Dell XPS 13 L322X cant get to bios or F12 boot selection

[johnrobert]

Spent hours on this all evening

when in windows 10 hard drive shows 99% full I deleted a 10 gig file and no matter how many files I delete
it still stays at 99% full it has a mSata
decided to reinstall but I can't get into bios or get it to boot from USB I tried maybe 30 times
It show on-screen select F12 but it won't go into boot selection mode
I drained battery thinking it might reset. I will have to remove cmos battery
To remove the back it has Torx screws and one of them is stripped so it would have to be drilled out.
everything I have tried I have drawn a blank.
think I will have to get my drill or Dremel out.

it originally had Win 8, this was a side job to a much bigger job just give a tune-up she said argh

read this post maybe its unfixable

The local Dell technician was here today. He replaced the Motherboard and the Keyboard. The anomalous behavior is resolved. I can now access both BIOS (F2) and the UEFI Boot Options (F12) menus.

 

[Mick]

Have you tried running something like SpaceSniffer on it, to see how much space is actually being used - as opposed to what Windows is telling you?

 

[Moltuae]

cant get into bios

Have you seen this?:
Entering BIOS setup program -> With keyboard

And (possibly more helpfully) this?:
Entering BIOS setup program -> Without keyboard

And have you tried Fn+F2 or Fn+F12? Sometimes the default function key behaviour gets changed.

 

[johnrobert]

This a laptop will try doing a restore in Windows

 

[johnrobert]

little battery seems to be well hidden not found it yet
I thought I had an adapter but its an M2
I could order an adapter reinstall windows on another computer then put it back.
maybe the Msata is defective being permanently full.
this was a side job now bigger than the main job we have to learn to say no, can't do it.

 

[johnrobert]

XSP 12 cant get into bios or F12 for boot selection
it is the model with normal lid

In Windows, it was showing hard drive full no matter what I deleted it still said H/D full

During start-up, F2 and F12 are ignored.

I ordered an adapter so I could install part and full Windows in another computer then put Msata back now nothing happens

it will not boot to windows as it did before cant get into either bios or F12

I was thinking about removing the cmos battery to reset bios but can't find it.

I read a similar case, Dell came and replaced M/B this is no longer under warranty.

 

[Porthos]

I ordered an adapter so I could install part and full Windows in another computer then put Msata back now nothing happens

That does not always work on a m.2. You need to get that bios issue worked out first.

 

[johnrobert]

If Windows was installed it would be formatted UEFI so would not need to be set secure boot off.

unfortunately, I can't get into bios to turn it off If I knew where the battery was I could remove that to reset bios and then I would be able to get in.

actually the model is from express code. I think M/B has to be removed to get at CMOS battery
XPS 13 L322X

 

[Porthos]

If Windows was installed it would be formatted UEFI so would not need to be set secure boot off.

Only is it was Win 8 or 10 from the factory.

During start-up, F2 and F12 are ignored.

Did you try holding the FN button and doing f12?

 

[johnrobert]

It would be a factory install of win 8 then upgrade to 10

Yes tried everything even a USB keyboard
I should have imaged it before I nuked drive but I thought for sure it would boot from the drive after re-connecting drive with win 10 installed.
The only thing I can think of is to remove CMOS battery and it might reset bios
I opened it up and don't see little battery I think it's under M/B

when I got the laptop from the client it was booting to windows although it could not be used with drive completely full now nada
so they won't understand thinking I have wrecked it, if I had imaged it first at least I could return it same as I got it
it did not make sense at the time imaging a 100 gig drive I already copied user data I don't think it would have imaged as they would be corruption on the drive
with zero bytes free. anyway in hindsight I would have done it differently.

 

[johnrobert]

Only is it was Win 8 or 10 from the factory.

Did you try holding the FN button and doing f12?

Yes that's what it will be I will convert it to GPT tonight and I am sure it will work, then it will stop her from texting me

Thanks

 

[nlinecomputers]

Did you try holding the FN button and doing f12?

This. So many laptops default to needing the fn key.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Fn power key?

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/XPS-13-L322X-BIOS-Issue/m-p/4488242#M820053

 

[Porthos]

Yes that's what it will be I will convert it to GPT tonight and I am sure it will work, then it will stop her from texting me

Thanks

So the FN button was the fix?

 

[johnrobert]

No tried that still will not go into bios it's a common problem on this model. I would have to pull the cmos battery this involves removal of M/B customer does not know what bios is.
I put Msata with adapter into a newer laptop so it would format GTP let it install then as it was restarting after installing media I shut it down
put it in Dell to finish the install

customer happy getting her laptop back tomorrow

Many thanks again

 

[nlinecomputers]

If you can can boot into Windows 10 you should be able to reboot into the BIOS from the system recovery options in settings.

 

[johnrobert]

Thanks for the tip

 

[Choppie]

Not sure if this helps, but I recently received a donated 2007 Dell XPS 410. I thought I committed to memory all the boot commands for the various PC manufactures, but ended up having to google this one. Turns out this particular model required the Ctrl + F12. I believe F10 or Ctrl + F10 will get you into the factory system restore. For anyone that's wondering what in the world am I going to do with a 2007 computer with 2GB of ram. Many of the stripped down LINUX distros really scream on those old computers. I loaded Bodhi LINUX on it, its awesome.

Back on topic,

I'll test out the hot keys needed to access the boot menu later this evening, make sure my info is correct.