XPS 15 9550 Bios 1.2.0

Enabled in BIOS = Yes (in both section under wireless section
Unknowns: Yes and unknown under USB devices - error 43: Uninstalled, and scanned for hardware changes and lots of other troubleshooting done
Laptop at home - but will do screenshot later and post (disabled BT collaboration under WiFi advanced settings too)

 

This ****ing bios update killed my USB port on my TB3 dock. Every time I come back from sleep the USB connection dies and I have to restart.

 

Flash the older BIOS then open a support ticket with Dell would probably be the best option!

Can you get the hardware ID's for the unknowns please. I can check what they are against my machine and then maybe you can force the correct drivers.

 

So below is what I see [Sorry for the huge size, I've created an album, but it's not yet approved by mods]:

 

So below is what I see [Sorry for no actual pics, I've created an album, but it's not yet approved by mods]:

" Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)"

No Hardware ID available then... it just shows same text

 

For me, personally, switching to AHCI (more precisely, switching to AHCI and ALSO installing Samsung NVME drivers meant for 950 Pro, even though I'm on the factor SM951) got 100% rid of the BSOD "Critical Process Died" that used to happen 1-2x per hour especially while browsing (on Chrome here) or using Lightroom (6.x here). I've had this infernal machine since December (BIOS 1.0.0.5 or so), and even switching to AHCI then solved that problem. HOWEVER, it wasn't until BIOS 1.15 came along that fixed the "restart in AHCI mode" problem. Basically, as soon as I switched to AHCI way back since December all the way until 1.15 was released, I couldn't RESTART the stupid machine, but could shutdown then start up again. This was a major problem for upgrading Windows and some drivers that required a restart (in those cases, shut down/start would not apply/install).

Since 1.15 however, my USB ports (I do NOT use the TB15) have been wonky after waking from sleep. All of them are slow to detect drives, but if I restart, they all behave normally. 1.19 did not fix this problem, and I am wary about 1.2.0 seeing as how Dell has little to no credibility with their updates based on my experience with the XPS 9550 (my former 9530 didn't have this many issues... that simply had too many hardware issues but that is neither here nor there).

EDIT: forgot to add that I saw virtually no difference in performance in AS-SSD, ATTO, or CrystalDiskMark between AHCI and RAID.

 

That is odd, could be a corrupt OS or faulty board. Do you have any other unknowns listed?

Also what's the expanded network Adapters saying?

 

No other unknowns... Network Adapters show DELL 1830 Wifi adapter only

 

Try BIOS defaults to see if that kicks it into life.

 

Try the process I documented couple pages back. I initially had USB and Ethernet ports issues on my TB15 dock with the BIOS 1.2.0 but after doing the steps I outlined now they are both working good for the most part. I still see that my USB port gets dropped once in a while but they are working good for the most part even waking from the sleep.

 

My Aukey USB-C NIC is going offline intermittently since the BIOS upgrade. Downgraded back to 1.19. Let see if it was the BIOS upgrade or a real hardware issue.

 

I had the same issue as you did, once. Problem is, I do not recall how I solved it exactly.

Try to remove your WiFi and Bluetooth driver and device in the device manager. (But do not forget to have an installer of the driver on your drive)
Then reinstall.

 

Not a single loss of the Aukey NIC since the BIOS downgrade to 1.1.19.

 

FYI... If anyone else here uses bitlocker, updating to 1.2.0 made Windows ask me for the recovery key because the bios changed significantly. Have that handy before you upgrade.

 

It should do that with every BIOS update, all you need to do is suspend bitlocker before you update.

 

Ok... maybe I'll have to do that.

 

My desktop bios updates has never triggered the need for a recovery key.

 

My laptop has never failed to trigger bitlocker on the updates I did on my XPS 9530 if I forgot to suspend it, I can also say the same on Toshiba laptops when I worked with those.

Out of interest does your desktop have a TPM module?

