Precision 7730 BSODs, Driver issues and instability. TB18DC docking issues too.

Hello everyone,

I am currently having an issue with my Precision 7730. It's unstable and especially when connected to my TB18DC docking station. The system sometime crashes when just plugging in a HDMI cable. Other times it just shuts down when plugging it into the docking station. Removing the USB-C can cause the system to crash and shutdown. I sometimes have to restart the workstation before the external keyboard and mouse work when connected to the docking station. 

To me it seems like a driver issue and the most common BSOD is the Asmtxhci.sys related one. This seems plausible because it gets activated when the dock is connected to the system. Reinstalling the driver with the Windows variant, Dell variant or the one from the ASmedia themselves did not show any stability improvements. Rolling the driver back to previous versions did not help either. 

I've found some experimental work-arounds and potential solutions but I am not sure if I want to apply those. Some of the potential solutions I have found are:

• Ethernet Driver Power settings – Disable Energy Efficient Ethernet
• BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing, disable it.
• Uncheck Always Allow Dell Dock
• Delete registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\asmtxhci\Parameters
• Turning off C-States and SpeedStep

Running a full hardware diagnostic test resulted in a healthy/no error system.

The BSOD error codes are as followed:

• SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED - Asmtxhci.sys (Related to ASmedia Driver?)
• VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE - nvlddmkm.sys (Probably fixed by downloading the newest NVIDIA driver)
• ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY (Memtest: OK)

Affected hardware set up:

• Precision 7730 (Fairly new, less than 1yo)
• TBC18DC (New)
• Two monitors. 
• Keyboard and mouse
• 240w brick

Affected software set up:

• Windows 10 - 1709
• BIOS: Up to date.
• DockingStationFirmware: Up to date.
• All drivers up to date via Dell Command and manually installing via the support site (including Thunderbolt etc.)
• (BIOS)Settings correctly followed by Dell's guide. 
• Troubleshooting followed by Dell from A to Z.
• No weird behavior signaled before the crash happens.
• Drivers seem to appear to be working.
• Clean install did not help.
• Problem hard to replicate but happens often.

I would massively appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Will provide a complete driver list, BSOD dumps and USBview dump also I might run Driver Verifier.