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Latitude 5285 random reboots
I was just wondering if I could get some assistance on an issue I've dealing with the Latitude 5285 series.
What I've encountered is that the system will randomly reset while it is being used. One second it's working perfectly and then the screen goes black and the dell logo displays while system reboots. There is no blue screen, no pause as the OS does a memory dump. It's as if someone hit a hardware reset button. The system reboots without alerting that there was a problem or that something unexpected occurred. I can see a kernel power event 41 in the system logs following the reboot.
- I don't believe it's a heat issue as the fan isn't running and the back of the device itself is not hot when it happens.
- I have used Dell SupportAssist to download the latest drivers and BIOS
- All Windows 10 updates have been applied
- I have sent the system in for repair twice - in which the motherboard and then the fan / heat sink were replaced.
- I have observed the behavior it on a second device. (I was sent a replacement unit by Dell Support.)
- I haven't been able to identify a specific trigger that causes it. Each time it's been different than the previous one.
- Due to the fact that no system state is saved (that I'm aware of) when the error occurs, I can't really look for a smoking gun or perform much debug.
Nothing has corrected the issue and both systems do exactly the same thing as far as the reboot is concerned.
Based on the facts above I'm left believing that it is a software / driver issue at fault. I should also mention that it most frequently happens when I'm using Office 365 64bit edition and Microsoft Power BI. I'm aware that both of those programs are not mainstream but they are Microsoft supported. And, on the flip side, I have the identical software configuration on an older Latitude 7250 and it runs them perfectly.
At this point, I can't use the 5285 to perform the work related functions for which it was purchased and it's been in repair long enough that I can't return it.
Has anyone else encountered this type of issue? If so, is there a fix for it? I've researched a bit and see that a graphics driver can be connected to failures of this nature... Just not sure where to go from here.
Thanks, Paul
Anthe
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February 10th, 2018 16:00
I had the same issue with my 5285, random crashes even when the PC wasn't hot. Very frustrating. I installed Ubuntu and while my camera and fingerprint reader don't work yet I do not have random restarts anymore. No real fix found sadly
xpertengineer
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February 10th, 2018 21:00
So, since the system was delivered and I’ve set it up it has turned off on me twice, while I was using it. While I thought it might be a software issue since it showed up on two separate computers, I have reconsidered my thoughts on the issue and still believe it to be related to hardware and here’s why:
rbaldacci
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February 24th, 2018 05:00
Same issue with my brand new Dell 5285. In my opinion, it's a serious hardware fault. I have also updated the BIOS to the latest version but still it reboots randomly. System is also updated to the latest Windows release.
It appears to be a common problem with DELL PC: https://www.dell.com/community/General/Dell-Inspiron-15-5555-reboots-randomly/td-p/5141955.
It's my first Dell PC and probably also the last one.
Roberto.
xpertengineer
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February 25th, 2018 16:00
Sorry that you guys are experiencing the same issue as I have been. However, this may be of some help. Since I last posted I was able to take one action that has, to date, averted the random restarts. That was to disable the enhanced C States in BIOS.
To do this:
1. Restart your computer and press F12 before the Dell logo appears.
2. When your menu comes up chose: Other Options: BIOS Setup
3. Select the Performance menu
4. Select C States Control item
5. Uncheck the box next to C States
6. Apply settings and restart.
I can't promise that this will fix the issue for anyone else, but I can report what I have observed with my own 5285.
Two weeks is by no means conclusive evidence that the issue has been eradicated so I'll keep posting on whether or not it manifests itself again.I just figured I'd share my latest findings in hopes that it might help someone else get past this completely exasperating problem.
-Paul
rbaldacci
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February 26th, 2018 03:00
Hi Paul,
many thanks for your advice.
I will make the changes to the BIOS and see what happen. I will let you know how it works for my 5285.
Regards,
Roberto.
