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September 7th, 2015 11:00

Dell 3551 - Windows 7 setup fails with Non-ACPI BIOS BSOD

I bought a Dell 3551 laptop which is supposed to have support for Windows 7 64 bit.  But it is not possible to install Windows 7_x64 on it because its BIOS is not ACPI compatible according to Windows 7.  

The Win7_x64 Professional and Win7_x86 Ultimate Setup always fails with a BSOD message -


A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps: The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant. Please contact your system  vendor for an updated BIOS. Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x000000A5 (0x0000001D,0x00000000,0x00000000)

If Safe mode is enabled by F8 key, then we can see booting process stop after "disk.sys"


I have visited dozens of websites including Dell forums which report similar Non-ACPI BIOS errors e.g. -

en.community.dell.com/.../19441276

My Configuration -  Pentium quad core N3540 + 4GB RAM + 500GB HDD + WIFI + 2 USB v2 & 1 USB v3 ports + 1 HDMI port.  There is no DVD drive or Ethernet port.

 What I have done so far -

1) Tried 2 different Windows 7 versions on different DVDs which work fine on other PCs.

2) Updated the BIOS to latest version A02 but same error is thrown in both original BIOS ver A00 and the updated one.

3) Tweaked all possible settings in BIOS as suggested in various forums. There isn't much to change in this simple Laptop. There is no DVD drive or ethernet port. Serial/parallel ports are absent in most laptops anyways.  USB port is the only way data can be read so it can't be disabled in BIOS. Then laptop has to be booted with a USB DVD drive or pendrive.  

4) Secure boot was off throughout the testing.

5) UEFI mode was tried for Win7_x64 and legacy mode tried for Win7_32bit. Result is the same NON-ACPI BIOS error.

6) "Load legacy option ROM" setting was tried enabled/disabled for 64 bit OS but results in same error.

7) Hardware Diagnostics tests both SHORT and LONG version which takes a few hours were run but no errors were found.

8) Windows 8 and Windows 10 DVDs have no problem in running and get installed without issue. But I don't have activation license for these OSs.

9) Tried to run laptop on AC power only with battery removed (some forum suggestion). But same error result.

10) Tried with only battery and no AC power.  Result is same error.

What is believe is happening -

1) Dell 3551 BIOS has support for ACPI version which Windows 7 is not able to understand. Windows 8 & 10 are able to understand it so they install properly.

2) There are many users of Asus and Lenovo laptops (apart from Dell) who have reported this exact same error.  What Lenovo & Asus (and maybe others) have done is that they have given a option in BIOS to change settings to be compatible Win7 or Win8,  So if a user wants to install Win7 then BIOS is set to Win7 mode and ACPI etc stuff becomes compatible to it.  For e.g - 


forums.lenovo.com/.../1637310


Since Dell claims that this laptop model is compatible with Windows 7 x64, please make a new BIOS for this model and give the option to switch between Windows 7 & 8 compatibility.  I purchased this after reading about Win7 but now I am stuck.

Regards,
V K Singh

14 Posts

September 28th, 2015 22:00

Has anyone in Dell installed Window 7 on this laptop before claiming that it is compatible. 

Dell MUST STOP misleading people with false claims.

2 Posts

August 22nd, 2018 04:00

I have installed Win 7 x64.

But every time I should press f12 button to chose Windows Boot Manager.

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