730 XPS ShutDowns

Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:

I suspect it's either an overheating issue, or a lack of power?

What make/model PSU does the system have in it, because a pair of 9800 GX2's alone, are going to need (at a guess) something in the order of 500w - 600w!?

But assuming it's the PSU which was pre-installed in the system, it shouldn't be a lack of power?  [Even] Dell wouldn't fit a PSU which wasn't up to the job :emotion-2:

And you mention that the fans are working overtime... which leads me to suspect overheating is the cause :emotion-55:

What to do about it, is difficult?  What is the usual ambient room temperature?

The first thing you should do, is check to make sure there isn't a build-up of dust inside the case, and that there are no obstructions (i.e. cables) preventing airflow through the case?

You could try taking the side panel off, and pointing a desk fan into the interior?  You might want to consider third-party coolers for the cards?

The only other things I can think off for now, is fitting better case fans, +/or maybe cutting a blowhole in the top of the case?

Deffently not a lack of power, this thing holding a 1,000W which is just more then enough for anything.

I did crack the case open yesterday and listen abit seeing i was thinking the problem was with the Graphic card, seeing my old one did it. How wrong i was. The Coolent system is was seem to be running the hardest by the sounds of things. After installing the tool set for the PC i found in the fourms, my pc getting as hot as 190F.

Sounds like the same kind of problem I've been having - I had an engineer out to swap the cooling system and it was okay for a week but then went again.  Spent a while on the phone jumping through hoops like trying each stick of memory in each slot before they agreed to send out a replacement motherboard so I took (another) day off work to meet the engineer, don't you just love an appointment time of 'between 9am and 5pm'? and they shipped me a faulty motherboard that was DOA. 

I arranged for another engineer to come on Thursday and Dell phoned me back later to confirm that the engineer would be there on Wednesday...I told them that we'd agreed Thursday and they updated their records and confirmed that an engineer would be here on Thursday. 

On Tuesday morning I got a call at work from the engineer who was outside my apartment with a new motherboard...so I told him again that I'd arranged a house-sitter for Thursday and re-scheduled the appointment. 

I'm not really expecting him to arrive as agreed on Thursday and if he does I'm not particularly optimistic about him fixing anything to be honest but in the unlikely event that they do something right I'll let you know if swapping the motherboard sorts my system out.

I hope one day to ring tech support and find someone there who speaks English!

Seriously, if I'd wanted a bag of nails I'd have built the thing myself :(

Good Morning VarnFury,

My 730 H2C worked great from September until mid December, when it started to shut down randomly during gaming, being online, or watching a Blueray disc or even just a DVD.  I was advised and did run the Dell diagnositics, multiple times, tested each stick of RAM and both video cards.  When you rund the Dell Diagnostic, which does take time, you will recieve a code number.  My first error number was 2000:0123 which means the RAM is not working, but it turned out it was just over heating.  The final code number was 3700:011A which meant the cooling system was malfunctioning.  Follow the directions in Dell Diagnostic, then do a System Tree diagnostic under either Blue Screen or which ever symtom best matches your system stopage.

Once you get an error code number, give that to Dell Tech Support and they will have the problem fixed.  They really do try to help, but you do have to run the diagnostic on your own time.

The repair technician came to my house and fixed the machine in about 30 minutes.  He replaced the processor and cooling system and I was back online about 30 minutes from the time he walked in the door.

Download PCWizard 2008 and run it to check your temps.  Adjust your CPU setting under the nvidia control panel, chassis heading to 100%, uncheck the automatic.  You will have to check the "accept" when you first open the nvidia control panel, found in your program listing under Nvidia Corp.

Hope that this helps and is not too confusing.

Darrell WV

I'll bear that in mind Darrell - don't want to sound like some kind of bigot but problems with understanding each others' accents really doesn't help when trying to explain an awkward technical problem :)

Soo...latest update, swapped the processor, cooling system, gfx card, IO board and motherboard but the machine still won't post and shows error 26 on the motherboard readout.  To be fair I'm as baffled as Dell now...and they've agreed to give me a new system which is good. 

