and no keys pressed when powering up, and see if that gives me a message on the screen. I swapped my bluetooth keyboard for a wired keyboard thinking that was the way to go.I don't have another keyboard to try.

I was also connected to the video card when I did this test. Maybe I have to boot up with the monitor connected to the integrated video HDMI slot. It's possible there is a screen message and I can't see it because the video card and drivers haven't loaded yet?

I'll do some searching to see if I can find the jumper on the system board..

Yes, focusing on the video connection setup until you get to see BIOS settings.  Other concerns about settings change or recovery can be done afterward.

A similar issue was happened to this user until testing with a different video card.

Thanks again for your help and follow up.

This has been a wild ride for sure. Started with slow boot up, blank screen, inability to access BIOS.

I learned a lot and am embarrassed by my total stupidity.

I thought I had disconnected all of my hard drives including my C: drive to get the BIOS screen to come up. If you could only see my face when the computer booted into Windows! I thought I was dreaming. Looked and looked into the tower searching for something that would boot into windows. Well, I found it! I had no idea there was a Micron SSD screwed into the motherboard. Yes, I’m admitting I’m an dumb person (turns out can't the "I" word in the post). Be kind.

Well, it booted up nicely and I could see the Dell logo and boot into BIOS. I even flashed updated the BIOS with a USB key.

The HDMI cord was attached to the graphics card, so that wasn’t an issue.

Once I attached my 2T Sata hard drive in slot #1 the Micron drive becomes Disc1 and the Sata drive becomes Disc0 in disk management. From what I’ve read, that’s OK. The boot time definitely slows down with the SATA attached and the Dell logo doesn’t appear.

I went down the rabbit hole in the forum and found old mentions of the Realteck driver version 6.0.9205.1 causing slow bootup issues. I disabled the device and rebooted. Seems to have helped. The boot time lasted a minute.

I looked into RAID vs AHCI but couldn’t find a conclusive answer. My BIOS is set to RAID, which I believe is the standard way Dell ships them.

So I’m ecstatic that my computer boots up and am able to intermittently see the Dell logo to get into BIOS, especially if I go into recovery/advanced startup. That will definitely give me the Dell logo on startup and F2 capabilities.

My question has morphed to this. Is there a better setup for booting up than the one I have with the Micron SSD drive as the OS drive and 3 other SATA drives as backup data drives? Should something else be tweaked in order to speed things up?

Second question. The original PC shipped with Windows 10 pro and then upgraded to Windows 11 Pro per free upgrade. Is there any benefit to doing a clean install of Windows 11 pro from a USB created by Microsoft Installation Media? Would that improve anything?

Can’t thank you enough for helping me in this journey. I am truly humbled.

You are too kind. "Glad I discovered by OS drive." That's hilarious!

I was able to change to AHCI mode doing the above steps. First time it rebooted got BSOD saying there was an issue with primary drive. Then it rebooted into safe mode again on it's own. I did second command line instructions again and it was able to complete the boot and go into windows. It's now 56 seconds instead of 60 so not a big change, unfortunately.

Hopefully, you have some more tricks in your bag.

As per windows 11 installation, I was under the impression since it upgraded it had the appropriate requirements. Was I wrong?

An upgrade usually has many patches and updates from over times.  To me, it's faster to perform a clean install, about 15 minutes, customizing settings, drivers and Windows updates, 30 minutes, reinstall all apps, 30 minutes.  A total times of 2 hours or less and it will be up and running at optimal performance.

Otherwise, you can perform routine restore system health, system files scan, disk scan, malware and rootkit scan, drivers update, dynamic links and registries repair.

Just choose what you are comfortable with and go for it. 

You can go to Task Manager =>  Start Up Apps and checking for Last Bios time.  Below is from a system I am using.

I'm sure I'll do the clean install. Can't help myself.

Is there anything else to do about the slower boot times or do you think this will help?

BTW the safe boot came up really fast so maybe it's all those windows startup things that are slowing it down?

Thanks again

@MNMarty  - Is Windows Boot Manager first on the boot sequence list in BIOS setup? If not, make it so...

Have you re-enabled Fast Startup in Windows?

What unnecessary junk is loading in the background at boot? (Hint: SupportAssist, Dell Update, etc)

If you have one of the Dell OEM Micron 2200S SSDs in this XPS 8930, do you have the latest firmware installed?

Crucial (retail division of Micron) says their SSDs don't play very nice when BIOS is set to RAID. So that might be the same for the OEM Micron SSD in your PC. You can change to AHCI but you have to do it the right way or PC will become unbootable:

1. Open Cmd, Run as administrator
   
   
2. Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Safe Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal and press Enter
   
   
3. Restart the computer and enter BIOS setup
   
   
4. Change the SATA Operation mode from RAID to AHCI
   
   
5. Save the change and exit Setup; Windows will automatically boot in Safe Mode
   
   
6. Open Cmd again, as in step #1
   
   
7. Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Normal Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot and press Enter
   
   
8. Reboot and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers enabled

You can also try this:

1. At desktop, open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator
   
   
2. At the prompt, type in chkdsk c: /r and press Enter. Accept offer to run chkdsk at next boot and reboot. chkdsk will run before Windows loads, so be patient. You can check the chkdsk log for any messages about unfixed errors.
   
   
3. Back at the desktop, open a CMD window as in step #1
4.  At the prompt, type in: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of each / and note any error messages when that's done.
   
   
5. Assuming no unfixed errors in #2 or #4, at the CMD prompt, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of the / and note any errors when that's done.
   
   
6. Assuming no unfixed errors in #2, #4 or #5, reboot PC and monitor performance.

I'd like to thank both Ron and Chino de Oro for helping me out.

I basically went from a poorly functioning PC to one that is working quite well.

I did change the BIOS setting from RAID to AHCI.

I was able to flash update the BIOS from a USB.

I did all the scans that Ron suggested with no issues found.

I did a clean install of Windows 11 pro.

I installed all Dell updates including the firmware for the Micron drive.

I learned I had an SSD drive in my computer!

I can now boot with all 3 SATA drives connected. I can see the Dell logo screen on boot and can access BIOS. Booting now takes 35 seconds instead of many minutes of blank screen.

I can't thank you enough for answering my problem.

You guys are definitely Rockstars!