Just checked Dell downloads(7720/win 8/64bit) for A10 bios,its not listed there.There is A01,03,08,11 and A12.Is there some way to find out exactly what motherboard I have.I could be way off base but are different motherboards and versions of the bios causing all the trouble.I can list my stuff if that helps any.I have not used the F2/F12 buttons since my 1st time on this computer when it wouldn't boot up.
I already update my bios to A13 and still unable to access the bios using F2/F12.. please help... The only way to access it by booting on windows boot manager on the general settings and boot is up to windows boot manager.
I do not know whether you can still boot up in Win 8? If you can, hold Shift key down while doing a RESTART on Win 8. This takes you to Advanced Startup Options where you can chose Boot, this is same as an F12. If you can not get to Win 8 then try and get a bootable Win 8 "Repair Disk" which can sometimes repair your hard drive and get you into a command prompt for a "sfc /scannow" (system file checker, Google it to learn), and the Repair disk will also get you into Advanced Options like doing a RESTORE to a point in time when your computer worked. Google "Repair Disk Win 8" as well to learn. Read this thread from beginning as many of us have had similar problems and have recovered without a day zero rebuild. One thing about my troubles is that I have learned lots by Googling my symptoms with key words. Throw the word "Dell" in your Google search to be more specific to your brand.
Thanks for your help.. I can able to boot in windows 8 and go to the Advanced Startup Options to boot it up on Bios setting.But i want to access buy using it on F2/F8. becuase i want to used Some other OS like Linux Backtrack version.. what if i go to Advanced Startup Options to boot it up on Bios and set it to legacy boot sequence then boot it on CD which is linux.. then reformat the whole drive to install linux OS... So how can i access it again in the bios after there is no Windows 8 Advanced Startup Options because it is already linux version. Is the Bios keys F2/F12 will be available once i format the whole hdd drive and installed Linux OS?
Someone on the dell post about they are going to repair regarding the issue on bios keys as they release the new version which is A13 it will able to fix it as they said so. So as of now i already update it to A13 nothing happened about the bios keys still continue to boot on windows 8 when i press it.
Will try to upload some pictures of my bios settings.
Note: when i press F2 or F12 nothing happened its just hows blue bar only and boot up on windows 8 cannot enter bios and boot menu.
The only i can enter the bios by using the Windows boot manager.
My Bios info and settings.
Advance tab
Intel Rapid start technology
Security tab.
Security configuration.
Boot Tab.
Note: On the boot Tab I tried to add Boot option or set the Legacy boot order on USB storage device. Then after i save the bios setting. Nothing happened on UEFI boot list and Legacy Boot List.
My Boot menu screen shot.
note: nothing happened after i set my legacy boot order or add on UEFI boot list.
ePSA Results.
note: My hardware is working correctly no hardware failure has been detected.
The Only my problem is the boot setting and F2/F12 Keys..
I hope some one can help me regarding this issue...
Did some hunting around and have some information,not sure if this might help or not.Went to the apps page and opened up Dell Support Center.,in there is quite a bit of information.For my motherboard its listed as - 00MT1R / Bios A11 release date 10/24/12 with smbios version 2.7.
What I was thinking is that if people list what motherboard and bios is working for them others will be able to choose a properly working combination for their own computer.This combination above did let me in twice to change an option from ahci to sata then back from sata to ahci (wouldn't boot),I have not gone back to test this nor do I want to.If I could fix this computer when it messes up like that I could test more,unfortunately I can't at this time.
I would be slick if when you entered your service tag/code it could read system specific information and download the correct drivers for your particular computer,would certainly help folks like me.
EDIT:Information was in My Dell Support Center,changed the above.
Kris, Linux will still not allow access to the F2/F12 as that is a BIOS software issue. Make that MS Win 8 Repair disk and it will always allow access to the BIOS (F2 & F12 equivalent) regardless of any problems with your hard drive since it is standalone bootable. Even when Windows Boot Manager was missing in my BIOS, I could boot it. I did have to hit "Enter" as it gave me "Operating System not found" on HDD 1 and HDD 2 then it found the Repair DVD on the second Enter. That Repair DVD saved my bacon several times. Gives you access to the BIOS even if you should pull the hard drive.
