XPS 8920, BIOS 1.0.14, Front I/O cable failure message

Juve30:  Thanks for the heads up on the Inspiron 15 7000 BIOS 1.5.3.  I read through the thread, and learned that BIOS 1.5.3 is can't be downgraded to an earlier release, as is the case with BIOS 1.0.14 in in our situation.  That's useful information because it suggests that the entire February 18-20 release series can't be reversed.  Those of us maintaining multiple Dell computers needed that information. 

Same problem here.

Support said they will release a new update next week and they are already testing now.

Hope this time they do it right.

I have the same problem and was unable to go back to BIOS 1.0.11 because 1.0.14 is protected.  Once Windows is up, everything seems OK, but I get this message every time I power up now.  I guess I have no choice but to wait for a new version of the BIOS and hope the computer keeps working until then. 

@DELL-Justin C

Justin, I'm not doubting your commitment, help or integrity on this. I'm just saying that "solved" to me means "go here for fix". At the moment there isn't one.

However, it still doesn't explain how the faulty BIOS was released in the first place and I'm sure you can understand my doubts about future releases, especially when hardware replacements are mentioned. I've still got plenty of warranty for my XPS 8920....but what happens when it runs out? Will Dell promise to do a free repair if the cause of the problem is down to a BIOS update that goes wrong?

Kind Regards

Steve

The big issue for me is how this BIOS update was released in the first place.

Usually you would get someone on a forum to say "no problem for me"......but it hasn't happened in this case. It seems that everyone who did the update got the error. Nothing obscure about it, do the update, get an instant I/O cable failure alert.So, where was the testing? 

The topic has been marked as solved for a few days..........hmmm I don't think so. Sure, the problem has been identified as real but there is no solution at the moment.

IF the "forthcoming" solution works, I won't be in a hurry to do a future update...urgent or not.

@Satch10

I made a statement about this here

"The mark is meant as a strategy to help people who find this forum to get the latest information from me as quickly as possible. Once my post is out of date the 'accepted solution' status will be removed by me and then given to a newer post with newer information."

@Community,

Yes. There should be a new BIOS coming out late next week, if not sooner. I've already heard from internal sources and it does resolve the I/O error in question.

After the upgrade is released, I hope that Dell will do a quality assurance review, focusing on:

(1)  Testing.  The lack of sufficient testing is as stunning as it is obvious.  BIOS 1.0.14 should not have been released.

(2)  Downgrade Block.  I don't know of a single case where Dell issued a BIOS upgrade that could not be reversed by flashing an earlier, working version if needed. The downgrade path is so standard that Dell publishes earlier BIOS versions on the "Drivers and downloads" support page for each model, and specific guidance about when, why and how to flash an earlier BIOS (see Knowledge Base: "Downgrading the System BIOS on a Dell System").  Why was downgrade blocked and what does Dell plan to do with future BIOS releases in this regard?

(3)  Intentional or Not?  Quite a number of us asked why Dell deployed 1.0.14 with a downgrade block, making the assumption that Dell had good reason for doing so.  But the L3 response to Chris-M ("Platform Team stated that all of the latest BIOS should have had downgrade rights. But when I specifically asked the question regarding this system BIOS, there was no conclusive answer from them.") raises the spectre (pun intended) that the downgrade block was not intentional, and that the Platform Team didn't know that the block was built into the BIOS.  If that's true, that's troubling.

(4)  Back-Out Plan.  Having blocked downgrade, Dell appears to have had no alternate back-out plan in place.  What would have happened if this BIOS version bricked computers or otherwise created serious functional issues, as the January releases did?

I have just flash updated the BIOS going to the Dell website (not via Support Assist)

Ensure you have correct service tag, select BIOS and there is 1.0.15 released.

I can confirm that BIOS 1.0.15 has resolved the issue

I can also confirm that BIOS 1.0.15 resolves the 0716 error screen issue.   As others did, I downloaded the BIOS from the "Drivers and downloads" page of "Support for XPS 8920", using my service tag.  As of now, the new BIOS does not show up in SupportAssist, but I imagine that will change soon.