Precision 7730 -- brightness adjustment stops working in latest BIOS

@ddmb that's interesting. 

Having looked at the release notes for each BIOS revision 1.10.1 advises the following - Fixed the issue where the LCD brightness cannot be adjusted on certain LCD panels.

I'm wondering what type of panel you have installed in the system.

Can you try reinstalling the latest BIOS revision and checking if the problem then returns. If so, can you go into the BIOS and check what the Fn Lock Options are set to please. (To access the BIOS power on the system and keep tapping the F2 key repeatedly in rapid succession) It should look like the following -

You could also try restoring the BIOS settings to see if that affects the functionality of the Fn keys.

I'll drop you a private message to get your tag details so I can see what panel you have.

Alan

a) Yes, it's only brightness that stopped working. I can change volume or I can change the backlight of the keyboard.

b) It's strange, because I can change brightness in BIOS or when booting from BIOS to Windows, but when Windows "has control" it's not working any longer.

c) Battery or AC power -- the same, not working...

And also please mention to the engineers that Thunderbolt is not upgradable in the latest BIOS version. I think 1.11.0 should be taken down from the DRIVERS & DOWNLOADS page...

@ddmb thanks for the confirmation that the BIOS settings aren't changing between revisions.

Can you advise the following before I take this to engineering - 

a) Is it only the brightness settings that aren't working with the BIOS updates, do the other Fn keys work as they should?

b) Can you still change the brightness settings using Windows?

c) Does it matter whether you are running on battery or ac power?

Alan

I just noticed that also Fn+F8 is also not working (Pc Screen Only, Duplicate, Extend, Second Screen only) in 1.11.0. The menu appears, but I can select whatever option, nothing's changing...

I checked "Fn Lock Options" in my BIOS for version 1.10.1 and I had the same settings as you in the screenshot. Then I updated my BIOS to 1.11.0 and in the "Fn Lock Options" hasn't changed anything ("Fn Lock" checked and "Lock Mode Disable/Standard" selected). And brightness settings not working again

Will there be new updated BIOS in the next couple of days? If yes I will wait for that one, otherwise I will put back 1.10.1.

@ddmb thanks. We have a 7730 here in the office. We will test it and get back to you with the results.

Alan

@ddmb after testing I can confirm that your observations are correct. I have raised the defect with engineering to have it investigated and addressed. I expect it will be removed from download very soon. 

At this stage I don't know whether its a simple fix.Once it's been addressed the revised BIOS should be released.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

Alan

any news on this?.. "Dell Command | Update" wants to update my BIOS to the latest faulty twice a week...

@ddmb the issue still under investigation by the engineering team. I'm fairly certain you can configure command | update to ignore certain updates and prevent it downloading the BIOS until an update has been released. You would then need to reconfigure it again to stop ignoring BIOS updates.

Alan

@ddmb 

We've heard back from our engineering teams and they have advised that the next BIOS update for the Precision 7730 will be released at the end of December which will resolve this issue.

Downgrading to BIOS version 1.10.1 will provide a temporary resolution to this issue (https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=kvcky&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-17-7730-laptop), however we would advise that you always have the latest BIOS update installed to ensure that any relevant security fixes are in place.

Just fyi, and hopefully not too late for the next bios update: for me also the sleep/suspend key (Fn+End) stopped working after the bios upgrade to 1.11.0.

@Vincent Schut thanks for adding to the thread. Can you help me out with some more details so I can a greater understanding of the issue please :-

a) Are you also experiencing the same issue with the brightness adjustment not working?

b) Are there any other Fn button combinations not responding?

c) If you roll back to 1.10.1 does the functionality of those buttons return? - https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=kvcky&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-17-7730-laptop

Alan

Hi Alan,

a) yes, both brightness up/down and sleep do not work for me with 1.11.0

b) no, not that I know, but I don't use all of them. In the mean time I have downgraded to 1.10.1, so it is a bit hard to test the other buttons now...

c) yes, both brightness up/down and sleep do work again after downgrading to 1.10.1

In addition, during the short time I've been on 1.11.0, I've had issues with battery drainage during sleep mode. I'm not entirely sure if it was the bios (but I highly suspect it). I have not yet tried suspending for a longer time after the downgrade, but I'll try that today and let you know.

Vincent.

@DELL-John C 

you wrote this:

Downgrading to BIOS version 1.10.1 will provide a temporary resolution to this issue, however we would advise that you always have the latest BIOS update installed to ensure that any relevant security fixes are in place.

Sorry, but losing the possibility to change the brightness of the laptop's screen is something I cannot live with... So I'm very surprised that you still have that version 11 on your site since this version ruined a lot of important things (maybe someone cannot miss the screen projection to an external device). And end of December is almost 2 months yet...

Or is there any other possibilty (different key combination) to change the brightness of the screen that I'm not aware of?

@ddmb the security updates that the BIOS addresses are more important to all systems than a keyboard shortcut functionality.

You can still change the screen brightness by right clicking on your desktop and then clicking "Display Settings"

You can then change the screen brightness using the slider in the same way you would use the Fn keys and the up and down arrows

Alan