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XPS 15 9550 freezes randomly (on any OS)
Hello, I'd really appreciate any help anyone can give me.
My situation is the following: I got a new Dell XPS 15 9550 two weeks ago. It was running fine until last night when the screen suddenly went black. I was just using Facebook. The computer was still on but not responding. It would not respond to pressing the power button. So i held the power button for 5 secs, restarted it and kept using it and it would happen again. Eventually, after trying different solutions, I went for reinstalling Windows 10.
While Windows 10 was reinstalling it happened again. The screen suddenly went black and stayed like that forever. I had to turn it off again. Now i have no OS and the computer's stuck in a boot loop. Luckily I had a Ubuntu Linux bootable USB laying around. So i plugged it in and tried to install Ubuntu
But the computer also freezes randomly when trying to install Ubuntu. Sometimes it doesn't even last 10 seconds before freezing, sometimes it lasts a minute. The only difference is that with Ubuntu the screen freezes on the last frame, while with Windows the screen freezes black.
So i ran MemTest86, no memory problems. I ran Dell Diagnostics (the extended test) from the Diagnostics partition. Went to sleep. Came back 4 hours later and Diagnostics said all hardware passed, no errors. The weird thing is that after 4 hours it was still responding, just waiting for me to click OK. No freezing. So I restarted the laptop, tried to install Ubuntu, and again, freezes after a few seconds.
So I really don't know what the problem might be. If it freezes under different OSs, it must be a hardware issue? But memtest86 and dell diagnostics both said hardware is OK. Not only that, but while running diagnostics it didn't freeze for hours.
I would REALLY appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thank you very much.
apriliarider
3 Posts
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March 22nd, 2016 13:00
Kevin - were you also having other problems with it, or is it the same freezing up issue?
Kevin Wei
27 Posts
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January 21st, 2016 07:00
I got the same problem.. the screen would just went black - external screens will freeze..
considering returning the laptop. .
RonVs
4 Posts
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February 21st, 2016 02:00
Same issue with my xps 9550. Brand new laptop. Random grey screens, interestingly the first crash occurs around one hour after I start the laptop, thereafter randomly. igfxext module errors reported. I've tried driver updates, disabling NVidia card, deleting igfxext from background processes to no avail. So far tech support has no answers...........
Dasith
6 Posts
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March 12th, 2016 18:00
This is an issue with bios they have , downgrade it to < 1.15 and you should be fine but those bios versions have issues such as throttling on a/c adopter etc , however its nothing critical like the black screen / freeze issue. Complain to Dell or get a refund if they don't make a fix on bios , thats what i plan to do at least
apriliarider
3 Posts
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March 13th, 2016 08:00
I received a new 9550 a few weeks ago. I was originally running BIOS rev. 1.00.07 and had the same problem, so I don't think that reverting to a previous BIOS will do the trick. I also tried disabling my NVIDIA chip, and updating all the drivers. No luck so far.
Is anyone else using the Dell dock? I've been trying to figure out if it's associated with the dock as that's when I notice the problem, but I work off the dock 90% of the time.
DanInMass
4 Posts
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March 14th, 2016 14:00
This appears to be a BIOS problem. The 1.1.19 BIOS seems to have issues causing the machine to freeze when running normally. I downgraded to 1.1.15 and now seem to be stable (for this issue). I do have a Thunderbolt dock and had to have the Dock plugged in for it to keep the Thunderbolt port properly enabled. There seems to be a problem with a component(s) on the motherboard and the BIOS. The quality testing of the BIOS failed us here. After installed 1.1.15, I did end up reinstalling Windows since it had corruption from the crashes.
I hope this helps!
Kevin Wei
27 Posts
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March 14th, 2016 16:00
I can tell BIOS 1.1.19 isn't cause for my issue.. It happens the first day I got the laptop (early Jan.2016), upgrading to 1.1.19 does not change anything.
Replacing the motherboard (as well as my LCD screen) fixed my issue - I'm running 1.1.19 with no problem for a entire week now.
apriliarider
3 Posts
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March 16th, 2016 13:00
I'm returning my laptop. Dell was unable to resolve the issue before my 30-day trial expired and they aren't willing to extend the trial. It didn't leave me much of a choice. It's too bad because I really like the laptop otherwise. Maybe they will figure it out eventually.
Kevin Wei
27 Posts
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March 22nd, 2016 12:00
Good choice.. I would have return it, if i wasn't on vacation for the 1st month after receiving this piece of ***.
Kevin Wei
27 Posts
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March 22nd, 2016 14:00
I have 3 problems:
- LCD light bleeding - replaced LCD
- The freezing issue - replaced Motherboard
- Space does not register - Not yet fixed. Will bother Dell again.. I have wasted enough time with Dell, so I will make sure I make it as many fix trips as possible.
And they scratched the bottom of the case when they repair my first 2 problems, I'll make sure it will be replaced on a separated request a month later.
DanInMass
4 Posts
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March 22nd, 2016 15:00
This cost me extensive time and frustration as well. I had two resolutions. First was to downgrade BIOS to 1.0.15. I also had a motherboard replacement (it came with 1.0.5) and that one was updated to 1.0.19 and has been stable. I'm disappointed in the quality testing from Dell with the configurations.
Salem3671
1 Message
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April 9th, 2016 22:00
Dang, wish I'd have found this board prior to getting mine. Just came in last night and has crashed twice! Just freezes up then wont shut down unless I hold the power down for about a minute. Spent an hour on the phone with tech support and while the second person was running diagnostics it tried uninstalling and reinstalling the remote access utility. She sent me to a 3rd person who said to return it. Left a comment on their Facebook site and have spent another almost 2 hours back and forth with them. They stepped me how to run the diagnostics myself upon start up, did that and it said it passed all tests. Then, while still communicating with them it froze up again. I messaged them with videos of what it was doing. They've not responded to them yet. They did say prior to that, however, that there were no notes on my account where tech told me to send it back and they kept trying to say that I'd called in earlier because of a sound. No, I called in because it was freezing up, the sound came after that while waiting on hold for tech. So not only can they not fix my issue, but apparently the last two reps of my 1 hour call didn't even notate they'd done a remote session or that they told me to send it back. For $1900 this should run like a dream! I see all these downgraded this, replaced that, etc... and that's just crazy. For these prices nothing should have to be replaced on a brand new computer! Getting my return authorization code Monday and sending this back! After about 3-4 hours of time with their tech on my 24 hour old computer, I'm done.
freakant
3 Posts
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May 15th, 2017 07:00
I have a XPS 15 9550 with 1.2.25 BIOS . It freezes randomly and it passes all the diagnostic tests with success. Even the longest one. I run linux with kernel 4.9.0.2 and I can't find any relevant log entry as well. It just freezes. It's more frequent when a second monitor is connected.