Latitude 7490 boot up issue

There should be a setting it would be a misnomer not to allow it.

It can be several names "no gui" or "startup screen" or "boot diagnostics" or something like this Depending on what its called you would need to either turn it off or turn it on.
Boot diacnostics for example would be a case where you would turn it on which should turn of the splash screen if its named something like splash screen or gui instead then you would want to turn it off.

- - - Updated - - -

Two dell splash screens at startup definitely means bios so windows has no relevance the problem also would be before boot manager given the context you have supplied so far.

Overall hard to say but that is why you need to disable the splash screen so you can read what it says there is not many reasons why it would show two screens the only reason that comes to mind is that it restarts from a bad setting which usually means it reloads defaults and then restarts again resulting in the second splash screen.

If it was Booting OS issues then you would get stuck at system recovery or just straight up black screen with a cursor as a result but it sounds like you get into windows no problem outside of the issue.

The only thing is you mentioned you removed the battery which contradicting this logic and would clear the cmoss but that still does not mean there is not a bad setting or some other problem because it could default to something that is causing the issue.

Dalchina – thanks for the MS link referencing the Windows Boot Manager – way above my head I’m afraid …

Some further information.
The Laptop is running with a Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2. I have two other spare drives, a 970 EVO M.2 and the original Hynix M.2 SATA as supplied originally. The Samsung 970 EVO is a clone of the drive presently fitted in the laptop, made about the time the double boot issue appeared. On start up the laptop behaves just the same, i.e. two Dell splash screens. The Hynix was replaced by the 970 EVO PLUS some time ago and it has W10 installed but goes back a few weeks. On boot up the issue still remains.

SO does the above confirm that it IS a BIOS/UEFI issue ?

>>> How long does a cold boot to lock screen take? <<<
It varies, about 30 – 50 seconds. Boot has never been quick but I get the impression that lately it’s taking longer… The cpu is an i5 8350U, with 970 EVO PLUS M.2 and 16Gb of ram so I would expect it to be fairly quick – and it is once it’s running.

Malneb – I seem to remember something on the Dell forums to the effect that the Dell splash screen cannot be turned off but I’ll have another look.…

Thanks again

Yes it's always been slow and I've lived with that - the two splash screens don't seem to help!

As you say - analysing a slowish boot sequence is a 'whole other ballgame' .
Maybe, just maybe if I ever get this boot issue sorted...

- - - Updated - - -

Malneb wrote –
>>> It will be a bios issue and you mentioned updating the bios and then the issue presented<<<

(and others agreed…)

To reiterate – I initially ran Bios version 1.31.1 and updated to version 1.32.0 downloaded from Dell. About this time I started experiencing the t wo splash screen problem. I obviously can’t say for certain that it was the Bios update that caused it – it may be just coincidental… Assuming there was a problem with version 1.32.0 I downloaded a copy of version 1.31.1 from Dell (which I’d originally had) and installed but the problem remained… So whilst I tend to agree it’s a Bios problem it happens with two different versions.

Silly question maybe – if a Bios setting has become changed somehow would changing the Bios version correct it or would changing Bios maintain settings? If the latter that could explain what’s happening i.e. a setting has been changed/corrupted and remains so – irrespective of Bios version in use.

>>> Try reset the bios back to default settings as it may not like how its set. <<<
I’ve not changed any of the settings in UEFI since the Bios was updated/backdated so I’m assuming that the settings are default?

I cannot see any place in UEFI where I could disable the DELL splash screen and I have read that on certain Dell machines it’s not possible. I was going to post on the Dell official forums again but for some reason I can’t access the page today. I do get the impression it’s not very well frequented… I only got one reply to my original posting about my boot problems. I’ll try again.

>>> The only thing is you mentioned you removed the battery which contradicting this logic and would clear the cmoss but that still does not mean there is not a bad setting or some other problem because it could default to something that is causing the issue. <<<

I had the cmos battery out of circuit for a couple of minutes whilst I was testing it. I would not normally expect this to clear the cmos as surely there would be a capacitor in parallel with the battery which would maintain the cmos settings whilst the battery was being changed? However in their technical paperwork relating to this laptop Dell do say:-

Clearing CMOS settings
CAUTION Clearing CMOS settings will reset the BIOS settings on your computer.
1. Remove the base cover.
2. Disconnect the battery cable from the system board.
3. Remove the coin-cell battery.
4. Wait for one minute.
5. Replace the coin-cell battery.
6. Connect the battery cable to the system board.
7. Replace the base cover.

Is there any mileage in me taking the battery out again and leaving it for longer to see if it clears the cmos settings? As I said I have not knowingly changed anything so all the settings should already be default. Presumably I would know if the cmos had been cleared as I would need to reset the date/time? I know very little about these things and am always afraid I’ll make things worse… I’m grateful for your help.

My apologies another long post – my worst fear is that this laptop stops booting altogether – I’d be really snookered then.

Thanks for your time.

taid said:

I’ve not changed any of the settings in UEFI since the Bios was updated/backdated so I’m assuming that the settings are default?

When in the BIOS/UEFI, do you not have a Load Defaults button under Settings > General > System Information?


(My Dell Latitude E7450)

Hope this helps...

dalchina said:
>>> What's the time interval between the two splash screens? <<<
It can vary as can the time the Dell splash stays on screen, when I turned the laptop on and off a few times now the average time between the splash screens was ~2 seconds.

RickC said
>>> When in the BIOS/UEFI, do you not have a Load Defaults button under Settings > General > System Information? <<<
I don’t have a ‘load defaults’ at the bottom of that screen but I do have ‘restore settings’ - am I being an idiot and they essentially mean the same? They refer to system/memory/processor and device information which the user can’t change. Could some of it have become corrupted? I’ve read down the list and it ‘looks’ ok to me. Is it safe to click on ‘restore settings’ ?

Another interesting thing I’ve noticed.

Selecting F2 on boot up goes to the onetime boot page. At the top is the list of bootable media, there is only one option available – UEFI: Samsung SSD 970 EVO PLUS 250GB, Partition 1. If I select that and exit ONLY ONE Dell splash screen appears. Selecting Exit Boot Menu and Continue does the same. There are other options, Bios updates, diagnostics etc. The only one I have previously selected is Diagnostics which runs a hardware diagnostics and that came up ok.

Thanks again.

RickC said
>>> When in the BIOS/UEFI, do you not have a Load Defaults button under Settings > General > System Information? <<<
I don’t have a ‘load defaults’ at the bottom of that screen but I do have ‘restore settings’ am I being an idiot and they essentially mean the same? They refer to system/memory/processor and device information which the user can’t change. Could some of it have become corrupted? I’ve read down the list and it ‘looks’ ok to me. Is it safe to click on ‘restore settings’ ?

On looking at this again I see the Restore Settings box stays at the bottom of the screen no matter what I select from the menu on the left so it obviously applies to ALL the settings, not just to the one page...

dalchina said
>>> It really does tend to suggest the machine is trying to boot from a non-existent drive, then the actual system drive.
Make a note of your current UEFI settings, then try restoring them (to default).<<<

There are dozens of 'pages' so I'll maybe use my phone camera and try and make a record that way...

Thanks again