One reason I have taken so many risks in troubleshooting this computer is that I have a spare cloned hard drive on the table and the Repair disk. I have never had to rely upon the clone but I came awfully close when it would not boot in SATA = AHCI but the Repair fixed it. I am pretty sure that is what gave me the extra two Windows Boot Managers I have on the Boot page (picture in earlier post of this thread). I originally had to change two parameters (Storahci & OVERRIDE parameter set to zero) in the Registry to get AHCI to talk. Now I seem to be able to switch back and forth to ISRT without a hiccup but I can not trigger the Option Rom buried in the Intel ICH8M Controller Hub (Intel 82801HBM chip that drives the Sata ports plus more) in order to enable the Rapid Response Manager with a cntrl +I then R command. I have to run "UEFI, Insecure mode, Legacy ROM = Enable" until I can get in there. Page 199 (top) of this link : http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/datasheet/intel-io-controller-hub-8-datasheet.pdf Looks like RAID 1 mirroring of the second hard drive requires ICH8M-E(E=enhanced) chip rather than our ICH8M chip. If we had a decent "User Manual" we would not be doing all this detective work. Page 26 of this link shows what the Option Rom presentation looks like http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/rste_swug_v11.pdf Has a lot of interesting information including "volume roaming" with Linus and Windows installed on page 14.
I sent a PM to Dell Terry B who has been very helpful with overseeing this for us, I'm asking if he would comment on what EXACTLY was supposed to be fixed in BIOS A13, Hard to give back any feed back Dell if we don't know what we should be looking for. It's not mentioned anuywhere that this was the BIOS to fix the F2/F12 problem, nor the Windows Boot Manager missing from the Boot Priority List issue causing in most cases the double power up problem, nor was it listed that this may correct the GPU Throttling Issue. Only thing that I can confirm is that the embedded AES Instruction Set on the CPU has been enabled (I personally want to Thank Dell for doing that, I expected that when I purchased an I-series CPU that supports it, that I would get it, at least someone came to their sense's there.)
But, why in the world does Dell mark and of these drivers as "Maintain Release" in the Fixes and Enhancements Section. What the Heck does that mean??? To me it means nothing, they might as well leave it blank and save someone the time it takes to type the 16 characters.
I'm really getting annoyed with how the driver page is being "MAINTAINED" it's a mess and it just shows sheer laziness on Dells behalf. That or no oversight with their obvious outsourced company hired to "MAINTAIN" the page. Come on now, What?!? nobody can take the time to actually list the fixes on the web page.
What I see is just some grammatically incorrect usage of a word where information of utmost importance should be listed.
In this case you obvious non-English speaking outsourced service hired to MAINTAIN the drivers web page "See that was the correct usage of the word" the word you are looking for under the section Fixes and Enhancements is "MAINTENANCE Release". You MAINTAIN the page, but you performed "MAINTENANCE" on the drivers. What that MAINTENANCE was, is anyone's guess.
MAINTAIN: VERB
1. transitive verb make something continue: to continue, or keep in existence, a situation, course of action, or condition without changing or impairing it. "They maintained production even with half the staff out sick." "The government will maintain its confidence in the economy despite discouraging news from Wall Street."
2. transitive verb keep something in working order: to ensure that something continues to work properly by checking it regularly and making repairs and adjustments if required. "The machine will give years of service if you maintain it properly."
MAINTENANCE: NOUN
1. continuing repair work: work that is done regularly to keep a machine, building, or piece of equipment in good condition and working order( often used before a noun)
"We take the car in for maintenance every six months."
2. upkeep: the general condition of something with respect to repairs
Here is the info for my motherboard incase it helps with any troubleshooting.
