Precision 7820 & 7920 Towers Intermittently seeing a partial lockup

The following article provides information about an intermittent lockup that is seen when using a Dell Precision 7820 or 7920 Tower.

Precision 7820 and 7920 Towers intermittently locking up in use and during sleep

Precision 7820 and 7920 owners have reported experiencing partial lockups with their workstations.

When the issue occurs, the clock appears to stop at the time the lockup occurred, the mouse cursor is still able to be moved, but applications do not work and are completely frozen. Other programs may work, but only in a limited fashion.

This lockup issue can also be seen during sleep (it presents as a black screen) or at the login screen. If it happens at the login screen, the time will be stopped at the time the system froze. You will again be able to move the mouse cursor. However, if you click to log in, only the background picture remains.

Systems specific to Issue:

• Precision 7820 Tower Fixed Workstation
• Precision 7920 Tower Fixed Workstation

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Resolution

Dell Engineering has released a BIOS update to resolve this issue.

Updating the latest BIOS version on the computer helps resolve the issue. To download and install the latest BIOS:

Note: To learn more about updating the BIOS on a Dell computer, see the Dell knowledgebase article Dell BIOS Updates.

1. Browse to the Dell Drivers and Downloads page:

   • Precision 7820 Tower Drivers Page

   • Precision 7920 Tower Drivers Page

2. Select the Operating System

3. Under Category, select BIOS

4. Locate the Dell Precision 7820 and 7920 Tower System BIOS (version 2.6.3 or newer)

5. Click Download and save the file to your computer

6. Open File Explorer and browse to the location where the downloaded file is saved

7. Double-click the BIOS setup file and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process

8. The system restarts during the flash process

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