Win 10 Won't Boot

My Dell XPS 800 has been running flawlessly. After just waking it up
from SLEEP, I was using Firefox and noticed that somehow the function of
the scroll wheel had changed. Instead of it scrolling the web page
up-down, it would ZOOM the page in-out just as I would normally do with
the CTRL+/- keys. I attempted a restart and now have a new problem. The
system hangs on the screen with the Dell logo. This screen also shows
two options I have never seen befo the first is to press F2 for
Setup, the other is to press F12 for Boot Options, but nothing happens
when I press either key. In addition, in the bottom center of the screen
there appears what I will loosely call a "progress bar", as if something
or some function is supposed to take place...but nothing ever does. So
far I have attempted 3 cold starts and so far the system will not boot.
I have waited approx 10 minutes after booting with nothing happening. As
far as I know I am current with all updates and did not receive one
today. Prior to these problems, I was only doing normal web
surfing...nothing unusual.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

GrtArtiste

On 7/28/2016 8:10 PM, GrtArtiste wrote:
My Dell XPS 800 has been running flawlessly. After just waking it up
from SLEEP, I was using Firefox and noticed that somehow the function of
the scroll wheel had changed. Instead of it scrolling the web page
up-down, it would ZOOM the page in-out just as I would normally do with
the CTRL+/- keys. I attempted a restart and now have a new problem. The
system hangs on the screen with the Dell logo. This screen also shows
two options I have never seen befo the first is to press F2 for
Setup, the other is to press F12 for Boot Options, but nothing happens
when I press either key. In addition, in the bottom center of the screen
there appears what I will loosely call a "progress bar", as if something
or some function is supposed to take place...but nothing ever does. So
far I have attempted 3 cold starts and so far the system will not boot.
I have waited approx 10 minutes after booting with nothing happening. As
far as I know I am current with all updates and did not receive one
today. Prior to these problems, I was only doing normal web
surfing...nothing unusual.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

GrtArtiste

Apologies...it is a XPS 8700.

GrtArtiste wrote:
My Dell XPS 800 has been running flawlessly. After just waking it up
from SLEEP, I was using Firefox and noticed that somehow the function of
the scroll wheel had changed. Instead of it scrolling the web page
up-down, it would ZOOM the page in-out just as I would normally do with
the CTRL+/- keys. I attempted a restart and now have a new problem. The
system hangs on the screen with the Dell logo. This screen also shows
two options I have never seen befo the first is to press F2 for
Setup, the other is to press F12 for Boot Options, but nothing happens
when I press either key. In addition, in the bottom center of the screen
there appears what I will loosely call a "progress bar", as if something
or some function is supposed to take place...but nothing ever does. So
far I have attempted 3 cold starts and so far the system will not boot.
I have waited approx 10 minutes after booting with nothing happening. As
far as I know I am current with all updates and did not receive one
today. Prior to these problems, I was only doing normal web
surfing...nothing unusual.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

GrtArtiste

If it looks like it is behaving "as if the control key was pressed",
then perhaps the OS has decided the control key *is* actually depressed.

Keyboard failure, keyboard needs to be unplugged and plugged (if USB).
Or maybe completely removing power from the computer for a few minutes, then
power up again and boot.

On some OSes, you could use the on-screen keyboard, to see if
the control key is depressed. (The on-screen keyboard tiles change
color according to key-up or key-down state.) I would use
that feature on my Unix box, to figure out keyboard malfunctions.

Paul

On 7/28/2016 8:27 PM, Paul wrote:


If it looks like it is behaving "as if the control key was pressed",
then perhaps the OS has decided the control key *is* actually depressed.

Keyboard failure, keyboard needs to be unplugged and plugged (if USB).
Or maybe completely removing power from the computer for a few minutes,
then
power up again and boot.

On some OSes, you could use the on-screen keyboard, to see if
the control key is depressed. (The on-screen keyboard tiles change
color according to key-up or key-down state.) I would use
that feature on my Unix box, to figure out keyboard malfunctions.

Paul

Thank you for the suggestion. I did swap the keyboard with one from an
old Inspiron and everything seems back to normal now. Will get a
replacement tomorrow.

GrtArtiste

On Thu, 28 Jul 2016 20:27:56 -0400, Paul wrote:

GrtArtiste wrote:
My Dell XPS 800 has been running flawlessly. After just waking it up
from SLEEP, I was using Firefox and noticed that somehow the function
of the scroll wheel had changed. Instead of it scrolling the web page
up-down, it would ZOOM the page in-out just as I would normally do with
the CTRL+/- keys. I attempted a restart and now have a new problem. The
system hangs on the screen with the Dell logo. This screen also shows
two options I have never seen befo the first is to press F2 for
Setup, the other is to press F12 for Boot Options, but nothing happens
when I press either key. In addition, in the bottom center of the
screen there appears what I will loosely call a "progress bar", as if
something or some function is supposed to take place...but nothing ever
does. So far I have attempted 3 cold starts and so far the system will
not boot. I have waited approx 10 minutes after booting with nothing
happening. As far as I know I am current with all updates and did not
receive one today. Prior to these problems, I was only doing normal web
surfing...nothing unusual.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

GrtArtiste

If it looks like it is behaving "as if the control key was pressed",
then perhaps the OS has decided the control key *is* actually depressed.