System Board
Manufacturer
Dell Inc.
Product
04M3YM
BIOS
Vendor
Dell Inc.
Release Date
03/11/2013
BIOS Version String
A13
ROM Size
6.50 MB
SMBIOS
Version
2.7
I noticed that there are different product numbers for the motherboards out there. Mine is 04M3YM whereas Jondy7720's is 00MT1R. Mine came with A12 installed and I have had no problems with F2/F12, however, I did an ePSA before the upgrade to A13 and it passed fine, after A13 when I run an ePSA diag I get a video memory discrepancy failure and the diagnostics will just crash and reboot the computer during the XMATS32 memory test. I think the BIOS flash broke my diag tools somehow since I have ran diagnostics using many many other tools and all pass with no problems, even a dell diag tool for a different pc that I can run off of a USB stick passed just fine.
It would be interesting to see if all 04M3YM's have no problems with F2/F12 and the Windows Boot Manager works fine but the diag tools get messed up somehow because of the flash. Whereas the 00MT1R or maybe some other ones floating around out there have the F2/F12 problems or the Windows Boot Manager issue. It seems to me that Dell created a BIOS, tested on a particular version of the motherboard but did not bother to test it on all of the versions that are present in the field. BTW I checked this using the Dell Support Center and clicked on the Motherboard section.
PS: If anyone knows of a way to extract the diag tools onto a USB drive and run it on a different PC I would love to know, or maybe how to reinstall the diag tools that would be great. Feel free to PM me. I tried clonezilla and also gparted to copy the partition but it does not seem to work.
Oh and Cybermaxx I agree with your point about the whole "Maintain Release" thing. When I read it on the download page I just said "Huh, what?" But knowing the amount of outsourcing going on I can't say that I did not expect it. I love dealing with Dell support at work since I always get the 100% U.S. support but at home its a whole different story.
Pretty sure my 17R SE 7720 came shipped with A10 which did work out of the box without a hitch. Though I'm not sure about A11 in regards to F2/F12 it wasn't until the A12 Version that I started to have problems with F2/F12 and Boot Manager Issues (Double Power Ups, Or System Wanting to only boot from PXE Network Boot when I'm hard wired into a network via the Ethernet Jack.
I have no issues with Diagnostic Tool ePSA failing in any test.
Exact Opposite of Rafterman414, I have issues with booting and F2/F12 but my Diagnostics work with A13.
I'm hoping someone from Dell tells us they are still working on this issue with F-Keys on Boot and Boot Manager and that A13 was published with other fixes that they wanted to get out first.
My personal opinion is that the glitch that destroys the Windows Boot Manager is in a faulty merging process that happens just before the actual flash WRITE. If you ever do a backwards flash, (not recommended by Dell), you will get a chance to see that the first step of the flash is to READ the existing BIOS flash memory and save it as a temporary file. The user data like Service Tag plus user configuration parameters, etc. is merged with the new BIOS version software to create the new actual flash image that is finally written. That original image file is deleted because I can not find it afterwards.
After seeing all the damage done by this faulty software, if I was Dell I would not delete the old BIOS image (stored on HDD ) and I would allow an "undo" option to reflash back to the old workable last good BIOS image. I now have three (yes, 3) Windows Boot Managers now from my playing around trying to get into the Option ROM of the SATA hub controller chip. I would give two of them away if I could. Everything works fine except I can not run Secure Mode unless I give up the Intel Rapid Start which is the mSATA hibernation which is 2X faster than conventional HDD hibernation. Not much of a degradation but I can not live with the system message that occurs upon boot-up constantly.
Alright guys my mind is now officially blown, check this out, you're gonna like it:
I am sitting here using my computer, not doing anything taxing on it just checking some emails and all of a sudden my screen goes black for about 30 seconds and then comes back. I immediately think oh great those memory errors are real and the "S" has hit the fan. So I decide to reboot and run another ePSA to see if it has become worse, but uh oh, F2 and F12 have stopped working for me! (Remember it used to work just fine for me, I even checked it out a few hours ago and it was working fine) I also noticed that the resolution of the boot screen is slightly different and the Dell logo looks bigger. Once I get back into Windows I do the whole SHIFT+RESTART deal and get into my boot menu.
