Precision M6700 randomly boots to a white screen

[gordonthulu]

Specs:
Dell Precision M6700
Intel i7-3740QM @ 2.7GHz
16GB of RAM (4x4GB)
LITEONIT LCS-256M6S SSD
nVidia Quadro K3000M

Symptoms:
I have a user who has presented his Dell Precision M6700 workstation booting to a white screen. While the screen is white, the caps lock key will respond but no key presses seem to take it past this white screen.

Repairs so far:
At first I thought it was a system board problem so I replaced the system board. Ran ePSA, no errors detected. After doing that, I was able to boot into the system, get past PGP, log into Windows but immediately after the welcome screen the screen would rapidly flash all sorts of solid colors.

I replaced the system board again and was able to boot, get past PGP, log into windows and everything seemed fine. I returned the asset to the user Tuesday, today he brings it to me again with the white screen. I powered down the unit and restarted it: white screen. Powered down the unit, removed the battery, and pressed the power button for 20 seconds, reinserted battery and powered on system: boots just fine. I've upgraded the BIOS from A11 to A15 (released 9/9/15) and ran the ePSA again, no errors detected. I have no been able to replicate the white screen since removing the battery.

What caused the white screen and does the community believe it will happen again?

edit: Also just updated SSD firmware from 8110D to 8110E using package from Dell support site.

 

[viveknayyar007]

Hello gordonthulu

It looks like the computer needed a hard reset which you gave to it by pressing down and holding the Power button without having the battery in the laptop.

Many times issues related to non-booting computer, PC getting stuck at the vendor's logo, etc. can be resolved by doing a hard reset. In some advanced errors, even clearing the CMOS also helps in rectifying the problem.

Cheers!!

 

[gordonthulu]

Unfortunately the user has returned this asset today (Monday, 9/14) and now it won't power on at all. No lights, no response, nothing. Any ideas?