what is Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed?

What version of  BIOS?

You might want to read this thread.

Once you update to Signed version of Bios you cannot ever go back to unsigned bios aka Downgrade.

The version of the bios I have is 2.1.3.  If what you say is true then why the message  "Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed"

ME is the INTEL management engine driver. You have to have this installed BEFORE trying to change the bios or it will fail.  All such operations must be run as administrator.

The version of the bios I have is 2.1.3.  If what you say is true then why the message  "Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed"

Did you try the simple fix in the thread I mentioned in my previous post?

Did you try the simple fix in the thread I mentioned in my previous post?

I looked at it but when I saw that the setting I would end up with was the setting I currently have it didn't make sense to change it then change it back to the setting I have. I rebooted without changing.

But since then I haven't seen the message when starting the computer the last two days.

Whether or not it makes sense to you, it appears to have worked for users in that thread and in the earlier thread where that solution was originally posted.  

There isn't a sound byte explanation.

System Address Firmware Hub to SPI Flash Conversion

There are two hardware pins (GNT0# and SPI_CS1#) on the ICH that will be sampled at the rising edge of PWROK signal to indicate to system whether to fetch the first instruction on the LPC or SPI or PCI. Once the system is strapped, all Region A access will go to LPC or SPI, or it will go to PCI only. For example if the system is booted with SPI strapped, memory access of Region A will never go to LPC or PCI.

Whether or not it makes sense to you, it appears to have worked for users in that thread and in the earlier thread where that solution was originally posted.

Since I saw the message again I decided to try the steps outlined. I did and I am still getting the "Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed" message. So it didn't work.

Also note the latest bio 2.1.3 installed on my system in February 2016  was released in Jan 20, 2016. The solution suggested by you was suggested in Nov-Dec 2015. This system was purchased with Windows 10 already installed in early Nov 2015.

BTW Does anyone from Dell respond in these forums?

Does anyone from Dell respond in these forums?

Occasionally.

I pinged my Dell tech contacts. Stay tuned...

This appears to be a problem with Windows and BIOS because it's being seen on systems from multiple manufacturers, including from Microsoft.

I've asked Dell if they have any suggestions how to resolve this. In meanwhile you can do some homework to see if anybody posted a fix in some other forum that will work on your PC...

Will post back if I hear anything from my tech contacts.

Thanks for the update.

I've been checking the web the last couple of days. When I get the MeSpiLock  message my system would come up sometimes and other times my monitor would indicate it was receiving no signal from my Nvidia GTX 960 card and I got a blank screen causing me to reboot the system. It looked like the computer had went to sleep. During the first half of February my system had two updates (Bios and Nvidia driver) that I think could be related to the problem.

I used Dell Support Assist tool to see that a significant critical system errors occurring more frequently starting around the end of January. I could see I have failure from Skypehost.exe even though I don't use Skype or Windows messaging on this system.  I also saw in windows history that one software "Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable Package (KB3119142)" kept installing the software even when it said itwas installed.

So with these issues I decided to do the following

1. Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 checked for corruption and clean up software.

2. Uninstall message+Skype and GetSkype from my system

3. Uncheck  fast startup.

4. Moved monitor to different display port on video card

Since I did the about 24 hours ago, I've rebooted the system several times without problems.  I'm going to let the system stay like this for several days and then see if the issue reappears when changing back to original display port. If not after a couple of days I will try turning on fast startup to see if the problem appears. The hardware passes all the Dell tests. There's an issue with one of the software updates but not clear which one.

I've also posted in the microsoft forums and gotten no response.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 checked for corruption and clean up software.

I had exact same issue with KB3119142 reinstalling over and over on my Win 10 laptop. If you haven't already fixed that, see this thread with a fix that worked for me. But I never got the Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed error message. So that's probably unrelated to KB3119142.

If it errors out again (hope not!) you might try to revert to the previous NVidia video driver.

On the HP forum, someone posted that they ran a file called "me.bat" located in the folder for their BIOS update files and that solved the problem. I don't know if Dell's BIOS on your system creates a separate folder with files to be run, but you might search for me.bat and see if that helps, assuming your other changes don't help.