Installing Win 8.1 fails in UEFI mode.....

[Compman55]

On my dell latitude E6410 I installed 8.1 x64 in Legacy mode and it works fine. If I switch to UEFI, it will install, reboot then go to a blank screen after post. It will NOT do anything after that.

Any ideas?

 

[Bubbaleone]

You'll probably need to disable the secure boot feature in UEFI/BIOS first, then save and exit. When the computer restarts, access the boot menu screen and select to boot your installation media in UEFI mode. At the Windows setup screen press Shift + F10 to open a command prompt, and then run these commands:

diskpart (starts the utility)
list disk (numbered list of disks and their capacities)
select disk # (where # is the number of the desired disk)
clean all (wipes every sector)
exit (closes the utility)

Close the command prompt and continue the installation. When you select the raw drive the Windows installer will automatically create the GPT, partitions, and perform an NTFS format prior to copying any files.

.

 

[vailr]

I could be wrong, but I'm unaware of any laptops (or at least: any but the very latest Intel Ivy Bridge or Haswell chipset machines) that can support UEFI mode for Windows. The motherboard bios needs to include special UEFI support for both the hard drive controller and for the video display.
If the video display is using the onboard CPU Intel GPU, there needs to be "UEFI GOP video firmware" included inside the motherboard bios. Check with Dell for a possible bios update.
If a separate AMD or nVidia video is present (?) then there would also be a video card bios firmware that would need to include "UEFI GOP video firmware". That firmware may also be flash up-datable.
An easier-to-accomplish speed increase would be: via replacing the spinning hard drive with an SSD.

 

[Berryracer]

You'll probably need to disable the secure boot feature in UEFI/BIOS first, then save and exit. When the computer restarts, access the boot menu screen and select to boot your installation media in UEFI mode. At the Windows setup screen press Shift + F10 to open a command prompt, and then run these commands:

diskpart (starts the utility)
list disk (numbered list of disks and their capacities)
select disk # (where # is the number of the desired disk)
clean all (wipes every sector)
exit (closes the utility)

Close the command prompt and continue the installation. When you select the raw drive the Windows installer will automatically create the GPT, partitions, and perform an NTFS format prior to copying any files.

.

I thought the command was wipe not wipe all

 

[Berryracer]

I could be wrong, but I'm unaware of any laptops (or at least: any but the very latest Intel Ivy Bridge or Haswell chipset machines) that can support UEFI mode for Windows. The motherboard bios needs to include special UEFI support for both the hard drive controller and for the video display.
If the video display is using the onboard CPU Intel GPU, there needs to be "UEFI GOP video firmware" included inside the motherboard bios. Check with Dell for a possible bios update.
If a separate AMD or nVidia video is present (?) then there would also be a video card bios firmware that would need to include "UEFI GOP video firmware". That firmware may also be flash up-datable.
An easier-to-accomplish speed increase would be: via replacing the spinning hard drive with an SSD.

my laptop has UEFI boot

 

[Bubbaleone]

I thought the command was wipe not wipe all

>diskpart

>clean

Wipes only the first and last MB of the volume. Can potentially create problems with a new installation when hidden boot data from a previous install, or attempted install, doesn't get wiped.
--------------------

>clean all

Wipes every sector on the disk and leaves it in raw state. This can take considerably longer to complete, but ensures there will no problems. If you continue to encounter Windows partitioning or installation problems after running the "clean" command; run "clean all".

.

 

[Compman55]

Laptop supports UEFI and also legacy, but it does NOT have secure boot.

I can press F12 boot menu and select windows boot manager and it will boot up.

It will not restart on its own, unless the f12 is pressed every time and windows boot is selected.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Have you previously configured the BIOS to operate only in UEFI mode? I believe Dell has settings for only UEFI, only legacy, or auto, and you may need to select only UEFI. If you wouldn't mind, describe the selections available when you access the boot menu screen. If there isn't a UEFI boot option for either your USB flash drive or your optical drive when media is present, then it may be the BIOS isn't properly configured to enable UEFI. However, it may also be that the E6410 just doesn't give you a UEFI boot option via the boot menu screen. In which case, booting Windows installation media in UEFI mode would be totally dependent upon whether or not the BIOS is correctly configured.

I'd also highly recommend that you check your current BIOS revision as the A09 and A10 (latest version) both contain enhancements that improve hardware and firmware support for both Intel and Windows. You can get it here: Drivers & Downloads for Latitude E6410.

.

