XPS 8930, freezes for 3-5 seconds

@John-Jay 

Hi John,

The Intel Graphics Command Center was also not installed on my Dell desktop. These are the steps I took to install everything:

1.  I took a backup of my PC first including taking a Win10 System Checkpoint.

2. I downloaded the Dell version of the Intel Graphics UHD 630 driver (which I was originally running, Version: 25.20.100.6615 ,A02, Last Updated Date: 02 Jun 2019) in case I needed to re-install it.

3. I went to the Intel Graphics DCH Driver download website and installed the latest driver (i.e. 26.20.100.7212). In order to do this click on the 7212 link, download the 7212 zip file, and extract the files. Next go to Device Manager (Display Adapters), right click on Intel Graphics UHD 630, and select Update Driver. Once you do this click on Browse My Computer For Computer Software and point to the 7212 folder that you just extracted.

4. I went to the Microsoft Store and found the Intel Graphics Command Center app and installed it.

5. Once the Intel Graphics Command Center is installed you can go to the Start Menu and scroll down to find the app to launch it.

I did launch the Intel Graphics Command Center and I went through all the tabs looking for the Power options as indicated in dodo2's comments. I didn't find them so I have asked him to clarify. If you need to uninstall the Intel Graphics Command Center just go to Start-Settings-Apps, find this app, and click Uninstall.

As you can see I am now running the latest "native" Intel Graphics UHD 630 driver, not the custom driver originally supplied by Dell. If needed you can always run the exe file from the Dell website to reinstall the Dell custom Intel Graphics UHD 630 driver.

In my opinion I doubt that the Intel Graphics UHD 630 chip is being used on my Dell because I have the nVidia GeForce 2070 card running my display. One never knows so I decided to give this a try.

Good luck.

@John-Jay 

Sorry to hear of your Dell issues.   The potential fix for your machine has been provided by @rjbards with a clean install using the latest W10 1903 ISO.    There are bugs in the W10 update process that can corrupt your machine and hence it is sometimes better to install a known stable build.  

A couple of days ago an announcement on the Microsoft website explains: "Windows 10, version 1903 (the May 2019 Update) is designated ready for broad deployment for all users via Windows Update."

So if you experience the growing pains of the rollout of 1903 with various updates that may have caused issues, at least @rjbards has shown that the latest W10 ISO is stable on his machine and installs all the current drivers while not using any Dell software.  So I would move on and bite the bullet and do a clean install after backing up all your data and leave these issues behind you.

Follow Philip Yips detailed instructions here on how to do so.  I used a USB stick and RUFUS and it works as intended.  

@John-Jay @DellCan 

@dodo2 machine is a laptop.  Hence he uses onboard graphics and uses the Intel Graphics Control Panel.

"I'm facing the same (or similar) issue on my XPS 15 9570"

Intel is rolling out a new Intel Graphics Control Center for desktop machines with Windows 10 updates in anticipation of their line of discrete GPU's coming out in 2020.  Similar functions as Nvidia Geforce Experience Control Panel but for their line of GPU's as they take on Nvidia and AMD.

Per @vic384 the onboard graphics controller is automatically disabled when you install a graphics card so there is no reason to even have the IGCC or the current Intel Graphics Control Panel installed on the XPS 8930 unless you aren't using a GPU.

Hi, @RoHe 

Disabled the Intel UHD Graphics Driver, but subsequently had another short Freeze!

Regards,

John-Jay

@HanoverB,

Basically, I think you are right!

Just very frustrating to have to do this on a Brand New PC that, really, has NOT been working properly since new!!

However, because of "Personal-Issues", my "Personal-Focus" is often very distracted & tends to mean that I make the most stupid mistakes (simply because my mind is on other things) - which tends to make me feel that this course of action could be disastrous (a picture of a very expensive "Brick" springs to mind)!!

Hence, unless anyone has any better ideas, I think I will have to invest in a Brand New NVMe/SSD (never used NVMe's before) & a new Licence Key for Win-10 - deliberately keeping everything on my existing NVMe/SSD so that (in the event of a disaster) I can simply revert back!

As I say, NOT something I'm looking forward to!

Regards,

John-Jay

@DellCanThe old Intel Graphics Control Panel can be installed in addition to the new Intel Graphics Command Center which does not seem to provide this option yet (see Intel Graphics Command Center - FAQs: Can the new Intel Graphics Command Center co-exist with the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel?).

