Precision 7820 refuses to proceed with BIOS update.

Forgot to mention that I searched this forum for "BIOS" & didn't see any applicable posts...

Hello,

what kind of monitor are you using ? A 4k monitor can cause quirks while updating, so using a normal FHD monitor would be preferable.

This said, personally I'm running an even older bios in my 7820, and I'm not planning to update it. Yes, there are security fixes ( that in some case cause performance loss ) but the 99% of the risks are for corporate usage where people can access the hardware locally.

@mazzinia_​ My display is a stock Dell U2722D display.  I thought about the display being a problem, but I was able to see all of the BIOS settings (including F12 Boot options -> BIOS Update...), it worked fine during the entire pre-boot assessment, & I was able to see all of the RAID (VOC) settings.

In your experience, do you think it's possible that I would be able to see all of the BIOS settings, but NOT be able to see the BIOS update process?

Thank you!!

Franko

I remember some people having issues simply because a monitor of that resolution was plugged when performing the bios update. There should be threads here

@fcbrants​ 

Good troubleshooting BTW.  The only thing not listed in your troubleshooting steps is download the BIOS .exe to a flash drive formatted to FAT32.  Then go into the Boot Menu and boot from the flash drive.

@bradthetechnut​ Thanks, I did try that method - it was listed as "3. F12 Boot Options -> BIOS Update."

Unfortunately, I did end up bricking the motherboard.  It went into a perpetual 3 second reboot loop.  I called Dell Refurbished & they're sending me a new motherboard.  

What's worse, I still don't know if the motherboard had a problem that was preventing the bios update from installing, or if it was unable to display its progress due to a video problem.  The Dell display went to sleep every time I rebooted to start the BIOS update process, so it did not see any signal coming from the video card.  The display never gave any alerts (signal out of range, etc.) that would indicate the card was providing any signal.

We'll see what happens when the new motherboard arrives, will update this post.

Thank you!!

Franko

Ok, I'm starting to believe something in Dell's BIOS update process is Definitely broken.  

Updates since my last post:

On the 7820 that refused to update the BIOS from 2.31.0: - the last time I tried (via F12 -> BIOS Update), I got the same result - blank screen & Very Slowly flashing Numlock light on keyboard.  I waited ~ 30 minutes, then powered it down & upon powering it back up again, it entered a VERY SHORT (like 3 seconds) Boot Loop - motherboard Bricked.

Dell Refurbished Support offered to send me a new motherboard, but it's ~ 3 weeks later & they still haven't found one (they're in short supply, I w o n d e r  why... lots of motherboards bricked during the BIOS update process, maybe??)

So, I found a replacement 7820 motherboard on on eBay - got it installed & on first boot, it (apparently) restarted the BIOS update process Previously initiated from within Windows 10.  The screen was blank & the Numlock light flashed on the keyboard.  I again waited ~ 30 minutes, but nothing happened (white power light, no display, flashing numlock light).

I powered it down, then got amber & white blink codes indicating the machine was in BIOS Recovery mode.  I followed the instructions (from Dell's web site) & Successfully performed BIOS recovery & the machine performed normally.

Undeterred, I purchased a 7920 from eBay.  Saga continues below...

The 7920 had a Very old version (1.3.3) of the BIOS installed & no hard drive, so I spent a lot of time in the BIOS / Pre-boot assessment / RAID setup, etc. making sure I never lost the display.

I then used the F12 BIOS update process to update from 1.3.3 to the next major revision, 2.0.4, after finding zero official guidance on updating a very outdated machine to the current version.

That update went smoothly.  I booted into BIOS setup & reset back to defaults & rebooted back into BIOS setup - everything was stable, normal boot into F2 & F12 prompts, then into BIOS setup or boot device selection.

Then I tried the F12 -> BIOS update process again to update to the current version (2.41.0).  I selected the new firmware, just as I had before & the machine rebooted, just as it had before on the first BIOS update from 1.3.3 to 2.0.4, but this time I was greeted by a blank screen (left it for an hour...) and a slowly blinking numlock key.  This is exactly where I was when I bricked the 7820 motherboard.

I'm going to hold at 2.0.4 until I get this figured out.  I do NOT want to brick the 7920's motherboard - they're not as plentiful on eBay as the 7820 MB's were, and the ones I've found are Expensive!!

Anybody have any idea what's going on here?

Thank you!!

Franko

I thought it might be possible to install the BIOS using the BIOS recover process documented here:

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132453/how-to-recover-the-bios-on-a-dell-computer-or-tablet

But that failed, as the machine refused to enter BIOS recovery mode (the same BIOS recovery mode that the 7820 had entered & successfully completed), so I tried the F12 -> BIOS Update feature & selected the renamed BIOS_IMG.rcv file & rebooted - I got the same results (no display, blinking numlock light, white steady power light) as before, so I held my breath & powered it down - same same process that bricked the 7820 MB.

Fortunately, it powered back up & I'm installing the OS.

I think I'm done playing Russian Roulette for a while...

Franko

As long as BIOS updates aren't being forced, I'd forget about them for a while.  There's the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Keep firmware updates unchecked in Optional Updates in Windows.  If BIOS updates are being forced, one of our other Rockstars, and probably not the only one, knows how to turn off forced updates in BIOS.

@bradthetechnut​ Normally I would agree, but many of the BIOS updates are "Critical" & some of the updates release before the current version mention "system stability", which I've heard (:-P) is a good thing :-).

Has anybody else run into these problems?

I've seen it on two different systems that take the same firmware...

Thank you!!

Franko

I'm having the same issue with a Precision 7820. (Service Tag <non-public info removed>) running a fully updated Windows 10 Pro.

This is necessary due to the Dell Client Security vulnerability Ref. DSA-2021-216, CVE-2021-36234

Current BIOS Version = 2.6.3

Update BIOS Version = 2.42.0

I've tried updating the BIOS from Command update,

By downloading the exe file and running it from windows (when logged in as the Administrator of course)

By downloading the file to a USB and running the update from the BIOS update utility.

In each case it looks like its going to flash normally, then the PC reboots ...... and then nothing happens, and it boots to the Windows login.

I've tried each method more than once and the results are the same.

Do I need to upgrade to a prior version before 2.42.0?

Any further suggestions gratefully received ?

I've since tried to install older versions of the BIOS ( 2.33.1 and 2.20.0 )  both from the Windows and using the BIOS update at boot from USB, but the results are the same.  The system restarts after the initial sequence .. then just skips the BIOS update and boots to Window login  as normal.

I managed to overcome this issue by first loading the next available BIOS update (2.8.1) from the one already installed using the older BIOS versions available from the drivers download page, and running the installation from within Windows.  Then I could install a more recent BIOS (I chose 2.22.0) before installing the latest (2.43.0)

Hope this helps anyone with the same issue.