R.B.G
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March 22nd, 2018 09:00
Hi Paul
Even my system also behaving the same way. I have Office 2016 installed and the random reboot without any warnings as well as no blue screen. As you suggested I have made the changes to BIOS. Will keep this form updated about the stability. The random reboot even after the latest BIOS update from DELL. The latest update was released on 3/18/18.
Thanks
rbaldacci70
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March 22nd, 2018 16:00
Hi All,
even in my case the problem has not been solved. Still having reboots several times.
Roberto.
xpertengineer
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March 22nd, 2018 19:00
Thanks for the reply Roberto. Sorry you're still experiencing the random reboot issue. Here's what I've been up to.
After I disabled C States on the 1.1.12 BIOS I was able to successfully run without any random reboots for over a month. At that point I noticed that BIOS 1.3.4 had come out with this intriguing line in the notes: Updated to the latest CPU microcode to address CVE-2017-5715 and associated Intel Reboot issue. Googling this turned up some very interesting data and seemed like it could be the real potential root cause of my original random reboot issue. Because my system was running well I waited another week before finally deciding to update my BIOS to 1.3.4. I did update it and left the C States disabled and observed the system for several days with no random restarts. At this point I had to see if the problem was truly corrected by the microcode update, so I re-enabled C States and kept using the system. Fortunately, I still didn't observe any random restarts. I later updated to 1.3.5 and still the system has remained stable. I can't say for sure that it's "fixed" yet as I just haven't had enough up time since re-enabling C States to be confident that it won't randomly restart any more, but it is definitely trending that way. I'll be sure to post here if I do see the issue return.
I should also mention that now that I've been using the 5285 with C States enabled I realize that I was pretty off in my original observation that disabling them didn't adversely affect the battery life. I'm now getting about 2x the battery life during a normal work day where it is used off and on throughout the day (not as my main driver). This is precisely where they should be impacting the system.
Just thought I'd update...
Paul
R.B.G
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April 11th, 2018 14:00
I try to enable the C-STATE, but the reboot started within 2 hours of enabling it. Now I am back to disable it again. I am on 1.3.5 BIOS version. I do agree that disabling C-STATE does drain the battery. I get only 5 hours on the full charge. But if I enable it, the reboot happens on its own.
flonou
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April 25th, 2018 15:00
I'm having the same problem : random reboots.
They exclusively happen when the computer is not connected to my dock though (WD15)
rbaldacci70
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April 26th, 2018 01:00
So, one more update about my Dell. C state is disabled (i.e., latest and default BIOS settings), Windows and all Dell updates performed (up to 25/04). No good news but bad news, it seems that the frequency of reboots has increased. The problem is when the PC is under battery power and it happens using any program. In my case is not a reboot but an immediate shutdown. During my last shutdown I was updating Visual Studio 2017 and, as a result, the installation was corrupted. I’m very disappointed.
Roberto.
flonou
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May 4th, 2018 11:00
Seems like disabling C-state removed the problem but also rose the battery usage a lot.
Are these faulty processors ? when searching for c-state reboot on internet, it seems like it
Has dell an opinion on this ?
xpertengineer
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May 4th, 2018 21:00
A quick update on my end. I also had to disable C-States again in BIOS even with the latest release. It seemed fine for a while and then, it was back on a pretty regular basis. As far as an official thought from Dell, I'm not 100% sure. As I had explained before I got a whole new 5285 and saw the exact same behavior as before. When I worked with the Dell reps, they said that disabling the C-States was going to be the "official" solution to the issue. Not sure if I buy that yet. I don't believe I should have to disable a key feature of my hardware to get it to work right. It should work correctly with all features enabled. I just haven't decided if I should try to push for a 5290 as a replacement...
flonou
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May 5th, 2018 07:00
The answer basically being "to use your tablet computer on battery, you need to disable power saving features" ...
Maybe dell can work out a driver or firmware update to prevent this
Other rant : I hate to lose my message because the forum requires me to login. Why do I go back to the home page after a login ?
flonou
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June 27th, 2018 07:00
I had my CPU/MB replaced and now it's working correctly, no more random reboots !