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XPS L501X Laptop Shuts Off Randomly
Hi folks, My XPS L501X laptop shuts off completely and without warning. What happens is the cursor freezes. The computer does not respond to anything. After about 15 to 60 seconds, the screen goes black and it completely powers down in an instant. It does not restart on its own.
After it shuts down I can re-boot, but sometimes is shuts off during re-boot. Other times it runs for 5 minutes or so. Usually it acts this way for a day or two, then it's "OK" for a week or so before it starts acting up again.
I have run Dell diagnostics and found no problems. I have taken it to the local computer shop. They ran diagnostics and found nothing wrong and were not able to get it to shut down. Yet when I brought it home, it shut down on me within the first hour of use. It seems to run longer in safe mode, but I did have it shut off unexpectedly today while it was in safe mode.
I suspected there might be a problem with my video card as it seemed to be worse when I had an external monitor hooked up to it. Then I ran it for several weeks without the external monitor and it seemed to be OK. Until today when it started shutting down again with no external monitor attached.
This has been an excellent computer until this started happening about 6 months ago. I"m on the verge of giving up and buying a desktop (another laptop like this one is just too expensive).
My laptop is out of warranty. Does anyone know if this is a known issue with this computer and if there is a reliable fix for it?
Thanks for any info,
David
DELL-Ravi Ch
7 Technologist
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December 13th, 2013 00:00
Hi David Mc,
I would suggest you to update the BIOS and Video card driver on the system for issue resolution. Please enter your service tag # on the link below, select the OS, then download the BIOS from BIOS section and Video card driver from Video section onto the system and install it.
http://dell.to/18r60nI
Please let me know if this helps.
David Mc
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December 13th, 2013 05:00
Thank you Ravi. My video driver is already up-to-date, but my BIOS is an older version so I'll download and install it and see if that helps. I'll post later if the shut-off issue continues.
David
DELL-Ravi Ch
7 Technologist
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December 15th, 2013 19:00
Hi David,
I would suggest you to uninstall and reinstall the video card driver on the system. Please follow the steps mentioned below to uninstall the video card.
1. Click on Start button.
2. In the search box type devmgmt.msc and then press enter.
3. Select the graphics card device and right click on it
4. Now select properties.
5. In the properties window, under Driver tab, click on Uninstall button.
6. Check “Delete the driver software for this device.”
7. You want to delete the driver click OK.
After the uninstall finishes restart the system. Then reinstall the video card driver and the BIOS on the system for issue resolution. Please enter your service tag # on the link below, select the OS, then download the video card driver from Video section and the BIOS from the BIOS section onto the system and install it.
http://dell.to/18r60nI
David Mc
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December 18th, 2013 08:00
Ravi,
Thank you for your suggestions. I have deleted the old video driver and downloaded and installed the new NVIDIA Graphic Driver version 8.17.12.6639, A04. I have also downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (A08) for my system based on the Dell lookup for my service tag.
All were successfully installed.
Unfortunately, the system shut down again within 5 minutes of the last reboot after installation, so I don't think it solved my problem. I am typing this in safe mode. My system seems to be much more stable in safe mode, although I have had at least one shutdown in safe mode last week.
Please let me know if you have any more ideas.
Kind regards,
David
DELL-Ravi Ch
7 Technologist
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7.1K Posts
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December 20th, 2013 04:00
Hi David,
I would suggest you to clean boot the system using the link below to check if any conflict with third party program/application.
http://dell.to/15WoMoY
Please follow the steps mentioned below to start the computer into the safe mode and run the malware scan.
http://dell.to/15KymGK
Please let me know if this helps.
Rnorbi
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January 29th, 2015 01:00
Hello MR. Ravi,
I have the same Problem on a DEll XPS l501x from 2010 , do you know something new about this problem?
I deleted the Malwares and viruses with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware but the problem persists
How can i solve it ? I
Thank you in advance
Best Regards
Norbert