Can not flash BIOS A14

[userosos]

I flash the bios from the BIOS Boot Menu. I can see that BIOS make update without errors. But after check version BIOS i can see that i has BIOS A13. Who can be update the BIOS?

[timwienk]

I updated using the .exe file in a small Windows installation I solely use for this purpose.

Update worked as expected, and BIOS reports version A14.

[userosos]

It is interesting. I repeated 4 times. Including I used Windows 10.

[timwienk]

Have you checked that it's the correct file? Is there an old BIOS update file left in /boot/efi?

I downloaded the file from:

• https://www.dell.com/support/Home/en/gb/nlbsdt1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=43Y56

A14 file checksums:

• MD5: fcf130862575559a839c2697cdad95af
• SHA1: 1204f1d0ca2cd5de58db871c0efd67f11572933e
• SHA-256: 52fe04c111e1ad6b0b64e0e5202d3d8ccf1d37748bf8676fc2f79717745ef297

There's not much more I can think of, since it worked fine for me.

[userosos]

I downloaded the file 2 times. And i do checksum.

[userosos]

@timwienk i download the exe from your link and it not work from windows. Battery is full and laptop connect to charging.

[mpalourdio]

Will check my bios version this afternoon, as i flashed 2 days ago with A14

[userosos]

When i flashed it now i cant see the progress bar like as usual. After progress bar on windows 10 or dialog menu in bios menu (where i am looking for the file) my laptop do reboot just without progress bar of BIOS's flash.

[mpalourdio]

For me :

BIOS Information
	Vendor: Dell Inc.
	Version: A14
	Release Date: 12/26/2017
	Address: 0xF0000
	Runtime Size: 64 kB
	ROM Size: 12288 kB

[userosos]

@mpalourdio How i can use the information for fix my problem?

[mpalourdio]

I was just confirming that after the update, dmidecode information were updated.

[mpalourdio]

@timwienk You don't need to flash under windows, just copy the .exe in /boot/efi, reboot, and flash from the menu after pressing F12 (or F2)

The README explains how to achieve the operation

[timwienk]

@mpalourdio
Yea, I remember that every time after I've actually done a BIOS update. I'll probably reinstall my system soon, and then I'll be forced to, since it won't have a Windows installation anymore then.

Thanks for the heads up, though.

@userosos
I have no clue as to why it would not show a progress bar, but then still seems to continue to reboot fine. Perhaps it refuses to flash the same version that's already installed (although that seems weird).

You could try to flash A13 on it, and then A14 again - although I'm not sure what effect that has on any of the other software, since A14 updates Intel ME firmware as well.

Perhaps the safest bet is to contact Dell support - we're just users here as well, not affiliated with Dell (at least, I'm not).

[userosos]

I can see the pic after any firmware. Now i flash A12 from site dell and it not work. I do reset settings in to BIOS.

[fprawits]

For what its worth, you might be better of not having fashed to A14. Intel recently said that users should stop applying their updates after a lot of problems were reported back to them. Dell has even removed the A14 BIOS from their support section.

I have to say that all of this leaves me very confused. I already flashed A14 on my system and now I am worried that I will run into troubles down the line. I hope that Dell will soon release an updated A15 version that reverts any damage done by the A14 update. Considering I don't even know where/whom to ask about this (I once had a chat with dell support and they didn't know what their own touchpad firmware was, so I am kind of reluctant to try that channel again), I would be very thankful if anyone of you reports back what Dell's further steps here will be if they stumble onto anything. Right now I can only hope I won't be left with a potentially flawed BIOS, I also have no clue whether flashing back to A13 is a safe approach here.

[userosos]

@fprawits i create the ticket: https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Dell-xps-13-2015-update-BIOS-from-A13-to-A14/td-p/5708783

[fprawits]

@userSos: Thanks for the link!

[koosvriezen]

FWIW, like I wrote in the A08 is out #91 ticket:
"
I had to
rm /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/dump-*
first to make the bios actually flash.
"
Suggested here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#Requirements_for_UEFI_variable_support