Now here is where things get even weirder. For one my boot menu used to be alined to the left of the screen, however, now it is centered on the screen and appears to display at a higher resolution. I also noticed that my custom boot entry that I had made for my Ubuntu install that was previously on my second HDD is no longer present, just Network Boot and Windows Boot. So onto the diagnostics, everything passes! (Before I had Video Memory Discrepancy Error as well as a reboot occur during the XMATS32 memory test)
Does anyone have any idea what happened? I imagine that black screen was some kind of restoration of the BIOS, or was it just a coincidence? I am relieved that all of my Diagnostics now pass, I am little upset that F2/F12 is no longer working though. So what happened here? Did my BIOS just decide to do some house cleaning, or did I just get ninjaed by Dell? I wonder how many motherboards have been replaced due to people having an error like this that would just eventually clear itself out.
Rafterman414: My bet is the BIOS updated to latest video driver already loaded with the last video driver install. Remember there are two sets of drivers: 1) for the BIOS and 2) for Win 8. My question was: When does the BIOS pick up the latest version after a Win 8 driver download and install update? I have no idea but it could be on next BIOS update or when the Intel 4000 graphics driver in Win 8 stops - like the black screen you saw? Guessing only.
I just spent 2+ hours on the phone with Premium Support at Dell because I just got a 4th Windows Boot Manager. I have no idea how except I had done a "chkdsk C: /f " just before because of previously disabling acceleration on the mSATA had been necessary and often the hard drive has remnants on the mSATA not yet cached to the HDD. ISRT does warn about this but sometimes you have to disable and Intel should have the means to flush it in at least enhanced mode. All I know is the 4th one was corrupt because the boot-up gave me a blue screen with boot error 0xc000000f - the worst you can get. After fiddling and scratching my head I found I could boot with my manual boot add-on of HDD_1 using F12 which told me the HDD was okay and the problem is in the 4th Windows Boot Manager. Whew!! Support had no good solution on the phone but I was able to talk to the tech and his manager at length. The manager confirms that the default function key F9 is already slated to fix the Windows Boot Manager in the their future BIOS "Wish List". The loss of the Windows Boot Manager also coincides with loss of F2 and F12 BIOS access that many users seems to get when flashing. They were suggesting I might have to "Clean" my mSATA and do a clean install to get a single working Windows Boot Manager back. I did not relish that but I decided to play with the BIOS BOOT page some more and found out we can disable any boot device with a Shift+1 against any particular device. It puts a " ! " mark in front of the device (look at the one highlighted in white text below) to show as disabled as shown in the picture below:
I kind of chopped off the RHS of the picture but Shift+1 is the key and it worked. I could not delete it because Windows Boot Manager is "protected" by default. The BIOS still has to be fixed but it is good enough I will not have to do an F12 every boot-up. More BIOS updates are definitely on the way. That Help window is brought up with F1 which I often forget about but well worth looking at!
jondy7720
16 Posts
0
March 22nd, 2013 04:00
Just checked Dell downloads(7720/win 8/64bit) for A10 bios,its not listed there.There is A01,03,08,11 and A12.Is there some way to find out exactly what motherboard I have.I could be way off base but are different motherboards and versions of the bios causing all the trouble.I can list my stuff if that helps any.I have not used the F2/F12 buttons since my 1st time on this computer when it wouldn't boot up.
kris clores
13 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2013 09:00
Hi,
I already update my bios to A13 and still unable to access the bios using F2/F12.. please help... The only way to access it by booting on windows boot manager on the general settings and boot is up to windows boot manager.
Thanks,
Hope fully you can help me as soon as possible.