Somehow I don't seem to be able to make Dell understand though that taking six days off work to meet with engineers and couriers and being without my machine for six weeks is inconvenient for me?   I joined a new company this year so I'm back to the starting holiday allowance of 20 days so losing six of those days really hurts!

Just thought I'd update this thread, every other day I've been called by someone from Dell since this replacement was promised and told to expect an email listing the specifications for confirmation.  Every other day this email does *not* arrive, I did get one email thanking me for accepting the replacement and hoping that my problem had been closed to my satisfaction...closed?  no...I still hadn't been told what my system was being replaced with - the 730 is no longer in production so it's either the 730X or something else and the 730X comes in many flavours and I'd really quite like to know which one it is that I seem to have accepted?  I was then emailed an order number - I've rung several times to clarify...this order number does not exist in Dell's systems (bear in mind I'm still supposedly waiting for an email detailing the replacement system to confirm acceptance...it could be a ZX Spectrum for all I know!).  Now I'm getting neither emails or phone calls...admittedly they weren't much use because they were all just lies to keep me waiting :(

I used my XPS 730 for software development and graphic design and that was a big chunk of my income - aside from all the inconvenience of losing my original system I'm now losing contracts because I don't have a machine to complete them on.  It's coming up on a month now since my system bought the farm and I honestly have no idea if a replacement anything is even on the way!

I bought this machine from Dell because I didn't want the hassle of building it myself....ah sweet irony.

I'm in the process now of trying to escalate this problem to a formal complaints process - I've been Mr Nice Guy for 4 weeks but it really hasn't gotten me anywhere and I'm actually facing the prospect of having to pursue legal action to either get my money back or get the replacement system that doesn't yet seem to exist.

I'm kind of in a state of despair right now, I didn't know that technical support could actually BE this bad!

Just had an email detailing the specs through...it's a no-frills XPS 730x , on my original 730 I'd purchased many frills but at this stage I just need my machine back too badly to wait any longer.

One thing I have learned from this process though is that being patient and reasonable is completely the wrong strategy, you have to go absolutely foaming-at-the-mouth *POSTAL* at every step or nothing will get done.  I always advise people to be patient with tech support guys because they're just doing the best they can in the situation...I've had to revise my opinion now though - my advice in the future will be that Tech support have been specifically hired to make YOU the customer as miserable as possible, they will ignore any feedback that you give them on a problem, they will use their response-script to circumvent any trace of common sense and let you down on pretty much a daily basis until you find yourself ringing the PA of Michael Dell himself and offering her your first-born son if only she'll put you through and let you beg Michael to intercede on your behalf.

Safe to say I won't be recommending a Dell to anybody in the immediate future, I'm just worried about what kind of asthmatic gasping bag of nails I'll get this time...hoping it's not like the battle-worn and "foul smelling" 'refurb' laptops that people have been complaining about in the other threads when they got 'new laptop' replacements.

Oh goodie.  This thread is filling me with great anticipation...of doom.

My 730 H2C, received in December, seemed to run fine for a month or two - aside from an inordinate number of crashes to the BSOD.

A few days ago, I started noticing a lot of fan noise, even when the system's idle.  No CPU hogs reported by TaskManager.  No applications running (besides whatever gets kicked of at login).  After a couple days of that, it stopped booting at all - the system would just power itself off while the BIOS initialization screen is showing. 

Actually, I found that if I tried to power the system on while my monitor was off, it would sometimes get to the Starting Windows progress bar, but would be stuck (discovered when I turn the monitor on) - and then power off.  This made me suspect there might be power issues (seems like the 1Kw supply should be enough - my UPS shows only 250-350w drawn at this stage).

But then, if I try to power on again within a minute or two of the last failure, it shuts itself down almost imediately.  If I wait a few minutes or more, it gets a little farther.  This made me suspect overheating.  Well, that and  the fans running like mad.

I finally succeeded in booting after going into BIOS and reducing the CPU multiplier from its factory setting of 9.5 (for 3.8GHz) to 6.0 (for 2.4GHz).

