XPS 15 9550 - BSOD freezes daily and randomly

I reproduced this issue twice running a custom test from dell.com including some laptop components.

Somebody from dell told me there is a test issue regarding USB.

(Running the test I didn't use the USB ports).

Beniamin

Hello,

I have the model Dell XPS 9550 bought from USA and I have the same problem.

The motherboard and a piece of RAM were already replaced.

Anybody help us?

Thanks,

Beniamin

Hello,

I solved my issue installing the driver for SSD from Samsung:

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools.html?CID=AFL-hq-mul-0813-11000170

Beniamin

Hi,

Please explain your problem in details. How the occasionally freeze is happened?

I had problems with the Intel Video Integrated Card and my motherboard was replaced.

Beniamin

I tried this driver and YES the BSOD "Critical Process Died" was gone. However, it turns out to another issue "freeze occasionally", anyone experienced?

Thanks.

Hi Ben,

The issue happens from minutes to hours, randomly...

The symptom just freeze and the mouse cursor keeps circling, no any response from the system. You have to press the power button and force to restart.

Could you share your system configuration by typing Dxdiag command and save the configuration to a log file? I'd like to compare the configuration one by one, like BIOS, driver version...

Thanks.

Ok,

Please send me a PM.

Ben

I have exactly the same problem.   Every time I use my laptop (XPS 15 9950), it is guaranteed to freeze at some point.   Screen remains the same, but CPU freezes.   Mouse and keyboard inactive (however, the backlight on the keyboard will light).   Time ranges from 2 mins to 45 minutes at best.    Recent BIOs update did not improve the situation.

Hi2all. I've got the same troubles with freezing (without BSOD). Often it happens when someone touches laptot - tryin' to tilt the display, or when moving laptop from place to place. Last time freezin' happens when i was looking for service tag. I mean it's always happens when usual physical action happens. No one crash him or something, just a usual things. And there is another one trouble with him. But i'll write it not here.

Thanks.

I am experiencing the same issues as described by grwall.

I have an xps 15 9550 that will hang / freeze randomly every day. The laptop did not experience these issues the first few months I owned it.

I have tried downgrading to different BIOS versions, I tried swapping out RAM, Wifi card, battery and HDD. None of these steps resolved the issue.

I love this laptop but am extremely frustrated and disappointed with its stability.

After tried everything I could, I was exhausted. I finally called DELL service center and the technical guy change the motherboard for me. Then the issue was gone somehow. So it seems a hardware issue. Hope this information helps.

I am having the same issue.

My system freezes for anything between 5 seconds and a minute but then continues.

It does this repeatedly after my machine has been on for about half an hour and it does not appear to be related to any particular application.

I think it mus be related to the display drivers because if i remote desktop to this laptop from my desktop machine I can work on it all day without a single freeze!

I've never had the BSOD and the system always comes back to life but it's a serious pain!

Hope that points someone in the right direction!

Pete

Same problem.

Mine BSODs all the time, freezes when hot and cold, no rhyme or reason.  Worst computer I have ever owned.  $2400 paperweight.

I have clean installed Win 10 pro about 20 times now in an attempt to track down faulty driver.  Sometimes it runs for hours no crash.  Other times it crashes 10 times in 1 hour.  All hardware and Samsung 950 pro pass tests.  I have even had crashes when installing Win 10 pro.  I try again next day, installs with no errors.

I guess I should call Dell and demand a new motherboard.

I'm about to open a support ticket for this, but based on everyone else's replies and comments, I'm not encouraged.

I am also seeing BSODs that can occur within seconds of boot ... but usually occur once I actually start "using" the system in some capacity interactively. My observations and attempts to troubleshoot so far:

* The two most common BSODs I get are CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED and UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION. Before the BSODs appear, the system goes non-responsive. Sometime the screen goes black and comes back, but the system remains largely responsive for about 10 to 20 seconds before the BSOD appears.

* I can't be certain, but the BSODs seem to happen whenever I'm trying to do "too many things at once" - usually involving transfers of data across a network (e.g., a download) or an installation from a network share. If I'm letting the computer remain idle or doing something like making this post, blue screen likelihood is greatly reduced. But I have had BSODs when the computer has been sitting idle. I wouldn't have known about some of them if I hadn't gone back through the Windows System event log to find them.

* I can't be certain, but it "feels" like this really got crazy when the Dell Update tool performed a BIOS upgrade a few nights back. I've since tried to move from the BIOS the system shipped with all the way to the current 1.2.18 BIOS released only a few days ago. It seems that BIOS updates are being released very quickly, so I sense that Dell agrees that there's some sort of plumbing problem. I haven't yet tried a BIOS downgrade (assuming I can), but that's something I'll probably try soon.

* I wiped my image and used the repair partition to reinstall Windows 10. I did this after taking the SATA out of RAID mode and into AHCI mode. Windows 10 reinstalled (I had previously upgraded from Home to Professional, so Professional was laid-down), the system came up ... and then blue-screened within a few minutes - no software installed, no additional drivers, and no other patching.

* I've seen Dell's postings about the Thunderbolt dock. I have a Thunderbolt dock, so I patched up the system and any Thunderbolt drivers to the ones Dell is currently pushing. These seem to have had limited - if any - effect in resolving the issue.

* Running without the Thunderbolt plugged in, I still get BSODs - maybe a little less often? I have seen them running with a TRENDnet USB 3.0 dock plugged into USB, so Thunderbolt isn't the full answer. I have yet to try running without any dock using just onboard wireless.

* I've updated all the drivers to no avail. One driver update that seemed to increase the instability was the latest nVidia GeForce driver and Experience update. Immediately after the update, my system went nuts bluescreening (on boot). I scrubbed that driver off and rolled-back to using the Dell-supplied driver. That seems to have settled the blue screening down, but it hasn't resolved it.

* I've seen numerous posts suggesting stability following install of the Samsung NVMe driver available directly from Samsung. Sadly, my system has a Toshiba 1TB NVMe M.2 drive, so no love there. And if Toshiba has something equivalent, I haven't found it.

So, as of December 23, 2016, this problem still exists.