Bill Alsip
92 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2013 19:00
Kris,
I do not know whether you can still boot up in Win 8? If you can, hold Shift key down while doing a RESTART on Win 8. This takes you to Advanced Startup Options where you can chose Boot, this is same as an F12. If you can not get to Win 8 then try and get a bootable Win 8 "Repair Disk" which can sometimes repair your hard drive and get you into a command prompt for a "sfc /scannow" (system file checker, Google it to learn), and the Repair disk will also get you into Advanced Options like doing a RESTORE to a point in time when your computer worked. Google "Repair Disk Win 8" as well to learn. Read this thread from beginning as many of us have had similar problems and have recovered without a day zero rebuild. One thing about my troubles is that I have learned lots by Googling my symptoms with key words. Throw the word "Dell" in your Google search to be more specific to your brand.
kris clores
13 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2013 22:00
Hi Bill Alsip,
Thanks for your help.. I can able to boot in windows 8 and go to the Advanced Startup Options to boot it up on Bios setting.But i want to access buy using it on F2/F8. becuase i want to used Some other OS like Linux Backtrack version.. what if i go to Advanced Startup Options to boot it up on Bios and set it to legacy boot sequence then boot it on CD which is linux.. then reformat the whole drive to install linux OS... So how can i access it again in the bios after there is no Windows 8 Advanced Startup Options because it is already linux version. Is the Bios keys F2/F12 will be available once i format the whole hdd drive and installed Linux OS?
Someone on the dell post about they are going to repair regarding the issue on bios keys as they release the new version which is A13 it will able to fix it as they said so. So as of now i already update it to A13 nothing happened about the bios keys still continue to boot on windows 8 when i press it.
Will try to upload some pictures of my bios settings.
Thank you very much Bill Alsip.
I hope some one can help me... thanks
kris clores
13 Posts
0
March 24th, 2013 02:00
hi,
Kindly refer to my video sample that i was unable to enter bios using F2/F12 keys..
http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3518/3630.F2.mp4
Note: when i press F2 or F12 nothing happened its just hows blue bar only and boot up on windows 8 cannot enter bios and boot menu.
The only i can enter the bios by using the Windows boot manager.
My Bios info and settings.
Advance tab
Intel Rapid start technology
Security tab.
Security configuration.
Boot Tab.
Note: On the boot Tab I tried to add Boot option or set the Legacy boot order on USB storage device. Then after i save the bios setting. Nothing happened on UEFI boot list and Legacy Boot List.
My Boot menu screen shot.
note: nothing happened after i set my legacy boot order or add on UEFI boot list.
ePSA Results.
note: My hardware is working correctly no hardware failure has been detected.
The Only my problem is the boot setting and F2/F12 Keys..
I hope some one can help me regarding this issue...
jondy7720
16 Posts
0
March 24th, 2013 04:00
Did some hunting around and have some information,not sure if this might help or not.Went to the apps page and opened up Dell Support Center.,in there is quite a bit of information.For my motherboard its listed as - 00MT1R / Bios A11 release date 10/24/12 with smbios version 2.7.
What I was thinking is that if people list what motherboard and bios is working for them others will be able to choose a properly working combination for their own computer.This combination above did let me in twice to change an option from ahci to sata then back from sata to ahci (wouldn't boot),I have not gone back to test this nor do I want to.If I could fix this computer when it messes up like that I could test more,unfortunately I can't at this time.
I would be slick if when you entered your service tag/code it could read system specific information and download the correct drivers for your particular computer,would certainly help folks like me.
EDIT:Information was in My Dell Support Center,changed the above.
Bill Alsip
92 Posts
0
March 24th, 2013 11:00
Kris, Linux will still not allow access to the F2/F12 as that is a BIOS software issue. Make that MS Win 8 Repair disk and it will always allow access to the BIOS (F2 & F12 equivalent) regardless of any problems with your hard drive since it is standalone bootable. Even when Windows Boot Manager was missing in my BIOS, I could boot it. I did have to hit "Enter" as it gave me "Operating System not found" on HDD 1 and HDD 2 then it found the Repair DVD on the second Enter. That Repair DVD saved my bacon several times. Gives you access to the BIOS even if you should pull the hard drive.
