Hi,
 
I have a Dell XPS 8700 that no longer defaults to the hard drive for booting.  It comes up in a black screen saying it is looking for media to boot.
 
I have replaced the battery on the motherboard thinking that might be the problem.  It isn't.
 
I can get around this by once powering on, I go into Setup, and get into the BIOS.  I don't have to change anything, just save and exit.  Apparently it retains the boot sequence and then boots normally from the hard drive.
 
Any suggestions?
 
Thanks,
Duck

There are a number of things that could cause this.  Rather than try and list them, these reports from others who've had the same issue might be of some help:
 
https://www.google.com/search?q=won%27t+boot+unless+I+bios&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
 

>I have replaced the battery on the motherboard thinking that might be the problem. 
If your battery died your bios settings got set back to their default values including the system date/time.
Go into bios and see if it recognizes your hard drive(s). 
It could just be a case that the bios settings for the hard drive are wrong.
Good luck!
Google is a good source of info and you'll get answers faster than responses on a forum.

F2, on most Dell's, at power one, will get you to the "Setup" (BIOS).
 

Do you have any USB drives attached (including Flash drive)?
If so, the BIOS is giving that device boot priority.
Thus, when it's looking for an OS... it won't find one.
Power down the USB drive while booting (or remote the flash drive when booting).
Once you're in Windows, power-up (or reconnect) the USB drive.

Dude, you bought a Dell?
 
I'm sorry.  I'll keep quiet.

I see reports of Dell's being used for DAW work on recording forums and they are not "problem" reports.  Dell's are as good as any other commercial brand PC (and even better than some).  I do some PC support and have clients with various brands, including Dell's, and they perform and are as reliable as the other brands.

fireberd
I see reports of Dell's being used for DAW work on recording forums and they are not "problem" reports.  Dell's are as good as any other commercial brand PC (and even better than some).  I do some PC support and have clients with various brands, including Dell's, and they perform and are as reliable as the other brands.

I'm biased.  Disregard me.  I make custom builds but I understand the benefits and coverage of an OEM manufacterer like Dell.  HP has better support, though.  I've had quite the experience with broken English and Dell respresentatives.  None of that usually with HP.  But the catch is you're calling HP a lot more frequently.  Their builds are cheap and their solder has a low melting point.  I've had to call them up on a blinking caps lock of death numorous times.  Dell never had those issues.  My XPS 8900 desktop machine was nice.

My "still smells new" XPS8900 is a dream machine for me.
 
I used to spec/build, build from bare bones, etc.  This time I went for Costco deal after visiting a location and opening one up to what was inside.
 
If I was a pro, Jim would be building mine.  But I'm not.

Aloha.. My XPS 8700 from Costco had similar problem, wouldn't boot... Dell and Costco support both agreed I needed a new motherboard, Costco honored there 2 yr. warranty , sent it in got it back works like a charm... good luck...