XPS 13 9370 Bios update 1.7.3 cpu failure led blinking

Hi fradav-imag,

Thanks for posting.  Apologies that your system is not performing as expected.

Have you been able to run the Systems Diagnostics?  Please try pressing F12 at startup, or if you can get it to boot, run Dell Support Assist, and post back.

If you are unable to run the diagnostics, are you able to boot to Safe Mode?  Try that then run Smart Assist.  Make a note of any error messages and post back.

How to Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 10

If the system is under warranty, please contact me privately. Be sure to include your personal information (name, address, telephone, email) and your computer's service tag number in your message. Thanks.

If there is no warranty, then you could contact our Out of Warranty team to get a quote for a paid service call -

Hi Robert,

I got the impression you didn't read my post fully or that I didn't made myself clear.

Yes, as stated in my post: I ran all system diagnostics test from the bios utility (with F12 -> diagnostics) and with the support assist, and absolutely everything is reported as green and working. 

The machine is working completely fine, with absolutely no issue. The only issue is that I cannot apply the bios update 1.7.3. either with double clicking in windows or in bios update utility in (F12) with a flash drive.

Symptom is : instead of rebooting and flashing the new bios, it stays off with two amber/one white light blink. Forcing restart with the start button boots the machine fine.

I repeat myself : the laptop boots and works ABSOLUTELY fine. 

Is that clear enough ?

Regards,

It seems unlikely you have a hardware fault since your computer has been working fine prior to trying to update the BIOS. Hopefully, Robert's instructions will allow the BIOS update to be applied. If that doesn't work, you might try the following -- but it may not make a difference.

My 9370 kept showing critical errors in the Event Viewer every time I cold booted it. The error said that the computer hadn't been properly shut down the last time. Ever since I've had the laptop I noticed that it would shut down very quickly, unlike any other computer I have. So I recently went into the power settings (buried deep within) to turn off fast startup. This is enabled by default in Windows, and saves the Windows kernel state as a file. Now my 9370 shuts down a little more slowly, allowing whatever Windows housekeeping is necessary to fully shut down, and the errors have stopped. It probably boots a little more slowly, although I haven't measured it.

I have no idea if fast startup could be preventing your BIOS update from being applied correctly. Even when fast startup was enabled on my 9370, I was able to update the BIOS once before. But if the other steps don't work, it might be worth a try. After the BIOS is correctly updated, you can always re-enable fast startup if you want.

Thanks but disabling fast boost doesn't change anything.

Regards

Yes I did follow all of the aforementioned instructions, to the letter.

I don't think it's necessary to launch a warranty procedure, it's a fine working laptop and I don't mind NOT to upgrade the bios at the moment, it's not critical.

At this point, I'd rather think it's this particular bios upgrade procedure for THIS bios (it updates a bunch of components on the motherboard this time) which is flawed and/or conflicts with my settings/configuration.

Could you at least report this to the right team in charge of this bios update, at least?

Regards,

For the sake of the argument I dit try the following :

• From my 1.6.3 actual bios : applied XPS_9370_1.5.1.exe (and activated bios downgrade option in bios settings) : SUCCESS
• From 1.5.1 : applied XPS_9370_1.7.3.exe : FAILURE with two amber/one white flashing at boot
• from 1.5.1 : applied XPS_9370_1.6.3.exe : SUCCESS

If we add the fact that from 1.6.3 applying XPS_9370_1.7.3.exe is a FAILURE (which triggered my original post), there is clear pattern that there is a problem with XPS_9370_1.7.3.exe upgrade procedure, and not my hardware.

If this doesn't convince you I don't know what else would...

I see that dell service erased every references to this 1.7.3 update some time ago.

Now there is the 1.8.1 update.

And guess what : it's the same joke, two amber flash one white (cpu failure) exactly like with the 1.7.3 update.

Is there still a QA service in this departement? Houston, we have a problem!

(I'm taking bets on how long this botched update will stay online, one week, two? perhaps three?)

No. Still the cpu failure led blink when I try (either from windows or from bios).