Dimension E521 - stuck during boot - unable to get into setup

Question

Hi,    I running a : Dimension E521, A64 X2,5000+ (2.60GHz) 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHZ 2X1GB DIM, M 320GB Serial ATA 2,7200 RPM 3.5 Floppy 16X DVD ROM AND 48X COMBO DRIVE VISTA HOME PREMIUM MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 HOME AND STUDENT NO MODEM INTEGRATED VIDEO AND AUDIO INTEGRATED NIC CARD MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD/MOUSE ROXIO and the usual other stuff   Have had numerous problems and chats with Techs about this model and this is my 1st replacement tower for this system.  I have resolved all but 1 issue.  Am still in contact with Tech Service but I would like another opinion.   Since day one I have been unable to get to System Setup with any F key.  Have tried- F2, F11, F12 and F8.    During my last chat with a Tech I was asked to open the case remove the battery and power up to erase BIOS.  The Tech asssumed it would then be possible to get to Setup.    Well during boot I got an a message  ' Keyboard Failure', press F1 to continue or F2 to go to Setup.  Neither key worked and now I'm stuck.   What to do?  This was on Thursday.  The Tech will be calling me back on Sunday evening - he had to do some research.  Any ideas?   Regards, Laurie

RoHe · Answer

Typically there's only 1 rear USB port on the tower that's active before XP loads the USB drivers. That's the one where the keyboard should be connected. You may have to try all rear ports to find the active one.

You have to start tapping (don't hold) F2 key as soon as you see the Dell splash screen to enter BIOS setup.

Ron

LJWeint · Answer

Hi Ron,   Thanks for the option you sent.  I tried each USB port with, my keyboard but there was no change and I still could not get into setup or Windows (Vista).   The Tech called me back this evening and we tried switching the jumper cover from RTCRST (real-time clock reset) to the PSWD-(password jumper) also with no response.    The Tech wanted to send someone out to change the mother board, but I chose to switch out the entire Tower for a new one.  This will be the 2nd Tower switch -- I hope 3rd time is the charm.  It's too soon to start replacing parts on a brand new system.     The Tech I spoke to said this is a new problem -- that they haven't seen before.   I hope they find a solution -- otherwise I'll have to send the entire system back for a refund.  Wish me luck   Regards, Laurie

RoHe · Answer

Post back and let us know that the new one works. Good luck! Ron

ae38cb5bb8b0410 · Answer

What bios version are you running? I have 1.0.3 and waiting for my Vista upgrade. I don't know if I'll try it yet, my system runs great with 2005 MCE. Lots of problems with Vista I've seen.

dzbtrout · Answer

Hi, I guess you are running Vista. So am I. I have experienced the same problem with the E521 and I swaped with another keyboard which I had at hand, plugged it to one of the front USB ports and I was able to access set up. The dell keyboard is detected (lights go green) only after the time to select the f key has passed..... I am extremly disappointed with this PC. I thought I had bought a great machine and it is currently out for repair. I fried the motherboard updating the BIOS with the Dell BIOS flash utility. E521, the most expensive door stopper I ever bought.

dzbtrout · Answer

Hi,

I see you are running Vista. So am I. I have experienced the same problem with the E521 and I swaped with another keyboard which I had at hand, plugged it to one of the front USB ports and I was able to access set up. The dell keyboard is detected (lights go green) only after the time to select the f key has passed.....

I am extremly disappointed with this PC. I thought I had bought a great machine and it is currently out for repair. I fried the motherboard updating the BIOS with the Dell BIOS flash utility.

E521, the most expensive door stopper I ever bought.

LJWeint · Answer

Hi,    I running a : Dimension E521, A64 X2,5000+ (2.60GHz) 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHZ 2X1GB DIM, M 320GB Serial ATA 2,7200 RPM 3.5 Floppy 16X DVD ROM AND 48X COMBO DRIVE VISTA HOME PREMIUM MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 HOME AND STUDENT NO MODEM INTEGRATED VIDEO AND AUDIO INTEGRATED NIC CARD MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD/MOUSE ROXIO and the usual other stuff   I'm back with the 2nd replacement tower I received this morning (4/30/07).   Unfortunately, I'm still unable to get into setup and/or Safe Mode with any Fkey.    Do you know if anyone has reported problems with the Multi-media Keyboard?  The keyboard does not seem to initalize until after the Dell Screen and just before the Microsoft Ball and Welcome.  Do you think this is the problem or Windows Vista?      I'm at the end of my rope here.     Regards, Laurie

