bookie32 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Hi guys! Have a customer Dell Inspiron 7720. The customer had problems with startup.... I tried to get into the bios and that was a no go...F2 has always worked with Dell computers but nada.... I removed the hard drive to see if I had access....nada just wouldn't go into bios mode... I put a new drive and a Windows 10 USB and the USB loaded and partitioned the harddrive as in UEFI mode...have efi partition etc... When in Windows 10 I have turned off fast boot and restarted the computer in advanced mode but no UEFI firmware settings available... I have checked the usual msinfo32 and it states bios mode set to UEFI... I have checked bcdedit and it also shows UEFI.... Where do I go from here...? I have a computer that is now working fine and I have backed up the customer's files from the old drive that actually had many damaged sectors so a good reason for the new SSD drive.... I would like to understand why I can't get into the bios even from Windows it is a no go.... I even tried creating a shortcut to force it but that doesn't work either... bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halohalo Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 It seems that users of Dell desktop computers have similar problem. using incompatible graphics card from different Dell PC http://nice.kaze.com/inspiron_3250.html unknown reason https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron-Desktops/Inspiron-530s-BIOS-setup-F2-fails-to-load/td-p/6184376 I guess there is something wrong with the BIOS used by Dell Inspiron 7720. And it's weird that restarting from Windows didn't fix the issue. Off-topic, Windows 10 UEFI patch results in boot issue. https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/Suspected-KB4524244-Boot-issue-on-Inspiron-15-3576-i5/m-p/7499212 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 Hi halohalo Yes, I have noticed a lot of threads with similar problems on this model... Yes...the computer is old but works fine at the moment with the new hard drive.... I will admit I haven't tried a repair of UEFI because I don't actually think there is anything wrong with the partition...just Dell's handling of it... I haven't tried removing the cmos battery either....the customer had an old bios because most customers never need to update the bios...it is only now with Windows 10 we are seeing a steady stream of updates for the bios from most manufacturers...that it has become more common to update the bios.... This computer was not cheap...and the last bios update was from 2015....pretty poor show from Dell.... Most manufacturers have support even if the guarantee is out of date....but date want to charge extra for help..... As someone suggested the way around this is to use Macrium reflect and have another hard drive with all the settings software etc already installed and clone it to another drive to replace the one that could be faulty...Even creating a bootable Windows recovery USB is pretty pointless because the bios not allowing changes will just keep trying to start the problem drive... can't say I have ever felt powerless to help a customer before.... I just hope he doesn't experience anymore problems......that is a bit of a tall order being as this is Windows 10 we are discussing..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 From within the OS, hold shift when you click restart. You can then get an option to go into the UEFI BIOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 Hi Tarun! I have already stated that the UEFI firmware settings are not available otherwise I would have used that option... But I do thank you for coming by... On can create a shortcut which I have also tested that doesn't work...this is a Dell thingy.... bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripredacus Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 You should be able to get into the bios setup with no HDD installed. Since it is a notebook try this. Power it off. Remove the battery and unplug AC adapter. Remove HDD. Press power button. Reconnect AC adapter but leave battery out. Turn on and see if you can get into bios. It might take a few tries. Just so you are aware, a misuse of terminology happened here. It is best to point it out because it can cause confusion in certain circumstances. UEFI is a firmware type and a booting method. A disk cannot be UEFI. It can have a GPT disk type as well as an EFI boot application, which will only boot on UEFI firmware or firmware with UEFI support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 50 minutes ago, Tripredacus said: It can have a GPT disk type as well as an EFI boot application, which will only boot on UEFI firmware or firmware with UEFI support. Actually it can have a disk partitioned GPT style. At least according to the same people that call "boot" a volume that all the rest of the world calls "system" and viceversa[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/windows-setup-installing-using-the-mbr-or-gpt-partition-style Or, a partition type 0xEE in the MBR partition table is a protective partition type used only on GPT style disks. Firmware = BIOS or UEFI (or both) Disk partitioning style = MBR or GPT (but the GPT style also has a "protective" MBR) Boot = BIOS mode or UEFI mode jaclaz [1] BTW in that vocabulary volume is what most other people would call partition (and a few filesystem) and that is assigned (by the same good guys) a drive letter (BUT a volume label) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 Thanks guys for your input.. Did try several times without hard drive..but it didn't help the situation...Never had such a pig of a computer...but such is life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 There is a long thread on Dell's about this (or similar) model and these (or similar) issues, possibly depending on the actual firmware version: https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/17R-7720-SE-Lost-BIOS-Access/td-p/4081838 though as always happens there is everything and the contrary of it, the consensus seems to be that removing the HD should work. Besides taking out the hard disk, more generally (official Dell support page) F2 must be "tapped like mad as soon as you apply power" (this is not exactly what they write but it better conveys the idea ): https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-ie/sln143038/access-uefi-bios-system-setup-from-windows-on-your-dell-system?lang=en jaclaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Thanks again.... Yes....I tried that and it just didn't help how ever many times I tried....first time I have ever been defeated on a bios problem... bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erpdude8 Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 try installing a different HDD or SSD if that does not help, then I hate to say it, but the motherboard for the Inspiron 7720 needs to be replaced as it seems it now has a screwed up UEFI chip 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 15 hours ago, erpdude8 said: if that does not help, then I hate to say it, but the motherboard for the Inspiron 7720 needs to be replaced as it seems it now has a screwed up UEFI chip Not necessarily, unless the chip itself is damaged, if the issue is simply a corruption of the contents it can usually be reprogrammed "externally", either through some manufacturer provision or with a proper programming tool see - only as examples - these: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-B-and-G-Series-Notebooks/Unbricking-G580-after-BIOS-update-failure-Solved-Guide/td-p/3953208 https://www.chucknemeth.com/flash-lenovo-x230-coreboot/ Of course, if *something like* the first is available/possible on that Dell, it is easy/fast/cheap, if *something like* the second is needed, then it has to be evaluated if it is convenient in terms of time and money spemt for the tools. jaclaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarun Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Try some different key combinations for the BIOS, though F2 should do it for sure. I'd even try with a USB keyboard attached. Plus like you said, pulling the CMOS battery. https://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/BIOS_Keys#Dell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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