Inspiron 3670, OS not shutting down cleanly

Question

Every time i start up my desktop I get a screen that’s black with the dell logo that says 'The operating system did not shut down cleanly. Reconstructing cache metadata. Please do not interrupt this process. Reading packed metadata into memory... Failed to read packed metadata! Press esc to continue.' When I press esc it restarts my computer and brings me to the same screen. After a second restart it says 'Preparing Automatic Repair' and then it brings me to a blue troubleshooting page. I do not get the option to restart my PC and every other option i have tried and all it does is bring me back to the same black screen with the dell logo that says 'The operating system did not shut down cleanly' Sometimes I get the option to press F12 and go to a one-time booting menu. It gives me several options such as the UEFI boot, BIOS setup, Device Configuration, BIOS Flash Update, Diagnostics, SupportAssist OS Recovery, and Change Boot Mode Settings. I have tried the BIOS setup, BIOS, Flash Update, Diagnostics, and the SupportAssist OS Recovery. Whenever I do the BIOS Flash Update it brings me to a screen that gives me an option to look at files I have on a flash drive that could update the BIOS. I downloaded both BIOS updates that I could find for my computer in specific, service tag and all, and put them on an empty 32G flash drive. Whenever I try to update the BIOS using both updates i have on the flash drive, it restarts my computer and immediately brings me back to the 'The operating system did not shut down cleanly' screen.  Whenever I ran a diagnostic test, the first two times it told me that there was an error with my HardDrive 1-0-10 and I could scan a QR code to figure out what my problem was. I scanned the QR code and my phone brought me to a website that told me my BIOS needed to be updated. I ran attempted to update the BIOS and nothing happened but my computer restarting and coming to the 'The operating system did not shut down cleanly' screen yet again. I ran the diagnostic test a couple more times and the same HardDrive 1-0-10 failed but everything else passed just like the first time. I ran the test one last time just to make sure and everything passed including the HardDrive 1-0-10 even though i had not done anything in between the passed and failed tests.  With the SupportAssist OS Recovery, it brings me to a blue loading screen and will sit there for hours and hours on end. I left the blue loading screen up while i went to bed and woke up today with it on the exact same screen.  I have also called dell tech support and the first two times I got on the phone with a guy. The connection was super staticky and  I could barely hear what he was saying. He couldn’t hear me either so he hung up. I called another number and was relieved when the connection was much better. The girl I was on the phone with was very nice but told me I would have pay for them to help me. I declined and hung up.  I have looked up several forums and tried everything I could find that helped everyone else with this same problem. Nothing works. I’ve been researching for 3 days now and my computer still doesn’t budge.  I’m only 15 and i’ve been trying to help my dad fix this computer. He’s really great with electronics and he’s tried everything and changed settings but still nothing has worked. He can only do it late at night because he works all day. I do communicate with him and let him know everything i’m doing and he tells me to try things but still, nothing works.  This computer is only a year and a half old. It’s a Dell Inspiron 3670 running windows 10 and is a 64 bit i believe. The BIOS Revision is 1.5.9 and it’s supposed to be 2.16.0 but I cannot update it. My dad does believe that’s a big part of the problem but we can’t fix it.  If anyone could help that has had this problem, it would be greatly appreciated so we don’t have to buy a new desktop. We have a lot of files that are being used to refinance our house and i do not believe those are backed up.  This is the one-time boot menu that i get if i press F12 This is the screen i get immediately after starting up my computer    These three images is what screens come up sometimes after i hit esc. None of the options work on this screen all they do is restart my computer. It either does this or just restarts my computer. and brings me to the back dell screen.

kaylanicole · Answer

My dad has already cleared the BIOS and replaced the battery you mentioned. It only made things worse and makes the computer restart more before i can get anywhere besides the troubleshooting screen.

The 1-0-10 wasn’t an error code. it was the hard drive number. there’s two within the computer. 0-0-1 and 1-0-10. the error code i got was 2000-0156. After the second diagnostic test the error code went away and both of the hard drives passed the diagnostic test.

