@ddmb that's interesting. 

Having looked at the release notes for each BIOS revision 1.10.1 advises the following - Fixed the issue where the LCD brightness cannot be adjusted on certain LCD panels.

I'm wondering what type of panel you have installed in the system.

Can you try reinstalling the latest BIOS revision and checking if the problem then returns. If so, can you go into the BIOS and check what the Fn Lock Options are set to please. (To access the BIOS power on the system and keep tapping the F2 key repeatedly in rapid succession) It should look like the following -

You could also try restoring the BIOS settings to see if that affects the functionality of the Fn keys.

I'll drop you a private message to get your tag details so I can see what panel you have.

Alan

a) Yes, it's only brightness that stopped working. I can change volume or I can change the backlight of the keyboard.

b) It's strange, because I can change brightness in BIOS or when booting from BIOS to Windows, but when Windows "has control" it's not working any longer.

c) Battery or AC power -- the same, not working...

And also please mention to the engineers that Thunderbolt is not upgradable in the latest BIOS version. I think 1.11.0 should be taken down from the DRIVERS & DOWNLOADS page...

@ddmb thanks for the confirmation that the BIOS settings aren't changing between revisions.

Can you advise the following before I take this to engineering - 

a) Is it only the brightness settings that aren't working with the BIOS updates, do the other Fn keys work as they should?

b) Can you still change the brightness settings using Windows?

c) Does it matter whether you are running on battery or ac power?

Alan

I just noticed that also Fn+F8 is also not working (Pc Screen Only, Duplicate, Extend, Second Screen only) in 1.11.0. The menu appears, but I can select whatever option, nothing's changing...

I checked "Fn Lock Options" in my BIOS for version 1.10.1 and I had the same settings as you in the screenshot. Then I updated my BIOS to 1.11.0 and in the "Fn Lock Options" hasn't changed anything ("Fn Lock" checked and "Lock Mode Disable/Standard" selected). And brightness settings not working again

Will there be new updated BIOS in the next couple of days? If yes I will wait for that one, otherwise I will put back 1.10.1.

@ddmb thanks. We have a 7730 here in the office. We will test it and get back to you with the results.

Alan

@ddmb after testing I can confirm that your observations are correct. I have raised the defect with engineering to have it investigated and addressed. I expect it will be removed from download very soon. 

At this stage I don't know whether its a simple fix.Once it's been addressed the revised BIOS should be released.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

Alan

any news on this?.. "Dell Command | Update" wants to update my BIOS to the latest faulty twice a week...

@ddmb the issue still under investigation by the engineering team. I'm fairly certain you can configure command | update to ignore certain updates and prevent it downloading the BIOS until an update has been released. You would then need to reconfigure it again to stop ignoring BIOS updates.

Alan

@ddmb 

We've heard back from our engineering teams and they have advised that the next BIOS update for the Precision 7730 will be released at the end of December which will resolve this issue.

Downgrading to BIOS version 1.10.1 will provide a temporary resolution to this issue (https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=kvcky&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-17-7730-laptop), however we would advise that you always have the latest BIOS update installed to ensure that any relevant security fixes are in place.