Some unfortunate Dell PC house owners have apparently run into bother with a recent BIOS replace issued by the producer which has induced some nasty boot failures in some reported instances.
Each desktop PCs and Dell laptops are affected, and that features Dell’s Latitude 5320 and 5520 notebooks, plus the Inspiron 5680, together with the Alienware Aurora R8 gaming PC.
The issue rears its head after upgrading to BIOS model 1.14.3 with the Latitude portables, or v2.8.0 on the Inspiron, and v1.0.18 with the Aurora R8. So when you’re mulling that improve proper now, iIt is likely to be a good suggestion to carry off.
As Bleeping Laptop (opens in new tab) makes clear, there are numerous studies (opens in new tab) of points on Reddit (opens in new tab) and a bunch on Dell’s (opens in new tab) personal neighborhood assist (opens in new tab) boards, with complaints of boot failure – or getting trapped in boot loops – or being caught at a black display.
One other consumer on Dell.com reported (opens in new tab) issues with failing to get up from sleep mode, with one reply on that thread stating: “I had this situation on my 5320 after updating to BIOS 1.14.3. With perseverance, the laptop computer would nonetheless activate and boot into Home windows (I didn’t take it aside for battery disconnect). However then the issue would begin once more as quickly because the laptop computer went to sleep.”
Others have reported a number of laptops failing as well, together with the Reddit thread above, and this one from Dell’s assist website (opens in new tab): “About half of our Latitude 5520s now not boot after having been up to date from BIOS 1.12.2 to 1.14.3. System gained’t activate. Solely life indicators are the three white LED flashes after resetting RTS clock by urgent down the Energy Button for 30ish seconds.”
Evaluation: This seems like a nasty one, however there may be an obvious workaround
This seems to be to be a nasty downside, though what number of customers it impacts, we don’t know – although the studies of a number of machines being hit from enterprise customers are, in fact, worrying.
There may be an obvious workaround as described on a number of of the above threads, particularly right here (opens in new tab) and right here (opens in new tab), which primarily entails eradicating and reconnecting the battery, booting after which downgrading to BIOS 1.13.0. We’ve got not tried following this – we don’t personal any of the doubtless affected machines anyway – so clearly when you do give this a whirl, you achieve this at your individual threat.
A safer choice is likely to be to attend for an official publish from Dell on the matter, and hopefully that’ll be forthcoming quickly – and perhaps a revised BIOS. Assuming you’ll be able to reside with out your {hardware} being operational within the meantime…
A moderator on Dell’s discussion board advised one affected particular person: “We’ve got obtained the required particulars. We are going to work in direction of a decision. Within the meantime, you may additionally obtain help or solutions from the neighborhood members.”
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