Alienware 15R2/17R3 BIOS 1.6.1

I just ran the bios exe file once, nothing weird happened during the installation. So far everything has been stable and all is good.

 

Hi @Klk450
Tanks for clarifying! Mine is also stabile with no hiccups. Seems to be a good bios and I feel that the computer is a bit snappier than with 1.4.4

 

Do you have a TPM driver bug when you switch between Legacy and EFI.

 

I have not tested, and I probably wont since this is the computer I use at work. But the bios update went trough with no issues and the bios update screen showed the progress bars as expected.
Is it reported that 1.6.1 have the TPM driver bug? I have yet to experience this on my AW even on bios 1.4.4.
My predictions is that the TPM driver bug is not affected if the 1.4.4 bios updated successfully. Meaning that the computer works as normal and you are not facing the shutdown, AW command center and Intel ME driver issues.

 

Hi, I'm running BIOS 1.4.4 and sometimes PC freezes or it takes minutes to boot.
Using UEFI BIOS Updater https://www.win-raid.com/t154f16-Tool-Guide-News-quot-UEFI-BIOS-Updater-quot-UBU.html I notice that nothing was update except the Microcode





Using UBU is possible to update the different disk controller, do you think is a good idea to update them?
Then it would be possible to update the Bios?

 

Still trying, I tried flashing with updated RAID controller,network firmware,microcodes etc.. but failed. It says Secure flash failed when trying to flash. We need secure signature signed by AMI/Dell server for the BIOS to work. Microcode can be updated w/o triggering that damn message.

 

@Vasudev @Papusan @judal57 they have pulled out the 1.6.1 Bios, some people having issues with long reboot times, and some have issues with PCIE nvme drivers.. i did not expect this from dell, 1month of internal testing, yet they do this like.. lets see whats next..

https://www.dell.com/support/conten...base/software-and-downloads/L1-terminal-fault

Terminal Fault Intel CPU's are getting trashed.. and dell is buying them in cheap prices
:0

 

Thanks for updating us.. keep it up..

 

Hmm... I do not have any of the problems that is reported. I hope it continues that way. I expect a new BIOS again. Meanwhile I think it is safe to stay on 1.6.1 if everything is acting like normal. That said I was on 1.4.4 with no problems. What do you think @VICKYGAMEBOY ?

 

Since they pulled 1.6.1 I guess I won't worry about the ME firmware not getting updated...

My big concern is they are going to put these systems at the bottom of the list of ones to be updated because of all the headaches... Which basically means no "real" support...

I honestly will not buy another Dell until they support these systems properly. Gotta figure there are a whole lot of people thinking the same thing. Time for them to step up and spend money on properly supporting what they sell. Dell, along with a lot of other companies, have had it pretty damn easy support wise over the years. Intel was a solid choice with little issues, but now with all of these problems they are all being put to the test and those that do right by their customers will have more brand loyalty going forward. Burn things because of greed (and all of these issues all require more investment in the support side of things, obviously) and reap what you sow.

 

Just downloaded 1.6.1 yesterday and this happens. I hate to update ucodes every damn month for new exploit. Intel might as well offer us full refund on their affected chipsets and call it a day. It was simply better for Intel to say switch to AMD.
That bug Dell's saying is due to Windows 10 Spectre protection.

 

And then the 1.6.1 is on the driver page again just one day after it got pulled.... everything seems the same as the one before.
https://www.dell.com/support/home/no/no/nobsdt1/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=P8JNN

 

Hi,

Just updated to 1.6.1.. updated smoothly but despite reinstalling all the drivers mentioned in this thread and running the bios again 3 times (I have warranty until 2021 ) i'm still stuck on the old v 11.0 Intel M.E. (Which is vulnerable).

I'm at a loss what to do about it.

 

I am in the same situation, my ME did not update as well. If you find a viable solution from Dell, please let us know.

 

1.3.12 is better

 

its not the same, they removed one of the speculative fix.. CVE.. and reuploaded

 

its a mess right now.. more like cyberwarfare.. lets wait for apollo lake, ice lake and see if they change this core arch..

 

I'll try my luck at AMD laptops/HEDTs. Thanks Intel for the heads up!

 

You can recover to 1.3.12 Dell version and then upgrade to 1.3.12 version I gave you with C6 microcode.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY
Thanks for letting us know.
Have you flashed the new 1.6.1 bios?
Tempted to do it but I am not sure.

Edit: they reuploaded again with new description: 1. Updated Intel ME Firmware to address security advisory INTEL-SA-00118(CVE-2018-3627)
2. Updated CPU microcode to address security advisory Intel Security Advisory INTEL-SA-00115 (CVE-2018-3639 & CVE-2018-3640)

Isn't this the same as the first one that got pulled?