Keyboard failure, keyboard needs to be unplugged and plugged (if USB).
Or maybe completely removing power from the computer for a few minutes,
then power up again and boot.

On some OSes, you could use the on-screen keyboard, to see if the
control key is depressed. (The on-screen keyboard tiles change color
according to key-up or key-down state.) I would use that feature on my
Unix box, to figure out keyboard malfunctions.


It looks more like it's something to do with the BIOS rather than the
OS. The progress bar might even be something to do with an attempt to
reflash the BIOS via the MoBo maker's (or *someones'*) servers over the
internet connection. Since the OP was "was only doing normal web
surfing...nothing unusual.", he may even have been hit by a drive by
download trojan for all anyone can guess at this stage.

I know what steps I'd be taking if I was seeing this behaviour but I'm
not going to outline them here since there are too many unknowns and the
possibilities, which will depend on test results, are too many for me to
try and cover here.

Life is short enough as it is - there's a couple of hours I won't be
getting back just because of the classic 'bad sata' connection between
the MoBo and the e-SATA backplate adapter when all I wanted to do was
squirt 82GB of files onto a 160GB Samsung Spinpoint I'd plugged into an e-
SATA connected docking station to free up some working space on one of
the two HDDs in my desktop machine late last night (actually 3am
yesterday morning which counts as 'late last night' by my normal
standards - I always aim to arise from my bed before the crack of noon,
which at this time of year is 1pm 'clock time' :-) .

In short, I think this is a job for a service engineer (whether on site
or, cheapest option, in a cosy workshop) or a suitably skilled and
trustworthy willing volunteer.

--
Johnny B Good

On Thu, 28 Jul 2016 20:47:40 -0400, GrtArtiste wrote:

On 7/28/2016 8:27 PM, Paul wrote:


If it looks like it is behaving "as if the control key was pressed",
then perhaps the OS has decided the control key *is* actually
depressed.

Keyboard failure, keyboard needs to be unplugged and plugged (if USB).
Or maybe completely removing power from the computer for a few minutes,
then power up again and boot.

On some OSes, you could use the on-screen keyboard, to see if the
control key is depressed. (The on-screen keyboard tiles change color
according to key-up or key-down state.) I would use that feature on my
Unix box, to figure out keyboard malfunctions.

Paul

Thank you for the suggestion. I did swap the keyboard with one from an
old Inspiron and everything seems back to normal now. Will get a
replacement tomorrow.

Wow! That's a new one. The press F2 and F12 were definitely BIOS
messages, nothing whatsoever to do with the OS. What's extremely odd
though in this case was that a stuck key/faulty keyboard didn't result in
the more usual message relating to detection of a faulty or missing
keyboard and the non sequitur "Press F1 to continue". I guess Dell's
BIOSes are a law unto themselves when it comes to POST error handling
(Gawd knows WTF that 'progress bar' was all about).

Just goes to show what a cunning sod Murphy can be when it comes to
stuff like this. Paul's suggestion turning out to be the solution despite
the reasoning being wrong whilst mine would have cost you money in spite
of the reasoning being right! :-) Glad you you tried the 'cheap
option' (so often overlooked even by experienced techs who ought to know
better) first.

--
Johnny B Good

GrtArtiste wrote:

I did swap the keyboard with one from an old Inspiron and everything
seems back to normal now. Will get a replacement tomorrow.

Shake the crumbs out of the old one :-P

On 29/07/16 08:10, GrtArtiste wrote:
My Dell XPS 800 has been running flawlessly. After just waking it up
from SLEEP, I was using Firefox and noticed ....

Do you have friends who know computers well? Find them.

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On Fri, 29 Jul 2016 10:15:29 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

GrtArtiste wrote:

I did swap the keyboard with one from an old Inspiron and everything
seems back to normal now. Will get a replacement tomorrow.

Shake the crumbs out of the old one :-P

Quite possibly the "cheapest solution" of the lot. :-)

In my case, when I lost two hours of my life dealing with an e-SATA
docking station/iffy HDD issue, I could have applied an even cheaper
solution (If I had but thought to try it), a firm slap on the side of the
desktop case (which has proved so effective countless times in the past
with the first of the SATA latchless connectors). That would have been a
couple or three seconds of my life that I wouldn't have been worried
about getting back... Doh!!!

--
Johnny B Good