XPS 8930, Nest Camera, WiFi connection

Question

Win 10 19043 and Nest Outside Camera

I am not sure exactly where to post this, so I thought I'd start here. To me, this is rather unusual, so none of the troubleshooting steps from Nest apply. It must be either an XPS 8930 or Windows problem.

Here is the Problem:

On the XPS 8930, my camera keeps dropping its WiFi connection and I have to log in several times a day.

Here's what is unusual. I have 2 PCs. One is my XPS 8930 and the other is an older PC. The "other" PC is my backup PC and is running the same version of Windows and all the same software the XPS 8930 is running.

The problem PC is the XPS 8930.

The "other" PC is can run the camera app with no problems whatsoever. I can leave it on 24/7 and the camera never goes down and I never have to log on. But the XPS 8930 drops its connection many times a day and I have to log back in to get the app working again. That's why I think it must be the XPS 8930. I have had this camera for several years with no problems whatsoever until about a month ago. All the troubleshooting from Nest has to do with the wifi connection, etc, but that is doesn't apply since I have another PC directly beside my XPS 8930. All connections and distances are the same.

Thanks

RoHe · Accepted Answer

Glad to hear that things have settled down!

Do you mean the camera is staying connected, the screen stopped blinked, or both?

Exactly what was the screen fix? Disabling PCI Express Link State and/or reinstalling Nvidia drivers?

At this point, I don't think a clean install is going to make much difference, especially since DISM and sfc fixed whatever problems they found. You might try chkdsk c:/f again...

And if all hardware passes the ePSA diagnostic tests from the F12 menu, it doesn't sound like hardware, unless, possibly, the GPU is overheating.

So just keep using the system and let us know if things are ok after a few days. And then mark this thread as having an Accepted Solution...

speedstep · Accepted Answer

@spotteddog @RoHe

Backup your apps and data files.

Open ADMIN command prompt and do a Fresh start.

systemreset -cleanpc

then press next

One major issue with a wireless security camera such as the ones carried by Nest is that they can be pretty vulnerable. In the case of Nest, in fact, they are so vulnerable that with a simple Bluetooth command, any hacker can disconnect the camera. A set of specially crafted weave packets can brute force a pairing code, resulting in greater Weave access and potentially full device control. An attacker can send specially crafted packets to trigger this vulnerability. reports came out that Google had “forgotten” to tell consumers that some of their Nest security devices contained a hidden microphone that was not listed in the technical specifications–adding yet another possible avenue for privacy violations. Google claims they forgot to mention this and the nest microphone was never supposed to be a secret.

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-5035

In either case Dell does not support Nest Cameras.

https://store.google.com/category/connected_home?

https://store.google.com/us/category/nest_cams?hl=en-US

speedstep · Accepted Answer

@spotteddog

@RoHe

Dell isn't going to notify Google Nest users of anything. This is not a Dell product and Not supported by Dell. or related to any Dell product.

Google also does not respond to users on the DELL forum.

Google was rolling out Fuchsia OS to first-generation Nest Hub displays. Over on the Google Nest Help forum, users are reporting that all of their Nest speakers, displays, and even Google TV devices are pausing media while they view Nest Camera feeds in their homes!

This is not a Dell issue and the problem is on Google's end.

Google says there is a fix on the way but does not mention the hidden speaker issue or the bluetooth KNOB issue.

They do try hard to blame it on others which is not solving the issue.

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9259924?hl=en

CVE issues should not be taken lightly. Its not one or two its more than 20 and I don't see any response from google for any of them.

https://cve.mitre.org/

https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=google+nest

googlenest/thread/115878590/why-does-media-on-my-google-products-indefinitely-pause?hl=en

spotteddog · Accepted Answer

Just wanted to report that I did a clean install of windows 10 a week or 2 ago and haven't had any of these problems since then. Maybe that's a clue to why my 8930 had problems and my other PC (same windows version) didn't. Who knows.

RoHe · Answer

Do you have the latest drivers for your WiFi card (Qualcomm or Killer?) installed on the XPS 8930?

Might be a Power plan settings issue...

Open Device Manager and double-click the entry for your WiFi card Click its Power Management tab and uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off...".

Close Device Manager and open the Windows Power & Sleep screen. Click Additional Power Settings. On next screen identify the active Power plan and click Change Plan Settings. On next screen, click Change Advanced Power Settings.

On that last screen, disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend, and PCI Express Link State Management. And under Wireless Adapter Settings, make sure Power Saving Mode is set to max performance. Save the changes to the Power plan and reboot.

Let us know if that helps...

