A while back, this Win 11 Dell Desktop required a new SATA drive, replaced, on the install I "deleted" the Dell partition. Now upon boot the Dell log screen does not appear, just a black screen to Windows log on. Is the Dell partition required to finish the update of the BIOS. Also trying to guess guess, time to press F2 missing. Repeated reboot and pressing F2 tin Win log on, fails to enter BIOS. Thus perhaps Dell BIOS cannot finish the install, upon reboot?
In my experience if a BIOS update was incomplete it would just fail to boot. On most PCs the POST screen can either display or hidden (black screen) but you should still be able to enter the BIOS. Does your keyboard have function keys? Maybe try fn + f2?
@Rico The BIOS and the logon screen, as well as entering the BIOS, have nothing to do with any hard drive. The only thing, if you changed the HDD with another HDD, nothing changes at all, if you changed the HDD with an SSD, you need to change SATA mode to AHCI in BIOS before reinstalling Windows on new drive. But maybe You want to tell what Dell it is, ie version, release date, motherboard, BIOS version etc, ie as much as you know.
Dell Desktop mod 8930, i7 8th gen, 16g mem + 16 g intel optane mem. 2T hdd Good to know, so for me it' s blindly pick the correct time to press F2 to boot to bios? F2 several times repeated F2 strokes beginning at begin windows log out, thll win log in page. So that factory partition is just for recovery purposes & displaying mfg name? BIOS & optane problems.
You can try to do a ClearCmos (with a jumper or switch out the "pile" CRC32 on the motherboard for about 30 seconds. you should automatically entering bios and set to your needs. i 've experienced that on a Desktop computer (fast boot function didn't let me enter to the bios cause had no time to press F2 (time to short).
@Rico - Try F12 and see if you get a one-time boot menu. Press F12 repeatedly when booting, or press F12 after the Dell logo displays on the screen.
Rico, You can get into the UEFI BIOS from Windows. F2 or Del isn't needed. Use this from an Admin Command Prompt... Code: shutdown /r /fw /t 0
Thanks! CRC32 - sure to cause smoke if i do it F12 tried. In the olden days. Beeps on boot, & someone close enough to hear? F2? That command sir is going into the vault! Arriving at BIOS, the anything, in particular, to look for, regarding "Optane Memory"? At the BIOS is there a protection feature of the BIOS, preventing BIOS updating? This BIOS always stays the same ver. regardless of where obtained & installed by who. Windows & DEll fail to update, also a free driver update. They all say success upon install but after the boot old bios.
@Rico Thanks for data, but now I recommend... If everything was OK before the hard drive replacement and the computer started as should, then try to remove all cables and other devices that are connected to this computer. Also, remove the hard drive you just installed again, but if you have more hard drives, it is recommended to remove them as well. Next, remove and then immediately put back all RAMs and also check that all cables and other blocks are correctly in their slots. You can remove them one at a time and put them back to make sure the connections are there. You can also temporarily remove the CHMOS/BIOS battery. It's worth checking that it's still working, although even without this battery any computer should boot, it's just the settings are reset and the clock is wrong. Checking goes with mesuring voltage on it when it is on it's place in computer, the voltage must be more than 3.2 Volts. If it is less, the battery should be replaced. On all Dell computers, you need to hold down the F2 key to go directly to the BIOS (you don't need to press it several times, but you can). In some cases, the F keys are normally used together with the Fn key, but it is still not necessary to press and hold the Fn key to enter the BIOS. You can also go into the BIOS by opening the BIOS menu and this case you can do this by pressing the F12 key. Then select BIOS settings from the menu that opens. NB! On some newer computers, F2 does not always work and you need to use the F12 key. Now when the BIOS opens I suggest you go over all the settings and if you don't know what something does then don't change anything, if you need to you can look for Factory Reset, you can always do that. Before exiting the BIOS, you must also save the changes you made. For that, there is a note on how to do it, but if I remember correctly, it's F10 for that and Exit for exit. In the oil case, you will always be warned if the changes have not been saved. Now that the computer starts up, and you have reviewed the settings and corrected them if necessary, you can turn off the computer and put the hard drive in its place. Initially, put only the disk with the OS. You will add others later if everything is OK.
Thank You! Very nice reply. I vote your post becomes a 'sticky' Reset hardware normally January cleaning check. But since a move occurred, perhaps early preventive maint. BIOS - With the removal of the 'Dell Partition' at Hdd replacement, I could not see Dell Logo screen just Black screen at no time during repetitive F2 and F12 strokes throughout Boot process, resulted in NO BIOS screen Prior to partition removal it worked fine, & perused checked, saved, etc in the BIOS: 1. The damn thing should update and... 2. See why I cannot 'enable' optane memory <previously worked> now optane equipped specs not met, msg. so optane won't ENABLE peruse BIOS look for anything pertaining to optane, and enable where needed. Test. Should the test fail perhaps optane mem fail. If optane hardware fail cost vs replace.
Rico, I'm confused. Is Windows working normally? I think it is. Did you initiate a Dell BIOS update? Which method? I recall there are two Dell partitions. Maybe three. A Recovery Environment partition and an Image/restore partition. Maybe a Support partition. How did you delete the partition? Which partition? What was the problem? Hardware or software? Did you do a fresh Win11 install to the new SATA drive? Did you restore an image to the new SATA drive? In the BIOS, have you disabled Fast Boot? Is there a setting to Hide/Show the Dell logo screen?
sorry for the confusion. Yes! Windows works fine; it has a slow boot & I found, 'IntelRapidStorage' dashboard, indicating Optane ready, but not running. The <enable> button for Optane was greyed & non-responsive. 2 possibilities to explore change in bios settings or <most likely Optane mem fail>, as of 2023 Optane worked, slow boot, etc. I believe the full format > win allowed partition choice, to install. I may have a post here regarding planned at that time removal. Faulty mem here
I'm not sure what to do to 'enable' optane previously worked, sata HDD failed, replaced with same brand and size HDD, The only thing changed was HDD, clean format used Macrium to restore. Note: red x expanded says, "diskdrive alias not found" Tried Crystal drive checker no SSD seen
Just an Idea thrown out: I complained about not being able to finish "bios" update. No errors on install, and "installed successfully" appears, then reboot. And the update does not happen. OLD VERSION REMAINS This machine uses optane memory & SSD from Samsung, I believe the SSD may be dead or no longer recognizable therefore if part of the BIOS update relies on SSD. Then the update would, install ok, but not finish updating? Thanks for the thoughts
