XPS 8700, A12 BIOS, sluggish performance

The previous bios is available on the download page. You click on the new bios name on the download page and choose older versions. No guarantee that downgrading will work or even solve the problems.

Here it is-- http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=TDDNW

The new A12 bios won't let me downgrade to an earlier version. Dell really got me this time. Sorry I trusted them.

I agree, big problem! I did the same thing and it won't let me downgrade to A11. Sluggish, slow, delayed response. And, the BIOS update was listed as "Urgent"! This is giving me headaches. Would really hope that tech support would realize this and provide as solution, fast!

How do you do that?  I didn't as I never had to do that with past updates when notified by the Dell Update app.  Is there any recourse now?

Prior to installing A12 BIOS, did you go into the A11 BIOS, open each screen and write down the current settings, then compare those to the settings in A12?

Examples =
Advanced- Performance Tuning. Set to Normal or OC1 or OC2?
Advanced- Processor Configuration. All set to Enabled except for "Limit CPUID Value"

Dear Dell,

Indeed whatever fix was supposed to resolve the " Intel Reboot issue ", the new bios made thing much worst.

I had posted on the Intel communities board a slow boot issue i was having with my Raid-5 setup. Link is: https://communities.intel.com/thread/122888

Intel recommanded i upgrade to Bios A12. My slow boot went from 4 minutes to 25 minutes.

Only way to have a decent boot time is to remove the Raid. 

Dell, how can we fix all this mess ?

Thanks

Alex

How do you do that?
* Do you mean enter BIOS? If yes, restart, press F2.

Is there any recourse now?
* No. The A12 was locked to not allow back flashing to older versions.

Dell, how can we fix all this mess?
* I have sent an email to the platform team. Most likely all you can do is await a new BIOS release. Even if they started today, it will take time to write a new BIOS. They first have to replicate the issue in house on their XPS 8700. Then move on to a fix.

I need Dell to provide a link so I can go back to Bios A11.  I can't wait for them to realize they have caused a serious slowdown with their A12 Bios update.  I have 2 Dell XPS 8700 and the one without the upgrade will run a simple virus scan about 10 times faster.  Please don't Drag this on and on.

As you can see from the earlier post, going "back" to an older version was not possible.
"I did the same thing and it won't let me downgrade to A11."

All you can do is await a new BIOS release.

No I didn't write anything down. "New bios. Urgent! Cool." How about a new A12a bios that adds revert? Or take the A11 bios and call it A13? I'd rather suffer an exploit than not be able to game. My online gaming is shot. This stinks really bad. Will be eagerly awaiting a fix.

Dell-Chris M,

Forgot to add that it would be a good idea for Dell to removed the current BIOS A12 upgrade for its support portal so that other user don't get hit with the same misfortune some of us have already been hit with. 

Cheers

Alex

You might be able to get the bios back to 11 by clearing back to factory specs by removing the cmos coin battery.  There are further directions on the web about the procedure.  This should reset back to default, then install the bios upgrade that you want.

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@rd52 wrote:

You might be able to get the bios back to 11 by clearing back to factory specs by removing the cmos coin battery.  There are further directions on the web about the procedure.  This should reset back to default, then install the bios upgrade that you want.

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Sorry, but resetting BIOS A12 to the defaults won't have any effect on whether you can revert to A11 or not.

Most BIOS updates don't allow you to revert to a prior version, without using extra command line attributes.  But reverting can cause problems and even brick a motherboard.

And it appears that recent updates to fix the Meltdown/Spectre issues may be locked so you can't revert, even when using those command line attributes.

There are numerous reports that Intel's fixes for Meltdown/Spectre impact performance, eg here. So your best bet may be to wait until Dell releases another version that might address performance issues. 

You can try InSpectre.exe (https://grc.com/inspectre.htm) and use the DISABLE Buttons, maybe this helps.

Manfred