XPS 8930, won't POST

Question

Cascading problem began a month ago.  Working normally,  but after several hours walked into the room to see it restarting (black screen) multiple times.  Eventually an error message about needing system repair. I rebooted and ran repair, all is well.  About a week later,similar behavior - error about system disk overheating.   Replaced the M.2 card as a precaution and installed HW Monitor to watch temps.  Maybe a week later, used 8+ hrs, walked away and returned to find it restarting multiple times again, this time ending on black screen and flashing 2-2 amber code.   Replaced RAM, no impact.  Replaced MB - no impact.  Just replaced PSU - no impact.  Still flashing 2-2.  Any ideas?  Could it be the Intel processor?

Mkjoiner · Accepted Answer

@RoHe​ it's been months - but I *DID* find the answer... Occam's razor!  It was ALWAYS the simplest solution - the POWER SUPPLY failed.  It was still testing 'good' while I replaced everything under the sun, without a fix.  Then, it suddenly failed.  I replaced it with an equivalent power supply from a local MicroCenter store, and it booted right up.  No problems since.  I've seen power supplies suddenly fail several times, have NEVER seen one work, then fail, then work again, then fail again.  It was the original, genuine Dell power supply with the green led light on the back.  When it finally failed, the green LED no longer lit up.  I connected it to a power supply tester and didn't get +5V anymore.  THanks for the advice!

ProfessorW00d · Answer

Try replacing the CR2032 coin cell battery with a brand new one.

RoHe · Answer

Are all fans working, eg, CPU, GPU, case fan? What other drives are installed in this PC, aside from the M.2 NVME SSD? Have you disconnected SATA drives (HDD and DVD drive) from motherboard, if any, and tested again?

When you replaced the motherboard, did it already have, or did you install a fresh battery? Or did you just use the old battery from the original board? Make sure the battery is fresh before going any further. And reset BIOS to clear all stored errors:

Reboot and start tapping F2 when you see the Dell splash screen to open BIOS setup
Copy down all current BIOS settings, to be safe
Power off, unplug power cord from rear of PC
Press/hold power button for ~15 sec
Open case and remove motherboard battery (check Service Manual for details)
Press/hold power button for ~30 sec
Install fresh CR2032 3-volt coin cell battery
Close up and connect mouse, monitor and keyboard
Reboot and test again...

If you still get the 2-2 blink code, are you sure the replacement RAM is compatible? Dell systems can be very fussy about RAM, even if it appears to have the right specs.

Assuming RAM is fully compatible and you still get 2-2 code, repeat above steps, but remove all RAM except the one in 2nd slot from CPU after step 6, and before doing step 7. Test again at step 9. Then repeat again putting each RAM module one at a time in 2nd slot from CPU between steps 6 and 7, until you test all of them, and/or identify a bum module...

If you can't identify a bum RAM module, run the diagnostics. Reboot and tap F12 to open the menu. Select the diagnostics option and run all of them. This can take a long time, so be patient. Review the report when diagnostics are done, and copy error messages, if any.

EeyoreTheDonkey · Answer

@RoHe​ For some reason, I've noticed that resetting the cmos via jumper seems to work better than pulling the battery..

RoHe · Answer

You just have to press/hold power button for at least ~30 sec after battery is removed, while PC is unplugged, before reinstalling a battery, to completely discharge things and clear BIOS.

FWIW, I never mess with those teeny, tiny CMOS jumpers. They're just too easy to drop inside the case and/or worry about bending motherboard pins, especially if the user has never worked inside a PC before.

Dcm Computers · Answer

I Had a customer needing to change his M.2 for a larger one, so I cloned his drive and put it in the machine and it then took 5 mins to post, I dont mean loading OS i mean just to get to the dell logo, after much faffing about I got to the cause of the issue, Firstly turn on the Pc and LEAVE IT ON till you get the OS log in, Then Reboot the pc and then start smashing the F2 Key as it will boot normally, Go into the Boot section and change it so Windows boot manager is selected as the top option, After if reboots and gets to the windows log in screen, Shut down the pc, When I rebooted it came up with the dell splash screen straight away and booted in 3 seconds as it did before, Im 99% sure its the self checks it does pre boot and setting V4 and V6 options before loading the Windows Boot manager is the issue here... Only Dell can make a pc that refuses to work after a Hardware Upgrade

Hope this helps

RoHe · Answer

@Dcm Computers - PC model?

Did you change BIOS and reconfigure Windows to use AHCI instead of RAID, which is how Dell shipped the PC, before cloning the old SSD onto the larger one?

This has to be done the right way or you'll make the PC unbootable even from the original SSD.

At desktop, open Cmd prompt window, run as administrator.
Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Safe Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal and press Enter
Restart the computer and enter BIOS setup.
Change SATA Operation from RAID to AHCI
Save the change and exit Setup. Windows will automatically boot in Safe Mode.
Open Cmd again, as in step #1.
Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Normal Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot and press Enter
Reboot and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers enabled

Now you can image the old SSD onto the new one and PC should boot from new SSD on first boot.

XPS Desktops

XPS 8930, won't POST

Was this post helpful?