Edited

spotteddog · Answer

Thanks for taking to time to help. I've made all the changes. I'll give it a day or 2.

speedstep · Answer

@spotteddog

Turn Hibernate OFF

Admin command prompt

powercfg -h off

Set power plan for High performance

the windows narcalepsy settings are all defaulted to 20 min including turning off wifi to save power.

Set Windows to sleep NEVER

Set turn off hard drives to 960 minutes

Set standby to never (Default is 20 min)

Set turn screen off to NEVER

When not using the machine simply turn the monitor off.

spotteddog · Answer

I checked all the settings you both gave me yesterday. The settings I have changed are correct. In fact, I already had most of those already set to what you recommend.

So this morning, when I booted my 8930 as it started to load windows, I started getting flashing on my monitor (flashes and 2 white screens that lasted a few seconds). Then the system ended up booting ok.

But since then, today I have gotten 3 white screens that lasted for about 3-4 seconds each time and after a few seconds, everything was OK.

Needless to say, I have not had a chance to check out my original problem of my camera going offline.

My backup PC still has no problems monitoring the camera at all.

Meanwhile, I go back and double-check all those settings.

Thanks

RoHe · Answer

None of the settings I suggested should affect video output. I use exactly those same settings on my XPS 8930. Can you test a different monitor on this PC, using the same port on the video card?

Open Win 10 Event Viewer and look around the times of screen flashes to see what errors may have been captured. That might point you in the right direction.

Reboot and run the Diagnostics from the F12 menu and see if there are any issues with your video card, etc.

Assuming no diagnostic errors, when you get to the desktop, open a CMD window and type in: chkdsk c:/r and press Enter. Accept the option to run chkdsk at next boot and reboot. It will run before Win 10 loads. When you're back at desktop again, you can look at the chkdsk log file to see what it reports.

spotteddog · Answer

Ron, The diagnostics ran OK with no problems found. I ran to chkdsk 2 times. Both times, when I tried to open the log, I got the error that 'file or directory is corrupted and unreadable'.

RoHe · Answer

Did you see any error messages in Event Viewer around the time of the flickering?

That error message when trying to open the chkdsk log is not good. Do you know which drive the chkdsk log was saved on, SSD, either internal HDD or an external USB drive?

How are you trying to open the chkdsk log, in Event Viewer or by running Power Shell? Try Power Shell and use the command on line #3 (see link above) to create a .txt file and then see if you can open it with Notepad.

Have you run chkdsk on the two internal HDDs? Type in: chkdsk x: /f but replace the x with the actual drive letter assigned to each HDD. When chkdsk is done on each of those drives, see if you can read their log files.

Next, open the Command prompt window again, Run as administrator, and run these commands, in order, from the C: prompt:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Be sure to put one space ahead of each / and copy error message when it's done, if any

sfc /scannow
One space before the / and copy the error message, if any.

(NOTE: You can copy/paste those commands from here directly into the Command prompt window.)

spotteddog · Answer

chkdsk log saved on SSD.

Can't open log txt with either method.

DISM and sfc showed corrupt files that were repaired.

After doing these, I rebooted, got the flickering again:

Log Name: System
Source: Display
Date: 8/9/2021 9:27:32 PM
Event ID: 4101
Task Category: None
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: DESKTOP-PBIMCS2
Description:
Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.
Event Xml:
http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

4101
0
3
0
0
0x80000000000000

14072

System
DESKTOP-PBIMCS2

nvlddmkm

spotteddog · Answer

Ron,

Got more flickering while booting. the only error at that time was:

Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-PerfNet
Date: 8/10/2021 12:34:44 PM
Event ID: 2004
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: DESKTOP-PBIMCS2\jglig
Computer: DESKTOP-PBIMCS2
Description:
Unable to open the Server service performance object. The first four bytes (DWORD) of the Data section contains the status code.
Event Xml:
http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

2004
1
2
0
0
0x8000000000000000

9117

Application
DESKTOP-PBIMCS2

3221225506

RoHe · Answer

Good that DISM and sfc found/fixed some issue.

Check that the monitor is connected to the NVidia card and not to either the onboard Intel Graphics HDMI or DP port.

Next, double-check the Advanced Power plan settings and make sure PCI Express Link State Management is off, and save the change, if any.

If that doesn't help, open Device Manager, right-click the NVidia GPU and Uninstall it. Then install the latest NVidia driver for the GTX10xx series from Dell's Support page.

You may also want to (re)install the NVidia HSA Control Panel application.

Then reboot and check things out...

spotteddog · Answer

It is probably too soon to say anything, but it looks like you fixed this. Thanks.

I'll give it a few days.

One more question:

Do you think, if I start having more problems in the next couple of days, a clean install of Win 10 would be the way to go? Or might this be a hardware problem?

XPS Desktops

XPS 8930, Nest Camera, WiFi connection

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