I brought my XPS 15 9550’s hard disk back from the brink today. I hope this will help other affected XPS 15 9550 users or just Windows users in general.
The XPS 15 9550 was powered down as usual and on reboot would go directly from the Dell POST logo to the Dell diagnostic software (Enhanced Pre-Boot System Assessment). That’s not a good sign.
After running through common diagnostic steps with Dell Support a new hard drive was ordered and installation scheduled for the following day (unit was covered under a Next Business Day support contract). As Dell Support put it the hard disk was dead without any chance of recovery… or was there? 😉
Here’s how to recover your Windows instance in the case where the hard disk hardware is still being detected and simply has no UEFI boot entries:
- Open BIOS Setup by powering up the XPS 15 and tapping F12
- Open the Settings > General > Boot Sequence screen
- Ensure that UEFI is selected under Boot List Option
- Click Add Boot Option
- Provide a Boot Order Name (it can be anything, I used
Bootx64) - Select the available File System List
- Set the File Name to:
\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efior click the ‘…’ button and expand the EFI > Boot directory and select bootx64.efi before pressing OK - Click OK to create the new EFI boot entry
- Select the new EFI boot entry
- Click Apply
- Click Exit
Fingers crossed! That’s it, I hope you’re back up and running again. 🙂
Thank you much! You saved me a lot of money for fixing it.
Glad it helped, it hasn’t happened in a long time (maybe once a year or so?) but it’s nice to have a reference when it does!