Question

Dell Dimention E521 does not boot past BIOS

Asked by: Thomanji

I got several Dell computers. it is now 13 months past mt support agreement and of course I have a issue that is not supported since I am 1 months over. What happens is the following:

I switch on the computer and it goes direct to the Dell start screen and shows BIOS Revision 1.1.8 withe a loading bar underneath. This bar goes half way and then get stuck. The computer does not do anything from there. It shown me the F2 and F12 options but the Keyboard does not respond to it. I did let it stand over night and nothing happened, the next day it was at the same screen.

I also tried to boot from CD or USB stuck but it does not even get to this. I did unplug any USB or other cable and in the end only have power and monitor plugged in but still the same. I did than look inside and checked that there is no loose connection but still the same. See the attached JPG on what I see on the screen. I am out of troubleshoot options and would be very happy for any advice or ideas what this could be and how best to resolve the issue. I am also very suspicious that this happens a few weeks after the service agreement is over, thats almost a bit fishy to me.

Thank you for reading and considering to assist me on resolving this.

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Asked On
2009-01-10 at 02:09:03ID24040640
Tags

Dell Dimention E521 BIOS

Topics

General Computer Systems

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Embedded Hardware

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Hardware Components

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Answers

 

by: shangardeziPosted on 2009-01-10 at 03:16:54ID: 23343170

I had this problem a while back. I recommend you try to format your Hard Drive With a Windows CD , but as you said that doesnt seem to work. What i HAD to do is change my hard drive with a new one and i had to get a new mother board. I would go for the hard drive first!

Regards ,
Shan

 

by: drdave35Posted on 2009-01-10 at 08:23:27ID: 23344186

Thom,

It sounds as if you need to re-flash the BIOS. It's possible it's corrupted.

Before you spend money on new hardware, go to Dell Support, enter your express service code, and download the BIOS flash file.  Since you have many PC's, then you should hopefully have alternative access to the internet.

Here is the link to Dell's support page for your machine. Download the BIOS, run the file to create a bootable floppy.  Insert the floppy with your machine OFF, turn the machine on and pray for the best.

If your BIOS was not set to boot from a floppy, then you may have problems here and should replace the motherboard.

Also, I'd change the CMOS battery on the motherboard, just for good practices.

If the flash works, then you should be good to go.  If not, then I'd recommend removing the memory one stick at a time, re-seat them, then check ALL installed PCI or AGP cards, pull them (carefully!) and re-seat them.  

Good Luck and please let me know if this works for you.

David

 

by: andrew_aj1Posted on 2009-01-10 at 09:16:21ID: 23344365

What I would do first is remove any extra hardware from the comptuer such as all usb devices, any expansion cards you have, disconnect the hard drives(data and power), and all but one stick of ram. . After that boot the system and see what happens. If it is the same thing swap the ram in the system with one of the sticks you pulled out. If it still is not working I would say you have a motherboard issue. Let us know the results of this and we can help you more.

Good luck.

 

by: x86fixPosted on 2009-01-10 at 19:36:31ID: 23346645

Simply erase the bios.  Turn the computer off and unplug .  Remove the bios battery from the motherboard and wait a couple minutes.  Insert the battery and plug it back in - start it and it should fire up.

 

by: ridPosted on 2009-01-13 at 12:14:25ID: 23366768

Flashing the BIOS is a very last resort and they VERY seldom get corrupted. The CMOS is another matter and a reset is a good idea.

Before going to these actions, you might want to try with ALL internal and external drives disconnected, just mobo, graphics and a keyboard. Can you get into BIOS setup now? If yes, proceed by adding components one after the other and see which one causes the halt.
/RID

 

by: ThomanjiPosted on 2009-01-22 at 04:00:54ID: 23438487

Hi,
Sorry for the delay for my response. I had a little vacation and are not tackling this again.
It was good to remove the Battery and it actually gets further but than asks me to press F2 to adjust the settings. I did and select system defaults and when it restarts I get the same issue. Tomorrow I will try to upgrade the bios to the 1.1.11 latest version, lets see if this works. the issue is Dell seems to have only a windows bases bios update tool and it does only boot in save mode and in save mode it does not let me execute this bios update. I will try a bit m,ore and get back with my findings. However these responses were very helpful.

Best wishes,
thom

 

by: ridPosted on 2009-01-22 at 06:53:18ID: 23439778

Don't do it. Don't attempt a BIOS flash (upgrade) on an unstable machine. There is a definite risk you'll end up with a paperweight, and the resolution to your problem is in all probability NOT a BIOS update anyway.

Have you tried getting intpo BIOS setup after removing the hard drive and the optical unit? Try. If it works, re-attach them one after the other, see that the BIOS can detect them properly (power down in between...). If either of the units cause a hang, or isn't recognised, you have a problem with that unit.
/RID

 

by: ThomanjiPosted on 2009-01-27 at 04:08:24ID: 23475516

Hi,

OK I have managed to get it back. I did not update the Bios but used the battery removal to flash the CMOS. After this the system did go past the screen I was stuck at but did not start window, it had some disk failure. However I was able to go into the BIOS and change the boot sequence to allow a boot from CD and did go ahead and reinstalled the system.

I thank you for the assistance on this.

Best wishes,
Thom

 

by: ThomanjiPosted on 2009-01-27 at 04:11:52ID: 31533099

Thank you for the help

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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