@HanoverBMy XPS 15 9570 laptop contains also an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

@John-Jay 

"Although they accept that the PC is less than 3 months old, they have "determined" that it is NOT a Hardware Issue (which is, of course, impossible for them to determine) & that they do NOT accept any responsibility for any of their Supplied/Supported Software!"

I'm not sure I understand the part about software which would include DELL supplied drivers.  That is exactly what they said?

.  

FWIW, I tried disabling this after I saw this suggestion earlier in the thread, but alas I still have the occasional freeze. (Only once or twice a day lately...)

Hi, @DellCan ,

Thanks for your suggestions - however, I really don't understand the point of downloading either the Intel Graphics Command Center or Intel Graphics Control Panel apps???  Surely, if they are NOT on my system, they cannot be casing a problem??

Also, if you are going to try out a different Driver, why do you need to do a Total Acronis True Image Backup?

Sorry, if I'm being a "bit-thick"!!

Regards,

John-Jay

@John-Jay 

Hi John,

Before you go through all the time and expense to re-image your Dell perhaps you might give turning off the Intel Graphics Power options a try first?

I also didn't have the Intel Graphics Command Center or Intel Graphics Control Panel apps installed so this is what I have tried so far:

1- I took a full system backup using Acronis True Image and I also created a System Restore checkpoint.

2- I downloaded the Dell website Intel UHD Graphics custom driver in case I needed to revert back to this driver (this is the one I had originally installed).

3- I downloaded the latest Intel Win10 DCH Driver (i.e. 26.20.100.7212) . You have to download the 7212 zip file, extract it into a folder, go to Device Manager, select Update Driver, and then browse to the extracted 7212 folder. You cannot use the 7212 exe as it won't update due to Dell's use of a custom driver.

4- I download the Intel Graphics Command Center app from the Microsoft Store. If needed you can always uninstall this app using the standard Start-Settings-App uninstall process.

As it stands my Dell has the latest "native" Intel Graphics UHD 630 driver running (i.e. 7212) and the Intel Graphics Command Center app installed. As you can see from my comments above the Power options were not available in the Intel Graphics Command Center app and I will now need to also install the Intel Graphics Control Panel app as recommended by dodo2's comment. I have yet to do this but I will try when I have more time.

@whoareyou_2009 

Basically Dell make it very clear that they ONLY support Hardware!

Their terse statement was:- "Even though your system is less than 3 months old, hardware is covered by the warranty, software is not."

Whilst I clearly do NOT expect them to cover Software that was not supplied by them, I do expect them to cover their supplied Software!

I would add that, since a lot of Users are reporting similar Issues, I really do NOT believe that it is being caused by User-Installed Software - the probability that ALL of these Users have loaded the same Problematic Software is simply non-existent!

Regards,

John-Jay

Hi @John-Jay 

Excellent questions,  here are my thoughts:

I am just being cautious about having a backup of a working system hence my point about taking an Acronis True Image backup. My fear is by mucking around with the various drivers and software I might accidentally get myself into a position where the system is worst off than before. With a backup I have one last resort if you know what I mean.

In terms of the Intel apps my thinking here is maybe this Power option is on by default even though i don't have either of the Intel apps installed. By installing them i can then hopefully ensure that this Power option is turned off. Yes, it's a stretch but at this point we're trying all reasonable solutions. 

Hi, @DellCan et al,

Just had yet another Freeze! On this occasion, after about a second, it was accompanied by a Screen Blackout for a couple of seconds! Note:- have had these before, but NOT often!

I'm using my Nvidia Graphics Card (GTX 1080).

Under Event Viewer (Administrative Events), I'm getting:-

(NB:- this is telling me that "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." I should add that  nvlddmkm.sys is located in !C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_443909dc004a2097" & is listed as one of the multiple Files associated with the GTX 1080 Driver!

&, under Event Viewer (Windows Log - Security), I'm getting:-

Note:- Seems to be lots of "Logins" & Special Logins" that I did NOT initiate!

Regards,

John-Jay

@John-Jay 

Interesting about Dell's warranty response regarding Software.  But drivers are part of the machine build, and I don't consider them equivalent to end user installed software packages.  I would think Dell had a different attitude toward them, especially with the move to DCH drivers.  These Drivers are manufacturer approved - or so I thought, so how can they take not responsibility if that is the case?

If the driver in question is DCH then that driver is (or should be) Dell's concern.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000031275/graphics-drivers.html.