Dell Xps 15 9530 Black Screen on Startup

Dell XPS 15 L502X Windows 10 Pro does not boot, black screen & blinking cursor

Discussion in 'Dell' started by phew, Dec 29, 2015.

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phew Newbie

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Hello,
TL;DR
After a Windows 10 Upgrade I performed a clean install of Windows 10 Pro (x64) on a Dell XPS 15 L502X. After the setup says "Rebooting system" it does not boot Windows 10 Pro from the SSD but a black screen pops up with a blinking cursor (underscore) in the top left corner of the screen.

Full Version
I recently upgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro (x64) to Windows 10 Pro (x64) on my Dell XPS 15 9530 (late 2013). After the upgrade I went for a clean install using my SanDisk Cruzer Fit (16GB) as bootable USB stick, generated with Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool using the Windows 10 ISO provided by Microsoft Dreamspark. For my XPS 15 9530 notebook (which has passed the Windows 10 Upgrade tests by Dell), the clean install worked just fine.

Shortly after my dad asked me to perform a clean intall of Windows 10 Pro (x64) on his Dell XPS 15 L502X, which was running Windows 8.1 Pro (x64). Checking the Dell website I couldn't see the XPS 15 L502X being listed with the devices tested for Windows 10 Upgrade by Dell. I thought I might still give it a shot since we had plenty backups of important files and data on external HDDs and I could always switch back to Windows 8.1 Pro if anything went wrong.

So I upgraded his Windows 8.1 Pro (x64) to Windows 10 Pro (x64) using Microsoft Update, though I had to force the upgrade using the "wuauclt.exe /updatenow"-method, as the upgrade for Windows 10 was not shown in the tray.
Again, everything went just fine and Windows 8.1 Pro was successfully upgraded to Windows 10 Pro without any issues.

After the Windows 10 Upgrade I proceeded to clean-install Windows 10 Pro (x64), just like I did with my Dell XPS 15 9530 before, so again I created a bootable USB stick with Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool, using the exact same image file (Windows 10 ISO provided by MS Dreamspark) which I still had on my external drive, yet again on my SanDisk Cruzer Fit (16GB) USB device.

Booting from the USB stick, the Windows 10 Setup was loaded as it should be, I could see the two SSD drives installed in the notebook (the 120GB OCZ Vertex III is replacing the notebook's optical drive) and I chose the main one (Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB) to install Windows 10 Pro to. Basically all of the installation process ran smoothly as it should, just like with my own notebook before, until the first part of the system setup was complete and it said "Rebooting system in 10 seconds".

After the reboot I can see the Dell Logo (with the F2 for BIOS and F12 for boot order menu) and then, instead of booting Windows 10 from the Samsung SSD to finish off the installation, a black screen pops up with a blinking cursor (underscore) in the top left corner of the screen.

At this point all I can do is shut down the notebook by holding down the power button. I can also enter the BIOS and Boot Order Menu using the F2 or F12 keys.

What I have tried so far but still results in the black screen with the blinking cursor:
- Reinstalling Windows 8.1 Pro (ISO provided by MS Dreamspark)
- Reinstalling Windows 10 Pro (ISO provided by MS using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, though creating a bootable USB device always ended in some error message, therefore I was saving the ISO to my desktop folder and created a bootable USB device using the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool)
- Installing Windows 10 Pro to the 120GB OCZ Vertex III SSD (which is in the notebook's optical drive slot)
- Loading BIOS defaults
- Changing boot order in BIOS
- Updated the BIOS from a custom undervolt BIOS (by Captain Kasar) based on the A07 BIOS version to Dell A12 BIOS by booting "Win-To-Go" Windows 8.1 Pro (x32) from the SanDisk Cruzer Fit USB stick
- Using SHIFT+F10 to bring up the console during the Windows 10 Setup screen and use diskpart clean to clean both SSDs before installing Windows 10 to the Samsung drive
- Fixing bootloader via Windows 10 Repair -> Console
- Setting the Samsung SSDs boot partition to "active" using diskpart
Here is what the newly flashed Dell A12 BIOS (downloaded from the Dell drivers website) looks like:

Specifications:
- Dell XPS 15 L502X
- GeForce GT 540M
- Intel Core i7-2720QM @ 2.20Ghz
- Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series (256GB)
- OCZ Vertex III SSD (120GB, installed instead of the optical drive)
At this point I do not mind if its Windows 10 or Windows 8.1, I just want the system to be up and running again! Any suggestions appreciated!
phew Newbie

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This thread can be closed, as far as I'm concerned.
The solution was to remove the OCZ Vertex III during the Windows 10 install, I don't know why but it somehow stopped the notebook from properly booting Win 10 Pro off of the Samsung SSD. This has never been an issue with earlier Windows versions though.
LouieAtienza Notebook Consultant

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I had the same issue with a Samsung 950 PRO... whatever I did it would revert to the 850 PRO I had installed (which was blank). Removing the 850 PRO, then starting the system, then turning the system off, reinstalling the 850 PRO and starting up, solved the problem. Don't know why either...