XPS 13 9360 -- 1.2.3 BIOS results in 'no boot device found'

My sympathies @nomo1. I actually just asked about the upgrade to 1.2.3 over on the Project Sputnik/DE thread after coming across this thread and am holding off the BIOS upgrade as a result.

I hope Dell provide a fix ASAP for those who seem to have bricked their machines as a result of Dell's own software update.. Would suggest you post a link to your post here over on that thread too, to ensure the Sputnik team know it affects DE machines too. Good luck.

Can somebody from Dell chime in on this issue? There has been no response from support for almost a week. This is not some small annoying bug, this is an issue that is completely preventing people from using their computers. It would be nice to get an update so we know that Dell is taking this seriously.

Just for reference, this is the kind of error that I'm getting:

"Fail PSA V4304.14 Error 2000:0155. Validate Code : 111051 Hard Drive - Not installed"

@Community,

I posted the below post to this thread on 4 Jan 2017 17:08. I still very much need some captures in order to replicate this for Dell engineering:

"@Community,

I've informally engaged a contact in Dell engineering. We've both tried to replicate the issue in question. So far we've been unable to. Maybe it's be because we're using OEM drives. The last lab system I worked on just today to try and replicate the issue did have a LiteOn NVME 4x, but worked fine on 1.2.3. It had Windows 10 X64.

Couple notes for you:

-BIOS downgrade back to 1.0.7 is prohibited by system firmware, even with the option enabled in the BIOS. You can try resetting BIOS defaults to see if that helps but the only way I know to get you back to a working state is to replace the motherboard. Replacement motherboards do not come with 1.2.3 out of the box. If you have this issue contact Dell support and explain the situation and feel free to show them my recommendation in this post.

-I need to capture a system in it's failed state along with the 3rd party drive used. If you have one that has a no boot issue after updating to 1.2.3 please send me a friend request with your service tag and email address. We'll work something out privately."

nomo1,

I have found some articles that may apply to users on this thread.

USB Bootable Device Can't Be Recognized in Boot Menu at First Boot.

The BIOS SETUP won’t show the USB bootable device when attached specific USB box with Seagate HDD. The D+ noise from USB device will let USB charge IC to reset about two seconds to cause this issue User might need to reboot the system then it will work well.
Solution
Follow the below steps to resolve the issue:
Attach the bootable device you want to boot, and power on system to enter BIOS setup menu
Go to Boot section and choose “Add Boot Option”
Type the Boot option name you want, and select the boot device you attach on system. (Below example is USB ODD.)
Switch to “File Name” section and select the EFI file you want to boot. Then enter
Click yes to save the profile
The boot option will appear in UEFI Boot list under boot manager now
Enter boot manager via press F12, you can find the UEFI boot option as well

LiteOn CV3 solid-state drive (SSD) may not be identified in your system

http://dell.to/2jo65Fd

There are times when changes to the settings in the System Setup (BIOS) prevent the computer from booting into Windows. Setting the BIOS back to its defaults may allow the computer to boot correctly.

Reboot the computer.
When you see the Dell logo during POST, press the F2 key to enter the setup screen.
On the System Setup screen, click Restore Settings.
Make sure BIOS Defaults is selected and click OK.
Click Exit.
Confirm exiting, when asked.

No boot device found when you change the Boot sequence to Legacy mode

@DELL-Jesse L: Thanks, but that doesn't seem to address my issues. 1) I don't have any issues booting from a USB device, that works just fine; I just don't want to depend on a USB device, I want to boot from my main storage in the system, as expected in any computer. 2) My NVMe device is actually a Samsung PM961 512GB, not LiteOn; and again, it's the stock NVMe device that I got with my XPS 13 9360 (it's not an additional drive nor a replacement).

Hi Basteed,

Welcome to our community. To answer the questions asked in the thread, there are some models of the SSD’s which has issues after upgrading the latest version of BIOS in the system.

Please share the service tag/ Express service tag via private message, so that we can check the type of SSD’s shipped with the respective systems. To send a private message, click on my name and select ‘Send private message’.

You can click here which is a video that shows steps to find the service tag.

Hi nomo1, I am experiencing the same problems. Also a Dell XPS 9360 with stock Samsung PM961 512GB ssd. The only difference is that my system was shipped with Windows which I removed and installed Debian while the firmware was 1.0.7.  Everything was fine for almost 2 months until I updated the BIOS to 1.2.3 earlier this week.

Up to 2 days ago I spent some time with Dell support on the phone but  I do not think they were convinced that it is a BIOS issue (despite the various complaints popping up in the forums). I am still waiting for a callback which was promised. So now, I essentially have an 'bricked' laptop sitting on my desk waiting for a BIOS (or maybe firmware for PM961??) update which I hope will resolve the issue.

I'm slowly losing my patience

@lavapatch: Thanks for posting. I hear you, and it's useful to know that you also have Samsung PM961 512GB (and I'm not the only one experiencing this). That may be the best hint we have about this issue? I mean Samsung devices.

@DELL-Justin C: Have you tried to upgrade a machine with a Samsung PM961?

I can confirm this happend with the PM961 for me as well.

@Lavapatch,

Thank you for your note about the PM961. None of the systems I've tried replicating on so far had that drive. You're welcome to send me a friend request and I'll be happy to review your case and present options for you.

@Nomo1,

Thank you for your note and question. I'm going to try and find a PM961 drive around here.

@Finke,

Thank you for letting us know. I'm working on it.

If anyone with the problem has the option to change the CSM setting in the Bios, you might try that.

I have retried with a clean installation in legacy mode, (it was in UEFI mode when it failed)

No luck there either.

workaround for at least legacy, might work for EFI with some adaptation as well (if i get bored, i will do this as well)

All as root, and be careful, this has a great potential to wipe your SSD clean. take considerable care at the dd commands and where of= (output file) points to. Check which devices you're mounting.

Pick a small USB stick and partition and format it with ext4 (let's say it is /dev/sdb)

use another USB stick to boot a live ISO. (let's say it is /dev/sdc)

Download from ubuntu:

dd if=downloaded.iso of=/dev/sdc ***=1M

Now mount your SSD's root volume on /mnt

mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt

mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev

# Mount the small USB stick on /mnt/boot

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot

# install grub on this small stick

chroot /mnt

install-grub /dev/sdb

exit

# Now, mount your original boot partition somewhere else:

mkdir SSDBOOT

mount /dev/nvme0n1p2 /dev/SSDBOOT

# and rsync the files to the small stick

cd SSDBOOT

rsync -avHAX * /mnt/boot/

# Sync everything to make sure it's written

sync

and reboot.

remove the big stick, and select boot from USB after pressing F12

It should now boot your original system