New Dell XPS 8300 constantly Locking up.. help

Good news Kevin,after much delay and procrastination on Dell's part they finally agreed to give an Nvidia card. They agreed to send me a Geforce GT405 I think, it it any good?For the record I don't game , as you know

Well, there are two options you have here:

* Geforce G405

* Geforce GT450

Out of these the 450 is a much better graphics card, the G405 is a rebranded version of an older card of theirs with a DX11 chipset support put in. I would swear that I thought it was an ONBOARD video card, but I see that HP lists it in one of their desktops as a PCI express 16x....

I would say it's comparable to a GT210 -- it's not a horrible card but if you have been given the G405 then the card they gave you is worse than the card you started with, how you feel about that is up to you.

Verify the card you've been given and here are the comparisons:

(Similar to the 405 compared against your previous 5450)

www.hwcompare.com/.../geforce-gt-210-vs-radeon-hd-5450

(The GT450 vs your previous 5450)

www.hwcompare.com/.../geforce-gt-450-oem-vs-radeon-hd-5450

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If you got the GT450 you have a substantial upgrade, you could likely use it for some decent gaming (nothing super-high end) and video editing/picture editing. It would definitely beat the pants off of the 5450 you had...

I would not recommend the 405 for more than standard computing; calling it a 210 seems like a bit of a stretch and it's definitely not equal to what you had.

Kevin

Well like I said, am not sure if its the 405 or 450, but honestly I just wanted the card to use my HDMI cable. Like said, am not a gamer at all. I use my system for photoshop+Lightroom,and I have already topped off my ram.So either way, I think am ok just wanted to know from you if it really sucked lol

Interesting piece from my situation is that my very first Dell tech's supervisor that spoke to me told me that 99% of the time, it's a software issue & that customers always pretend to know more than they really do & immediately blame the hardware.  Said there was really no way for it to be a hardware problem because they checked all that prior to shipping it out.  But, "you seem like a smart guy so I really don't have to explain this to you."  Then he went on to say that since I seemed to know my way around the computer, that I shouldn't have any problem getting rid of the ATI drivers after we finish the phone call & if that didn't work, call back the next day & reference the case number.

Pretty comical in retrospect & it would be unfair to lump all Dell customer service reps & supervisors into a single mold based on my experiences:

1) The first rep couldn't fix the problem, got her supervisor on the phone to tell me the above.  She said she would call me 6pm est the next day to follow up (of course, her supervisor said differently).  She was 45 min late in calling me the next day & I was already on the other line w/ another rep at the time because of it.  She got upset that I started the case up w/ another tech & put me on hold for about 10 min while I was still on the phone w/ the 2nd rep (I had 2 phones going) & came back & gave me permission to continue w/ the tech I was now working w/.  I was happy I had her "permission" to continue w/ the current rep that was helping me.

2) The second rep was very professional, patient & understanding.  He was kind of funny, too, because I had the two phones next to each other so he could hear what the first tech was saying.  He said something to the effect that she seemed very angry w/ me.  I mentioned I didn't think she would be so upset considering she was the one that was 45 min late in calling me.  Anyway, the only problem w/ this experience was that he got the diagnosis wrong :)  This was the "faulty hard drive" diagnosis where they sent out a tech to install it for me, lol.  He guaranteed me it was the hard drive.  Not sure how you can guarantee such things but anyway . . .

3) The 3rd tech, after hearing I had already tried 3 hard drives by this time (the orig, a separate one I had at home & the 3rd one that the service tech installed), was the one who told me I had a "faulty hard drive" & was going to send out another tech to install it in my machine.  Yes . . . a 4th hard drive . . . because even though 99% of the time it's not a hardware issue, I just happened to have 3 hard drives that the system still froze w/.  So, what's the chance of that happening according to the 1st supervisor?  .01x.01x.01 = .000001 = .0001% chance of having 3 hardware issues in a row.  And you're going to send out a 4th hard drive . . . right.

4) The 4th tech was the one I was asking for a shipping label from so I could send the machine back.  She gave me a bad link to a shipping label that didn't exist.  Of course, I figured this out only after the phone call ended . . .

5) The 5th tech put me on hold for 17 min while reading up on my case, but when she came back, she sent me another link to a shipping label . . . this one worked (I checked while on the phone, lesson learned!) & the 8300 was out the door back to Dell.  Even though she said it would take 30 days, I'm happy to report that I got the refund in 2 weeks, in time to cover the billing cycle from my credit card.

We all have our different experiences so take each w/ a grain of salt.  However, it's all dependent on which tech you get & which supervisor you get.  So, if you run into a situation where they won't offer you an nVidia card to swap out w/ your ATI, for example, I'd politely wrap up the phone call as quickly as possible instead of fighting & call back again & get a different tech.

