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Dell laptop, occasional boot problem – Hardware, Bios or OS problem?
My laptop, system one listed in “My Computers” Running Win 10 pro version 2004 (OS build 19041.685). Has an inconsistent occasional boot problem and looking for someone that might be able to guide me where to look that I haven’t already.
Things noticed when problem occurs, when power button pressed.
1. Power indicator comes on, DVD drive indicator blips few times, screen lightens slightly (back light maybe?)
2. Hard drive indicator blips couple times then goes solid on.
3. Dell logo screen with sliding progress bar and F key#’s to enter setup or boot menu, never comes up.
4. Have left it in this state for as much as 5 min. and noting else happens, drive indicator stays solid whole time and screen indicator doesn’t light up.
5. Press power button momentarily and release, both power and drive indicators go off.
* This process may repeat 2 – 5 times before normal boot occurs and might not happen for several days, but sometimes the next start.
With a normal boot, bellow is process when power button pressed.
1. Power indicator comes on, DVD drive indicator blips few times, screen lightens slightly (back light maybe?)
2. Hard drive indicator blips few times before Dell logo screen, then on going blips as boot process continues.
3. Dell logo screen with sliding progress bar and F key#’s comes up and bar fills (blue) before disappearing.
4. Windows screen with rotating dots comes up, screen indicator lights up and progress continues to the desktop.
As you can see #1 is same in both, #2 only varies in drive indicator activity, #3&4 never occurs when boot fails.
Understanding hardware better than software, below are few things I’ve already tried.
• Re-seated DVD drive, solid state drive and memory boards.
• Replace cmos battery.
• Updated bios from dell site.
• Updated Intel chip-set from Intel site.
• Ran multiple chkdsk /f and sfc /scannow, with no problems found with either.
• Ran Dell systems and hardware test program, all check good.
• Win 10 fast boot selected OFF.
• Checked most component connections.
Last edited by Struggling10; 22 Mar 2021 at 13:48.