Dell Inspiron 5515 BSOD

That is disappointing.  I was going to try the same experiment when I had time.  Perhaps I still should. 

I recently decided to try again with a completely clean install of Windows 11 (no Dell stuff -- though I notice Window update does automatically install Dell drivers for various things).  I wiped the drive and created new partitions.  During the install process it crashed 3 or 4 times.  I had to keep re-doing the language and keyboard selection, etc.  Eventually I got lucky.  But now it just crashes every few minutes again.  Sometimes right after logging in.  All the mini-dumps I have collected vary a lot and none of them seem to point at any consistent issue.  Hardware or software issue... so hard to know.  But if it is hardware and we can't prove it

I kept it on the Ubuntu side for most of the evening last night.  It behaved.  No crashes that I recall.  In reference to your point about the mini-dumps not consistently pointing to one issue, I did see a lot of references to possible thermal issues.  Granted, it was the third possibility offered.  "It could be a bug in a driver, or a software bug, or it could be a thermal issue."

Mine was crashing constantly, too. Open a support session with Microsoft. It was an issue with the AMD display driver. It took almost an hour in a remote session to fix. Working swimmingly, now! 

I have had some resolution to my BSOD issues.  I was still under basic hardware warranty and one of the memory modules was not being recognized.  I managed to get a tech on site and took the opportunity to explain the BSOD issues.  He agreed it was not right and even as we tried to check the system after he swapped the memory, we saw crashes.  He was kind enough to order a new motherboard, a new SSD and another new memory module (to replace the good one)!  The parts came a day or two later, he installed and guess what... no more BSOD.  The original hardware diagnostics never showed any issues but the tech said they don't pick up all issues. 

I do still get occasional crashes of windows but they are not tied to BSOD.  I had the opportunity to extend my warranty (for a price) but I let it lapse as this whole thing has wasted countless hours of my time and I feel like I'm done with Dell forever.    For those of you who still have warranty, push hard on the hardware angle because it is more than likely the underlying cause.

Good luck!

I deleted the web cam.  the computer is much more stable now.  but a major feature is useless.  not allowed nor ever needed. DELL-Admin> Dell for saying it was my fault.

Interesting. I spent hours upon hours with Microsoft techs and none suggested looking at the AMD display driver. You would think that was something the Dell techs should have fixed back when I shipped them my machine for repair.  Glad this worked for you; I'll have to look into it. I had pretty much given up and didn't want to invest any more time or $$. Thanks.

Glad you got some resolution! Still don't understand why Dell couldn't find and fix these issues when I sent in my machine. All they did was replace the fan and a memory part and the crashes continued the minute I turned it on after they sent it back. And they had no interest in giving it another look when I reported this. Then again, my warranty had lapsed a few weeks earlier, so perhaps they weren't motivated to help further.

Hope all continues to go well for you!

And I updated to the latest drivers.  What Dell supplied, and then at their direction, downloading them direct from AMD.  Still didn't fix any issues.  Still getting BSODs (I had one a few minutes ago) after yet another Wipe And Reinstall of WIndows.

"The original hardware diagnostics never showed any issues but the tech said they don't pick up all issues."  In reality hardware diagnostics don't pick up ANY issues.  Issues in modern machines happen under load on the system.  Running a bit check on device memory and such is as about as useful as using 200 OK for a website monitor to ensure all the content is displayed correctly.

I continue to get random restarts of this 5515, but it is less frequent now than previously once I deleted the camera device. 2 times today, 4 times this past week after the latest WIndows update.  Who knew keeping your PC updated would make is so fragile.  Makes it the worst PC I have ever owned, and I had two Cyrix based PCs back in the day.  Saving my money for a Spectre.

Profanity in any for is not allowed or ever needed?  Tell that to the Dell employees that would not help me resolve issues with this defective product.  I'm just mirroring the treatment I had from Dell. 

. TOS76>

I’m having these exact same issues.  And to start, a month before my warranty expired, I got the same Dell attitude.  Microsoft have been super helpful, and my last go round with them they escalated my case a number of times to find a better solution than replacing windows 11 with windows 10.  After running extensive tests and repeated wipes and clean installs, they concluded it was a hardware issue and told me to return to Dell.  

I had seen the writing on the wall with this (the posts here, for example), and had signed up for the PremiumPlus service contract right before the warranty expired. Now that I have this contract, the Dell attitude has changed.  The tech support is no longer blaming me for the problems, or being condescending.  While I have yet to resolve the repeated restarts, the driver for the AMD graphics card has been updated (BSOD appeared multiple times the following day, so that isn’t the problem) and they’ve gone pretty deep into the “guts” of the machine searching for software problems.  We will see what their next move will be. 

I’ve been convinced from the beginning of this problem that it was a hardware issue.  A first suspicion was a fan that kept going and going one day last October - noisy enough to prevent recording - on what was not a hot day, nor was I doing anything at all processor-heavy.  Since the first wipe of the hard drive and clean reinstall, I’ve been checking the Event Viewer.  Recently almost all the critical errors have been “Kernel-Power” type 41.  A power issue sounds to me like a hardware one…

This whole process has been a colossal waste of my time and energy, as well as lost income.  I don’t want to jump ship on Dell (or Microsoft, or even pcs)  over this, and doing so at this point of the year is almost impossible in any case, but it looks like I’m not alone in considering converting to Apple.  It’s a drastic move, but like the rest of you, I really can’t live like this any more, much less get any work done.  

Please keep updating us on you “progress”.

Latest progress: 

Back with the tech support people yesterday (by phone - the only way to get intelligent responses, it seems) doing the same scans and updates, each time them thinking that doing them again will produced different results (yup, that's the definition of insantiy).  But now they get somewhere new and whatever processes they are running, I start seeing failures indicated in the hardware.  So, it turns out that it IS a hardware problem.  A tech will supposedly be on site on Friday morning to replace the motherboard and the charging port.  Looking through this thread, the only other person who got full resolution of this issue also had their motherboard replaced.  I am cautiously optimistic.  

Foolishly optimistic, as it turns out.  The technician came and installed a new (but refurbished) motherboard and charging port.  It ran for a couple of hours before the BSODs began again.  They happen whether the computer is in use or sleeping.  Of the six recorded events in the last day, I've had 3 instances of  "system service exception", a "Kmode exception not handled", a "kernel security check failure" and a "driver power state failure".  

When the tech was here, he updated the bios (even though it was done already last week).  I've since run all SupportAssist programs. determining that all was up to date and trouble-free.  Right...   I then ran Restoro, which scanned my machine and identified 14 crashed programs (187 events) and 55 broken registry issues.  

And all this is happening with a machine that has been "down-graded" to Windows 10 from Windows 11.  I don't know WHY Dell can't figure this out.  Time to waste more of my life on this, watching the tech's take control of my computer remotely but not solving anything for more than a few hours, all the while seriously contemplating why I haven't bought a MacBook Pro yet...