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XPS 8930, constant freeze
Hi,
Brand new XPS Tower here, and ever since I got it it is suffering from random 4-10 seconds freeze. Mouse won't move, no alt-tab, all is frozen, then it comes back. I already called Dell support line, only to be told the very helpful "reinstall windows" Yeah, like it's fun to reinstall and reconfigure all your applications.. (to be fair, the lady had me run diags too before telling me to reset Windows, and then if that didn't solve the problem, it didn't, to reinstall windows) Anyway, I reinstalled it, lost 8 hours of my life again setting stuff up once more, and the problem is still there.
So I tried to find out what component might be causing the freezing, but trying to diag something that gives no error message is though, but here is something I noticed: Each time the computer freeze, there is a cpu spike at the same time AND a network(wi-fi) spike too. The wifi is the onboard qualcomm wifi/bluetooth chip.
Is there any known problem with that chip? Or, anyone else has ideas of what might cause those random freezes?
RoHe
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43.6K Posts
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March 2nd, 2019 17:00
Reboot and immediately press F2 to open BIOS setup. Find the USB Wake Support option in the Power options area of BIOS setup and make sure it's Enabled. Save the change and exit setup, but don't change anything else in BIOS.BR>
When PC reboots, open Device Manager. Expand list under USB and double-click a root hub. Click its Power Management tab and uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off..." Repeat for all USB root hubs.
Now expand list under Human Interface Devices in Device Manager and uncheck that same box for any HID entry that has a Power Management tab. And then uncheck that box on the Power Management tab for your WiFi card in Device Manager too. Exit Device Manager
BR>Now open the Windows Power options screen. Identify the active Power plan and click the link to change settings. On next screen, click the link for Additional Options. And on that screen,disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend and PCI Express Link State Management.
Then open the Wireless option on that same screen and make sure it's set to Max performance. Save all the changes to the Power plan and reboot.
Better..?
Tesla1856
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March 2nd, 2019 19:00
1. Actually, a good troubleshooting step. You have to first determine if problem is hardware or software.
Hopefully, you clean-installed from a freshly created Win-10 flash-drive from microsoft.com . Meaning, NOT using the Dell Recovery Image/Partition already on the machine .
2. In Windows Reliability Report, so you see any red/critical errors?
kinwolf
46 Posts
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March 3rd, 2019 04:00
@Tesla1856 1- I know, it's just that I'm really tired of that first call being totally wasted(not just with Dell, it's a problem with most first line of customer support who go through a prehashed text, not even listening to the problem. )
2- nothing relevant, no.
kinwolf
46 Posts
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March 3rd, 2019 04:00
@RoHe Many steps described I had actually already done, reading some threads, but I completed was was left. No change, it took about 20 mins before I got a 4 secs freeze again.
Vic384
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March 3rd, 2019 05:00
Since you mentioned that your freezing corresponds to spikes in CPU and network (WiFi) have your tried a direct wired (CAT 5) network connection to your computer to rule out a WiFi connectivity issue?
kinwolf
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March 3rd, 2019 08:00
Well, I got my answer pretty fast. 2 mins later I got a 5 secs freeze already. Looking into the performance monitor I see a CPU spike, but of course no wifi spike. Although I didn't disable the qualcomm device, I'll do this now and see.
kinwolf
46 Posts
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March 3rd, 2019 08:00
The computer is way too far from the router, but I just remembered that we have a spare google wifi. I'll set it up and plug the computer directly in it and see. thx
Tesla1856
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March 3rd, 2019 09:00
1. So, how did you "reinstall Windows" (see first post)
2. It shows red/critical errors but you don't think they are relevant?
kinwolf
46 Posts
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March 3rd, 2019 10:00
1- Used the microsoft MediaCreationTool from here https://www.microsoft.com/fr-fr/software-download/windows10
2- BGMonitor(EagleGet app) that stopped working and a game that hanged. Both "normal" since the first is related to actions I was taking in the browser that affected BGMonitor, and the second is a single game crash, related to the game itself.
Tesla1856
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March 3rd, 2019 13:00
1. Perfect.
And just to verify:
- you DID NOT load anything from support.dell.com
- you DID NOT load Intel-RST either
All drivers came from Windows-10 or Windows update.
2. OK, understood.
Vic384
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March 3rd, 2019 17:00
Maybe freeze is not the correct term for what is happening. If the CPU usage spikes then perhaps it is really busy doing something or waiting for something. Perhaps a program like Process Explorer at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer can tell you what is happening or at least what process is consuming all those CPU cycles..
RoHe
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March 3rd, 2019 17:00
Scanned thoroughly for malware?
kinwolf
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March 3rd, 2019 18:00
Vic384
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March 4th, 2019 05:00
So you didn't install any Dell drivers at all? I am not sure, but I think that is the point Tesla1856 was trying to make, that when you re-install Windows you also need to install all the Dell drivers for your machine starting with the chipset driver then network, audio, etc. You should enter your Service Tag at dell.com/support to make sure you are getting the correct drivers.
Tesla1856
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March 4th, 2019 14:00
1. Good
2. Why? The whole point is to only install Microsoft software and drivers. You should have just used Windows Defender and Windows Firewall for a week or so.
Anyway, surely you are behind a router's hardware firewall.