Laptop won't restart but shuts down ok

[Bmi-fan]

Never seen this one before:

Dell Latitude E5550 laptop with docking slot. Suddenly started to hang up when doing a Restart - it powers right down but won't trip over and reboot (power LED remains illuminated and fan still turning). Only way to get it out of this state is to hard power-off by holding the power button for 5 secs.

Bizarrely, it shuts down completely without any problems when a Shut Down is commanded.

Think it is related to a BIOS issue - there is a critical BIOS update available from Dell Support but updating the BIOS requires a Restart! Have tried installing the BIOS update, letting it restart automatically as part of the process and the hard powering it off when it hangs up. Unfortunately this rolls-back the BIOS update.

Anyone have any ideas what else to try?

[FlightDetent]

Had a similar one and resolved it after VERY long time, with a clean install of W10.

Intel Management Engine the biggest suspect. Similar behaviour seen on Lenovo (my case) and HPs.

An advice from a pro (which I am not): return it and let their support deal with it. I wish I had done so.

[Bmi-fan]

Had a similar one and resolved it after VERY long time, with a clean install of W10.

Intel Management Engine the biggest suspect. Similar behaviour seen on Lenovo (my case) and HPs.

An advice from a pro (which I am not): return it and let their support deal with it. I wish I had done so.
Thanks FD but it's out of warranty and already tried a fresh install of W10 without success

[Blues&twos]

Found this on a trawl of the internet for similar W10 problems. You might have tried this already. (I've deleted the first two steos which just explained howto open Control Panel!). These are not my instructions, apologies if this doesn't address your problem.

3) In Control Panel click on "System and Security"

4) Click on "Power Options"

5) Click on "Choose what the power buttons do" in left panel

6) Click on "Change settings that are currently unavailable".

7) Under "Shut-down settings" un-check "Sleep" and "Hibernate".
Also un-check "Turn on fast startup".

8) Click "Save Changes" and close the Control Panel.

9) Shut down your computer completely.

10) Power on again until you have Windows.

11) Do a typical Restart from Windows.
Windows should now restart normally.

12) Under most circumstances, Fast Startup can be re-enabled after 3 successful restarts (I did 5 to be sure), and your PC should restart successfully from that time on.

[jimjim1]

You could try enabling boot logging. This might shed light on the issue. It might not be getting that far but if it is you might find out what is going on.

I forget it all now but a bit of googling ...

[Bmi-fan]

You could try enabling boot logging. This might shed light on the issue. It might not be getting that far but if it is you might find out what is going on.

I forget it all now but a bit of googling ...

jimjim many thanks, sorted!

I don't know how, but simply enabling boot logging and restarting cured the problem! Tested it with boot logging once-again disabled and it's continuing to restart succesfully. Thanks again

[jimjim1]

I don't know how, but simply enabling boot logging and restarting cured the problem!

That was lucky.

Thanks for report.

[Mac the Knife]

Opening the back (if you can) and blowing all the dandruff/dust/cat-fur out of the inside and fans helps a lot in this sort of situation.

Mac