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April 29th, 2025 13:24
Blue Screen during/after(not sure) firmware update led to a very confusing boot loop.
Hello. I have a Dell Inspiron 15 3501 which is my personal laptop. Yesterday evening I got a prompt from Windows Update page in my taskbar asking me to restart in order to install a new firmware. I was about to go eat dinner so I plugged my charger, clicked on "restart now" option and then left for dinner.
When I returned I found a blue screen error. I did not think much about it at first as it said "we will restart the system for you shortly" so I just left it like that. After a while it was still stuck on the same thing so I decided to manually restart by holding down the power button for a while. I did not note down the error code and I realized this mistake only after manually shutting down the pc. Next I clicked on the power button again to boot it up and the keyboard backlight glowed once like it usually does while powering on. Thinking it was back to normal I left once again to do some chores.
Once I returned all i saw was my keyboard lit up and then the light went off once again. And after about 2-3 seconds it happened again. And ever since then it has been stuck in the same loop.
I tried doing some research and it said to disconnect the battery, cmos battery and then holding the power button for a minute and then plugging both batteries back in. Doing so did nothing and as soon as i plugged the battery(after plugging cmos cell) the keyboard lit up on its own and the same thing started.
Next i read it could be a faulty cmos so i just closed the laptop and left it on my table while the lid was also closed for overnight. Next morning I opened the laptop and it was no longer doing the same thing but pressing the power button didn't do anything either. So I plugged the charger and the same loop started again. I believe the battery drained out.
Next in order to check the cmos battery I took it with me at Uni and used a multimeter at the lab. The battery is fine.
And now im at a loss of things to try. My best guess is that the blue screen during firmware update messed up the BIOS to such extent that I can't even access the BIOS and nor is the windows recovery thing running.
The only things happening is that the keyboard light turns on and off along with the led indicator while the screen stays black. And when I close the lid while keeping it plugged to the charger then also the led indicator lights up white and turns off following the same loop as the keyboard lights. If needed I can show a video as well. Kindly suggest me a solution to try.
Blue Screen during/after(not sure) firmware update led to a very confusing boot loop.
Hello. I have a Dell Inspiron 15 3501 which is my personal laptop. Yesterday evening I got a prompt from Windows Update page in my taskbar asking me to restart in order to install a new firmware. I was about to go eat dinner so I plugged my charger, clicked on "restart now" option and then left for dinner.
When I returned I found a blue screen error. I did not think much about it at first as it said "we will restart the system for you shortly" so I just left it like that. After a while it was still stuck on the same thing so I decided to manually restart by holding down the power button for a while. I did not note down the error code and I realized this mistake only after manually shutting down the pc. Next I clicked on the power button again to boot it up and the keyboard backlight glowed once like it usually does while powering on. Thinking it was back to normal I left once again to do some chores.
Once I returned all i saw was my keyboard lit up and then the light went off once again. And after about 2-3 seconds it happened again. And ever since then it has been stuck in the same loop.
I tried doing some research and it said to disconnect the battery, cmos battery and then holding the power button for a minute and then plugging both batteries back in. Doing so did nothing and as soon as i plugged the battery(after plugging cmos cell) the keyboard lit up on its own and the same thing started.
Next i read it could be a faulty cmos so i just closed the laptop and left it on my table while the lid was also closed for overnight. Next morning I opened the laptop and it was no longer doing the same thing but pressing the power button didn't do anything either. So I plugged the charger and the same loop started again. I believe the battery drained out.
Next in order to check the cmos battery I took it with me at Uni and used a multimeter at the lab. The battery is fine.
And now im at a loss of things to try. My best guess is that the blue screen during firmware update messed up the BIOS to such extent that I can't even access the BIOS and nor is the windows recovery thing running.
The only things happening is that the keyboard light turns on and off along with the led indicator while the screen stays black. And when I close the lid while keeping it plugged to the charger then also the led indicator lights up white and turns off following the same loop as the keyboard lights. If needed I can show a video as well. Kindly suggest me a solution to try.
anne_droid
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684 Posts
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April 29th, 2025 14:44
Hi
Well my usual answer would seem to have already covered....
Recently I had cause or occasion to dis-assemble this laptop as it played up, and disconnecting the battery (doesn't have a CMOS cell) it still looped.
Possibly because it was in hibernation or something similar and went for an instant reload.
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.
So I caused a fault by removing the NVMe SSD and doing a hard reset.
Which did NADA. So I powered on and re-inserted the SSD and it defaulted to a 'BIOS' screen.
My suggestion is remove and store your storage device safely.
Do a Hard Reset.
Have a bootable USB stick to hand.
Power On. Then try and repair/rebuild.
If in doubt please ask.
PrincexHaze
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April 29th, 2025 15:02
@anne_droid I have an ssd and an hdd too. My windows is on the ssd. So I shall remove the ssd then perform a hard reset and then try to boot without it right?
I also have a windows media key usb drive which I had used some time ago so it's not the most up to date one but yea that shall work yea?
anne_droid
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684 Posts
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April 29th, 2025 19:03
@PrincexHaze
Yes of course.
The windows media key, if it boots may be able to drop into repair / troubleshooting mode, and even get a replacement BIOS file just in case.
PrincexHaze
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7 Posts
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April 29th, 2025 19:09
@anne_droid Heyo! I did try the thing with removing my ssd but still no luck. I feel the best way to go at this would be getting a BIOS replacement file in a usb and booting into that. But the issue then would be how to boot into the usb without having access to the BIOS menu and changing the boot order. By default it uses the BIOS present on motherboard.
anne_droid
3 Apprentice
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684 Posts
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April 29th, 2025 19:22
Hi
Agreed.
IF the only bootable device connected is the USB, then ..........
Having both the .exe and .rcv version on the USB may very well help.
From here..... https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-uk/product/inspiron-15-3501-laptop/drivers
PrincexHaze
1 Rookie
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7 Posts
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April 29th, 2025 19:26
Will definitely try it out and get back with the results.
PrincexHaze
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May 1st, 2025 14:57
Alright so an update on the situation. I prepared a USB with both those files and tried to somehow boot via the USB but no luck yet again.
Unless I somehow find a way to override or edit the boot order there seems to be no other option.