Anyone having boot problems after a Bios update, this is what I saw when playing, maybe it will help you.
I am getting a new Samsung 960 Pro PCIe NVMe drive for my new XPS 13 9365 2-in-1. So to get ready I noticed the NVMe would not work if the Bios was set to RAID mode. I checked mine and it was set to RAID mode, which I assume is the Bios Default.
I set it to AHCI and got a message about possibly not booting, so I did it anyway. Sure enough it rebooted with the inaccessible boot device and stated it would restart the system.
I tried to shortcut the operation by going back into the Bios using F2, but the Dell utility blocked that and offered options of which none were selectable.
I restarted and let the system put me into the Recovery Options. From there I went through the Advanced options until I got to the Boot to UEFI bios. When I selected that option, the system rebooted into the Bios and I reset from AHCI to RAID and the system booted normally..... If you had a functional NVMe drive you may have to set the SATA option to AHCI to get it to work.
I currently have the Toshiba NVMe M.2 drive but it is on the SATA controller as configured from the Factory. This is probably why my system was set to use RAID instead of AHCI.. I will see what happens with the Samsung drive tomorrow and will be able to get it to work as a boot device. I do not know why my PCIe M.2 NVMe drive is hanging on the SATA controller.
I've tried all the suggestions as well and my XPS 13 9530 won't boot up either. Why would Dell release a BIOS update that crashes so many computers. I contacted technical support and after trying their suggestions that didn't work they told me to send it to an express repair debot to be fixed. I'm angry that this happened in the first place. I'm angry that I've easily spent 20 hours over the last week trying to get this resolved, I'm angry that a computer I need for work crashed. I'm angry that I can no longer trust Dell.
Driven 100 km to a Licensed Dell Service (Slovenia, Europe) today and all they did was running a hardware check. Since the check was "pass", they said there is nothing more they can but a clean Win install. Besides BIOS is a software which is not covered in guarantee anyway... Thank you DELL for such a great customer support!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Took the laptop back home in order to rescue my data before reinstalling the system on my own. Used Live USB Mint Linux and backed up the data on external disk first. After that I started playing with a different BIOS settings and commands for restoring MBR (www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-master-boot-record-mbr-windows). The laptop somehow(?) found the recovery partition and offered System restore from a previous date. Did run the system restore first than again Automatic Repair for a several times. No success. The only change I noticed was WIN10 error msg saying "no bootable system detected" rather than Dell Bios Error Msg. The breakthrough came when I switched the AHCI mode back to RAID and baaaam, Windows came back!
Unfortunately I cannot give any straight-fwd instructions how to solve the problem, but maybe above mentioned information can be useful for those facing the same problem.
Mart131, if you are in the Bios Setup, what does the SATA show being set, AHCI or RAID?
If your drive had been configured as a SATA drive instead of PCIe, like mine, the Bios update may have changed to AHCI which I describe in my prior post. If that was to be the case, changing the SATA to RAID should get that situation booting again.
If it had been configured correctly, as PCIe, the SATA needs to be set to AHCI. The bottom line being, change whatever is shown to the other setting and make sure and save that new setting.
My prior post illustrates how to get back into the Bios if F2 doesn't work.
My new Samsung 960 Pro is now installed as a PCIe drive and is working fine, so far.
I will have to reboot my system to see how the info is presented. It looks like you are not showing a Drive but the Boot sequence still shows a drive..
I am used to seeing a "Windows Boot Manager" set as first boot device. Maybe that system has another way to annotate it, so that may be normal to use the drive.
The Support Assist is what froze on me when I changed the SATA configuration and kept me from getting into the Bios. You might try setting that to off.
You might also disable the UEFI Network Stack unless you are booting from a Network.
Keep in mind.. I have not had a chance to test any of these settings.
I am going to reboot now, so hold off for a while.. If I don't come back .. yikes!
OK, back ... My system does show the PCIe SSD and SATA set to AHCI. There is a "Port enablement" check box which is checked and lists "M.2 PCIe SSD"
The Windows Boot Manager should be the first boot priority. The UEFI SSD is listed second.
If you look at the System logs, there is a Bios event log. Maybe it would help.
Now, what happened when you changed your SATA controller to RAID? Anything different?
