Dell G15 5520 WIndows 11 - Unable to update BIOS. Every method is broken.

Before trying a firmware update:

Unplug the system, remove the base cover and disconnect the battery from the mainboard.  Hold the power button for 30 sec.  Then reconnect the battery and base cover, start and check again.  That may solve the problem. 

If it does not,

Next, remove the drivers for the nVidia GPU completely and restart the system.  Reinstall the nVidia driver.

If that doesn't help, try manually downloading the firmware update and installing it outside of Support Assist.  

Contact Dell GHN (Get Help Now) chat technical support Monday through Friday. Click the blue "Get Help Now" on the right to start a private live chat session. Share the private Service Tag with them so that they can verify the ownership and warranty status. This will also generate a unique Technical Support case for your unique Service Tag. If already out of warranty, click here for the Dell out of warranty offerings.

With the unit freezing at the F12 menu, I am leaning a bit more hardware. That said, you could try out a BIOS recovery with this article here. Now this is typically used in instances of a corrupted BIOS or failures in post. I'd start off with the hard drive recovery first. You should likely have this present if you have the original SSD installed and have not reinstalled Windows in the past. It will reflash the currently installed version of 1.35.0. Ideally you'll then be able to do 1.39.0 normally in the OS afterwards. Should you need to attempt the manual recovery with USB media, then I'd just grab 1.39.0 from the start. I'd also back up any data beforehand as well.

Hi

Did you read thru this .....

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=ntnhk&oscode=w2021&productcode=g-series-15-5520-laptop

Especially this part .........

Note 1: Before updating the BIOS, ensure that you suspend BitLocker encryption on a BitLocker-enabled system. If BitLocker is not enabled on your system, you can ignore this step. For information about how to disable BitLocker, see How to Enable or Disable BitLocker with TPM in Windows at support.dell.com.

Note 2: Do not turn off power or interrupt the BIOS update process during the update.

Note 3: Your system requires a restart after installing the BIOS. The restart can be deferred but must be completed to ensure that the update is installed.

NB: There is a recovery BIOS file which I suggest you download and keep handy on a USB, just in case ???? happens.

You don't want a new firmware/BIOS at this stage. I believe you have a failed BIOS update, initiated by Windows Update; the cause of the update may be the GPU or the GPU may have been affected by the attempted BIOS update.

In any case my additions to what the other replyers have said - all good - are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3u6YjYVGaM

However:

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/how-to-prevent-windows-update-from-updating-your-bios/647f9de8f4ccf8a8de267068?commentId=647f9df3f4ccf8a8de2729b4

Let me know if you don't have the Capsule Firmware option.

This may be a hardware and/or a software cause. It is likely that the BIOS and your GPU errors are related. I would concentrate on your GPU (Video/Graphics Card) first; if you mess with your BIOS when your GPU has issues you could end up with no computer at all.

After doing the disabling there are some software installs I would uninstall. Post back. 

@Maxd1​ @ejn63  @DELL-Daniel V @anne_droid 

Thank you all you all for your help so far. 

So after I disabled Capsule Firmware and Windows Update as Maxd1 suggested, I did the BIOS recovery that Daniel V suggested and now the firmware no longer appears broken in the device manager.

The GPU on the other hand still appears non-functional unfortunately. I did try my hand at reinstalling the GPU drivers before I did the BIOS stuff but It didn't solve the problem.

I didn't try to disconnect the battery yet, I'll try it later, I did read about this working in some other place so it might be worth a try.

What does your System Information say 'under' "BIOS Version/Date ?

How to: (Winkey + R) and enter msinfo32

Does your BIOS say the same version ? 

If all good, eg 1.39 in both locations I would attempt to uninstall Dell Support Assist and the Firmware Update Utility and then re-start computer. You could use Revo Uninstaller but it is probably not necessary.

Over

PS Be slow to attempting the re-set unless you're experienced 'under the hood'. I would fully (ie check the box this time) uninstall the video driver c/w re-start; then install the Critical video driver update - download it first. 

fyi, You can do a partial re-set (that is > without removing the battery. 

I found manually installing the UEFI on my assorted machines manually seems to work as the Support Assistant tool has many issues including glacial performance.