Unsolved
1 Rookie
•
1 Message
1
1913
Stuck at Dell logo, can't access BIOS or Boot menu
My laptop model is Inspiron 15 5000 (5502). My laptop was working fine but I wanted the C partition to be bigger.
I installed Macrorit Partition Expert Free Edition. There was 500 MB 'unallocated space' between C and D. I decided to merge this 500 MB and about 70 GB from D into C. Macrorit requested a restart to implement the changes. After restart, the merging operations started. They were reported 'Successful' with the message 'System will reboot now in 5 seconds'. After the reboot, I got stuck at the Dell logo. I waited 30 minutes but nothing.
Now whenever I power on, I am stuck at the logo. If I press F2 during powering on, I see a stuck at 30% loading bar with the logo and with the message 'Preparing to enter BIOS Setup' on the top right. If I press F12 during powering on, I see a stuck loading bar with the logo and with the message 'Preparing one-time boot menu' on the top right. In both cases, it is still stuck and no new menu appears.
The power LED is not displaying any of the amber/white error codes. The fans are working. Caps Lock can be turned on and off (its LED on/off).
The only menu I am able to access is the BIOS recovery using CTRL + ESC. Over there, 'Power Status' is OK. I have 3 options there but none of them solved the problem.
Option 1: Recover the BIOS (using the currently-flashed BIOS)
It carries out several processes ('Updating your firmware') and all of them successful. At the end, it displays the message 'BIOS Update Successful. Rebooting your System', and then after reboot, it gets stuck at the logo screen again.
Option 2: Rollback to previous BIOS
It says 'BIOS update blocked due to unsupported downgrade'.
Option 3: Load BIOS Defaults
It just restarts the system again and I get stuck at the Dell logo.
VictorSky99
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
10 Posts
1
December 9th, 2023 23:03
Do not panic, the laptop is OK, and the hardware is fine! Just the SSD is unbootable/damaged.
I have had the same problem after I used Aomei Partition Expert. The laptop is OK, this is important, just the security keys that the BIOS keeps do not comply with the SSD keys, which have been changed, it seems by the partitioning program.
In my case I took the SSD out just to test if the laptop is OK, and boot into BIOS. After that I have managed to use an external SSD case to copy all my files from it and after that to zero all the content of the SSD. The problem in my case looked so bad, that I switched in the BIOS from AHCI to RAID, attached the cleaned SSD, and made a completely new Windows installation from a USB.
It works fine now, the RAID configuration makes it use Intel drivers for NVMe, which are better.
If even the the laptop does not continue the boot process, and does not allow to start BIOS with the installed SSD, then you might have to do what I was finally forced to do - completely erase/zero the 4 security keys - PK KEK db dbx These keys are in the "Secure boot". If you zero them, they will be generated to their defaults. It is an operation with lots of alarms, which made me frightened, but since the hardware is OK, there is nothing to worry about. In my case, my Dell G3 3500 has an Ethernet port and after the alarms asked for connection to the Dell Security Servers, and managed to make his new keys. Everything is fine now! :-)
(edited)
DellUpgrade
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
3 Posts
0
June 30th, 2024 09:18
In my case, I don't care about the computer. I care about the hard drive which is loaded with programs and the 2TB SSD is new. It was working fine until I downloaded/Installed
5kPlayer and VLC media player for MOV files.