Dell Laptop Troubleshooting

Dell Laptop Troubleshooting

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Table of Contents:

This article is for Microsoft Windows 10.

Click below to change the operating system.

Step 1: Verify the computer finishes initial power-up (POST)

In many cases a computer will not attempt to hand off control to the operating system. If you power the computer on and you see a Dell logo screen with a bar at the bottom, and that bar fills up completely and disappears, then your computer has successfully completed POST.

Click Here if Your Computer Does Not Complete POST

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Step 2: Run a Computer Diagnostic

If you are unable to boot the system to access the Dell Online Diagnostics, use the Dell Pre-boot System Diagnostics.

To determine if your computer is experiencing a hardware problem, run the Dell Online Diagnostics.

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Step 3: Check for specific error messages

Try searching for additional solutions on the Web.

Click on your preferred search engine below, then describe your problem, including any specific error messages.

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Step 4: Reset the BIOS to default values

If your computer is set to first attempt to boot to another device, this may cause issues with successfully booting to Windows. To reset your computer's BIOS to factory defaults, perform the following steps:

    1. Restart the computer

    2. At the Dell logo during restart, tap the F2 key repeatedly until you see Entering Setup in the top right corner of the screen.

    3. Depending on the BIOS, you may need to press a key listed at the bottom of the screen to load default settings.

    4. Press ESC to exit the BIOS, and be sure to select Save and Exit to save your changes.

        1. Note: For Windows based tablets, perform the following steps instead.

          1. With the tablet completely off, press the Power Button, and then immediately press and hold down the Volume Down until the System Setup page (BIOS) appears (if the tablet boots to Windows, try again).

          2. Touch or click Load Defaults.

          3. Touch or click OK.

          4. Touch or click Exit, if the tablet does not automatically reboot.

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Step 5: Reset your Windows 10 operating system

If your system files have been damaged, a reset of Windows 10 reinstalls these files without damaging your data. After the third attempt to boot has failed, Windows 10 will automatically boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). Follow these steps to reset Windows 10:

    1. At the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot.

    2. At the Troubleshoot screen, select Reset this PC.

    3. At the Reset this PC screen, select Keep my files.

    4. Select your user account and enter the password if prompted.

    5. Select Reset.

    6. Windows will perform the reset process

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Step 6: Unplug All External Devices

A piece of hardware may be interfering with the normal boot process of Windows. Try unplugging all devices from your computer, including:

    • Printers

    • Scanners

    • Media Card Readers

    • Small Media cradles (iPod, PDA, MP3 player, etc.)

    • Digital Cameras and Video Recorders

    • USB storage devices

    • CDs or DVDs from all optical drives

The only devices you should leave attached to your computer are your monitor, mouse and keyboard, if the computer is a desktop.

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Step 7: Virus and malware troubleshooting

Your computer may be affected by a virus or other malicious software. Dell recommends strengthening your PC against malicious attacks by keeping your antivirus software up-to-date.

View our Virus and Spyware Removal Guide

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Step 8: Restore the operating system to factory settings

If the previous troubleshooting could not resolve your issue, it may be necessary to restore your computer to factory settings. To restore your computer's operating system and software to the original factory settings, refer to Dell Knowledge Base article, "Reset or reinstall Windows 10 on a Dell computer"