Dell XPS 13 9310 does not boot up; corrupted BIOS

Maybe you did not use the recovery image file type.  This is the latest BIOS firmware page from Dell support site for your system  https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=4rh79&oscode=wt64a&productcode=xps-13-9310-laptop

Scroll down and download the BIOS_IMG.rcv file and use it instead of the .exe file.

@Chino de Oro​ , thank you for the feedback. I tried that too. First I confirmed my flash drive was formatted as FAT32. I then copied the BIOS_IMG.rcv to the flash drive. With Ctrl+Esc held down, I plugged the laptop in which turned it on. Still get the 3,3 error code saying recovery image not found. I don't know if there are specific USB flash drive requirements. Capacity? Vendor?

It's definitely sensitive to the flash drive. I tried a different flash drive vendor/capacity and it behaved completely differently. The light on the flash drive lit up during the startup sequence so I knew it was trying to read it. After a few seconds, the lights went off on the laptop, then a few seconds later, back on. This repeated a few times (i.e. rebooting) until it eventually came up with the 3,6 error code (System BIOS Flash incomplete).

It's getting close. Just unsure what to try next. Appreciate any advice. Thank you.

Besides the flash drive, the timing of introducing power while holding Ctrl + Esc key does affect the process.  Choose the flash drive with small capacity, preferably 32 GB or less (8 GB worked well for me).  Format the flash drive with FAT32 before copy the BIOS recovery image file to it.

Sometimes, it does not work right at the first try, you may need to repeat the process of holding combination Ctrl + Esc key while plug in the power adapter until it could trigger the recovery menu.

@mikegbt is your 9310 still working after the recovery? Some reported the bios will die again soon after indicating a deeper issue.

@Chino de Oro​ i've called Dell with this issue and was told i have hardware issue since  my usb is not recognised when trying to boot using pf12 or cntr/escape. i find it difficult to believe since my laptop was working fine until windows update, which appears to have corrupted BIOS. i've tried several usbs and also usbc and i am unable to get to bios recovery. is there any other tricks i can try? i have downloaded the bios file. but unable to get to recovery, thank u!

@zeusthegreatest1 , your XPS 9310 also support BIOS Recovery 3, which is an improvement over BIOS Recovery 2.  If you are having issue with USB not recognized, you can run with recovery image partition on system drive.  Review information about BIOS recovery process and take note of what works and what not.

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

@Chino de Oro​ thank u! i did see the article but i do not understand how to execute BIOS Recovery 3, are you able to advise? and why did dell not try when i called them? they only tried pf12 on power startup and determined its bios hardware issue since we could not get to bios. i am not convinced its a hardware issue but i am not clear what else i can try. help please and thank u!

BIOS Recovery 3 is an option, not a process.  The main different is with the option, if auto recovery on boot was enabled in BIOS settings, your system would perform BIOS recovery automatically at boot when it detects fault, corrupted BIOS.  If auto recovery was not enabled, users can perform BR2 using image from hard drive or USB.

Just want to point that out.  If you have determined that your system BIOS is corrupt and you could not perform recovery using USB, you can try the same process without a USB and the system will use hard drive image instead.

The OP has had specific error codes pointing to corrupted BIOS issue.  Your issue is guess work from symptom.  I suggest that you may want to create your own thread.  That will gain more attention than burry your questions in a solved thread.

@zeusthegreatest1 

try removing the ssd which may allow you to access the bios and then you can choose from bios to reflash from usb

there is an issue where the failed bios will not post when the nvme drive is in the machine. 

@TheOwnerTreatedMe​, to answer your question, since I fixed the laptop in August 2024, it failed a few months later and I had to reflash the BIOS. Since then, it's running fine. Fingers crossed...