Dell M6600 Precision mobile Workstation: Will not boot past bios splash screen. Dual booting

Operating Systems & Open Source
1

I own the laptop mentioned in the title. It's more like a mobile workstation in that it has a discrete GPU for professional uses and two hard drive slots. I had setup Linux and Windows to boot off of separate drives using the two separate hard drive Bays.

After installing Linux then installing Windows, I could choose between the two in the UEFI boot options. Linux is using GRUB2 and of course Windows is using its boot manager.

I did use UEFI to install both operating systems. However I wanted GRUB to show the Windows bootloader so that I wouldn't have to press a key whenever the system booted up, and I could just immediately select Windows with the arrow keys.

I added a custom GRUB entry for Windows, but that didn't end up working and after remaking the config file for GRUB I could not boot into Linux anymore so I booted into Windows and then used a program called EasyUEFI to modify the UEFI options to add GRUB.

After I did that, I could not boot into windows. This meant I couldn't boot into either OS.

So I booted from an Arch ISO and arch-chrooted into the OS. And I remade the grub config again after removing the Windows boot entry.

After rebooting once I had done that, the system would get past the BIOS splash screen but it would just go to a black screen with no blinking cursor. I waited about 15 minutes and after nothing happened, I hard reset it and tried to enter the bios. Once I'd hard reset it, the system will no longer get past the BIOS splash screen.

It acknowledges my key press. It says "Entering BIOS" when I hit F2. But once the bar loads, nothing happens.

I've completely removed all power sources including the BIOS battery for over 6 hours and let the laptop sit in the BIOS splash screen for over 8 hours, but neither solved the problem.

Is there anything else I can try? I've tried booting with all drives removed but that didn't help either.

This is an exceptional laptop with awesome hardware. Please don't tell me there's no reasonable way to reset the BIOS\NVRAM.

I had heard that there is a jumper on the Dell system boards that will reset the NVRAM if you boot the board with the jumper set, but the system board is incredibly hard to get to in this laptop, so I need to be sure that the jumper is even there before I try to disassemble the whole thing.

"What is the NVRAM?"

It's the RAM that holds the UEFI settings along with other important info that needs to survive power loss. NVRAM stands for non-volatile RAM.

2

Did you try a memory dance to see if there is a bad dimm preventing a proper post.(there might be memory under the keyboard depending on your setup). Also you can try holding the Fn key and the power button together. That is supposed to force the unit into the onboard diagnostics. If it runs the diags, it should let you know whats failing. I have replaced many motherboards in these mobile Precision units for similar and other issues. They are super powerful machines, but they don't seem to manage the heat well, especially as they age.

1 Like
3

That gives me such hope. :smiley:

Yes. I have two 8GB dimms and none in the two under the keyboard. Tried swapping them in Module A slot. Now that I think about it, I should've tried it in B as well.

Hmm, turning it on from a complete off state by pressing and holding Fn with the power button does trigger the Diagnostic Boot, but it still locks up and nothing happens.

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To clarify, that's where it locks up no matter what I've done. Press F9 to get to the BIOS, F10 to get to the One-Time Boot Menu, wtv I try it just locks up after the bar loads. As you can see, it recognized the key presses (Diagnostic Boot is shown in the top right corner).

4

The last thing you can try is remove the main battery and the cmos battery, and only one memory module. You might have to unplug the power button also. The plug is under hte keyboard on the right side I believe. Then connect the A/c adapter. That is supposed to activate Dell ' self heal .' the unit should power on and off a few times on its own resetting the bios setting to default and then post. Your unit may be too old and it rarely works, but you never know.

I would start hunting down a donor machine from ebay. Maybe one with a broken screen or something. Replacement motherboard is $180 from parts-people.com. Sorry I don't have better answers for you. Maybe there is a Dell Engineer on the forums that can help.

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So I tried that. It didn't reboot more than once. So I presume it doesn't have that feature. I did the following:

  • Removed main battery.
  • Only had 1 DIMM in Memory Module slot A.
  • Unplugged CMOS battery.
  • Unplugged power button.
  • Plugged in A/C power adapter.

I guess next I'll contact Dell support. I doubt they'll be able to tell me much, but I figure it's worth trying if they know of another way.

Replacing the system board means disassembling the entire thing. I was hoping to not do that, but I guess we'll see. I may make other upgrades along the way then. 32GB would be dope.

I wonder if I can get the touch screen display working on this one.

6

If you decide to replace the motherboard, its not too bad on those machines. Good luck with it.

1 Like
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I probably will. Thanks for the help. I've found a board on Ebay that comes with the i7 CPU as well for pretty cheap.

The manual is very detailed on how to dis/re-assemble. I'm sure I'll be fine, but that stuff feels tedious to me.

8

has anyone solved this problem without installing mew motherboard? :frowning:

10

If you’re looking to ask about this please make a new thread rather than necroing old ones. Please see server rules about this, thank you.

11

I did not, unfortunately.