Anyhow, I just fired off my support request email.  Let the fun begin!

Good Morning errohrer,

Well, do not allow anticipation of doom set in, lets just look at what is going on.

My first question is what CPU does you XPS 730 H2C have?  Mine has the QX9650, and came with a factory BIOS of 11.5X, yours came with a 9.5X? and you have reset it down to 6.0X?  Does that keep your system stable?  Are you monitoring your CPU temps?  What about your CPU voltage?  And did you check to make sure your RAM was locked into their slots and had not come ajar?  What a lot of questions!

Did you install the AlienWare Light FX? or are you using the nVidia ESA controls?  Did you install the Dell Thermal Monitor? or are you using the nVidia ESA controls?  If you installed the Alienware Light FX/Dell Thermal Monitor from the Dell Support Center/Downloads & Drivers did you uninstall the nVidia control BEFORE you installed Alienware?

Best,

Darrell WV

Thanks for the reply, Darrell.

That is a lot of questions - but here goes:
---
Q: My first question is what CPU does you XPS 730 H2C have? 
A: Here are some of my system particulars:
Intel Core2 Extreme QX9770 (12MB,3.2GHz Factory O/C'd to 3.8GHz),
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs,
Dual nVidia GeForce GTX 280 – 1024MB,
1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 32MB Cache,
1 kilowatt Power Supply,
Dell CPU Liquid/TEC Cooling ATX Unit.
---
Q: Mine has the QX9650, and came with a factory BIOS of 11.5X, yours came with a 9.5X?
A: The factory default CPU multiplier was 9.5, which resulted in the 3.8GHz speed.  I'll have to set it back to see what voltage it chose to go with that.  I thought it was higher at that speed than it is now (see below).

I currently am trying a CPU multiplier of 7.0X (2.8GHz). 
The fans are definitely kicking in more often than they did at 6.0X (2.4GHz), but not nearly as bad as they do at 8.0x (3.2 GHz - native speed) or 9.5x (factory overclock).
---
Q: and you have reset it down to 6.0X?  Does that keep your system stable?
A: Well, this hasn't been going on for a long time, so I'm hesitant to use the word stable.
But, yes, I believe I've been able to boot each time I've tried a multiplier of 6 or 7.  I believe it has blue-screened on me, even with the lower multiplier, but this system has blue-screened a lot since purchase (typically IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) - the fans/failure to boot is a recent development.
---
Q: Are you monitoring your CPU temps?
A: Haven't been.  Only after I started seeing these problems did I even try to start the nVidia System Monitor.  I'll have to try a few boots to see what the temps are with different CPU multipliers.  Current temps (I thought I was at 7x, but it is reporting 6x - maybe I've been SpeedStep'd down to a lower speed?):
cpu1: 85C, cpu2: 84, cpu3: 83, cpu4: 80,
ESA board: 23C, rear: 25, front: 24, internal: 23, ambient: 19
---
Q: What about your CPU voltage?
A: CPU voltage, according to BIOS, and to the nVidia System Monitor, is currently 1.0 (with the multiplier at 7x, and pretty sure it was the same at 6x).  For some reason, I thought the number was higher (1.25) with the 9.5x multiplier - but I'd have to try again to be sure.  Actually, the number reported by nvidia System Monitor seems to fluctuate - I've also seen 1.008 and 1.096 during this same session.
---
Q: And did you check to make sure your RAM was locked into their slots and had not come ajar?
A: I hadn't, before - but have now.  The cooling system makes it a little tight to reach back there (glad I'm not adding/removing any) - I just gave a push to each corner of each of the 4 sticks: each seemed to be firmly seated already.
---
Q: Did you install the AlienWare Light FX?
A: I don't believe I have anything from Alienware on this system.
---
Q: or are you using the nVidia ESA controls?
A: I didn't know it by that name, but I did find a utility called nVidia System Monitor.
---
Q: Did you install the Dell Thermal Monitor?
A: Nope.
---
Q: or are you using the nVidia ESA controls?
A: Probably (see above)
---
Q: If you installed the Alienware Light FX/Dell Thermal Monitor from the Dell Support Center/Downloads & Drivers did you uninstall the nVidia control BEFORE you installed Alienware?
A: Haven't installed either.  I don't see anything that matches in the Programs and Features from Control Panel - only a set of nVidia utilities.