One reason I have taken so many risks in troubleshooting this computer is that I have a spare cloned hard drive on the table and the Repair disk. I have never had to rely upon the clone but I came awfully close when it would not boot in SATA = AHCI but the Repair fixed it. I am pretty sure that is what gave me the extra two Windows Boot Managers I have on the Boot page (picture in earlier post of this thread). I originally had to change two parameters (Storahci & OVERRIDE parameter set to zero) in the Registry to get AHCI to talk. Now I seem to be able to switch back and forth to ISRT without a hiccup but I can not trigger the Option Rom buried in the Intel ICH8M Controller Hub (Intel 82801HBM chip that drives the Sata ports plus more) in order to enable the Rapid Response Manager with a cntrl +I then R command. I have to run "UEFI, Insecure mode, Legacy ROM = Enable" until I can get in there. Page 199 (top) of this link : http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/datasheet/intel-io-controller-hub-8-datasheet.pdf Looks like RAID 1 mirroring of the second hard drive requires ICH8M-E(E=enhanced) chip rather than our ICH8M chip. If we had a decent "User Manual" we would not be doing all this detective work. Page 26 of this link shows what the Option Rom presentation looks like http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/rste_swug_v11.pdf Has a lot of interesting information including "volume roaming" with Linus and Windows installed on page 14.
CyberMaxX360
272 Posts
0
March 24th, 2013 12:00
I sent a PM to Dell Terry B who has been very helpful with overseeing this for us, I'm asking if he would comment on what EXACTLY was supposed to be fixed in BIOS A13, Hard to give back any feed back Dell if we don't know what we should be looking for. It's not mentioned anuywhere that this was the BIOS to fix the F2/F12 problem, nor the Windows Boot Manager missing from the Boot Priority List issue causing in most cases the double power up problem, nor was it listed that this may correct the GPU Throttling Issue. Only thing that I can confirm is that the embedded AES Instruction Set on the CPU has been enabled (I personally want to Thank Dell for doing that, I expected that when I purchased an I-series CPU that supports it, that I would get it, at least someone came to their sense's there.)
But, why in the world does Dell mark and of these drivers as "Maintain Release" in the Fixes and Enhancements Section. What the Heck does that mean??? To me it means nothing, they might as well leave it blank and save someone the time it takes to type the 16 characters.
I'm really getting annoyed with how the driver page is being "MAINTAINED" it's a mess and it just shows sheer laziness on Dells behalf. That or no oversight with their obvious outsourced company hired to "MAINTAIN" the page. Come on now, What?!? nobody can take the time to actually list the fixes on the web page.
What I see is just some grammatically incorrect usage of a word where information of utmost importance should be listed.
In this case you obvious non-English speaking outsourced service hired to MAINTAIN the drivers web page "See that was the correct usage of the word" the word you are looking for under the section Fixes and Enhancements is "MAINTENANCE Release". You MAINTAIN the page, but you performed "MAINTENANCE" on the drivers. What that MAINTENANCE was, is anyone's guess.
MAINTAIN: VERB
1. transitive verb make something continue: to continue, or keep in existence, a situation, course of action, or condition without changing or impairing it.
"They maintained production even with half the staff out sick."
"The government will maintain its confidence in the economy despite discouraging news from Wall Street."
2. transitive verb keep something in working order: to ensure that something continues to work properly by checking it regularly and making repairs and adjustments if required.
"The machine will give years of service if you maintain it properly."
MAINTENANCE: NOUN
Rafterman414
1 Rookie
•
62 Posts
0
March 24th, 2013 14:00
Here is the info for my motherboard incase it helps with any troubleshooting.