RoHe · Answer

Try clearing BIOS first before going any further, but you probably should let your Dad do this. And stop trying to update BIOS until after you get this PC to boot or you could brick the motherboard.

Clear BIOS:

Power off, unplug
Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
Open case and remove motherboard battery (check Service Manual for details)
Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
Install battery (Time for a fresh CR2032 3-volt coin cell battery? ~$2)
Close up and connect only mouse, monitor and keyboard
Reboot
What happens now?

Sure about that error code? Is it a hard drive or a solid state drive (SSD)? Sounds like the drive may have failed but I don't see anything about error 1-0-10. Sure hope your files are backed up.

You can also try this:
Power on and when you see the Dell splash screen, press/hold power button on PC until it shuts off. Then immediately power on and repeat the cycle 2 more times. It should open the Windows recovery screen after 3 complete cycles. Follow the prompts to see if it can be fixed this way...

RoHe · Answer

We still need more info.

Is the 0-0-1 drive a hard drive or an SSD?

Same question about the 1-0-10 drive?

Which of those 2 is the boot drive?

Is this PC set to use an SSD as a cache for Windows on a hard drive?

Did you try the 3 forced reboots to see if the Windows repair screen will open?

AndyOsira · Answer

Also of interest ? - repeatedly pressing any F key including F12 does nothing on my system - I have to use system prefs to select advanced troubleshooting etc then get to the option to boot into bios .....

IN security tab on bios there is no TPM module available to select yet I also get TPM 80090016 errors about it malfunctioning (with 'server message: Keyset does not exist') - may not be relevant, but tends to occur with MS Teams as a desktop app

Lastly ...Quite frequent pop ups asking for me to re-sign into 365, microsoft account, one drive etc

AndyOsira · Answer

PS with my XPS 8500, this only happens on restart from windows menu being selected - if you choose shutdown instead, it boots cleanly

AndyOsira · Answer

Anyone get any further with this ? thanks

AndyOsira · Answer

Hi - Did you ever fix this ? Our issue (It's actually my son's machine) is slightly different (have listed stuff below) but has that metadata warning before or as the bios loads

PS - really respect that you are being proactive and trying to help your Dad - he must be v proud

RoHe · Answer

@AndyOsira - You should have started a new thread, and always mention version of Windows in your posts.

When was last time you replaced the motherboard battery?

When was last time you scanned thoroughly for malware? Malwarebytes (free) is useful.

Several possibilities so, start simple:

At desktop, open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator
At the prompt, type in: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter.
Be sure to include a space in front of each /
Note any error messages when that's done.
Assuming no errors in #3, at the CMD prompt, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter.
Be sure to include a space in front of the /
Note any errors when that's done.

Assuming no error messages at #3 or #5, does that help?

AndyOsira · Answer

Thank you for your suggestions RoHe, much appreciated. It is Windows 10 Pro fully updated.
I will start with your first one (replacing the 2032 logic board battery, as I am not sure when the previous owner would have replaced it) and let you know how we get on or if non-effective I will move on to your advice re the DISM tool.
The computer has been regularly scanned for malware using tools such as Malwarebytes and GMER /roguekiller etc and reports as clean - the worst item that has cropped recently was only the browser Ask toolbar, which windows 10 own built in security isolated and got rid of.

Did you see that this warning does not occur when the PC is started up manually (by pressing the power button when the machine is fully off) after it has been properly Shutdown? ...It only occurs when 'restart' is selected.

Best regards
Andy

RoHe · Answer

@AndyOsira  - Yes, I saw that bit about shutdowns vs restarts. I offered those first suggestions to start with the basics, and not to overload you with too much geeky stuff, all at once...

JTKLA · Answer

I've had this problem for months now and it has something to do with the Optane system.  Instead of letting your laptop go into sleep mode put it into hibernate mode under the shutdown settings.  This will take care of your issue, at least it did for me.

Inspiron Desktops

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