Thank you for your quick reply.  The nVidia control system is what I am using right now to control the heat issues.  Your QX9770 will produce a little more heat than my QX9650, but should respond in a similar manner.

I established a "Profile" in the nVidia control (also known as the ESA) which has two launch protocols, 1. when Windows loads and 2. when game *** loads.    Saving and loading the profile is a multi stage process that starts with "Control Panel" - Performance - Device Settings; here you will see Create Profiles/Edit Profiles: #1. CPU/Cooling slider = 40%, GPU/Cooling = 50%, Chasis/Cooling = Automatic fan control OFF, Front CPU Fan slider = 100%, Rear CPU Fan = 50%, PCI Fan = 50%, HDD Fan = 50%   APPLY (choose a profile name)   then go to Performance/Profile Policies: check Load this Profile, choose one of the "When the following" click on arrow to "Take these actions" and then click "Accept".

This will set the cooling system to functioning at a higher level, might sound mildly like a 747 full throtle taking off in the room with you (not really just a little loud).  This will really cool off your system quickly.  You can play with these settings until you are satisfied with the coolness of your rig.

Yes, those RAM sticks are really in there tight with minimum hand space.  I groaned when Tech Support told me to take each stick out and test each stick in the slot closest to the CPU, what a real pain (my fingers are not really slim), but did it to test the memory.  I did add a fan, facing the MOBO in front of the RAM sticks, that I used Velcro to hold in place, went to RadioShack and got their Hi Temp/Hi Strength Superlock Fasteners (velcro) and placed on bottom of the fan and top of the H2C CPU housing.  Cools the RAM and the MOBO.

Upping the Front CPU and the extra internal fan got rid of my heat.  Now my CPU Temp is 18-20C idle and 25-30 load stess test (OCCT and heavy gaming) with the following at idle Core 1-4 34-38C and load stress test (OCCT and heavy gaming Core 1-4 40-50C.  The system is stable with OCCT for an hour wide open all cores at 98-100% and RAM maxed.  My GTX 260's in SLI run 40C idle and 50-55C maxed.  My ambient runs 18-20C.

Try this and see if you system is cooler.  If your CPU temps stay in the range you posted, the CPU will wear out and burn up quickly.  I would check the Intel web site and you will see that high of a temp is NOT where your CPU should be running.  I know that the Dell Tech Support staff will tell you it is okay, but I do not personally agree, but I am not a computer engineer either, just another forum user.

Hope all this has made some sort of logical sense.

Darrell WV

Thanks for the info, Darrell.

I've got most of the fans running at 70% or higher (maybe a little excessive - certainly loud) - the CPU fans are at 100%.  The cpus are still 41, 42, 42, and 47C - with nothing going on beside an IE window to type this post in.  Much better than 80C - so thanks for pointing me in the right direction, there.

I think my goal, now, is to use the system as little as possible until Dell Tech Support can resolve the problem - because there does seem to be a problem.  Of course, I wasn't monitoring temperatures before the problem became obvious - but I'm wagering that they're a bit higher now than they were, before.

The first thing they told me to check was the voltage selector on the power supply - I can't even find a voltage selector on my power supply.  I've seen a picture of another Dell system which has a selector switch right next to the power socket on the back of the supply, but no such thing on mine.  Nothing obvious inside the case, either.  Of course, I don't expect I'd find that the switch automatically switched itself - but if I could find it, I could at least jump through the tech support scripted hoops and hurdles.

I'm starting to feel like quite the n00b.  (also a bit nervous about poking at the internals of the most expensive computer I've ever bought...those RAM chips put up quite a fight when I tried to push them back into their slots...).

Thanks again for your help!