Dell XPS 13 - Random reboot / windows crash

yep it's exactly as you've described.

it would happen most often when i'm watching videos or web browsing, the screen would suddenly go black and the system would shut down, then I would be presented with that 'it looks like windows didn't load correctly' message.

I did a bit more research, apparently this issue only seems to affect those that purchased a system from october onwards, could be a bad batch? many people have issued a replacement only to be given a system with the same problem. some people have asked for a replacement with a different network adapter, or have updated the killer network drivers with some success, but it doesn't seem to work for everyone. seems like rolling back on the BIOS is the only real fix for now. i've just updated all network and chipset drivers on v2.3.1 BIOS so we'll see how that goes.

It's pretty ridiculous that dell haven't recognised it as an issue, hope they release a fix as soon as possible.

so far so good

haven't tried any USB devices as yet (would only be USB sticks anyway) and don't have any thunderbolt.

yes you have to suspend of turn off bitlocker first, i didn't have a suspend option so just turned it off.

I downgraded to v2.2.1 first (which didn't fix the problem) then further down to v2.1.0

Do you have the 8th Gen i7 CPU? if yes is the laptop stable with 2.1.0?

Incase this helps,

I am facing the same issue on 2.3.1 and i found this error in the system logs right before the power off occurs.

"Session "RtcPalVideoEtwSession" failed to start with the following error: 0xC0000022"

within milliseconds of this happening, a critical error registers as "Kernel-Power" and the laptop resets.

was planning to connect to external monitor through thunderbolt to hdmi adaptor let's hope it works

yeah mine only lets me turn bitlocker off too, I'll have to do that, hope dell fixes this soon thanks so much for the help!

updating all drivers and reinstalling windows did nothing, looks like I'm rolling back.

have you notices any bugs on v2.1.0? some people have mentioned it has caused random disconnects of usb and thunderbolt devices?

also how did you go about downloading the previous version of the BIOS? did you completely shut off bitlocker and install the previous versions one at a time?

thanks a lot for your help!

Yes I do.

V2.1.0 is stable for what I am using it for.

I don't have any thunderbolt devices and the only USB device I'll use is a usb stick occasionally so I can't say if it'll be stable for anyone else.

Okay thanks, will give it a shot today

" I downgraded to v2.2.1 first (which didn't fix the problem) then further down to v2.1.0 "

Chenks76

Thanks for the update and sharing your findings for others to see and be a help to them.

i see Dell have just released a new BIOS version 2.4.2

www.dell.com/.../driversdetails

Fixes:

Updated the handling of physical presence checks in firmware.

Updated the handling of pre-boot authentication information by firmware.

Updated UEFI variable input validation.

Updated the handling of 3rd party Option ROM loading.

Updated SPI flash command configuration settings.

Enhancements:

Optimize CPU loading to Improve EE noise.

sounds promising, have you had a chance to download and test it? wondering whether to go up after just after downgrading to v2.1.0 to see if there's any improvement

That's what I've been wondering as well. If someone can test this update, do let us know. I can't test until my finals are done.

Has anyone tried new bios 2.4.2? Are laptops still reboots after upgrade?

I have 2.2.1 bios version and i have 3 reboots in 2 days, but next 2 days it works with no rebbots only on battery.

What causes the reboots? Is it happens only if you run on battery?

you should be using  v2.1.0 not v2.2.1.

and i haven't tried v2.4.2 yet.