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Dell XPS 8500, AMD video display driver crashes, PSU limitations
I have had a Dell XPS 8500 series for 1yr+, and am having increasingly frequent computer crashes.
The error message indicates a video display card failure.
I have seen on numerous message boards, the issue of Dell XPS 8500 having a 460 W PSU, and indications that this AMD video card needs at least 500- 550 W of power. The card needs more power at time, such as with You Tube videos, watching movies, and when the situation requires more than 460W, the system crashes to "protect" itself. I get that.
The question now, is, how do I fix this hardware issue. I don't really do gaming, so if I needed to go to a video card, that has less power demands, I would go for that solution. The fact that it occurs with regular use of the Internet, has me concerned. I am still under an extended warranty, but after reading numerous sites for this issue, it seems that Dell cannot, or will not, be able to resolve this issue for me.
Are there other cards available, compatible with this system, that can resolve my issue ???
Appreciate any input, as it seems I am definitely not alone with this issue.
DELL-Amogh G
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April 25th, 2013 03:00
Hi dmcmill1A,
The AMD cards shipped with XPS 8500 are OEM cards specifically customized to work with a 460 Watt power supply. It seems the issue is not due to the power supply as inadequate power supply will result in system not working at all.
You may uninstall and reinstall the video drivers and update the system BIOS. Please follow the steps below:
Note: Before updating BIOS please ensure that:
*No external devices (flash drives, printers, external hard drives) should be connected.
*All other programs should be closed and documents saved
Keep me posted with the findings. I will be glad to assist further.
JoeyGa
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December 22nd, 2015 17:00
Has anything been done about this ? It's a review on Amazon ...................
I am a software developer and have had many Dell PCs over the last 23 years. The last two I have bought for myself and my company have had serious problems, rendering them unusable.
Among the problems I, and others, have had with the 8500 are a display problem (display driver stopped working) from the AMD 7770 graphics card that the Dell came with. I contacted AMD to ask about the problem and if it could be caused, as I suspected, by the Dell power supply being below its minimum requirement. Here is AMD's response: "We believe this is a power issue related to your Dell 8500 XPS computer. The card Dell installed is an AMD HD 7770 2GB graphics card which requires at least 550 to 600 watts of power. Dell's 460w power supply is below that and likely causing the problems". When informed of the power supply issue and given the statement from AMD, Dell (4 different people at Dell) told me they will NOT replace the 460w supply with one with the necessary watts to meet the minimum requirement of their own parts vendor, but they will try replacing it with the same 460w power supply!! And I can see from other postings that at least 6 other Dell 8500 customers with that card are having the same problem.
Who designs and sells a PC, especially one Dell touts as "latest performance technology in a premium designed tower", "high performance and expandability", "an advanced computing experience", "high performance graphics cards", "premium long-term desktop solution", "a multimedia and entertainment powerhouse" with a power supply way too low for just a single one of the PC's components?? What does that say about Dell "engineering"? Dell choose what most would consider an inadequate power supply for a PC of this type, ignored the minimum requirement of its own parts vendor, and when customers have gotten the display problem AMD states is being caused by the power supply, Dell refuses to do anything about it!
You may get a Dell PC that works, or one with a simple problem that Dell may fix (Dell reliability ratings are much lower than they used to be). BUT: If you get one that has problems, including possible design problems, know that Dell says they will never, ever allow a return, after the brief period after purchase, even if they are not fixing the problem (and admit they are not),. or if it has a design problem. That is their policy. Applied to the extreme as it has been in my case, it is beyond absurd, it is unconscionable. I have bought Dell PCs for myself, my family and my company for 23 years (close to 40 PCs and laptops total) and they will treat me like this. I just want the PC that I purchased to work so I can use it, nothing else. If Dell can't get that to happen they should allow me, or anyone else, to return it. How many weeks of not being able to use a PC and how much aggravation should an innocent customer be put through?
It is obviously bad enough to run into the problems I did with a brand new PC, one that I use for business (no games, no added cards or devices, just stock as it came from Dell). But I have lost 50+ hours dealing with this so far. But, by far the worst part of it is Dell "support". Starting with the original tech support person: Dell would not look at the diagnostic information I collected: screen capture of the repeating error, Windows Event log data showing detailed description of the problem and its frequency. I have done problem determination of software and hardware problems professionally for over 30 years and have never seen anything like this. How does one do problem determination and resolution without looking at available diagnostic data, logs, traces, vendor requirements, and listening to the user's account of the problem?
Finally,THIS IS STAGGERING: and you may be subject to this if you run into problems: I have sent by my count over 30 emails to all of the different Dell customer assistance email addresses I could find (including their web community and facebook addresses), most of which state that you will get a response within 24 - 48 hours. I got just one single response (!!), and it was from the wrong person, one who couldn't help at all. I left 7 urgent phone messages, including 2 to Dell Corporate in the USA: not one was returned. I have been told by the Dell case worker that I will "get a call" by the end of the day, or the next day, or an email etc. Out of about 15 times, they broke their promise at least 12 or 13 times - no call or email ever came. Virtually all emails back to the various Dell support staff were not returned. I have never experienced something so infuriating and disgraceful in 30+ years dealing with companies. Dell obviously does not care at all or it would make sure a customer is never, ever, treated like that. But looking at incident after incident of people complaining about Dell service it seems like it is the norm. Dell has made it just about impossible to contact someone in the USA, including anyone in their Dell Corp offices in the Austin - that by itself says a lot. Just look at their web page and try to find contact information: phone numbers, email addresses, ways to contact the CEO office, VPs etc., that almost all large companies have. I could only find one thing, a phone number for Dell investor relations. I called that hoping to use that as a starting point; I could only leave a message and no one has ever called back. Dell apparently does not want any feedback or to know of the problems facing their customers or how lacking their support is.
Final conclusion and warning: If you get a problem PC from Dell you may experience what I did. You may want to look at some of the huge number of complaints against Dell by their own customers before buying a Dell. So many are similar to mine. I and my company will obviously never buy from Dell again