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  • Dell Latitude E6420 laptop bricked after installing Solus Plasma

tomscharbach If @Rolts can create a Windows installation USB using the Windows Media Creation Tool on a Windows computer, the USB should boot automatically (a Windows-created installation USB forces precedence in the boot sequence on many/most Windows OEM computers, whether or not Windows is currently installed), without intervention using the Boot Menu (as is required for USB installers created by Rufus, Etcher or other methods). I've used this method a number of times to bring bricked computers back to life.

can vouch for this method as well. the WIN usb (or disk) will see the problem immediately (after you navigate it thru 8 menus....)

Brucehankins Wouldn't pulling and replacing the CMOS battery also reset the bios and maybe get him to a bootable state? Or at least able to get into BIOS possibly?

and this one. and also a needlenose pliers to move the pin jumpers. remember that? your method in conjunction with that always go me into bios and to a starting point.

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      • Post #12
      • Edited

      Axios Okay lol, that's why the issue sounded so familiar as it happened on the Latitude I had years ago.

      tomscharbach If it's the same issue I've encountered, the bios halts before it gets to the phase of looking for bootable media. Thus, it won't boot from any USB stick or other media regardless of boot order. I had no luck with removing RAM sticks, HDD, or CMOS battery either and ended up just swapping the motherboard to run into the same issue again on another one.

            [deleted] If that’s the case I don’t think installing an os would mess up bios but rather a efi bios bug
            If you were successful in flashing bios again
            it may happen again if dell didn’t fix it because it’s Linux
            my thoughts we’re unplug hd because it did
            happen on an install maybe it failed and is
            hanging bios but since you said something
            prob is bios
            i hate typing on iphone

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                • Post #14
                • Edited

                Axios Can't remember how the flash utility was, it may have been buried in BIOS screen or one had to run a .exe on FreeDOS or similar. Would love to see if this actually has a solution.

                  [deleted] If it's the same issue I've encountered, the bios halts before it gets to the phase of looking for bootable media.

                  I hope the issue is a screwed up HHD or BIOS, which CMOS replacement or Windows-created USB installation media might repair, rather than a MOBO problem. My guess -- and it is only a guess -- is that HHD issues are the probable cause, because (reading between the lines of the OP) the Solus Live session worked, installation raised no red flags, but the laptop would not boot after installation. Although with a computer that age, anything can go wrong at any time, it just seems unlikely that the MOBO would fail at right after installation. We've all seen strange things happen, though.

                  Question: You posted a picture of an E9420 boot screen. Do you have an E9420? If so, can the HDD be replaced with a modern SATA III SSD like this PNY vanilla SSD? If so, that might be the simplest thing to do, assuming that the HHD is FUBAR. I looked at the E9420 Service Manual and can't tell for sure whether SATA III is too new a standard for the computer.

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                      • Post #16
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                      tomscharbach I hope so too. That screen can indeed become at least sluggish with things like faulty HDDs or memory modules.

                      Answer: No, that's a pic from the internet to show what screen I (and I believe the OP) was talking about.

                      Speaking of the laptop I had, I tried everything imaginable (removing the CMOS battery, removing HDD, swapping memory modules etc) and it would still get stuck on the loading bar. After getting a replacement I didn't manage to brick it immediately, but after I needed a live USB for something and rebooted from the live environment I would be stuck on the screen again.

                      When I was passing the lappy (with a second replacement mobo) on, I made sure not to reboot from a live system and shut down instead. The brick didn't happen. Might be just a very bad coincidence or the BIOS getting corrupt, I don't really know. It's not a Solus thing, I used some other distro back then.

                        tomscharbach I just left the pc off for 16 hours without cmos, battery and ac, and it still gets stuck. Also formatted the drive. I guess i'll try the windows 10 method now, and yeah the laptop worked with like 5 other distros before.

                            Rolts If you formatted drive it booted from live usb?

                                Axios i hate typing on iphone

                                Me, too. That's why I paired the third channel of my Bluetooth keyboard with my phone. I'd never texted before, because I just can't type with two thumbs. With the keyboard, I can text better than my two granddaughters. 😊

                                  Axios No, it's still stuck at the logo and can't do anything.

                                      Rolts I just left the pc off for 16 hours without cmos, battery and ac, and it still gets stuck. Also formatted the drive. I guess i'll try the windows 10 method now, and yeah the laptop worked with like 5 other distros before.

                                      I'm starting to think that @[deleted] is right, that the fact that the computer stopped booting between Solus installation and Solus first boot is coincidental, and the boot process is failing before the computer attempts to access drives. In that case, you've got a hardware issue, probably MOBO-related. Good luck with the Windows installation, but I'm not optimistic.

                                          Rolts You could try I think its hold function key and turn on laptop then let off function
                                          key and see if it goes into diagnostic mode (I think that is right sequence not 100% sure been awhile)

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                                              • Post #24

                                              Rolts Try removing the hard drive altogether and see if it gets to the "Insert boot media and press enter" kind of screen.

                                                  Axios It showed entering diagnostic mode, but still stuck on logo.

                                                    Rolts You might take a look at this Dell Latitude E6420 thread -- not the same model, but similar in age and specifications -- and try the various options listed. I noticed one difference between your CMOS method and the method mentioned in the thread, which is to push and hold the power button while the CMOS is out of the computer. The solution doesn't mention it, but it might be good idea to clean the connectors on RAM and the HHD with alcohol if you elect to remove and reinsert.

                                                    You might also take a look at the "Diagnostics" section of the E9420 Service Manual (see pages 141-143) and see if you are getting any of the light codes mentioned.

                                                        One computer tech online I was reading said take main battery out and short those terminals together
                                                        just going by what I read (TERMINALS ON THE LAPTOP ONLY!!!)
                                                        Might check voltage on cmos batt 3.3-2.5 just to see if its ok

                                                        This seems to be a problem with dells I pulled up lots info on it but no real fix.
                                                        And the dell help I read the dell tech said replace mobo.
                                                        About all I got leaving town later

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                                                          • Post #30
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                                                          tomscharbach Sorry for confusing you with the E9420, I posted the pic just to illustrate the screen with the loading bar ^^

                                                          Axios

                                                          This seems to be a problem with dells I pulled up lots info on it but no real fix.

                                                          Yeah, if one searches for "Latitude E6* stuck on boot logo" there are plenty of unresolved results.

                                                                [deleted] Sorry for confusing you with the E9420 ...

                                                                Whoops. Brain dead, me.

                                                                For @Rolts, this is the Dell Support page for the E6420 and this is the E6420 Service Manual. The diagnostic lights are on pages 141-143.

                                                                In general, the two models (E6420 and E9420) seem very similar in terms of construction and servicing, although components are somewhat different. I checked the diagnostic light sections of the two manuals (E6420 and E9420) and they are identical between the two models.

                                                                You might want to check and see if you get any error codes from the lights. That might help you identify a hardware issue, if one exists.