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Dell's long-awaited entry into the ultrabook category, the 2012 XPS 13 L321X.

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Black screen on start. How to reset BIOS.

Im stuck with black screen after booting. The keyboard lights and the front LED are on, nothing else.

Powering on the laptop with pressing D starts the display test and it works so it is not a display issue.

Let me explain how i got here.

I have been using the laptop with ubuntu 19.10 booting in legacy mode. After the newest update and a reboot i got only in minimal grub. I was trying to repair grub and switched from legacy to UEFI which got me to a black screen, keyboard lights on and a 4 beeps signal that kept on repeating.

Next i unplugged all peripherals and AC, opened the laptop removed the CMOS battery and the battery. Pressed the power button for 30sec, put everything back in order and tried to boot it. This time still black screen, keyboard lights on, but no beeping this time.

Next i tired to flash the BIOS, following the solution here:

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-G...

I can see that the laptop boots and starts to read the flash drive but then nothing happens and the white LED keeps on blinking still black screen.

Tied many many times to flash from the usb drive and waited for hours but nothing happens. The led on the usb flashes in the beginning while keyboard lights are on as well as the front indicator led. Then the light of the usb goes off and the indicator led on the front of the laptop flashes.

Is there another way to reset the NVRAM??

Any other ideas i could try? Apart from this the laptop has been stellar and would love to keep it.

Thanks.

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Hi,

Try the following to reset the BIOS to factory default settings in case it has become corrupted for some reason:

Turn off the laptop (if on)

Switch off and disconnect the charger to the laptop. (if connected)

Disconnect the main battery from the systemboard. You don’t have to remove the battery just disconnect it.

Here’s a link to the owner manual for the laptop, taken from this webpage. Scroll to p.17 to view the necessary pre-requisite steps and then the procedure to disconnect the main battery.

Remove the coin cell battery from the systemboard. Note the orientation of the battery (usually +ve is on top) for when you go to reinsert it. Scroll to p.49 to find where the coin cell battery is located on the systemboard. While the battery is out check its’ voltage. It should be 3V DC. If it is <2.6V DC replace it. The battery type number should be on the battery. This is a non rechargeable battery and only lasts 5-7 years.

Press and hold the laptop’s Power On button for 10-15 seconds to dissipate any remaining charge in the systemboard and to reset the BIOS to default

Reverse the above procedure to re-assemble the laptop.

Once the laptop has been re-assembled try to start it in the normal way and check what happens.

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2 Comments:

Hey man i have tried this multiple times and it still doest work. Any advice what else i can do, The display works when i press power + D, and the keyboard turns on and teh fan spin for a split sec really fast and then all off again. I have tried everything, I really eant it to start without losing any data, can you please help me, kinds desperate for my data and stuff, I have bought another latest model and everything is fine with this one. I have also ordered a CMOS battry to see if thats the problem. Might to take to bestbuy but tehy are pretty uselss tbh...

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@muzzammilnawab

Even if it doesn't start your data is easily recoverable.

You simply remove the SSD or HDD from the laptop and insert it into a desktop PC or a caddy and connect it to another computer and get your data that way.

There are plenty of video on YouTube that show how to recover data from a dead laptop

The only problem with retrieving it as shown linked above could be IF your laptop has eMMC storage instead of a HDD or SSD as this is hard mounted on the motherboard and is non removable

What is the make and model number of the laptop?

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