 

I'm still on 1.3.12 with latest ME and Microcodes.

 

at this point im afraid to flash anything. Yes now they updated the descritption.. so most probably its the same one.. lets see.. and the ETA for skylake systems is around december.. for the new BIOS..

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY
Thanks for clarefying. Then I stay on the first 1.6.1 that was released since I don't have any problems and the updated Intel ME and micro code.

You should think that they renamed the bios version, not just removing/adding and then reupload. The file size and filename is identical for both.

 

i just reflashed for u guys.. i found out its the same, but for some reason it flashed INTEL ME firmware again.. versions are identical tho.. lets see.. might do some CB / gaming test this weekend..

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY
Thanks for testing it out and confirm that it is the same one. Then I would think it's not necessary to do a reflash. What do you recommend?

 

Check the file hashes of older and newly downloaded files; If they're same, don't flash. Otherwise give it a go.

 

Well, I finally decided to open up the bottom of my 17r3 and did the CLRP1 short and then flashed the 1.6.1 BIOS once more.

This time it updated the ME firmware to 11.8, Build 3510, Hot Fix 55.

I will say I did the flash twice (per the apps recommendation) and I did notice that during the Intel ME Firmware update phase it acted differently between the first and second flash. The first flash was stuck on 0% for a good 3-5 seconds and slowly started to ramp up and then quickly finished (more like a logarithmic progression), where-as the second flash was a consistent steady pace like the rest of the flash.

So, I do believe when the app asks you to run it twice, I do expect they mean for you to do the flash twice to verify and make sure it flashes properly. That may be where some peoples problems are coming from. Just a guess, but it is obvious that two different kind of flashes happened between the first and second time I ran the update.

 

Glad it updated correctly this time.
Regarding the double flashing, I belive this is related to confirm if the ME Firmware updates. This is more to if the 1.4.4 did not updated correctly I belive, or if you came from a previous BIOS . In my case the ME firmware updated correctly during the first flash and therefore a second flash is not needed or recommended by dell.

 

@Vasudev
Did it using igorware hasher and it is the same. So no reflash for me.

Name: Alienware_15R2_17R3_1.6.1.EXE (16 Aug 2018)

Date: 16.08.2018

Size: 8 MB (9,240,432 bytes)

--------

SHA-1: b4933cfefbc51a7df68c1969e25fd9f4638a385f

MD5: d17229514e1ee81b525d0b736347ad17

CRC32: 3d59f501


Name: Alienware_15R2_17R3_1.6.1.EXE (30 juli 2018)

Date: 31.07.2018

Size: 8 MB (9,240,432 bytes)

--------

SHA-1: b4933cfefbc51a7df68c1969e25fd9f4638a385f

MD5: d17229514e1ee81b525d0b736347ad17

CRC32: 3d59f501​

 

ThomasAAT, actually, I did verify it and they do expect you to flash it twice. The problem is with the fact that the ME flashing is unverifiable (ie, the auto-recover part of the BIOS does not cover the ME firmware portion, so if it mis-flashes due to a single bit error there is no reversion), so a second flash basically just "makes sure" it fully flashes and is functional. I was told there is two (and sometimes three) component firmwares (outside of the BIOS itself) that are flashed as part of BIOS updates. It is an error in those firmwares that end up causing all the headaches.

So, yeah, you may "think" everything is fine, but a reflash of an existing firmware is just a failsafe (ie, it takes care of more than 2/3rds of the "faults" people experience after a BIOS upgrade).

If yours is working perfect, then great. But to recommend others not follow the proscribed process (ie, double flash, running the update twice per the update instructions it posts when it is run the first time) is foolhardy.

 

@95TA
I was told not to run the bios update twice if the first one was successful by a alienware moderator (Alienware-Eimy) in this tread: https://www.dell.com/community/Alie...-17-r3-Bios-1-6-1-got-pulled-out/td-p/6135134

As you can see, they only recommend flashing it twice if you get problems after the first.

 

Honestly, no use running BIOS update twice since it flashes everything in Recovery capsule mode after executing.
If it works w/o any issues then its okay to stick with it. What we're getting is maintenance releases of BIOS and not feature enhancement since 1.3.12 has been updated with IRST ROMS and RAID roms.

 

Exactly my point, with some additional info

This made me think.. if you updated from a BIOS previous 1.3.12 (ex from 1.3.9) and up to 1.4.4/1.6.1 that could leave to the problems we are seeing?