If, the Windows Boot Manager is missing, the BCD store can be replaced if you can get into a command window from the recovery options. Assuming the drive is accessible from the command window.
You can leave the settings I mentioned earlier alone, except possibly for the Support Assistant but you can try that later, if you want.
Thank you for checking out my system. I'm on my way to buy a cheap laptop (not a Dell!) just so I can catch up on the work I need done this weekend. Dell delivered a prepaid box for me to send the XPS 13 to a repair depot but that won't go out until Monday. So before I send it I'm going to try your suggestions. I'll let you know how it goes.
Saltgrass
4 Operator
•
4.3K Posts
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February 8th, 2017 18:00
Anyone having boot problems after a Bios update, this is what I saw when playing, maybe it will help you.
I am getting a new Samsung 960 Pro PCIe NVMe drive for my new XPS 13 9365 2-in-1. So to get ready I noticed the NVMe would not work if the Bios was set to RAID mode. I checked mine and it was set to RAID mode, which I assume is the Bios Default.
I set it to AHCI and got a message about possibly not booting, so I did it anyway. Sure enough it rebooted with the inaccessible boot device and stated it would restart the system.
I tried to shortcut the operation by going back into the Bios using F2, but the Dell utility blocked that and offered options of which none were selectable.
I restarted and let the system put me into the Recovery Options. From there I went through the Advanced options until I got to the Boot to UEFI bios. When I selected that option, the system rebooted into the Bios and I reset from AHCI to RAID and the system booted normally..... If you had a functional NVMe drive you may have to set the SATA option to AHCI to get it to work.
I currently have the Toshiba NVMe M.2 drive but it is on the SATA controller as configured from the Factory. This is probably why my system was set to use RAID instead of AHCI.. I will see what happens with the Samsung drive tomorrow and will be able to get it to work as a boot device. I do not know why my PCIe M.2 NVMe drive is hanging on the SATA controller.
erny2983
1 Rookie
•
7 Posts
0
February 9th, 2017 03:00
Tried all the tricks I could find in the posts, but my XPS13 3950 still won't boot. Its frustrating!
baskervill
16 Posts
0
February 9th, 2017 08:00
I've tried all the suggestions as well and my XPS 13 9530 won't boot up either. Why would Dell release a BIOS update that crashes so many computers. I contacted technical support and after trying their suggestions that didn't work they told me to send it to an express repair debot to be fixed. I'm angry that this happened in the first place. I'm angry that I've easily spent 20 hours over the last week trying to get this resolved, I'm angry that a computer I need for work crashed. I'm angry that I can no longer trust Dell.
erny2983
1 Rookie
•
7 Posts
0
February 9th, 2017 13:00
Driven 100 km to a Licensed Dell Service (Slovenia, Europe) today and all they did was running a hardware check. Since the check was "pass", they said there is nothing more they can but a clean Win install. Besides BIOS is a software which is not covered in guarantee anyway... Thank you DELL for such a great customer support!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Took the laptop back home in order to rescue my data before reinstalling the system on my own. Used Live USB Mint Linux and backed up the data on external disk first. After that I started playing with a different BIOS settings and commands for restoring MBR (www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-master-boot-record-mbr-windows). The laptop somehow(?) found the recovery partition and offered System restore from a previous date. Did run the system restore first than again Automatic Repair for a several times. No success. The only change I noticed was WIN10 error msg saying "no bootable system detected" rather than Dell Bios Error Msg. The breakthrough came when I switched the AHCI mode back to RAID and baaaam, Windows came back!
Unfortunately I cannot give any straight-fwd instructions how to solve the problem, but maybe above mentioned information can be useful for those facing the same problem.
Mart131
17 Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 03:00
Exact same problem here as of yesterday.. Any clearcut solution available?
Was able to reach the F2 screen. What next?
Totally stuck and need my xps13 back! work deadlines!!
baskervill
16 Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 08:00
DELL are you listening??? Are you monitoring this site????
Saltgrass
4 Operator
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4.3K Posts
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February 10th, 2017 08:00
Mart131, if you are in the Bios Setup, what does the SATA show being set, AHCI or RAID?
If your drive had been configured as a SATA drive instead of PCIe, like mine, the Bios update may have changed to AHCI which I describe in my prior post. If that was to be the case, changing the SATA to RAID should get that situation booting again.
