Aurora R9, randomly freezing up, then releasing

Question

Brand new Aurora R9. I wiped it clean and did a fresh install of Windows 10 Home on August 16, 2020, and fully patched Windows to version 2004, build 19041.450. Pristine system with no unnecessary baggage. The only thing I installed was GeForce Experience and the latest nVidia video driver.

I then proceeded to install some apps, starting with the game Minecraft, Bedrock edition. Here's the problem I'm experiencing: every so often at random, the computer will freeze up and I can't interact with anything, although my mouse is still active. I thought at first I had locked up, but the free mouse was confusing. And then, eventually, after about 30-40 seconds, it unfroze and I was able to resume control.

I wiped everything and reinstalled Win10, etc. This time I did not install Minecraft and instead installed some other game (Outward). Same problem occurs: the game freezes up for almost a minute, and eventually releases back to me. It happens usually about 2-3 times a gaming session and is catastrophic during gameplay, obviously.

Any idea what is causing this? It's a very annoying problem. I ran the Dell Support Assist and it reported no problems and completed all tests successfully.

Sad in Seattle

r72019 · Answer

There's also an F12 epsa test you can run outside of windows.

Also, you can try running without the gpu on onboard graphics to rule out a gpu issue. There was a hpd firmware update for the rtx oem dell gpus that has bricked some gpus following the flash. It was pushed out as critical via supportassist.

r72019 · Answer

Did you install the dell bloatware apps and all programs pulled for your service tag like intel RST, intel management engine, etc?  RST causes some freezing sometimes.

r72019 · Answer

You might want to try ruling out the GPU.  Some people did encounter freezing issues like you're describing following the dell rtx vbios (firmware) update.

BobInSeattle · Answer

Thanks to all for the answers. No, I didn't install any of the Dell software after I wiped. Just a fresh install of Win10, pristine and pampered, fully patched to v2004 and the latest build.

Stock components, which I assume means the 460 watt power supply. I may have to shell out for something like that Seasonics Focus 850 watt supply, looks like a nice fit and hefty.

It's pretty lame that I spend this kind of money on a PC only to find that the power supply may be insufficient? I don't know if that's actually the cause, but I can't explain this in any other way than to look at the hardware at this point.

Has anyone had any trouble with the Zelotes mouse drivers? That's the only after market thing I'm using.

BobInSeattle · Answer

Is it possible to revert the firmware to a pre-RTX version?

BobInSeattle · Answer

I've looked at all the documentation that came with my purchase and see no reference to the PSU wattage. It doesn't show up on any of the spec sheets I could find. I opened the case and visually inspected the PSU and could find no indication of the wattage. Even the stickers had some kind of bar code whose format was unknown to my barcode reader.

I'll call Dell support and see if they have an internal record of the wattage. If they indeed shipped a 460 watt PSU when nVidia lists 659W as minimum for the RTX 2080 Super, then someone's going to have some explaining to do.

Thanks for the tips guys, appreciate any other suggestions or ideas. This is maddening when it happens.

r72019 · Answer

On the PSU a quick way to double check is the 460w is nonmodular and the 850w is modular (cables can be removed from the back of the psu).

Also, the 850w has a second unused pcie power cable (for hooking up a second gpu) wrapped up in the metal swing out box. If you remove the psu there is a sticker with the specs on it.

r72019 · Answer

You can downflash if you have a copy of the prior vbios version (it's not available on here). But before doing anything like that it would of course be recommended to confirm the problem is with the gpu and not the pc or other hardware component.

BobInSeattle · Answer

I contacted support and they confirmed that I've got the 850W PSU, so that's not a suspected issue.

We ran through all of the diagnostics, including a 2 hour extended hardware and memory test, and the machine passed all tests, leaving us both baffled.

I installed Win10 using a USB stick and MS Media creation tool, patching to version 2004 and the current build, this doesn't appear to be a software issue either.

I thought about the possibility that it's a connectivity issue, but all the machines on the network are behaving just fine. In fact, playing an online game with my wife, which I hosted and she joined on my old computer, I froze up during gameplay and she was able to continue without any trouble at all.

I'm about ready to request a return and a new box, but I'd sure rather avoid that.

Thanks again for all your responses, and to everyone else in this community. I continue to appreciate any other insights or suggestions from this community. This is really disheartening, not the kind of thing you expect when you shell out $$ for a new rig.

BobInSeattle · Answer

Hmm, I may have an overloaded power strip, I'll check that. My wife is on a different circuit, so it's possible it's something only affecting my PC, although this never happened to my old PC (but then, it didn't have an RTX).

Thanks for the suggestion, will check that out. The encouraging news is that I haven't had a single freeze up since tech support ran all their diagnostics and driver installs, so it's possible the problem was addressed without us explicitly knowing it. This is indeed the longest I've gone now without a freeze and I've been on the machine all day and night. Crossing my fingers, thanks for all the help, great community.

Alienware Desktops

Aurora R9, randomly freezing up, then releasing

Was this post helpful?