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36017
XPS 15-9560, Headless Operation Active
When I installed the latest BIOS for my XPS 15 9560 (1.9.1), on rebooting the message HEADLESS OPERATION ACTIVE was displayed during the BIOS boot, and this message now appears every time I reboot.
Why?
robert p
9.4K Posts
0
April 25th, 2018 09:00
Hi Simon Garrett,
Thanks for posting. Apologies that your system is not performing as expected.
What the Headless Operation Mode Active POST message means and how to stop it appearing during start-up
This message is not an error and only shows onscreen for two seconds during POST. It is instead an information message to let you know that Warnings and Error messaging during POST has not been configured in your systems BIOS and they will not appear on your system.
You can stop the message from appearing by configuring your BIOS to provide warnings and errors and halt during POST. The two continue options will result in the Headless Operation Mode Active message to be shown. There are three possible options, the steps will take you through what each one means so you can decide which is best for you.
1. The easiest and quickest way into your BIOS is to rapidly tap on the F2 key, when your system reaches the Dell Splash Screen
2. Navigate to POST Behaviour
3. Under Warnings and Errors, select one of the three following options:
o Prompt on Warnings and Errors will cause the system to halt at the warning or error during POST
o Continue on Warnings will let the system continue to POST and Boot without addressing the warning
o Continue on Warnings and Errors will let the system continue to POST and Boot without addressing the warning or error
Note: Any errors deemed critical to the operation of the system hardware will always cause the system to halt.
Please send me a Private Message (click on the message tab next to your avatar– click “New Message” &
search for my Dell username). Provide your system service tag number as well as your name, address,
phone number and email address for further support assistance if it is needed.
Simon Garrett
3 Posts
2
April 24th, 2018 01:00
I've found out: it's one of the random BIOS settings that Dell change on a BIOS update. See here. It would be nice if Dell did not change any BIOS settings when the BIOS is updated without warning users.
elito
11 Posts
0
April 25th, 2018 04:00
I have the same issue and after reading your post went into Dell's support website and checked on any new updates to the BIOS of my XPS 9560, maybe correcting any mistakes. now dell not offer anymore the 1.8.1 and 1.9.1. bios versions! the latest one is 1.7.1 from feb. 18th. Do you or anyone have any idea of what they are doing with the updates? Is there something wrong with the disappeared versions? Today, I got a HEADLESS OPERATION ACTIVE message, the a brief screen of which I only could read SupportAssist, then a second HEADLESS OPERATION ACTIVE message, which is a change from the previous situation where there was only one message. It would be really nice if we could have some Dell official explanation. I will call today Tech Support and find out what's going on.
matt4281
2 Posts
1
May 1st, 2018 18:00
Just got off the phone with Jemika at Dell Support. I was having the same issue after the latest Dell BIOS update. These are the instructions she gave me to fix the problem:
Press F2 at startup until you see the BIOS Settings page
Navigate down to POST Behavior
In the Warnings and Errors window select 'Prompt on Warnings and Errors' (it should be the first option)
Click on 'Apply' and check the box that says 'Save as User Configuration'
Save, Exit and Restart
***HEADLESS OPERATION ACTIVE*** message should no longer appear at boot.
You will also receive any error messages at start-up if anything is wrong, as you normally would have before the latest BIOS update.
Thanks Jemika at Dell Support for the fix!
elito
11 Posts
0
May 2nd, 2018 04:00
The "solution" is not working.
I have BIOS 1.9.4 in my XPS15 9560.
I did set my preferences regarding Errors and Warnings but the HEADLESS OPERATION ACTIVE message is still there
AcklenX
3 Posts
1
May 10th, 2018 14:00
I think the latter two options are more akin to "shut up and boot". And instead Dell slows the process down to show an obviously unwanted and unnecessary message during boot (even with the BIOS password protected). Critical messages will always show no matter which option you select. So let the user choose what they want instead of doing the the exact opposite. How could Dell possibly think showing an "everything is OK alarm" on every boot that has zero errors or warnings is remotely close to what a person that selects "Continue on Warnings and Errors" wants to have happen!
Lunap.Ark
1 Message
0
December 3rd, 2018 14:00
It worked with my Precision 5520!
Thanks a lot!