Dell XPS 15Z L511Z boot up issue

Hello everyone,

I was recently given a Dell XPS 15Z L511Z with the following specs:
i7-2640M @ 2.8GHz
8GB DDR3 1333MHz Micron 1.5v Dimms
Nvidia GT525+Intel HD3000
Seagate 750GB HDD
Intel Centrino Advanced N 6230 wireless card

on which I performed a full service on it as client had complained of how horrid the support for Windows 10 trial was on it. That and the fact that the GPU was experiencing artifacting and static until disabling Nvidia's GPU in software/OS. I managed to perform a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium x64 on it and went all the way through Sean's optimization guide on OCN. I changed the TIM(not the thermal pads) on the cooling assembly with Arctic Cooling's MX-2. Coupled with all the dust blown out, the temps dropped like it was winter in there.

Prior to two days I was able to shut down the laptop before going to bed and also power it back up in the morning for about 6 days in a row. Last night I thought I'd tweak a minor setting on sketchup when I noticed it was powering up but wasn't displaying the DELL splash screen and the blower fan was on full throttle. I took out the 2x4GB sticks and checked them out on another laptop (Hp Probook 4430s) and they work fine. I also swapped the HDD with another one to see the same result. I disassembled everything again and cleaned up pretty much every connection that made its way to the motherboard. No change.

When the laptop was functional, I updated the BIOS from A04 to A12 and since the update I was able to operate the laptop without any complications. As of now, I can press the power button, hear the fans spins like mad and be able to change the illumination on the keyboards backlight with the help of the function key. Is the BIOS corrupt? Do I need to buy a new motherboard? Is it reversible? The laptop was working fine before I unplugged it from the wall even while running off battery and put it away for about 2 days.

Kind regards+eager to see what suggestions all of you have to offer.
Lutfi J

 

Try using the built-in Diagnostics. To do this, hold down the Fn key when you power up the laptop. It should run an embedded diagnostic utility that runs through a hardware test of all of the components on that laptop, and tell you which component(s) it can determine are defective.

You may also want to try reseating ALL components. That includes CPU, keyboard, memory, drives, any daughterboards, etc. It's possible that you somehow accidentally unseated or unplugged some cable or component when you were tinkering around inside the laptop chassis, causing the computer to refuse to boot. I have worked on personal laptops in the past, where something as simple as forgetting to plug the keyboard back in caused the laptop to not POST.

You may also want to try clearing the CMOS, and seeing if that helps. Disassemble the laptop, and locate the CMOS battery. Unplug it for about 5 minutes (with all other power, battery, etc disconnected from the laptop). Plug the CMOS battery back in, and try both a regular boot and a diagnostic boot (hold down Fn as you power up the computer). It's possible that there's some corrupt or conflicting setting in BIOS that is causing the computer to not boot properly.

It's unlikely that your BIOS became corrupt as a result of your BIOS upgrade from A04 --> A12. If that was the case, then the computer should report that the BIOS update failed, or start showing problems immediately after you attempted to update the BIOS. The fact that you were able to run the laptop for a few days after you upgraded to A12 tells me that the BIOS update itself went just fine.

If all of those fail, then your motherboard is fried. You need to get a replacement motherboard, or scrap the laptop as-is for parts and start shopping for a replacement laptop.

 

Hey there Kent,
Its a pleasure to receive such a prompt response! Thank you!

Onwards,

How long do I have to hold this down? I tried it a while back and got no response even after holding it down for 3 minutes.

That's the thing, when I first disassembled the unit I had a perfect run after assembly and installation of Windows 7 even upto the point where I began installing 3rd party programes like Office + CCleaner. So when I turned off the unit it was neatly tucked in my cupboard within a laptop sleeve. When I disassembled it the second time to disconnect and reconnect everything, I realized I didn't connect the power button to the main board. So I can say with confidence that all are as they were when I first received the lappy sans the dust bunnies and crappy TIM.

Yeap, done that when I disassembled the unit a second time. Had the CMOS battery out for more than 15 minutes as I meticulously scanned to locate any points for causing a short.

Hmmm, I agree! The unit just refuses to show any display since the last time I powered it up and booted into OS. Kinda dumbfounded to learn it was in working order 48 hours ago and was merely inside a sleeve.

I'm yet holding my proposal for a mobo replacement on reserve since this is a well aged unit that apparently had been banged up pretty bad - 3 of the bottom screws on the unit are missing, lots of dents and scrapes, 2 of the 4 feet are missing, the battery is shot, power adapter connection shows strain and the left hinge on the screen is cracked+the spine is shattered on one end.

I've been working on laptops for some time(not long though) but I am familiar with the same thing happening on desktops. I was stumped and had my speculations though I didn't want to give benefit of the doubt to that thought. Thank you for providing an insight into the issue! Any more ideas worth trying? Client may burst into flames since she loves the unit...literally

 

No more suggestions. Motherboard is dead... I'm 99% sure.

As you know, its not unusual for something like this to happen to a laptop that is several years old, and clearly went through a lot of physical abuse and drops.

It's entirely up to you (or your client) whether it is even worth trying to repair that. The problem is that you could sink several hundred dollars into a replacement motherboard, and you'd still end up with a slow, aged laptop that could have another component fail 2 months from now.