 

Yes I had to buy it separate (Asus Z87 Gryphon). The SSD on the desktop is running through Opal/eDrive. There must be a difference between how the bios gets presented to the preboot code for verification on the two machines.

edit: grammar

 

Referring to the missing Speed Shift:

I wrote to Dell support and asked the same things I posted in the (german) Dell forum regarding the missing speed shift. Today they asked me for a screenshot of HWiNFO64 and I sent them one with the "SST" marked red.
Lets see what they are gonna do
They also asked for other hardware issues...I dont want them to rip my machine apart. Besides some coil whine I really like my 9550.
In another thread someone mentioned a new revision of the motherboard to get rid of coil whine in may. Do I remember correctly?

 

Same on my old XPS, e-drive on the 840 evo, never done it on the Rampage 5E as I have no need for the backup drive to use hardware encryption (had to find a use for the 1tb evo). Odd thing is it should trigger bitlocker, does it automatically reset the BIOS like the R5E when you flash a new one?

probably tell you they won't be adding it as the default get out clause or blame you

 

I order a new XPS 9550 few days ago after they refound my previous one.
I hope they do make a new motherboard revision.

 

Latest news on SpeedShift: Dell asked if I had enabled the SpeedStep options in BIOS, which I did of course. Now the service guy handed the case over to some higher level So far they seem quite helpful and maybe they are taking a closer look at it now. No excuses so far

 

Please hold us up to date.

 

So they passed this onto someone else who may or may not have the answer

We can hope I guess, if the 13" had it we should.

 

90% sure they will But at least it´s not the first one! Hope is the last to die

 

That isn't the only problem that the XPS 13 doesn't have. It takes ages for the XPS 15 to POST. It takes the XPS 13 ~1-3 seconds to POST and move past the black screen whilst it takes the XPS 15 ~7 seconds before it even hits the Dell logo! It means that my XPS takes 20 seconds to boot instead of ~15 seconds which a MacBook Pro retina would take. I wish Dell would optimise their UEFI! This can only be fixed by Dell.

 

I went back to BIOS 1.1.19 because my TB15 would still lose my USB and Ethernet ports once in a while even after doing the reinstall of all the drivers I had outlined in earlier post, which did improve the situation but didn't eliminate it totally. Other than the slightly louder fan noise, I never had other issues with the TB15 on BIOS 1.1.19. Hopefully next version Dell releases will fix the remaining issues without creating new ones....

 

The XPS 13 and Macbook Pro 15 both have DDR3 memory. The XPS 15 uses DDR4 which performs memory training as the bios initializes. It will always have slightly longer boot times vs DDR3.

 

So will this be the case all the time even if i put my UEFI's Fast Boot settings to Minimal. Well thanks for telling me as I was not aware of this memory training occuring and Dell support were useless with telling me why it was slow.
Edit: You are right according to Anandtech "The downside to the user is that the number of modules in the system effects the boot time of the device. A fully laden quad-channel Haswell-E system adds another 5-8 seconds to perform this procedure, and it is something that cannot be circumvented through a different routine without disregarding part of the specifications."

 

Yep my Asus x99 board is like this.

If it fails memory training it will reset the timings and do it again via a reboot on my Asus X99 board, you don't get the monitor come on, just power up, wait a few seconds, reboot and continue as normal. I wonder if the 9550 does this on the quiet so it seems to be a long black screen as I get a long wait every so often before the Dell logo.

 

Yeah I've experienced the long wait once that I've noticed, most of the time it's at the dell logo within 2 seconds

 

I've looked through this thread and no one seems to have my issue.

I'm trying to update to 1.2.0 but it doesn't 'stick'. After updating I land back into Windows and run the update again just to see if it now says my BIOS is updated, and it's still saying that I can upgrade ?! It's telling me that my currently installed BIOS's version is 01.02.00, while the latest BIOS is actually 1.2.0 .... I tried running the update again and still this issue remains. I checked, and in my BIOS page it does actually say that my current BIOS version is 01.02.00

So how am I supposed to get to 1.2.0 ?

 

It is called blind updating and as for the bits it doesn't repeat, ignore them, we will all see the same.

 

An update on my Bluetooth fail (never worked from day one, was hoping BIOS update might solve it)... Engineer arrived onsite today, checked Wi-Fi /Bluetooth card and stated that the Bluetooth module or part was physically 'missing' ?!?... I thought it was all one chip, but whatever

Anyway, he installed an Intel 8260 and as expected, bang it worked immediately after drivers were installed by me....

Now I need to sell the 8260 I had bought on eBay, brand new and unopened