 

[Berryracer]

>diskpart

>clean

Wipes only the first and last MB of the volume. Can potentially create problems with a new installation when hidden boot data from a previous install, or attempted install, doesn't get wiped.
--------------------

>clean all

Wipes every sector on the disk and leaves it in raw state. This can take considerably longer to complete, but ensures there will no problems. If you continue to encounter Windows partitioning or installation problems after running the "clean" command; run "clean all".

.

thanks man, I learn something new everyday!

 

[Compman55]

A09 has a newer date than the A10 so there must be a typo.

I have A15 installed, which can be downloaded if you goto previous versions.

There is only LEGACY, and UEFI, nothing else.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Is A15 a typo?..because Dell only lists these BIOS versions for the E6410:

A10 10/3/2011
A09 6/2/2011
A07 3/9/2011
A06 12/2/2010
A05 8/29/2010
A04 7/20/2010
A03 6/1/2010
A01 4/1/2010

If you meant to type A05 then you definintely should update to the A10 version. Get that done and then you'll be able to see if the fixes and enhancements add any additional support for UEFI booting. Just out of curiosity, why do you want to install Windows in UEFI mode? Unless you plan on installing Windows to a HDD or RAID array that's 2.2TB or larger, and need UEFI/GPT to make it bootable or you want to create more than four primary partitions per drive, there's no tangible advantages or performance increases over a conventional BIOS/MBR (legacy) setup for typical computer use.

.

 

[Compman55]

A15 is not a typo, its just hard to find on their website. You have to dig for it.

I thought all new PC;s using 8.1 used UEFI and that there were quite a few advantages.

 

[Compman55]

Found it:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/driverdetails?driverid=6RYPX

 

[Bubbaleone]

I just quickly did a random check of the "Fixes & Enhancements" category for A09 through A15. You really should go through and thoroughly read those descriptions because, in typical Dell fashion, there are several warnings that the fixes and enhancements in one update aren't neccessarily available unless a previous update or patch is applied first. In the years I've worked with Dell computers I've found that updating to the latest BIOS is best achieved by simply flashing every individual BIOS update newer than the computer's original BIOS version, in the order they were released.

.

 

[Bubbaleone]

A09 has a newer date than the A10 so there must be a typo.

I have A15 installed, which can be downloaded if you goto previous versions.

There is only LEGACY, and UEFI, nothing else.

This is from the manual:

Press <F12> when the Dell logo appears to initiate a one-time boot menu with a list of the valid boot devices for the computer. Diagnostics and Enter Setup
options are also included in this menu. The devices listed on the boot menu depend on the bootable devices installed in the computer. This menu is useful
when you are attempting to boot to a particular device or to bring up the diagnostics for the computer. Using the boot menu does not make any changes to
the boot order stored in the BIOS.

So this must mean that when you're looking at the boot menu screen, don't see any bootable devices listed as being UEFI, but UEFI has been enabled in the BIOS settings, all bootable devices which are UEFI capable will boot in UEFI mode by default...?

When you installed 8.1 and got to the section where you selected the drive it would be installed on, did you verify that three GPT partitions were created prior to file copying, rather than the two partitions created prior to file copying when Windows 7/8/8.1 are installed on MBR disks? You can also verify if the disk is GPT by opening an elevated command prompt and running diskpart with the list disk command. Diskpart will specify that the disk is GPT.

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[nizedk]

Hi

I had the same experience on an 6510. For me, it was because 'POST behaviour' was set to 'Minimal' and not 'Auto'. This was done to speed up boot.

However, UEFI boot needs a 'OS Boot Flag' that is only set in 'Auto' mode.

After that, it works.

You can check that this is the case, if you press F12, and then manually select your 'Windows Boot Manager' under UEFI boot options. If it boots (which mine did) then everything UEFI is working fine, however the actual 'boot kickoff' from Dell BIOS to UEFI boot is not complete lacking the boot flag.

Regards,
Martin

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Hmm, I've always just applied the latest bios update on dell PCs and that has always worked fine for me...

I just quickly did a random check of the "Fixes & Enhancements" category for A09 through A15. You really should go through and thoroughly read those descriptions because, in typical Dell fashion, there are several warnings that the fixes and enhancements in one update aren't neccessarily available unless a previous update or patch is applied first. In the years I've worked with Dell computers I've found that updating to the latest BIOS is best achieved by simply flashing every individual BIOS update newer than the computer's original BIOS version, in the order they were released.

.