Dell M4500 boot issues

[sgrinavi]

I am having massive boot up issues w/my m4500. It takes at least 5 attempts to get the system to start from a cold boot (sometimes as many as 10) The system powers up and just sits there, I press the power button and it powers down after, sometimes, hearing the fans speed up. After 3-8 tries the LCD will light up and I get the Dell splash screen, the progress bar will go about half way then hangs. Once I get that half progress bar it usually starts the next attempt, but not always.

I have let it sit as long as 20 minutes thinking that the BIOS check might be too long, but it just sits there.

This is my second m4500 (dell replaced the first one) for the very same issue after swapping out the MB three times.

There are 3 drives installed + esata ( the Samsung 64 GB ssd, the stock dell 500 GB, a 640 GB WD (7200 rpm) installed in the DVD bay and a 1 TB eSATA drive for back-ups.) I have removed the drive from the DVD bay without any change.

Can anyone point me to the solution or have any ideas?

FWIW the system is a Dell M4500, i7840QM, 8 GB RAM, 64 gb dell mSATA SSD, dell 500 GB drive in the main bay, WD 640 GB drive in the DVD bay, FX 1800m Quadro video card, 1920 x 1080 back-lit display... camera, mic... etc..

 

[Lanyap]

Did the new A07 BIOS fix it?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7240571-post1560.html

 

[sgrinavi]

Did the new A07 BIOS fix it?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7240571-post1560.html

It booted OK last night after the update, but the real test seems to be after it sits for an extended period.

 

[sgrinavi]

update - I booted on the first try today... looking good

 

[Lanyap]

:thumbsup:

 

[sgrinavi]

Update....

New BIOS is way better and the symptoms are more consistent.

First press of the power button, I get nothing. I will let it sit there for a minute or so just to be certain. I have let it go as long as 5

Second press of the button, it goes to the DELL splash screen and takes a long time to get through it. Maybe a minute? Then, sometimes it boots to windows from there, other times it gets hung up right after leaving that screen. If I get by the intel RAID drivers it goes.

Third press of the button, maybe every other boot. It actually boots pretty fast, zips right by the splash screen and starts loading windows. Pretty much like a normal system, albeit a bit slower.

I'm convinced it's a BIOS / system configuration issue, maybe even a bios configuration issue. The only things I changed in the BIOS was the boot order and the time... I think.

Any suggestions?

 

[Lanyap]

Complain to Dell.
Check Dell fourms.

 

[sgrinavi]

Complain to Dell.
Check Dell fourms.

LOL, been there, done that.

It has to be the mSATA SSD and/or the drive that's installed in the CD ROM bay or some specific combination of that and the boot sequence. I'm pretty sure it's confused about the drives. I'm going to replace the stock 500 GB drive & with a 2.5" SSD & go from there.