Inconsistent Random Shutdowns on XPS 17 laptop

Question

Hello,

I have been having a major problem with my laptop lately. At random times, my system will simply just shut off. No warnings or anything. I will be writing an email, for example, and then all of a sudden there is a black screen with a slight ping. About once every week or two it goes through a phase where it will keep on inconsistently and randomly shutdown. Sometimes at will shutdown at the log in screen just after shutting down a minute or two ago.

Temperature doesn't seem to be a factor, for it has shutdown while being warm, cold, and at room temperature. There is nothing happening at the time of the shutdown to prompt the action.

I have contacted Dell through chat several times now. The first time I was given a BIOS upgrade, and it seemed to work fine after that. Then two weeks later, again. The next time (although the second time was harder because my system kept shutting down while in chat, making me restart with a new person and have to explain the situation again. I think it was 5 times that time?) I was given a new graphics driver, and the same when I contacted them a week or so ago. Now, it says that chat is not available for my system, which makes me think that I contacted them too many times for their liking for the same problem, so they cut me off. Which bugs me, too. It's not my fault that something is wrong with the computer and that I want to talk to people at Dell about fixing the issue even though the first sessions were unsuccessful.

I had run tests from Dell's support center, but they didn't find anything wrong. Looking through the manual today I found that hitting F12 and selecting diagnostics lead the user to intensive tests. I started them today, and ran bunch of them. About four hours in to the testing, the system shutdown again. I was not able to turn it on for quite a while after that as well (Which has happened several times, and each time I am afraid that I will never be able to turn it on again).

Other information, I got the laptop the 17th of October 2011. The model is XPS L702x. I am currently on an extended trip abroad, and do not have a permanent phone number, which is why I have been using chat, and to be honest I hate talking on the phone. But if that is what it will take to get this fixed, I may have to.

Any additional advice or direction in this issue is very appreciated, and thank you in advance! (And sorry for making this so long!)

DELL-Terry B · Accepted Answer

If the notebook shutdown while running diagnostics then there is almost certainly some type of hardware defect. It could be something simple like loose memory, or a hard drive that isn't connected well. If you are good with notebooks you may want to consider reseating the drives and the memory and then try running diagnostics again.

If you would like for me to take a look into it, shoot me a private message with your contact info. If I can't personally help I can get you in contact with reps that can.

TB

rufton · Answer

Have you already searched this forum and used google to see what others have done with similar issue?

Since it failed during F12 diagnostics I suspect a hardware issue.

Some laptop models and electronics in general are prone to cracked solder joints.

My amp developed cracked solder joints because the amp chip goes through intense thermal cycles which stressed and cracked the solder resulting in intermittent performance issues. CPU/GPU chips get very hot and require the heat sink and fan to be kept dust free plus they must be designed and installed correctly. That's just one of many possibilities.

Lamki · Answer

I have searched the internet several times and no luck. And thank you for your suggestions.

Does anyone else have any other ideas? I think I may just have to replace it with a new one when I fly back to my home country.

Dell-Rajesh R · Answer

Hi Stanax,I apologize for the inconvenience.Run diagnostics on the computer (Restart the computer by holding Fn and power button).Let the diagnostics complete and check if you receive any error code/message.I have added you as a friend. Please accept my friend request by clicking on my name highlighted in blue and then click on 'Friends' tab at the top and then click on 'Request to Review' and finally click on 'Accept' button.I am sending you a private message as well. Click on 'Inbox' to respond to the message and provide system’s Service Tag and contact details so I may access your system records and check for further course of action. You could also click on Start Conversation to send a private message.Check Warranty status: http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/Index?c=us&s=dhs&cs=19&l=en&t=warranty Awaiting your response!

Stanax · Answer

I have exactly the same problem.

The unit has been to service 3 times already with no change. In the beginning it was more often - like once every 1-2 days, now it's apprx. once a week. Because the problem is hard to spot at the beginning the technicians just cleaned it and said there's nothing wrong. the last time they changed the motherboard but no effect at all.

This time I'll insist for replacement because I've had enough already.

Have you managed to fix yours somehow?

Lamki · Answer

Stanax,

Honestly, if you live in the US, I would consider putting the Lemon Law into effect. If not, then Dell probably has a similar policy.

Mine crashed a few times after I wrote that post, and then it just stopped working completely. It would not turn on, period.
I called Dell from the country I was in and they sent a person to fix it, except he really had no idea what we wrong with it. He changed my motherboard and some other parts and thought that it might work.

It didn't, it failed again about an hour after he left. He came a second time, and changed the motherboard again along with my screen, keyboard, and graphics card (I mentioned that my screen had been flickering, but this didn't solve the problem, the screen still flickered later). After the second motherboard, it stopped shutting down, and I was very joyful, minus the fact that my speakers weren't working afterwards for some reason.

Long story short, a repair man came and replaced my motherboard two times and then the problem stopped. I's been about 9 months since then. But I sincerely think that you should look into getting the unit replaced, I would have if the last repair didn't work.

Good luck~

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Inconsistent Random Shutdowns on XPS 17 laptop

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