Question How do I troubleshoot periodic startup failure that is a software problem

[charles_i]

I have a year old Dell XPS 9315 laptop running Windows 11 pro which has an infrequent startup problem, that is not hardware related. At completely random times (days, weeks or months apart) it will not start without up to 15 minutes of trying - eventually it will start and go to a screen that says the clock needs to be reset (which it does), and the the blue Recovery screen, where choosing simply Reboot will get the laptop up and running. This laptop normally starts by opening the lid. To get it to start when it fails I need to aggressively hit the start button in combination with the "d" key which is a known Dell force start method. This is what I do know.

- the problem first appeared about 7 months after I purchased the laptop
- running the onboard diagnostics before booting Windows (F12) shows no hardware errors
- the battery is always charged, this is not dead battery problem
- the laptop always shuts down correctly and does all other tasks without any problems
- the last time it happened it cycled through a number of colours before stopping at the reset clock screen
- Windows updates are always up to date - I check every week (especially Tuesday!)
- all Dell updates including BIOS are up to date
- I've read online that it's possible that it's a Windows problem in which case an update should eventually fix it and I'm wasting my time trying to figure it out

After running the diagnostics, with no errors I was told by Dell tech support that it is a software problem. Is there a software diagnostic tool that I can use to examine all the programs I have installed and determine which one is causing the problem?

Charles

 

[Grobe]

First, we are at square one - I cannot se any hints in the post on what may cause this. Therefore, please try to answer the following questions:

• How often do this occur? Is it some hours at the day that it is more prone to occur?
• Did you install any software prior the first time this happened (this also includes drivers and software updates) ?
• Whenever this occurs, do you remembering having let open some or any programs just before previous shutdown ?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

If the clock has to be reset repeatedly then the first place you look is the CMOS battery. They're cheap so simply replace it.

 

[Grobe]

If the clock has to be reset repeatedly then the first place you look is the CMOS battery. They're cheap so simply replace it.

Ah, of course you've right - can't believe I missed out on that info when I read

 

[charles_i]

Ah, of course you've right - can't believe I missed out on that info when I read

The clock runs fine unless the failed startup occurs, so it can't be the battery.

 

[charles_i]

First, we are at square one - I cannot se any hints in the post on what may cause this. Therefore, please try to answer the following questions:

• How often do this occur? Is it some hours at the day that it is more prone to occur?
• Did you install any software prior the first time this happened (this also includes drivers and software updates) ?
• Whenever this occurs, do you remembering having let open some or any programs just before previous shutdown ?

1. Occurrences are totally random which makes it really difficult to solve.
2. Yes I'm often installing software, but it started too many months ago for me to figure out what was installed around that time.
3. That's possible, and something I'll be watching in future. Often I just close the lid without shutting down and if a program is open maybe that's causing it.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

The clock runs fine unless the failed startup occurs, so it can't be the battery.

If the clock has to be repeatedly set then the battery IS the problem there. Never rule ANYTHING out when troubleshooting. At any rate, you seem to know more than someone that's been doing this for almost 50 years so I'm out. Good luck tilting those windmills.

 

[charles_i]

If the clock has to be repeatedly set then the battery IS the problem there. Never rule ANYTHING out when troubleshooting. At any rate, you seem to know more than someone that's been doing this for almost 50 years so I'm out. Good luck tilting those windmills.

I've been working with PCs for 50 years too, and this one has me stumped. I get what you're saying, but the only time the clock needs resetting is when the no start happens - not at any other time. So I'm guessing that whatever causes the no start is knocking out the PCs BIOS settings. The clock runs fine for months until the next faulty event.

Thanks for your suggestion. I do appreciate the input and will definitely consider the battery.