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XPS 15 (9550) System lockup/Freeze after BIOS update
My 9550 was on it's original BIOS from 2016, I think it's (01.02.10), everything was running just fine. The issue began after I let SupportAssist update a bunch of things, and among them was an update to the latest BIOS released about a week ago (1.11.2). After the update my system now freezes randomly and I have to do a hard-reset each time. Here is everything I did to try and fix the issue that did not work: - Reset BIOS - Downgrade to older BIOS, even to the original one I had. It will say update failed (because of Intel ME), yet the BIOS version number changes in system information. - Wipe everything and install Windows again (from recovery partition). - Wipe everything and install Linux (Pop os). Other notes: I noticed the issue is less frequent when AC is plugged in, so I disconnected the battery from the back but it still freezes. I also suspected it could be an SSD issue so I tried booting from a Live Linux USB and the system still freezes. Any advise on this is really really appreciated as I am very desperate to getting this fixed.
Techgee
590 Posts
1
August 23rd, 2019 07:00
Went through a similar experience updating a "mothballed" XPS 15 9550 from BIOS 01.01.15, released in January 2016, to 1.10.0. Was paranoid about bricking the laptop. Updated it manually, without any Dell software installed. Went through each firmware and chipset related update to decide which to apply and in what order. Ended up applying 8 BIOS updates, several Thunderbolt driver and firmware updates, several Intel Management Engine updates, plus the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework. Despite my care, Thunderbolt disappeared from the Device Manager - had to uninstall the TB driver, reinstall it, then reapply the TB firmware update to get it back. Note: I did not update the TPM firmware (or try to change it from its current 1.2 to 2.0), nor were there any SSD firmware updates for my drive.
Since your issue seems to occur regardless of operating system, I'd assume it is firmware or firmware setting related. My key realization was that the 9550 has three update types that are firmware related: BIOS, Thunderbolt, and Intel ME (Management Engine).
Things I'd think about doing are:
I suspect the issue is related to Intel ME firmware...
LastDitch
3 Posts
0
August 23rd, 2019 11:00
Thank you for your reply,
I did all the updates you mentioned yet to no avail. I noticed that Thunderbolt Software shows the bottom section empty even when I installed the thunderbolt driver and restarted.
Another test I did to make sure the SSD isn't faulty is that I removed it and booted from a Linux usb and the system still froze.
Any other advice?
Techgee
590 Posts
0
August 23rd, 2019 13:00
A blank, bottom section of Thunderbolt Software, About screen means the TB driver can't find the TB firmware. What resolved this for me was to uninstall the Intel Thunderbolt Controller Driver (even if it's the latest one), reboot, install latest TB driver, reboot again. Then I installed the Intel Thunderbolt 3 Firmware update. After that, the About screen was populated properly with TB firmware version.
EDIT: I also updated the "ASMedia USB Extended Host Controller Driver" to the latest version, 1.16.56.1, Release Date April 2019, prior to doing the above successfully. May or may not be necessary.
samos1111
489 Posts
0
August 29th, 2019 00:00
It didn't look like the 1.11.2 got pulled, it was present all the time among "older versions". Just the 1.9.0 seemed to get a fresh timestamp, so that it appeared as the latest version. Unfortunately, things like this occur at Dell support all the time. Date sort appears to be by the date someone last edited the description, not by the release date.
DELL-Jesse L
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16.7K Posts
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August 29th, 2019 06:00
LastDitch,
Click my name and private message me the pc service tag number.
DELL-Jesse L
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16.7K Posts
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September 3rd, 2019 07:00
LastDitch,
Click my name and private message me the pc service tag number.