Dell BIOS updates released recently are reported to cause boot issues on several laptop and desktop models. According to customer complaints on the company’s community website, installing the latest BIOS updates for some Latitude laptops and Dell Inspiron and Alienware Aurora desktops will prevent the machines from booting. The company has yet to acknowledge the issues posted by the users, but some customers have reportedly managed to downgrade the BIOS as an unofficial solution.
The complaints shared by users on Dell forums were first noticed by Bleeping Computer, and the BIOS update issue appears to affect Dell Latitude 5320 and Latitude 5520 laptops (running version 1.14.3), as well as Dell Inspiron 5680 (version 2.8.0) and Alienware Aurora R8 (version 1.0.18) desktops. Installing BIOS updates for these versions can apparently cause boot problems on these laptops and desktops.
A user on the company’s community website posted that their Dell Latitude 5320 would not boot after updating to the latest BIOS version 1.14.3. The laptop’s power button will light up for a few seconds and then turn off again, according to the user. The user states that he could see a blue screen or an error screen that reads “Time of day not set – please run SETUP program” before exiting. The issue was also shared on Reddit, while the webpage for the issue currently states that 11 other users also had this issue, including another user with a Dell Latitude 5520 laptop.
According to the report, the BIOS update also appears to have impacted some desktop owners, including the Alienware Aurora R8 desktop. A user on the forums states that their Aurora R8 desktop automatically rebooted into Virtual Reality mode. The user states that they experienced a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) during boot and are unable to enter recovery mode or boot from a recovery USB or Ubuntu USB. An Inspiron 5680 user on Reddit also states that they were unable to boot their PC after installing Dell system updates, but rebooting and performing a disk repair seemed to have resolved the issue.
Dell has yet to acknowledge the issues posted by the users in the community forums. Gadgets 360 has reached out to the company for comment regarding the complaints and will update this space when we receive a response.
Meanwhile, users have managed to find their own workarounds, including downgrading the BIOS. A workaround shared by a user affected by the latest BIOS update is to use Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery to downgrade their computers. According to another solution shared by a Dell user, affected users can try disconnecting the battery and charger from their laptop and then press and hold the power button for 15 seconds before starting up their laptop.
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