If it had been configured correctly, as PCIe, the SATA needs to be set to AHCI. The bottom line being, change whatever is shown to the other setting and make sure and save that new setting.
My prior post illustrates how to get back into the Bios if F2 doesn't work.
My new Samsung 960 Pro is now installed as a PCIe drive and is working fine, so far.
baskervill
16 Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 12:00
Saltgrass, under system information/device information it says
SATA-0=(none)
M.2 PCIe SSD-0
Boot sequence EFI:PM951 NVMe Samsung 256GB. Partition
Boot List Option UEFI
Advanced Boot Options: enable UEFI Network Stack
System Configuration/SATA operation: AHCI
Drives: both SATA-2 and M.2 PCIe SSD-0 checked
Secure Boot: enabled
POST Behavior: fast boot/thorough
SupportAssist System Resolution:auto OS Recovery Threshold/2
SupportAssist OS Recovery/ checked
Do you see anything amiss? I've tried changing AHCI and RAID on many times
OBI WAN you are my last hope.
Saltgrass
4 Operator
•
4.3K Posts
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February 10th, 2017 14:00
I will have to reboot my system to see how the info is presented. It looks like you are not showing a Drive but the Boot sequence still shows a drive..
I am used to seeing a "Windows Boot Manager" set as first boot device. Maybe that system has another way to annotate it, so that may be normal to use the drive.
The Support Assist is what froze on me when I changed the SATA configuration and kept me from getting into the Bios. You might try setting that to off.
You might also disable the UEFI Network Stack unless you are booting from a Network.
Keep in mind.. I have not had a chance to test any of these settings.
I am going to reboot now, so hold off for a while.. If I don't come back .. yikes!
Saltgrass
4 Operator
•
4.3K Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 14:00
OK, back ... My system does show the PCIe SSD and SATA set to AHCI. There is a "Port enablement" check box which is checked and lists "M.2 PCIe SSD"
The Windows Boot Manager should be the first boot priority. The UEFI SSD is listed second.
If you look at the System logs, there is a Bios event log. Maybe it would help.
Now, what happened when you changed your SATA controller to RAID? Anything different?
If, the Windows Boot Manager is missing, the BCD store can be replaced if you can get into a command window from the recovery options. Assuming the drive is accessible from the command window.
You can leave the settings I mentioned earlier alone, except possibly for the Support Assistant but you can try that later, if you want.
Saltgrass
4 Operator
•
4.3K Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 15:00
Instructions no longer necessary.
baskervill
16 Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 15:00
Thank you for checking out my system. I'm on my way to buy a cheap laptop (not a Dell!) just so I can catch up on the work I need done this weekend. Dell delivered a prepaid box for me to send the XPS 13 to a repair depot but that won't go out until Monday. So before I send it I'm going to try your suggestions. I'll let you know how it goes.
Justin C
4 Operator
•
783 Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 16:00
@Community,
I'll go to Dell engineering with this and post back when I know more.
@Saltgrass,
Good to run into you again. I'm still working on your M.2 controller question as well.
baskervill
16 Posts
0
February 10th, 2017 18:00
I was able to find the Windows Boot Manager and get it back as first priority.
There is nothing in the BIOS event log which is kinda funny.
I turned off support assist.
I diabled the UEFI network stack.
Nothing different happened when I changed SATA to RAID.
I can't get into a command window.
I can't find and am never given the option of using Delll OS Recovery Tool.
I think that is it; doesn't seem there is any option but to send it off.
Thanks SaltGrass for all your help.
Mart131
17 Posts
0
February 11th, 2017 03:00
Saltgrass, SATA operation shows RAID On
For my xps13 9350, Comparing to baskerville info given, mine says:
Boot sequence: Windows Boot Manager
UEFI:PM951 NVMe Samsung 256GB. Partition1
Boot List Option: UEFI
Advanced Boot Options: (all unchecked)
System Configuration/SATA operation: RAID On
Drives: both SATA-2 and M.2 PCIe SSD-0 checked
Secure Boot: enabled
POST Behavior: fast boot / minimal
SupportAssist System Resolution:auto OS Recovery Threshold / 2
SupportAssist OS Recovery/ checked