Alan62 · Answer

I've had a similar problem, hanging half-way through the BIOS screen, and ignoring F2 & F12.   I've had a replacement motherboard, which seemed to help for a week, then the problem came back. From what I've read on this forum, Dell support are either incompetent or dishonest when they act as if they've never heard of this problem happening to other E521 owners.   However, I may have got rid of the problem (time will tell). I saw another post suggesting disconnecting empty hubs. I have a few spare USB ports, and originally I had one hub fully used, with the 4-port hub in my monitor (Dell 2007FP) only used by my mouse. Balancing out the empty ports by moving one USB device from my 7-port hub to the Monitor hub, leaving 1 empty port on the 7-port hub and 2 empty on the monitor hub seems to have made a big improvement.   I'll post again if the problem comes back.   As for F2 and F12 being ignored, I find they are noticed when all other USB devices (except keyboard and mouse) are unplugged - not a great workaround, but OK for those rare occasions you need to go into the BIOS.   Of course, what we all really need is for Dell to fix the BIOS!

LJWeint · Answer

Hi all,

I'm back with what I hope is the last installment of this saga. My last message referred to the 2nd tower that had the same issues as the first one and yet a third tower was sent out, but they still didn't address or fix getting into setup/bios issue.

I was unbelievably frustrated at that point and luckily was in contact with someone from Texas who was handling my case. My last resort was to return the 2 towers in exchange for the 4th (and last, I hope) tower. But this one would not have Vista loaded and instead would have XP Pro. This along with some configuration differences and a credit for hardware, I had hoped would solve the outstanding issues.

As before, I running a :

Dimension E521, A64 X2,5000+ (2.60GHz)

2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHZ 2X1GB DIM, M

320GB Serial ATA 2,7200 RPM

3.5 Floppy

16X DVD/CD RW DRIVE

WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 HOME AND STUDENT

NO MODEM

INTEGRATED VIDEO AND AUDIO

INTEGRATED NIC CARD

MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD/MOUSE

However, nothing (even XP Pro) works perfectly. Getting into setup works on this unit, but it has it's very own issue with boot.

I've been having a problem with "Restart". Whenever software is loaded, updated, or the system is changed in some way and you have to restart -- the boot freezes on the Dell Screen. It does not do a full boot, the tones testing hardware are missing and I've had to manually shutdown, even unplugging the tower from the surge protector - repugging after 20 sec and pressing the button to boot to windows. Sometimes this also does not work.

My tech has been working with me on it and hopefully it will work itself out. I'm sort of optimistic at this point.

Regards,

Laurie

Alan62 · Answer

No, that didn't work. Minimising the number of unused USB ports seemed to give an improvement, but that was only temporary, the boot problem is back once again.   So now I've got to endure the tech support line again :-(   Alan

Alan62 · Answer

The latest installment of my E521 boot problem: I've now had a replacement tower unit and it has the same problem of freezing half-way through boot. I found a post in another thread which suggested the problem was with USB storage. So I switched off my USB Hard drive and the E521 booted perfectly (and much more quickly) every time.   It seems to me that there is a problem in the BIOS around the option to disable boot from USB storage. You (when you can actually get into BIOS setup via F2) can set USB to 'Noboot' but either this is being ignored, or there is a timing issue around the USB HD spinning up.   My temporary work-around is to power-off the USB HD during boot. And I have another call in with Dell to chase up a proper BIOS fix.

Philip42h · Answer

Laurie, You don't say which display you have.   My experience with the E521 is similar. With BIOS 1.0.3 and XP MCE2005 all was fine.   With BIOS 1.1.4 or later it hangs on boot if the USB hub that is built into my 1907FP display is connected. The same happens with BIOS 1.1.8. My work-round is to give up on using the USB hub that is built into my 1907FP display and it now boots and restarts without problems. Obviously I want a better resolution from Dell.   I'm reasonably confident that it is a BIOS/USB issue, and 95% certain that switching towers won't help. You could try removing al USB connection bar mouse and keyboard and progressively adding them back until you find out what is causing the hang ...   HTH   Note: I'm NOT advocating that you attempt to reflash your BIOS ... that has cause folk all sorts of other problems!

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Dimension E521 - stuck during boot - unable to get into setup

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