I noticed that there are different product numbers for the motherboards out there. Mine is 04M3YM whereas Jondy7720's is 00MT1R. Mine came with A12 installed and I have had no problems with F2/F12, however, I did an ePSA before the upgrade to A13 and it passed fine, after A13 when I run an ePSA diag I get a video memory discrepancy failure and the diagnostics will just crash and reboot the computer during the XMATS32 memory test. I think the BIOS flash broke my diag tools somehow since I have ran diagnostics using many many other tools and all pass with no problems, even a dell diag tool for a different pc that I can run off of a USB stick passed just fine.
It would be interesting to see if all 04M3YM's have no problems with F2/F12 and the Windows Boot Manager works fine but the diag tools get messed up somehow because of the flash. Whereas the 00MT1R or maybe some other ones floating around out there have the F2/F12 problems or the Windows Boot Manager issue. It seems to me that Dell created a BIOS, tested on a particular version of the motherboard but did not bother to test it on all of the versions that are present in the field. BTW I checked this using the Dell Support Center and clicked on the Motherboard section.
PS: If anyone knows of a way to extract the diag tools onto a USB drive and run it on a different PC I would love to know, or maybe how to reinstall the diag tools that would be great. Feel free to PM me. I tried clonezilla and also gparted to copy the partition but it does not seem to work.
Oh and Cybermaxx I agree with your point about the whole "Maintain Release" thing. When I read it on the download page I just said "Huh, what?" But knowing the amount of outsourcing going on I can't say that I did not expect it. I love dealing with Dell support at work since I always get the 100% U.S. support but at home its a whole different story.
CyberMaxX360
272 Posts
0
March 24th, 2013 21:00
For Me it's
System Board
Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Product 04M3YM
BIOS
Vendor Dell Inc.
Release Date 03/11/2013
BIOS Version String A13
ROM Size 6.50 MB
SMBIOS
Version 2.7
Pretty sure my 17R SE 7720 came shipped with A10 which did work out of the box without a hitch.
Though I'm not sure about A11 in regards to F2/F12 it wasn't until the A12 Version that I started to have problems with F2/F12 and Boot Manager Issues (Double Power Ups, Or System Wanting to only boot from PXE Network Boot when I'm hard wired into a network via the Ethernet Jack.
I have no issues with Diagnostic Tool ePSA failing in any test.
Exact Opposite of Rafterman414, I have issues with booting and F2/F12 but my Diagnostics work with A13.
I'm hoping someone from Dell tells us they are still working on this issue with F-Keys on Boot and Boot Manager and that A13 was published with other fixes that they wanted to get out first.
kris clores
13 Posts
0
March 25th, 2013 07:00
Mine is
System Board
Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Product 04M3YM
BIOS
Vendor Dell Inc.
Release Date 03/11/2013
BIOS Version String A13
ROM Size 6.50 MB
SMBIOS
Version 2.7
My issue is unable to get into bios using keys F2/F12 and boot setting problem.
Hoping that dell can be able to fix this issue soon....
Bill Alsip
92 Posts
0
March 25th, 2013 12:00
My personal opinion is that the glitch that destroys the Windows Boot Manager is in a faulty merging process that happens just before the actual flash WRITE. If you ever do a backwards flash, (not recommended by Dell), you will get a chance to see that the first step of the flash is to READ the existing BIOS flash memory and save it as a temporary file. The user data like Service Tag plus user configuration parameters, etc. is merged with the new BIOS version software to create the new actual flash image that is finally written. That original image file is deleted because I can not find it afterwards.
After seeing all the damage done by this faulty software, if I was Dell I would not delete the old BIOS image (stored on HDD ) and I would allow an "undo" option to reflash back to the old workable last good BIOS image. I now have three (yes, 3) Windows Boot Managers now from my playing around trying to get into the Option ROM of the SATA hub controller chip. I would give two of them away if I could. Everything works fine except I can not run Secure Mode unless I give up the Intel Rapid Start which is the mSATA hibernation which is 2X faster than conventional HDD hibernation. Not much of a degradation but I can not live with the system message that occurs upon boot-up constantly.
