Fingerprint reader unresponsive on 7490

I've tested something today by accident. I reset the laptop and setup without a Microsoft account. Then I setup a fingerprint with just a local account setup and have found the fingerprint reader works flawlessly. I have tried locking the PC, signing out and restarting and on every occasion apart from once the reader authenticated my fingerprint first time. Only on one occasion did I have to try twice and then it did it.

Have any of you guys tried without a MS account?

I've never had a MS account, all my testing and failures have been with domain joined computers for employees in active directory.

Wait for a few days. I had the same after reset. After few days it works bad again.

Same problem on my Latitude 7390. I successfully et up the reader to recognize three different fingers. But no matter which finger I use, no matter how I orient the finger, no matter how hard I press down, it just doesn't work. I'm forced to use the PIN or password. What a waste.

Exactly the same problem on a brand new Latitude 7400.

We buy alot of Dell laptops in my organization every year. I don't know if Dell is ignoring this problem or if they are just not competent enough to solve the problem. Either way I'll be pushing to change the fleet to another manufacturer.

The lack of response from Dell in this thread is really embarrassing...

Well we just get rid of Dells and switch to Thinkpads...

I supose that whats Dell wanted... 

I'm having similar issue with E7470,

Tried everything, no use. Only after disconnecting the finger print physically, and start  windows without it then shut down and connect again. 

It is kind of silly unstable reader, dell has to rectify it.  

@Never had Enough thanks for getting in touch.

From my experience and understanding, the majority of issues with fingerprint readers are caused by enrollment issues or user error during the reading process.

a) Has this issue always been present or is it only happened recently?

b) What software are you using to manager the enrollment of fingerprints?

c) If you enroll another user's credentials on the system, do they also have problems with the fingerprint reader?

My suggestion would be to work through the following troubleshooting guide for fingerprint readers - https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln291167/how-to-troubleshoot-and-resolve-fingerprint-reader-and-security-software-issues?lang=en#Troubleshootingfingerprintreaderissues

If it is the hardware itself that needs replaced I'll drop you a private message to get your tag details

Alan

I have tried everything on that troubleshooting guide and the problem remains.
Dell Latitude 7480 (2) have the same problem, fingerprint reader works 25% of the time at best.

Unreliable and inconvenient.

I have many Dell 7490's and I just received many Dell 5400's  the 5400 has a new kind of fingerprint reader on the power button and it works flawlessly. but the one on the 7490 is garbage. As mentioned earlier I have had more luck breathing on my finger. but that should not be necessary.

Agree with @Cleadus_fetus . The new fingerprint readers on the 7400's power button (confusing name, because the 7400 is NEW, it's not a 7490) work perfectly fine. We also get IR cameras in the 7400s and the face detection works flawlessly as well.

So the good news is that Dell has figured out their fingerprint situation. Bad news is that you need a new laptop to take advantage of it.

To newcomers to this thread, if you're having fingerprint reader problems with your older pre-2018 Dell laptop, I would advise just giving up on it. In my organization we've never gotten them working consistently and have put hours and hours into troubleshooting them, so we just gave up on them. Didn't matter which Latitude model we tried it on.

Just received my Latitude 7390 which I bought on sale. Came here to say my fingerprint reader fails more often than not and therefore was DOA.

Pretty pathetic tbh since I have literally never had this problem with any of my or my wife's phones. Did this go through QA at all? Seems like a bullet point to add to the back of the box and nothing more.

The most pathetic part of all this Dell's lack of awareness and response. I bought ProSupport Plus and out of principle I'm going to make them work to address the issue. They need to pay for their mistake and I hope they end up wasting tons of man hours fixing something they know deep down won't actually be fixed (their negleglecting of this thread is proof they know it's a lost cause but they don't want to admit it).

Either that or they can tell me to deal with it and give me a partial refund for the PREMIUM product I purchased from them.

It's one thing to botch a modern feature used in tech everywhere; it's an entirely upper level of tomfoolery to completely ignore your customers. Insulting. 

I have only had my laptop 7491, 2 weeks and have exactly the same issue. Fingerprint rarely works.