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4514
XPS 8940, stuck on Dell logo in the mornings
SO tech support hung up on me when I tried to get help (Thanks Dell!!!) So I am posting this here:
This is a semi-new computer I just got, every morning/the following day when I turn on my computer it hangs at the dell motherboard splash screen. I have to turn it on and off 2-3 times, and sometimes when I go into the F12 boot menu, and select any option, the screen is black. The blue bar loads in full, and then it just freezes. I waited a full hour for it to do anything, and it's stuck. It's past the 30 day warranty so idk if I can even return it.
I was eventually able to run a hardware and pre-boot test and everything came back clean. Immediately after this I was able to log into windows. I unplugged all USBs/Monitors on startup (even the monitors), and that isn't what is causing the issue. I also reset windows and reinstalled it while keeping my files and the problem persists. I also turned off fast start up, and I rolled back the BIOS. I also did a Dell Hardware scan as well. I installed all of the recent drives. Everything. No scans have given me an error at all.
The funny thing is, after I'm able to log into windows after my 2-3 attempts at powering off and on, it works fine. I can shut it off, and when I turn it on it boots like normal. Same if I reset it. The problem returns if I turn it off overnight and turn it on the next day. No matter what i do the problem keeps happening. It's definitely not Window's fault, or else the reset would've fixed things.
Not sure where to go from here, every morning I find myself repeating this same process of having to turn my computer on and off again. Can't roll back to anything since I just reinstalled windows.
Any advice on what to do would be helpful. I think my computer that was sent to me has some faulty hardware.
System Info: Dell XPS 8940
Saturn_Star12
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August 18th, 2021 08:00
Hello all! Wanted to update on this issue since someone on reddit helped me.
I disabled the unused SATA drives since they were all checked to boot in the F12 BIOS settings (SATA 1 and 2 were "none") and now it boots up perfectly.
Don't know what happened but I'm assuming this is how it's supposed to be configured in the first place. This way it just narrows the drives down to boot between the SATA 0 and the SSD m.2 drive I have!
Vic384
4 Operator
4 Operator
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3.2K Posts
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August 6th, 2021 15:00
@Saturn_Star12 Try turning off Fast Startup.
Go to All settings / Power & sleep / click on the 'Additional power settings' link / click on 'Choose what the power buttons do' / click on 'Change settings that are currently unavailable' (if necessary) / then uncheck 'Turn on fast startup' under 'Shutdown settings'.
Saturn_Star12
5 Posts
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August 6th, 2021 15:00
That did not work for me, as mentioned in my post "I also turned off fast start up, and I rolled back the BIOS." I did those two different things separately. Neither worked. both attempts had it still frozen on morning boot up.
Vic384
4 Operator
4 Operator
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3.2K Posts
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August 6th, 2021 15:00
@Saturn_Star12 Have you tried clearing the BIOS?
1. Turn the power off to the PC, and unplug the AC cord
2. Press and hold the power button for 30 sec.
3. Open the case and remove the coin-cell battery
4. Press and hold the power button for 30 sec.
5. Reinstall the coin-cell battery
6. Close the case, reconnect the AC cord
7. Reboot the PC
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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44.6K Posts
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August 6th, 2021 16:00
@Saturn_Star12 - What color is power button and is it steady or blinking when PC stalls at the splash screen? If blinking, count the blinks by color (white or amber) because that's an error code.
Is this PC booting from an SSD or a HDD?
Are you powering the monitor on a few sec before powering the PC on?
Do you use an add-in AMD or NVidia video card (which one?) or only use onboard Intel UHD Graphcis? If you have an add-in video card, make sure the monitor is connected to that card and not to either an onboard HDMI or DP Intel Graphics port. Can you try a different type video port on the add-in card, if you have one, or on the Intel UHD Graphics, if you don't have an add-in card?
Seems unlikely, but maybe the motherboard battery died or is out of its socket. But after removing the battery as @Vic384 said, carefully re-seat the video card and RAM modules in their slots.
Then reinstall the battery (maybe a fresh one) and boot PC and open BIOS setup. Check to make sure Windows Boot Manager is first boot option on the list. If you move WBM to first, be sure to save the change, but don't change anything else, when you exit setup.
See if any of that helps...
Saturn_Star12
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August 7th, 2021 11:00
Reseating the CMOS battery didn't work either. I might just try seating the video and ram and seeing what happens. But iff that doesn't work, could it be a bad motherboard?
Saturn_Star12
5 Posts
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August 7th, 2021 12:00
The power button is a solid white, no beeping and no blinks.
I am booting from my SSD drive. I use an added NVidia video card: NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1660 SUPER(TM) 6GB GDDR6 both monitors are plugged into it.
I reseated the CMOS battery and no dice, it was still stuck. The BIOS reset though, I had to reset the date and time. I have not yet tried reseating the RAM and Videocards because I have not opened up computer before and I would like to take it to someone who knows what they're doing internally with my device (CMOS battery is simple enough though)
I set Windows boot manager at the first to boot in the settings, and nothing, still a dell logo and a black screen.
If the videocard and ram seating don't work, what would be the next steps?
RoHe
10 Elder
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44.6K Posts
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August 7th, 2021 12:00
What happens if you only connect one monitor at a time and make sure it's powered on ahead of the PC? Try DP and HDMI with monitor #1 and then try with monitor #2.
Could even be a bum PSU or video card.
You should contact Dell Tech Support again since the PC is under warranty....
DELL-Jesse L
Moderator
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17.1K Posts
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August 18th, 2021 09:00
Saturn_Star12,
Thank you for updating us on the issue being resolved. Do reach out to us again if you need any further assistance.
Dell-Jesse L
CTG_8273
2 Intern
2 Intern
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513 Posts
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August 18th, 2021 17:00
You mentioned a 30 day warranty. It should have a year warranty. And for me it is always easier for me to use the support chat I can understand them and they can understand me. Maybe they did not hang up on purpose. Sometimes maybe their phone get's disconnected because they use IP based phones. Also even on the support chat sometimes it disconnects.
RoHe
10 Elder
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44.6K Posts
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August 18th, 2021 17:00
Thirty days is the time limit on hardware returns, counted from the invoice date, not from the delivery date, when purchase directly from Dell, and returns may be subject to a restocking fee.
Thirty days is typically also the time limit on free software support.
The Basic hardware warranty is for 1 year, counted from the invoice date, not from the delivery date, when purchase directly from Dell.