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Question

W10 - Won't Boot - HDD Problem? - Dell Inspiron 7000 S. 7559

May 6, 2017 12:44PM PDT

Hi there, thanks in advance for your attention, first things first, my specs:


Dell Inspiron 7000 Series 7559
Windows 10 x64
Intel i7 6700HQ (2,6GHz)
Hybrid HDD Seagate 1TB (8gb Flash) 5400rpm
8GB RAM Single Channel DDR3 1600MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB GDDR5

It's an (almost) new laptop, bought it on november/2016.

So, my problem starts like this - The day before yesterday I used my laptop normally, as I usually do, played some games, watched some youtube videos, nothing out if the ordinary, turned it off as usual (start - turn off), it turned off normally, no abnormalities.

The next day I turned it on and to my surprise, the system could not boot up, it went right into Dell's SupportAssist, as follows:

http://i.imgur.com/WFWYIYx.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/NvuFtmX.jpg

I figured the system was not being able to find the correct files to boot up, so I thought "Maybe the boot files got corrupt or maybe some kind of bad contact on the cables or something", so I went to the simpler step and unplugged the laptop, opened the easy-access lid (no, I didn't loose my warranty, checked with Dell by e-mail if I could open it up and take HDD and RAM out back when I bought it, for cleaning and replacing reasons, they said it's ok) and just took out the RAM and the HDD for a few seconds and inserted them back in. The internal parts were perfeclty clean, no signs of anything that could be disrupting the connections.

So I turned it on again, and to my surprise, I got this:

http://i.imgur.com/7PjiRUY.jpg

Shooting in the dark, I changed the BIOS boot mode from UEFI to Legacy and got this:

http://i.imgur.com/zfY2AGM.jpg

Changing it back to UEFI got me this:

http://i.imgur.com/lCCQNOG.jpg

After the previous image, I restarted and went into One Time Boot Screen > Diagnostics and the Dell Tool gave me this:

http://i.imgur.com/m6ool9q.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/NZiCpTA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0NjLgTw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TUrteET.jpg

So I googled it and found this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2108602/hard-drive-failure.html

Which led me here:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/disk-drives/f/3534/t/19420497/

I got a little desperate, facing the "your hdd is fried" situation, and figures I could simply test it for sure trying to access it from the command line, so I hooked up a W10x64 Bootable USB, opened up the cmd and could perfectly access my files, as you can see here:

http://i.imgur.com/1eOwtGs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jBBSFd6.jpg

So I thought "Well, since I'm here, lets run a nice chkdsk, and see if it gets me anywhere", so I ran "chdsk c: /r /x", and it did fix something, although I could not figure out what:

http://i.imgur.com/G23Mxw4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S5cNPLn.jpg

I rebooted the laptop and it worked, it booted up perfeclty:

http://i.imgur.com/469OSNh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ultqwdK.jpg

After this I thought "Ok, problem solved, lets play some Diablo II", after some 2 hours of demon smashing, I was about to go to sleep, but I thought, "what if...", so I turned the laptop off completely and turned it back on, and to my surprise, it could not boot again, and went directly into Dell's SupportAssist, as it did before:

http://i.imgur.com/yCOEa8z.jpg

After all this, I tried to consult the error code directly on the Dell website - what I guess was one of the first things I should have tried, but since I found that dell community thread, I figured it was no use, but, what the hell, let's do it - the only information it gave me was:

http://i.imgur.com/t8SFKjW.jpg

Since it's in portuguese, it reads:
__________________________________________________________
SupportAssist pre-boot sistem performance verification

Inspiron 15 7000 Series 7559 !!! Needs Attention
Service Tag: ************* Error code: 151
Warranty: Basic Description:

Recommended action.
Replace hard drive.

The diagnostics point that you may be facing problems with the hard drive.

- Update BIOS.
- Turn off the computer and replug the units/cables/conections of the hard drive. Consult the service manual to obtain instructions.
- Restart the computer and execute the PSA diagnostics again.

In case you can't resolve this problem, contact technical support from Dell for further assistance.
__________________________________________________________

After this, I tried to update the BIOS by flashing it through the One Time Boot Screen from a USB drive, it successfully updated from 1.2.0 to 1.2.2, but with no results it all comes down as the same: fails to boot and enters directly into Dell's SupportAssist.

At this point I pretty much gave up, thinking I'll probably have to replace my hard drive, although if I redo the "chkdsk /r /x" step it will probably work for once again, cause I can perfectly access the drive, as I have mentioned before. So I decided to look for some help.

Since today is saturday and Dell will only be albe to help me during the next business day - which would be Monday, I'm here guys, please help me ^^

BIOS Configuration:

http://i.imgur.com/xtJb1mL.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/9t3RtAo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Fdyvaqm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/EgJxJKT.jpg

Thanks again everyone! ^^

P.S.: The BIOS configuration pictures were taken when the BIOS was still in the 1.2.0 version, but since every single thing remained the same, with the same options selected after the update I didn't feel like taking new pictures.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: replace hard drive
May 8, 2017 2:35PM PDT

You message was first refused because of the many links or some other reason, but now restored. Since it's Monday already, I think it's best to follow the suggestion from the SupportAssist to contact Dell support.

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Answer
Step 1. SAVE YOUR FILES.
May 8, 2017 2:45PM PDT

Step 2. SAVE YOUR FILES AGAIN (backup backup!)

Step 3. Try Windows 10 repair options like Refresh.

-> Be sure to unplug all USB things and try the boot again.

Final step. Wipe drive, restore the machine to factory condition (Dell tells how!) and restore your files.

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Answer
Help
Oct 26, 2017 1:57PM PDT

Hello! I'm having the same problem! How did you fix it?
please help!

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Re: help
Oct 26, 2017 2:26PM PDT

Rereading the post of the OP, he had a hardware problem with his hard disk while still inside the 1 year warranty (the laptop was 6 months old or so). So I assume he solved it by having the disk replaced for free.

If I were you, and you have the same problem, I'd do the same.

Post was last edited on October 26, 2017 2:46 PM PDT