Occasional FirmwareTPM.exe APPCRASH Since 19-Nov-2022

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[lmacri]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5584 running Win 10 Pro v22H2. Since 19-Nov-2022 I’ve been seeing an error for a TPMFirmware.exe v1.1.1.1 APPCRASH logged in my Win 10 Reliability Monitor that occurs every 1 to 5 days. It doesn’t seem to be causing any obvious problems but I’m wondering if anyone knows the purpose of this TPMFirmware.exe executable and whether it’s part of my Windows OS or some component of the one of the Dell utilities I have on my system. I’ve attached a text file of my latest APPCRASH error from 11-Dec-2022.

I found one 05-Dec-2022 thread in the Dell forum at 17 R4, firmwaretpm.exe stopped working that makes me suspect this error might be specific to Dell computers.

The TPM Management Console (tpm.msc) shows I currently have TPM v2.0 with manufacturer version 403.1.0.0 (Status: Ready for Use).

Just a few comments:

• I’ve looked in the obvious locations (e.g., C:\Program Files, C:\Windows, etc.) and can’t find a file called FirmwareTPM.exe.
• Event Viewer states the faulting application path is always C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\invxxxx_tmp\FirmwareTPM\FirmwareTPM.exe (where “xxxx” is a unique string of alphanumerics for each APPCRASH) and the faulting module is VCRUNTIME140.dll v14.32.31332.0 .***
• I’ve looked in Task Scheduler and can’t find a scheduled task at Task Scheduler Library | Microsoft | Windows | TPM that is launching FirmwareTPM.exe or has a Last Run Time that corresponds to an error.
• The November 2022 Patch Tuesday updates on my Win 10 v21H2 laptop (which included KB5019959 / OS Build 19044.2251) installed successfully on 14-Nov-2022.
• I updated Win 10 Pro OS from v21H2 (Build 19044.2251) to v22H2 (Build 19045.2251) on 06-Dec-2022 and thought that had solved my problem but one new error occurred five days later on 11-Dec-2022.
• System File Checker (sfc /scannow) and DISM scans (e.g., DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth) do not find any problems with my system files.
• According to my notes I didn’t make any changes to my system on 19-Nov-2022 (at least nothing I’m aware of) other than updating two portable apps, CrystalDiskInfo Portable 8.17.11 and Clear Disk Info Portable 4.0.0, on my USB removable thumb drive.
• The WhyNot Win 11 utility shows my system can be upgraded to Win 11 but I have configured my Local Group policy Editor (Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Windows Update | Windows Update for Business | Select the Target Feature Update) to stay on Win 10.

*** I normally run a minimal cleanup of my disk once a week using the Custom Clean feature of CCleaner Free Portable [i.e., Windows temporary files, Most Recently Used (MRU) document lists, and cleaning of MS Edge and IE (but not my default Firefox browser); this Custom Clean is the only feature I allow to run in CCleaner].  I excluded the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\ folder in CCleaner and confirmed this temp folder is no longer being cleaned but can’t see any hidden folders named C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\invxxxx_tmp\FirmwareTPM, even if I check with TreeSize Free.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2251 * Intel i5-8265U CPU * 8 GB RAM * 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD * Intel UHD Graphics 620 * Firefox v107.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2211.5-1.1.19900.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.18.226-1.0.1838 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7175 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.7.1 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.06.10144 * TreeSize Free Portable v4.6.1.508

• This topic was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by lmacri.

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I have the same error on my 18 month old Dell.
I’ve recovered one of the dump files and will let you know what it shows.

cheers, Paul

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The dump file shows:
INVALID_POINTER_READ_STRING_DEREFERENCE_c0000005_VCRUNTIME140.dll!memcpy

It seems likely FirmwareTPM is the problem.

Running at the same time from the same temp directory is Dell_OSRI_CIC.exe, which seems to be part of the Dell inventory collector. I can’t see a task for inventory collection so it’s probably run by one of the Dell services.

cheers, Paul

2 users thanked author for this post.

oldfry, lmacri

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Paul T wrote:

… It seems likely FirmwareTPM is the problem. Running at the same time from the same temp directory is Dell_OSRI_CIC.exe, which seems to be part of the Dell inventory collector….

Hi Paul T:

Thanks for that additional info about the TPMFirmware.exe APPCRASH.

I found an article at https://www.echotrail.io/insights/search/dell_osri_cic.exe/ that suggests that dell_osri_cic.exe is likely launched by invcol.exe (yet another file I can’t find anywhere on my hard drive). My best guess at the moment is that all these files are somehow related to the Dell Inventory Utility at C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\UpdateService\Service\InvColPC.exe.