Personally, I'd say that this is a good time to start looking into a new laptop. Something newer, faster, and that has a fresh warranty.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

Well that pretty much wraps up this thread then Kent. Thank you for the second and critical opinions, they have helped me relay the information to my client with more confidence and we are currently hunting for a laptop.

I'd love to close this thread though provided there is a way to select a best solution for this thread...and in the mean time perhaps you could suggest a smaller but equally powerful laptop to replace this expensive paper weight?

 

Dell XPS 13. The 2015 edition, or model 9343, with 1080p screen, 8GB configuration. Don't get the 1800p touchscreen version.

Without exaguration, it's THE best implementation of the ultrabook concept. It is a super thin, super light notebook. It has a high quality 13.3" IPS screen in the same footprint as a MacBook Air 11.6". It has an SSD, a "fast enough" Broadwell processor, and fantastic battery life of around 9 hours. Pretty much every single review on this thing has given it a 5/5, editors choice, etc.

Be sure to get the 1080p non-touch model with 8GB of RAM. It has significantly better battery life than the 1800p touchscreen version, has a matte display, won't suffer from extreme font scaling issues like the 1800p version, and is $300 cheaper. Retail price of a 1080p model with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD should be around $1200, which is an absolute steal for what you're getting.

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^ Oddly enough THAT was exactly the same thing I'd suggested yesterday afternoon when I met up with her. Even to the last detail you stated sans the 1800p monitor. I have a little bit of reservation with the unit as its another Dell XPS unit and with the current experience from the dead lappy I can relate to her not feeling comfortable with buying into Dell this time around.

I was clumsy enough to not explain what the replacement laptop's duty will be so without further ado, just to refine things a bit more
Sketchup
Autocad
Rhinoceros
Vray plugin for Sketch
The usual web browsing antics - 5 tabs for browsing in Google Chrome
Adobe's Creative Suite - Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator and Acrobat Pro
MS Office Suite - Powerpoint, Word and Excel(though not taxing on a unit I though it'll fall under multitasking)

Storage would be an issue as I know she'd want to have at least a 500GB HDD onboard. I know if I 'd want to include a secondary storage option I automatically increase the form factor and weight of such a portable device. Would I be safe to assume that the XPS 13 2015 edition can function as a workstation machine OTG? or are we looking into the larger WS notebooks/laptops?

How do I select a best answer in a thread like this?

 

Well, to be fair, the Dell XPS 15 L511Z came out over 4 years ago. Having a laptop survive for 4+ years (with associated abuse and bang-ups) before a major component malfunction is pretty darned good. In fact, I'd argue that given the amount of drops and abuse that laptop has taken, it's a MIRACLE it lasted 4+ years. That's more of a testament to her good luck with Dell XPS.

In any case, the Dell XPS 13 is about equivalently powered to her old Dell XPS 15 L511Z. If she was happy with the performance on her Dell XPS 15, then a new Dell XPS 13 will do just fine. If she found the performance of her old laptop lacking when running her CAD / design apps, then you'll want something a bit more powerful. The real advantage of the XPS 13 is its size and battery life. If she's in a situation where portability and battery life are her #1 priority, then a Dell XPS 13 would be a bulletproof pick. But if she prioritizes other factors over size (e.g. processing power, screen size, etc), then a thin-and-light ultrabook isn't the way to go.

As for storage options... it's perfectly viable to buy a Dell XPS 13 at its 8GB RAM / 128GB SSD configuration, and then do an aftermarket upgrade to a 512GB M.2 SSD. That's exactly what I did with my current laptop.

If you need more buying advice, go to the "What Notebook Should I Buy?" sub-forum on here, and post a question in there. There's a sticky-post at the top of that sub-forum which gives you a template of questions you should answer, and people will post their recommendations in reply.

 

I know the Skylake mobile platform processors are no slouch with tasks, multitasking nor with rendering power but was just curious to ask. If we were to take ques on her experience upon the Dell XPS 15Z L511Z then there was nothing sordid she ever found about it apart from the bottom cover screws falling out and the edge of the units silver lining flaking/cracking/chipping off. The unit performed every rendering, video&photo editing and multimedia(1080p) content with ease and to this day was a powerhouse in her home office thus the query. Its functionality alone is one of the main reasons she couldn't swallow the "dead motherboard" news I gave her up front.

I'm not a follower of using m.2 SSD's as mass storage devices but I think a solution to that would be a NAS...?

You know what? I'll take up your advice and shoot bigger with a larger audience and perhaps you could chime in as well? I'll post a link here to divert any/all traffic towards the new thread.

 

Sorry for double posting! New thread opened here

 

Current XPS 13s are broadwell. Refreshed XPS 13s using skylake are expected in late October, as are Dell XPS 15s with the same thin monitor bezel design. However, if you do decide to wait, it will probably be about 4-6 weeks after that for you to receive the actual unit. New Dell releases typically follow that timing after initial release date.

As for mass storage... An M.2 SSD would totally do the job, especially for a system that has a single drive slot. Your alternatives are NAS, or external USB drive.


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I'm familiar with the dust that's always kicked up when the advent of new products are looming and thus the long waiting periods before product actually arrives into ones hands. For that very reason I'll perform my utmost diligence to inform client of the pros and cons of buying soon as opposed to being patient and buying once the dust has settled.

Point noted, m.2 ssd and compromise is having an(or multiple) external storage device(s).

You've been of alot of help and I don't think thank you would cut it here but Thanks for everything you've suggested and at most times offered a second opinion!