XPS 8700, A12 BIOS, sluggish performance

Hi

I keep PCs for years (I don't depend on them at all but they're here - ready 4 Smithsonian). :Wink: (I have a 21 YEAR OLD IBM split system APTIVA! I cannot get to it b/c things R in front of it but several months ago it booted! :BigSmile: )

Did you permanently remove ALL the Dell software? Having read that yours is 5 y/o - H/W issues LIKELY. Can't remember if  you ran MEM / HDD DIAGS? PSU (OKAY)? Dell does have a rep in PSU longevity... SORRY DELL

U could UNPLUG PC from wall power. AT least 10 minutes. while unplugged, push power 2 remove xs power in system. WAIT. plug in and try.

If not -> CMOS battery?

Good Luck!

The Dell driver team has asked me to post these questions =

1. What is the current XPS 8700 configuration? (CPU/Memory/Video card/HDD)
2. Have you returned the XPS 8700 to the hardware shipped state (removed all added hardware) and retested?
3. What operating system is installed?
4. Using what performance tool, software etc. are you using to show, "sluggish performance"?
5. Other than sluggish performance and slow boot times, are there any other issues that A12 BIOS created?

this would have been greatly handy since I just installed it now have to reboot. and if i get the same performance and I am disabled they better fix it soon.

1. What is the current XPS 8700 configuration? (CPU/Memory/Video card/HDD)

@Core i7-4770 @3.40 GHz
16 MB Memory
ST2000DM001 - 1CH164 HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645

2. Have you returned the XPS 8700 to the hardware shipped state (removed all added hardware) and retested?

No hardware has been added

3. What operating system is installed?

Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

4. Using what performance tool, software etc. are you using to show, "sluggish performance"?

None needed. See next question.

5. Other than sluggish performance and slow boot times, are there any other issues that A12 BIOS created?

After A12 was installed, computer booted into Windows login normally. But after logging in, Windows slowed to a CRAWL. Desktop icons were being shown one by one with several minutes in between. Keyboard and mouse was unresponsive. After a half hour of this I power cycled the machine. Above problem was much improved but not gone.

Got used to the slow start-up but then random programs would hang. File Explorer, Volume Control, Cortana, context-sensitive menus not displaying. I have (and have had for some time) both Avast and Malware Bytes pro installed and run a thorough scan each night. Never found a problem. Conclusion - Not a Malware problem.

Ran both SFC and DISM to check for corruption. None found. Conclusion - no Windows problem.

Ran chkdsk /R - no problems. Ran HD Tune Pro - no problems. Ran Crystal Disk - no problems. Conclusion - no Disk corruption.

While I can't definitively prove the problems are the result of the A12 upgrade, I can say they all started after the fact. Since I cannot downgrade to A11, there's no way for me to prove or disprove it.

Hi.

I unfortunately went through a similar issue - 4 days before warranty was out, but because I didn't report until a few days later (due to hectic work schedule) - no warranty.

Thanks Dell for the "critical update" for my bios system. As a long time customer of dell and helping to procure Dell systems for tens of thousands of employees for a large energy company - I will no longer recommend Dell.

I still have the desktop sitting in my office closet with hopes of one day being able to replace the (intentionally by Dell?) bricked motherboard - as soon as a reasonably priced one is found online.

For the record, I did contact Dell.ca who's only advice was to get a new motherboard (duh...). Another conversation had a dell rep suggest that I get a new computer... which to me rings great truth to the possibility of purposefully "updating" a bios system to create issues / obsolescence.

Not happy with Dell...

Think I'll post this to Facebook....

Possible software fixes for sluggish performance =

(1)
Uninstall both the Dell SupportAssist software Dell SupportAssist Agent software. If need be, they can reinstalled at a later date.
* Right-click the Start menu button and select Control Panel
* Under Programs, select Uninstall a program
* In the list of programs, locate and select Dell SupportAssist
* At the top of the window, select Uninstall
* When done, locate and select Dell SupportAssist Agent
* At the top of the window, select Uninstall
* When done, restart the PC
* Test the PC for boot time and performance speed

(2)
User mvsoske disabled their Acronis backup software "Acronis Active Protection Service" which fixed their issue. So if you have similar software, check its active services.
* If still slow, open the System Configuration Desktop app
* Click the Services tab
* Check, "Hide all Microsoft services"
* Click the button Disable all
* Click Apply
* Click OK
* Restart the PC
* Test the PC for boot time and performance speed

* Open the System Configuration Desktop app
* Click the Services tab
* Add a check to one item
* Click Apply
* Click OK
* Restart the PC
* Test the PC for boot time and performance speed

Do this for every service under the Services tab until you find the service that is causing the slow down.

Unstalling both the Dell SupportAssist software and Dell SupportAssist Agent software seems to have worked for me.

Boot time is now Ok. and Windows seems to be responding as fast as usual. No more crawling. I hope it stays Ok.

Would definitely suggest reinstall windows, preferably win 10, upgrade to an ssd, the boot time on these systems should be 5 seconds using an ssd, and even from harddrive, maybe 1 minute.  The price drops on samsung 860's these days simply make it a no brainer, regularly ~$100 on slickdeals site.   There is no reason to suffer slow performance in 2018, I'm running A12 since the beginning and have had no issues, but my install of windows was fresh, and I boot from an ssd.

Check your devices in Device Manager.  If the Intel Management Engine is listed, disable it.  This has no affect whatsoever on your system and in fact disabling the device doesn't really disable Intel AMT (Google it if you want to know what it does - it's a tool on the processor that allows very high level support to interrogate your system for issues).

I found that after the BIOS update the device was not running correctly, causing my bootup times to go from 5-10s to 5 minutes (or more).  Disabling the device fixed all my issues, including sluggish performance after the PC had booted up.

System :
Dell XPS 8700
Processor upgraded to i7 4790K (with Cooler Master Vortex Plus installed + Arctic MX-4 thermal paste)
Power Supply upgraded to EVGA 650 GQ, 80+ GOLD 650W, Semi Modular PSU
RAM upgraded to 16GB
Crucial MX300 525GB SSD + 1TB HD
GeForce GTX 1050 TI SC

Did that and more with no improvement.