I added a footnote in my original post # 2507601 that I had noticed that CCleaner was cleaning my C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\ folder and that I had excluded that folder from CCleaner cleaning on 03-Dec-2022. However, I didn’t mention that I also noticed that CCleaner was cleaning a file at C:\Windows\invcol.tmp that seemed to re-create itself each time CCleaner cleaned my Windows temporary files, and since I wasn’t sure what the purpose of that file was I excluded it at the same time. My last CCleaner disk clean was run on 11-Dec-2022 and can confirm I currently have a file at C:\Windows\invcol.tmp (0 bytes, last modified 27-Nov-2022), but I hope CCleaner didn’t delete other Inventory Collector (invcol) files it wasn’t supposed to during a previous disk clean.

I don’t know if this is relevant, but I believe there was a there was an undocumented problem with Dell Update v4.7.0 that caused Dell to pull the v4.7.0 installers some time around 14-Nov-2022 and replace them with v4.7.1 installers on 24-Nov-2022. – see my 21-Nov-2022 thread Why Has Dell Pulled the Dell Update v4.7.0 Installers? in the Dell forum. I currently use Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.7.1 (Dell-Update-Windows-Universal-Application_0991N_WIN_4.7.1_A00.EXE, rel. 24-Nov-2022) but if I ever want to roll back to an older version then I would have to use the v4.6.0 installer (Dell-Update-Windows-Universal-Application_MGVT1_WIN_4.6.0_A00.EXE, rel. 24-Aug-2022) from the “Older Versions” link on the support page for my Inspiron 5584 since the v4.7.0 installer (Dell-Update-Windows-Universal-Application_MMJM6_WIN_4.7.0_A00_01.EXE, rel. 31-Oct-2022) seems to have disappeared. That makes me wonder now if Dell Update v4.7.0 had a glitch that introduced this TMPFirmware.exe APPCRASH.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2251 * Intel i5-8265U CPU * 8 GB RAM * 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD * Intel UHD Graphics 620 * Firefox v107.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2211.5-1.1.19900.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.18.226-1.0.1838 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7175 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.7.1 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.06.10144

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Same error on my Dell system with no apparent ill effects.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lmacri

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lmacri wrote:

cleaning a file at C:\Windows\invcol.tmp

What lazy programming. Nothing should be written to \Windows, temp files should be in Windows\Temp
Maybe the same lazy programming has led to the crash?

cheers, Paul

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Also on a  Dell system, “TPMFirmware.exe stopped working” appeared in reliability monitor on 19-Nov-2022.  I reinstalled Dell SupportAssist on 7-Dec-2022 and “TPMFirmware.exe stopped working” has not reappeared since.

I do not know what Dell SupportAssist did (if anything).

 

Win 10 home - 22H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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When I let SupportAssist scan for updates, it said there was a critical update for SupportAssist. The new version is 5.5.5.16206 . Hoping @mledman’s solution works!

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FirmwareTPM.exe crashes continued for me even after all Dell SupportAssist apps were updated to most recent versions.

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“TPMFirmware.exe stopped working” has reappeared.  The saga continues…

Win 10 home - 22H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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I too have had the same issue since November 13th, 2022. “TPMFirmware.exe stopped working”.   I have uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times.  Dell is not addressing the issue.  I will keep Supoort Assist uninstallled for now.

Linda

Win 10 Home 22H2

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I have turned off “automatic” on the Dell Support Assistant.
I have been doing the driver updates manually by using the DellUpdate Download App (not in the Support Assistant).
If I want to run the other functions of the Support Assistant, I can do so manually by clicking on the “Run” button below each function.

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Has anyone found a solution to this yet?

Thanks!

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A solution short of neutering the Support Assistant, you mean?

I assumed that these were a sign of a failed BIOS update, which would not be something you’d want happening repeatedly. Can anyone exclude that theory and chalk this up to something more cosmetic? I don’t personally use the Inspiron 5515’s where this is happening so don’t know firsthand, but I think I would have heard from the users if it was really attempting a BIOS update regularly, since that involves a reboot.

I do know that each has a pending BIOS update, but taking care of those manually would just set things up for it to happen again with the next update.

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Same problem here with that bothersome FirmwareTPM.exe error.  I have Dell 3470.  I get it almost every day at different times.  It doesn’t seem to affect any other functions and I’m hoping Dell comes up with a solution.  In the event viewer, I’ve had a lot of other errors which were not Firmware error, but was not listed in Reliability Monitor, which I didn’t expect to find.

 

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I know that Dell sometimes pushes a BIOS update through Windows Update. This is not something that I wanted, so I turned off the ability for Dell to shove a unwanted BIOS update on me

I was wondering if there could be some kind of a correlation and how many of you allow Dell to update your BIOS through Windows

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