This because 1.3.12 has been updated with IRST ROMS and RAID roms... hmm.
Enhancements:
1. Update Intel microcode
2. Update RAID Option ROM
3. Update Intel GOP and VBIOS
4. Improve user experience of Alienware Command Center
5. Security enhancement

 

I updated to BIOS version 1.3.9 to 1.3.10 to 1.3.12 and all of these versions worked fine. For me all the problems started with the flash to BIOS 1.44.

 

Well first and foremost I think we can all agree that Dell is (and has been since December) in panic mode in regards to support, so the normal iterative cycle of improvements is gone until vulnerabilities are either a) fixed or enough time has passed that they have restructured so as to have a specific department that deals with vulnerability mitigation on a corporate wide level, or b) they give up on older models because they have delayed long enough to End Of Life them.

In any case the whole idea of new BIOSes being released with new features/options as enhancements for non-current generation products is a lost cause.

We will be lucky to get BIOS updates to fix vulnerabilities without killing the performance of our machines. Anything else is unrealistic.

 

I recently acquired a broke 17 R3 and fixed it (DC in cable was burnt on mobo, battery was dead, refused to work).

This was a common issues due to the "express charge" feature or some such. It works great now after those two things were replaced.

It is on BIOS 1.2.3 (11/11/2015), having seen the cancerous BIOS issues earlier this year, is it even worth flashing(taking the risk) the BIOS????? I think I will just disable "express charge" now... I care nothing for the security updates, its just secondary laptop for traveling.

This is a fairly high end laptop, and it would sure be a shame to brick a 6820HK mobo. doubt id get another. I paid $400 for the laptop.

 

Hi, The dc cable burnt problem was due to bad bios.. They fixed it with the recent one.. I suggest update bios 1 by 1 until you reach bios 1.3.12 as that is the best bios as of the moment without issues.. The only problem with that is the microcode is not updated for the spectre intel vulnerabilities.. @Vasudev was able to update intel micro code and Intel MEI while still in bios 1.3.12.. Try asking him.. If you don't want to update too far my suggestion is go to bios 1.3.6.. Hope this helps..

 

Thanks! I updated 1 at a time via USB in BIOS and did successfully update to 1.3.12.

Good info, + reps.

 

So i've been having problems with my 15 R2 ever since it updated the BIOS its self to 1.4.4 through support assist (even though the update had been pulled at the time by dell!). So i managed to get it back to 1.3.12 but now it won't shut off still when I shut down! and I have to force the update to 1.6.1 but that doesn't solve the shut down issue and with the latest one I get a long boot time! I've emailed Dell but they just ignore me! any ideas or is my Mobo toast?

 

Don't really what caused it. On my sister's Lenovo she can't restart the PC, restarting puts the PC into boot loop. I think Win 10 upgrade messed it, but Linux behaves the same way, so I reckon mostly likely hardware issue.
Try BIOS recovery on USB stick and see if reset to defaults or downgrade BIOS to 1.3.12 helps or not!

 

Yeah I am currently back on 1.3.12 but I still have the issue where it won't shut down or restart. at the time I held off installing the latest windows update incase it restarted and couldn't reboot but then windows took the decision out of my hands and installed the update without my consent! luckily it worked though

 

Is Fast boot turned off?

 

Yes

 

What behavior have to set in power options when you hit power button? Sleep,Do nothing or Shutdown?

 

set to shutdown

 

I'm out of ideas.

 

@dsmclark @Vasudev just wanted to ask.. for those who had shutting down problem caused/started from bios update 1.4.4 has anyone ever tried doing a clean install windows 10? Thinking might be a software issued caused by bios update and can be fixed by doing a proper clean install..

 

These days OS related issues are very minimal unless the OS/virus wrecks it. Usually, when a problems its mostly HW related and SW related issues are minimal unless its GPU drivers/firmware. I think Power button has a issue, since ACPI 5.x and above the power button depress for a certain time can perform different functions set by users. ACPI allows that.

 

ok. got it.

 

I had this issue directly after a bios flash. It was the first Bios with protections enabled. My laptop would take 2 minutes to start and on shut-down keyboard lights stayed on. I had to manually press start button to shut down. I tried re-flashing all Bioses, re-installing Windows to no end, resetting the machine by shorting or power draining etc. I contacted Dell about it and they know this issue exists with Bios flashes.

After 2 weeks of troubleshooting with them over support-ticket chat I had motherboard exchanged. The day technician came to my place, 2 hours before his arrival, Nvidia simply disappeared from Device manager. I think this all was caused by multiple hard shut downs a day as I tried to troubleshoot the problem. Since motherboard change I had no problems, but I am definitely extending my warranty only because of this has happened.

This is not really a solution to your problem but I still believe that you will get something out of this information.