**Dell XPS 17 (L702x) - DO NOT FLASH to BIOS A14 - (Updated 1/5 - see post 1)**

Bios A16 on Dell site.

1.Update BIOS and EC to fix AC adapter can't be detected with probability. -Add re-try mechanism between EC and adapter PSID.(Re-try 3 times every 500ms to extend detection time for Adapter plug-in)
2.Disable Div2 spread spectrum for error or failed to copy files from external USB 3.0 devices.

 

Hi,

Does the bios have any issues? I usually install updates as soon as they come out, but after the issues with last dells bios i'm a bit reluctant

 

Yes, there was reported an issue in this thread, but for me it works stable, same as all the previous bios I had - A10, A11, A12, A14 and A16

 

tbh I'm kinda worried that a16 is geared towards the new hardware revision (with the gf116) so am likely just going to stick with A12 to avoid any possible conflicts

 

thanks for your replies. I will stick with A12 too for now.

This is my 1st dell laptop, and honestly I don't like the way they deal with this (disappearing older versions, incompatibilities). I guess i'll have to wait a month or so and see where it goes. If anyone with A12 and the old revision decides to upgrade, please let me know

 

Does the A12 allow for 2 8GB RAM with the non-3D screen? I guess I'm trying to figure out at what BIOS update this because doable.

 

hey iv readed the bios is UEFI capable, and so does hwinfo says


View image: Untitled

so why hasnt been enabled ? or do i need something ot enable it ?, its also raid capable but i cant find anything about it in bios why ?

 

Hi Bill, I got a xps 17 with a14 and tried everything to flash back to a12, but the error i get is: an unexpected error occurred while running the flash application. please reboot and try again. if the error continues, please contact technical help. application error return: 0x00000207
i googled the error, and they say it is related to the system not recognizing the battery, i deleted the "dellbios" folder in the registry as they say, but still get this error.
I'm unalbe to install any version of nvidia (from dell or nvidia) driver updates on my system. My computer works but most older apps use the intel graphcs instead the nvidia geforce 550m.
can the a12 be installed using a bootable usb with dos? or is it a winap?
Please help me on this.
thanks

 

Ok, I resolved the issue. The problem related to updating the nvidia drivers on dell xps 17 with geforce 550m was my issue from the beginning. Some games wouldn't detect xps original driver, thus running on the intel graphics one, which results in bad gaming experience.
Now, I wasn't able to step back to former bios versions like a11 or a12, I'm stuck with A14, but I was able to advance to a16 with no problems. But that didn't change anything. All dell or nvidia drivers where denied cause of "No compatible hardware detected".
But there is a simple workaround to make nvidia driver 290.36 (get it here NVIDIA DRIVERS 290.36 BETA) work. Just download the driver, install it. Now download nvam.inf.txt at http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...nvidia-will-update-time-goes.html#post8160266.
Paste nvam.inf.txt into C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\290.36\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver, rename the original, then rename nvam.inf.txt to nvam.inf
Start the driver setup, it works. The only thing is that you'll get a windows complant about "Can't verify driver origin", but just click on "install anyways" and your done.
Works like a charm on gta 4 and fsx, increased framerate enormeously.
My problem was that the original Nvidia driver shipped with the system didn't get detected at all by the older games. In the settings of FSX it stated "Intel Graphics", thus I only got quite low performance.
Enjoy

 

is theere any ocing for this gt555m ?

 

Yeah, there's a whole thread about it ( link).

 

A16 flash package does not work (L702XA16.exe).


The Winflash utility pops up and over this window appears another message:


Please select a correct BIOS image!

... which is found nowhere.

Besides, searching for driver and bios updates by Service Tag does not list the new A16 bios; I have to select "All files" to get the A16 listed.

Why???? What's going on?

 

I just flashed my L702X to BIOS version 16 last night with some trepidation...my laptop was delivered with BIOS version 14, and it was working okay (aside from some problems with the touch pad and occasionally getting the "power supply is not recognized" message at bootup). However, when I went to the Dell web site to look for a new touchpad driver, all I saw was BIOS versions 11 and 16. I figured there was a message there, and downloaded the version 16 update.

Flashed fine, and my laptop seems to be working great, no new problems, and haven't seen the "power supply is not recognized" boot message or had touchpad problems yet. And the fan sounds normal, etc.

Interestingly enough, when I got the computer (refurbished), it was pretty unstable, and would hang occasionally. I updated several of the drivers from the Dell web site and that stabilized it, no more hangs. I'm hoping that this BIOS update will take care of the last of the problems that I've had.

Now, I'm just left with the loose power cord problem that Dell refuses to take ownership of *sigh*. Don't know if I'll be buying any more Dell laptops at this point, this has been a real time sink, and I don't relish having to physically baby a $1000+ laptop for the next 3-5 years. I'll most likely get tired of it in less than a year and replace it with another brand. Toshiba and Lenovo are doing okay right now in the desktop replacement area, and Apple has some nice small, portable laptops (MacBook Air).

 

So are you saying A16 BIOS fixed your touchpad problems? I have a brand new XPS17 with A14 BIOS (with the GF116 gpu), bought it 3 weeks ago. Am loving it so far, but the two finger scrolling on touchpad didn't work AT ALL on newest Dell Driver. when performing the gesture, the synaptics-scroll button shows but the page just sticks.
Then I tried the newest official Synaptics driver and the scrolling finally worked bt it was hit or miss. Very jerky behaviour and really unusable. I then found a little Tool for synaptics touchpads here on the Forum (in the HP Notebboks section!!) that fixes multitouch issues and... it actually fixed the issues I'd still ratehr have an offical fix!

So did you experience anything like that with your touchpad and if so, did the new Bios change anything?

 

Sorry for the wait on a reply, I just got back here after a couple of days.

Yes, BIOS version 14 seems to be troubled. You know how some BIOS's load really quickly, and some load slowly up to a point, pause, then finish quickly (or some variation on slower BIOS loading)? BIOS 14 was that way, funky loading. BIOS 16 loads very quickly, the loading automation just zips along quickly, no pauses, which is always a good sign in my experience...to me it means that the hardware and BIOS are happy together.

And yes, my touchpad was funky, the gestures weren't working well, and it would get into weird states where I couldn't move the mouse cursor at all. That's why I went looking for a touchpad driver update, but none found, just the BIOS update.

With BIOS 16 the gestures work much better, and I haven't run into the problem where the mouse cannot be moved. Although BIOS 14 trained me not to use the mouse gestures since they were so jerky and sticky, when I've remembered to use them with BIOS 16, they've worked well.

So the answer to your question is yes, BIOS 16 seems to be the right one for my hardware, I'll bet that you'll like it, too.

Now if I could just get the power plug to stay in, I'd be a happy camper.

 

^^Hmm, I don't think the BIOS has anything to do with the track pad.

 

I was surprised as well, but I'm sorry, the touchpad mouse gestures and the touchpad as a whole are working better now. Could be luck, but the BIOS is what stands between the OS and the bare hardware, so unless I've just gotten incredibly lucky (seems unlikely with this computer so far *smile*), something has been done. It may not have been direct, it may just be that BIOS 14 didn't work well, and BIOS version 16 is better with this hardware.

It's the old "you cannot deny my experience" *smile*. It's hard to tell what the cause was, but that's really all I've changed that could affect the touchpad at all. Just before I flashed the new BIOS, the touchpad was really acting up, so I was pretty desperate. And now the scrolling gesture works great, while it was getting stuck "on" (fast continuous scroll) nearly every time I used it before the BIOS flash.

But who knows, maybe something else happened at the same time that's fixed the touchpad. Don't have a clue what it would be, though.