73 Posts
1
9245
Dell G7 7790 BIOS Update 1.5.1 Broke My Machine
Updated my G7 laptop today to bios 1.5.1 and now many games when I play the GPU randomly spikes and stays spiked at 100% usage and my fps drops down to like 5fps or less for like a minute, then suddenly goes back to normal for a few minutes. I didn't install any other updates than that and I also did a system restore just in case to yesterday when things were perfect and didn't fix it so I think it's gotta be the BIOS update. I also did a clean install of the GeForce drivers and didn't make a difference. Bad thing is there's no reverting back to the old one, even the auto recovery doesn't work. What do I do!? I just got this and now it's pretty much unusable to play games!
*edit - I ended up getting Dell to refund me and bought something else. Even after the 1.6.0 BIOS came out it didn't fix it, it made it lesser of an issue in that the fps dropped to like 20fps instead of 5, but it still was an issue in any game I played.
Teetertotter
293 Posts
0
August 31st, 2019 10:00
@DarkOneX2 No, the article states it can be risky, if you read the whole article and what CAN happen. It depends on what kind of update the BIOS states it is 4. One uses their own discretion, is the point of the article. Informative, that's all.
DELL-Jesse L
Moderator
Moderator
•
16.7K Posts
1
May 23rd, 2019 06:00
DarkOneX2,
Click my name and private message me the pc service tag number as well as your registered name, email address, and phone number.
DarkOneX2
73 Posts
0
May 23rd, 2019 11:00
*edit - ok it's definitely busted, and definitely from the BIOS after doing extensive testing tonight, I'll PM you, think I'm gonna need a mobo replacement with the old BIOS on it.
quang185
10 Posts
0
May 25th, 2019 22:00
I'm having the exact same issue after the update on a G5 5590. This is so frustrating.
DarkOneX2
73 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 06:00
Ya this is really frustrating. I worked with Dell on the phone again yesterday, and I ended up doing a clean Win10 install using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool and installed nothing but a couple games and it still did it so it's 100% caused by the BIOS. The tech said replacing the mobo probably wouldn't fix it as likely they will all have the latest BIOS so he said to wait for a fix. Told him no that's not an option, I need a refund then and he said it's been over 60 days so can't. Told him I'd just quit paying the payments on it then and never pay for it as I'm not paying for something broken. It's been escalated to the product team so we'll see what happens. Here are a couple videos of the issue in action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2DwyRLkmSM&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY2gTns0z5A&feature=youtu.be
and some screenshots that include fps and GPU/CPU usage, notice when it happens the CPU is very low usage and GPU is spiked
Normal - https://i.imgur.com/tZou2Yb.jpg
Spike - https://i.imgur.com/y6RWQ3e.jpg
Spike - https://i.imgur.com/nc1c42t.jpg
quang185
10 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 08:00
quang185
10 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 08:00
Yah this is exactly what I'm experiencing too. It does that every 4 - 5 mins and last around 20-30 secs each time. I have Alienware Command Center open so I can see the GPU clock suddenly drops to 300mhz and stay there for 20-30 secs. I was only 5-6 mins into gaming so it's not thermal it's completely because of the new BIOS update. The quickest fix would be allowing us to revert back to 1.5.0. I have similar specs on my G5 ( i7 7850H / RTX 2060 ) so maybe it's why we both have this issue?
DarkOneX2
73 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 08:00
Yep mine lasts the same time and the odd thing is sometimes I can play something for like 2 hours before it happens, but then once it happens it does it every few min for 20-30 secs at a time. There are no errors in event viewer so it's not like the display driver crashing/recovering as I've seen in the past. And I did a fresh Win10 install from thumb drive and installed nothing but the GeForce drivers and my games still did it so it's 100% caused by the BIOS. They better either put out a way to revert or a new BIOS within a few days or replace the laptop with one with an older BIOS else or something because this is such bs.
quang185
10 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 09:00
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
Seems like it might affect a lot of people than just us 3.
Mr.Lgren
9 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 09:00
I have the same problem. Updated my G7 7790 laptop today to bios 1.5.1...
quang185
10 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 09:00
Maybe it's the same story for all G3/G5/G7 2019 owners with 1.5.1 bios?
DarkOneX2
73 Posts
0
May 26th, 2019 10:00
Not sure on charting but I had MSI Afterburner OSD running and what's happening is the GPU usage jumps up to 99 or 100% and stays there while the CPU usage drops to less than 10% usage during the whole time this is happening then suddenly goes back to normal.
Fernando B9
20 Posts
0
May 28th, 2019 18:00
One more person to the cause. This is frustrating, I don't know how they release something like that without properly testing...it breaks the purpose of these VERY EXPENSIVE laptops which is gaming.
DarkOneX2
73 Posts
0
May 29th, 2019 08:00
Ya which is why I'm not going to wait too much longer for a fix. If they don't fix it by next week they need to make an exception and refund me else I'm just not going to pay for the laptop (bought it by Dell financing) and they can figure out then what to do. If it goes to collections I still won't pay it. I'm sorry but I didn't spend over $1400 (before my RAM/SSD upgrades) for a gaming laptop that I can't play games on 2 months after getting it.
Fernando B9
20 Posts
0
May 29th, 2019 21:00
Dell just removed the Bios 1.5.1 from their support page...the latest available now is the older 1.3.1.
I tried to flash to check if it was a modified file that would allow us to downgrade, but still blocked me.
However, this is the 1st indication that they recognized the issues with 1.5.1. Now let's wait and see if they release a new bios that will fix everyone who has the 1.5.1