Rafterman414
1 Rookie
•
62 Posts
0
March 25th, 2013 18:00
Alright guys my mind is now officially blown, check this out, you're gonna like it:
I am sitting here using my computer, not doing anything taxing on it just checking some emails and all of a sudden my screen goes black for about 30 seconds and then comes back. I immediately think oh great those memory errors are real and the "S" has hit the fan. So I decide to reboot and run another ePSA to see if it has become worse, but uh oh, F2 and F12 have stopped working for me! (Remember it used to work just fine for me, I even checked it out a few hours ago and it was working fine) I also noticed that the resolution of the boot screen is slightly different and the Dell logo looks bigger. Once I get back into Windows I do the whole SHIFT+RESTART deal and get into my boot menu.
Now here is where things get even weirder. For one my boot menu used to be alined to the left of the screen, however, now it is centered on the screen and appears to display at a higher resolution. I also noticed that my custom boot entry that I had made for my Ubuntu install that was previously on my second HDD is no longer present, just Network Boot and Windows Boot. So onto the diagnostics, everything passes! (Before I had Video Memory Discrepancy Error as well as a reboot occur during the XMATS32 memory test)
Does anyone have any idea what happened? I imagine that black screen was some kind of restoration of the BIOS, or was it just a coincidence? I am relieved that all of my Diagnostics now pass, I am little upset that F2/F12 is no longer working though. So what happened here? Did my BIOS just decide to do some house cleaning, or did I just get ninjaed by Dell? I wonder how many motherboards have been replaced due to people having an error like this that would just eventually clear itself out.
Bill Alsip
92 Posts
0
March 25th, 2013 19:00
Rafterman414: My bet is the BIOS updated to latest video driver already loaded with the last video driver install. Remember there are two sets of drivers: 1) for the BIOS and 2) for Win 8. My question was: When does the BIOS pick up the latest version after a Win 8 driver download and install update? I have no idea but it could be on next BIOS update or when the Intel 4000 graphics driver in Win 8 stops - like the black screen you saw? Guessing only.
I just spent 2+ hours on the phone with Premium Support at Dell because I just got a 4th Windows Boot Manager. I have no idea how except I had done a "chkdsk C: /f " just before because of previously disabling acceleration on the mSATA had been necessary and often the hard drive has remnants on the mSATA not yet cached to the HDD. ISRT does warn about this but sometimes you have to disable and Intel should have the means to flush it in at least enhanced mode. All I know is the 4th one was corrupt because the boot-up gave me a blue screen with boot error 0xc000000f - the worst you can get. After fiddling and scratching my head I found I could boot with my manual boot add-on of HDD_1 using F12 which told me the HDD was okay and the problem is in the 4th Windows Boot Manager. Whew!! Support had no good solution on the phone but I was able to talk to the tech and his manager at length. The manager confirms that the default function key F9 is already slated to fix the Windows Boot Manager in the their future BIOS "Wish List". The loss of the Windows Boot Manager also coincides with loss of F2 and F12 BIOS access that many users seems to get when flashing. They were suggesting I might have to "Clean" my mSATA and do a clean install to get a single working Windows Boot Manager back. I did not relish that but I decided to play with the BIOS BOOT page some more and found out we can disable any boot device with a Shift+1 against any particular device. It puts a " ! " mark in front of the device (look at the one highlighted in white text below) to show as disabled as shown in the picture below:
I kind of chopped off the RHS of the picture but Shift+1 is the key and it worked. I could not delete it because Windows Boot Manager is "protected" by default. The BIOS still has to be fixed but it is good enough I will not have to do an F12 every boot-up. More BIOS updates are definitely on the way. That Help window is brought up with F1 which I often forget about but well worth looking at!
kris clores
13 Posts
0
March 25th, 2013 21:00
I hope dell will update us regarding this issue of the bios keys F2/F12 and boot configuration on bios setting....