Precision 5560 BIOS Auto upgrading after downgrade + rcv files considered incompatible

For starters, have you disabled BIOS Recovery from Hard Drive (default = enabled), and confirmed that BIOS Auto-Recovery is still disabled (default = disabled), both options in BIOS setup?

The .exe file is used to up/downgrade BIOS. The .rcv file is used to recover if there's a BIOS failure and PC won't boot.

FWIW, I don't think the issues mentioned in your other thread are BIOS problems, and I posted some suggestions over there.

@RoHe​ Thank you for your response.

I realise that I may not need to use this feature now, but I would like to understand better what the expected behaviour of these options are.

They seem self evident, but for the avoidance of doubt, which settings are you suggesting and why ?

These are the options I see in BIOS > Updates, Recovery

Enable UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates = ON

BIOS Recovery from Hard Drive = ON

Allow BIOS downgrade = ON

SupportAssist OS Recovery = ON

BIOSConnect = ON (immutable)

Dell Auto OS Recovery Threshold = 2 (options are Off, 1, 2, 3)

Thanks

Enable UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates = ON - Allow Windows Update to install BIOS updates automatically, without warning or permission. IMO, this is risky, and I always disable this option.

BIOS Recovery from Hard Drive = ON - Means there's a backup copy of BIOS stored on the boot drive. That way, if you ever have a BIOS failure and need to run BIOS Recovery, it should find the saved backup file on the drive, and you won't have to create a USB stick with the recovery .rcv file on it.  If the .rcv file isn't found on the boot drive when this is enabled, you'd get a warning message and then have to use a different PC to create the USB stick. It's more convenient to let it try to find/use the .rcv file saved on the boot drive.

Allow BIOS downgrade = ON  - On occasion, a new version of BIOS may cause (unexpected) problems that a prior version didn't have.  So this option will allow you to reinstall a prior BIOS version that doesn't have the problem. If disabled, you'd only be allowed to install newer versions of BIOS, but not older ones.

SupportAssist OS Recovery = ON - When enabled, SupportAssist can replace a crashed version of Windows with a copy from Dell's site.  Mixed feelings about this one. It doesn't always work, and the OS image will likely be out-of-date and require lots of updating via Windows Update. You might be better off, using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB to do a clean installation of Win 10 or Win 11.  Making/saving images of your drive(s) on external media using imaging software on regular basis can be a better way to recover everything, OS, installed apps, personal files, quickly and easily.

BIOSConnect = ON (immutable) - Allows BIOS to connect to Dell's site over the internet to retrieve the OS file you'd need for SupportAssist OS Recovery. It can't be disabled so don't worry about it.

Dell Auto OS Recovery Threshold = 2 - Sets the severity level of the Windows failure to determine when to automatically do a SupportAssist OS Recovery, if that's enabled (above).  So 2 means it's the mid point between a lower and higher level crash that triggers the OS recovery. 

NOTE: Each new BIOS update will revert all these options to their default settings. So if you change any of them (notably UEFI Capsule Updates), you need to check these settings again after every BIOS update.

@RoHe​ thank you for the follow up and detailed explanation.

So what I'm left wondering is, why did each BIOS downgrade allow me to boot into Windows once, then on subsequent boot auto replace the BIOS, presumably from an .rcv file ?

All the BIOS downgrade files (1.22, 1.24 and 1.25) were downloaded without issue from the Dell support site, and the BIOS flashing process displayed no warnings or errors. So I'm not anticipating 3 corrupt BIOS files that need to be auto repaired.

Couple of possible explanations:

1. Windows Update saw there was an updated BIOS and force-installed it without permission. 
   
   
2. Dell Command is running in background on your PC. "This application simplifies the BIOS, firmware, driver, and application update experience for Dell client hardware." So it may have detected the updated BIOS after the first boot and automatically installed it without permission when you did the next boot.

FWIW, UEFI Capsule Updates are a binary file, not a .exe or a .rcv file that's stored on the boot drive.  Don't know if Dell Command uses a binary file from Dell's site to install BIOS, or if it uses the standard BIOS .exe file from the Dell site. 

When you booted the second time and got the BIOS update again, did the boot process take longer than "expected" and/or show anything "unusual" on the screen while it was booting, which might indicate that a BIOS update was running?

@RoHe​ Thanks for your continued responses.

After a BIOS downgrade > boot into Windows and then restart, during restart it didn't make it past the Dell logo, then auto restarted and then began the BIOS auto recovery. No errors, warnings or other unusual messages were displayed.

So either Windows Update or Dell Command queued the BIOS update to run at next boot.

If you're curious, you could disable Dell Command, assuming it's running. Then downgrade BIOS again and see if it gets updated again on 2nd boot. 

But since it's not very likely you'll need to downgrade again to fix a problem with a new BIOS update, it might not be worth the effort. I'd still disable UEFI Capsule Updates in the last BIOS that was installed, so WU can't run a BIOS update when you're not looking.

Settings look good to me, and glad you were able to prevent forced BIOS updates that way.

Did you look on Startup tab in Task Manager to see if Dell Command is listed and can be disabled there?

But, if just disabling UEFI Capsule Updates is sufficient to prevent forced BIOS updates, you may just want to leave Dell Command enabled for whatever other updates it may want to offer.

Just remember, if you ultimately do another BIOS update, be sure to check all those same settings in the new update, and change them to the way you posted above.  It's like playing whack-a-mole...!

And if your question has been answered, please mark a post in this thread as the Accepted Answer. Thanks!

@RoHe​ In the Services list there is "Dell Command | Power Manager Notify" and "Dell.CommandPowerManager.Service" but they are both set to Manual and are not running.

After flashing the BIOS I noticed that only SupportAssist OS Recovery switches back to ON.

You don't know what might trigger Dell Command to run, so it just may not be running "now".  Might be worth considering setting it to disabled, to avoid any possible future issues.

As I said above, every single time you update or downgrade BIOS, all setting are restored back to their default settings. 

So you have to keep an eye on things, especially making sure UEFI Capsule Updates is disabled so Windows Update can't force-install BIOS updates, like it apparently was repeatedly doing on your system.