Precision 7510 Owner's Thread

I already had BIOS 1.8 by manually installing it a few weeks ago. Are we saying that MS is pushing the Dell BIOS even for us who have already installed it? A BIOS update via a Win Update is very strange and a BIOS update via windows update when you already have that BIOS is all the more strange.

I've not received any such BIOS update via Windows Update. For what it's worth, I've uninstalled Dell Command Update way back in March or April. Dell Command Update description:

"Dell Command Update replaces DCSU and is a part of the Dell Client Command Suite. It provides a 2-click solution for getting all the latest drivers, firmware, and BIOS updates for your Latitude, Optiplex, and Precision systems.​

I wonder if the BIOS push via Windows Update is tied back to Dell Command Update. Not having Dell Command Update, I've not received such a BIOS push from Windows Updates. Perhaps disabling or turning off the feature in Dell Command Update is not enough to prevent such a push occuring?

 

I do not and have never had Dell Command Update installed. And yet, it looks like the update came down via Windows Update, plain as day:



Starting with the Precision 7X10 series, the BIOS shows up as a device in Device Manager as "Firmware \ System Firmware 1.8.3". It looks like the mechanism used to push this out is the same one that Microsoft uses to push out driver updates via Windows Update. A driver update is applied to this "device" and that in turn updates the system firmware (after reboot, I guess? -- I still have not rebooted).

Do you have a company-managed WSUS or SCCM server that handles updates? If you do, you probably would not see the BIOS update come through unless it was pushed by your IT department, or you check the "Look for updates from Microsoft instead" option thing when checking for updates manually.

 

It may not have been pushed to me yet. Or maybe it sees I have that BIOS update already (I don't know how it would know that). I'm my own IT department and a company managed WSUS or SCCM server is not involved. My Update history only shows as recent as 11/9/2016:

and my device manager doesn't have a Firmware category either



My win update options:

 

Maybe that's why you haven't seen the update come down from Microsoft... It is presented as a device driver update but you do not have the applicable "device".

No idea what causes the firmware device to appear or not. It's not new on my end, it has been there since I got the 7510. I never paid attention to if it changes when a new firmware is installed through the regular process, though.

 

I'm trying to think how you got the Firmware subcategory in Device Manager. Did you ever run something like this and maybe that is what added it?

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/4/SLN128900



I've not tried this automatic detection from their website but I may see what it finds. Sounds similar to the Dell Command Update

*Edit: well I don't think that was it. It only listed some Intel Rapid F6 drivers updates and to Intel Dynamic Thermal driver update

 

Nope. My Windows install is a custom image, not a Dell one. I have gone out of the way to install as little from Dell as I can get away with, the only things I can think of are Dell Command Power Manager (in order to be able to adjust the fan profile) and some select drivers --- touchpad, freefall sensor, and ControlVault fingerprint reader, as well as the Thunderbolt driver and firmware updates and of course updates to the main system BIOS. Other drivers have been pulled from Windows Update or directly from manufacturer sites (Intel/NVIDIA/etc.).

I remember seeing the firmware listed in Device Manager early on while I was setting up the system, and I thought that it was strange but just the way new systems (or Windows) must work now.

 

That is interesting. I went a different route in that I kept the dell installed win10 and from there I removed just about everything I considered bloat via "Programs and Features". I removed all of the Dell programs and drivers and alot of the preinstalled MS Win "apps". Then I reinstalled only the programs from Dell that I wanted to use taken from this link [http://downloads.dell.com/published/Pages/index.html]. I installed pretty much the exact same Dell programs and various drivers you mentioned. I must've missed something though or missed a critical revision that opened that Firmware device in device manager. Or perhaps I have an early release (I ordered just after the TB3 became available) and maybe there is some hardware that triggers that firmware device which I lack. Or maybe it is a 7510 thing? I'm not going to sweat it though.

 

Anyone had an issue with Windows 10 updates upgrading the Intel 530 video drivers automatically? It currently insists on installing version 20.19.15.4531 of the drivers, which breaks external monitors and cause weird resizing issues when hibernating for me.

I downgrade to v20.19.15.4483 from the Dell website and everything works properly. When I come back the next day Windows update has installed the latest version and broken external monitors again. Frustrating to say the least.

 

See this article... There is a buried option to prevent automatic driver updates from Windows Update. You can apply it system-wide or to a particular update (there are two different methods).
http://www.howtogeek.com/223864/how-to-uninstall-and-block-updates-and-drivers-on-windows-10/

I finally rebooted after the automatic firmware update and nothing happened that was different from a regular reboot. So, it seems that if you are already on the latest firmware, then the firmware update from Windows Update won't mess you up.

 

FYI BIOS 1.9.4
I'll try tonight.