I echo Kevin's sentiments w/ the principle of the 8300 scenario & how Dell's handling this.  I sent mine back & it still irks me to see no resolution from Dell.  Since Chris M is the only Dell rep on this thread, I guess my question to him is how does all this information get onto the Dell techs' support checklist when a call comes in for a freezing 8300?  One tech told me this is "just" a chat board for non-computer specialists & that any fixes we may come up w/ out in the forum isn't "official."  How would it become "official?"  I'm just curious at this point because while the 8300, itself, may be a bad batch & not indicative of all Dell computers, the way Dell is handling this little problem is quite disturbing.

-John

Interesting read on your experiences with the Dell customer support, John. Especially the last paragraph who the tech said this is just a chat board with non official answers. It seems these non official solutions are necessary since Dell isn't offering any official ones. Perhaps instead we should just all return our computers back to Dell.

However, as Kevin was suggesting from a previous posting, I removed the AMD video card from my system and am currently running off the Intel integrated graphics. Aside from abysmal 3D performance, the computer has been up and running for just a bit over 10 hours without any freezing. That is a current record. I plan on leaving the computer running over night downloading and will see if it is still up and running in the morning still. Thanks all again for the help and suggestions.

The computer has been up and running non-stop for about 32 hours straight now after switching from the video card to the integrated graphics. Almost seems certain my issue is with the video card or video card drivers.

I decided to try the computer again with the radeon 6870 video card again. About an hour after installing the card and the drivers, the computer locked up. I guess I will try my luck with Dell support to see if they'll provide an Nvidia card.

Well mines still in poland atm i guess im going to mabe be join the lockup club also? its go have ATI Radeon HD 5770 :(  I doubt ill be as patient as some of you guys doing dells work for them! i paid good money for this dell against lots of other peoples advise as ive always Dell their so reliable machines im hope my new one desnt change my view of dell forever

Hi Jamfo,

Seeing that the issue seems to be related to the ATI, I hope that once you did the un-install of the drivers that you followed-up by using Driver Sweeper (http://www.phyxion.net) to remove all remnants. This is a critical step to help ensure that all drivers and files related to ATI are gone.

I also recommend that you reboot between each step. Simply removing the ATI software via Control Panel's "Programs and Features" does not remove them all. Some are pre-existing from Microsoft and will not get removed using the ATI un-install process.

Hi everyone!

I just ordered an XPS 8300 i-7 2600 3.4ghz 8gb last Friday and then I stumbled upon this thread.  Now I am worried that I have made a mistake.  Please tell me that they have fixed the issues with the latest models being shipped.

Thanks,

Richard

DSMac,

I did make sure to run Driver Sweeper to remove the drivers completely before testing and rebooted. But it's good that you mention these steps just as a reminder to any others who might be testing this.

Also, Dell tech support ended up overnighting another AMD 6870. I guess if this one doesn't work then they'll probably send me an Nvidia card. I'll keep you guys posted if I experience freezing or not with this different AMD card when I receive it.

rlsrlj

I did the same thing.  I ordered my XPS8300 i7 2600 from the Dell Outlet and then found this thread and freaked a little at first.  When I got it, I turned it on and let it run for a day without installing much of anything just to be sure.

Bottom line is; it works fantastic.  My son uses it for some heavy duty 3D rendering with 3D Studio Max, Blender Luxrender and video stuff Adobe After Effects.  If only it had the Nvidia card for CUDA!  This thing is a power house.

It is very likely fine

Stan

If you are experiencing lockups/BSODs on the XPS 8300, there is a chance it is due to the AMD 6770/6870 graphics card coming loose or unseated from a slot on the motherboard. A limited number of XPS 8300 desktops shipped without the bracket that helps hold the AMD 6770/6870 graphics card in place, especially when the system experiences a lot of movement, like during shipping. To fix this, follow these directions to open your system and reseat the graphics card. While your in there, please reseat all of the memory sticks. Reseating both should alleviate the lockups/BSODs until we can get the graphics card holding bracket V32TR out to you. You can then contact Dell here

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

or by calling 1-800-624-9896 to ask for the Graphics Card Holding Bracket, part number V32TR to be shipped to you. The procedure is easy, simply slide the Bracket onto the rear of the Graphics Card and affix the two screws. You may also contact Dell Technical Support in your region to request a technician to install the bracket onsite.

Chris,

Thanks for your post.  My new 8300 arrives tomorrow.  This will be the first thing I will look for once out of the box.  Mine is coming with AMD 6450 1GB.  I do plan to update the card.  I am wondering if the included power supply has enough watts for a GTX card.  

Thanks for your help!