XPS 8930, freezes for 3-5 seconds

* Does the Dell pre-Windows ePSA Diagnostics pass or fail?

Good of you to get your own thread started, instead of jumping on @kinwolf  thread.

ePSA results will be telling.

I wonder what BIOS version are you running? Well, Chris will get you fixed-up I'm sure. 

Awaiting a response to my previous post.

Run Task Manager and look at the Performance tab to check for spike in CPU, Disk, or GPU activity. Also it may help to look at the Processes tab to see what, if any, processes may spike CPU activity.

Just to add, I also get a similar occurrence - keyboard/mouse locking up, for a few seconds, every so often!

Took delivery on 9th July 2019!

Regards

ps:- I have NOT yet updated to BIOS 1.1.8 (wanted to check out the "Scare-Stories" BEFORE I committed myself to that route)!

Something I suggested in that other thread on this same topic which worked for at least a couple of those users was:

Reboot and immediately press F2 to open BIOS setup. Look for the USB Wake Support option in the Power Options area of BIOS. Make sure USB Wake Support is ENABLED. Save the change, but do not change anything else in BIOS setup. Exit BIOS setup.

When PC reboots, open Device Manager and expand list under USB. Double-click a USB root hub and click its Power Management tab. Uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off...". Repeat for all 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. Exit Device Manager when done.

Next, open the Windows Power options screen and identify your active Power plan. Click the link to change its settings and on next screen click link for Additional Options. On that screen, disable Hibernation, disable Hybrid Sleep, disable USB Selective Suspend, and disable PCI Express Link State Management. Save the changes to the power plan and reboot.

See if that helps. None of these changes is irreversible so there's no harm in trying them. Post back and let us know what happens...

You could strip it down to bare essentials by removing the add-in video card and using onboard Intel HD Graphics, disconnecting any optical and/or secondary drives, removing all but 1 stick of RAM which should be in the second slot from CPU, etc. 

Then reset BIOS by removing the motherboard battery and pressing/holding power button for ~30 sec before reinstalling the battery. Reboot and make sure no unnecessary junk is loading automatically and running in the background, eg SupportAssist, Dell Update, SmartByte, Adobe Updater, etc. Maybe even disable your antiviral app for this test, as long as the PC isn't connecting to the web, either by Ethernet or WiFi, so you don't risk malware.

Maybe you can narrow it down...

Hi, @DELL-Chris M ,

Have taken the liberty of responding (by sending a PM to yourself), since I have the same problem!

Initially, when I had this problem, I thought it was possibly due to the non-Dell Keyboard/Mouse combination (using 2.4G nano receiver) but I reverted back to the Wired Dell Keyboard/Mouse without any resolution.

Unlike the original Poster, this appears to occur very randomly - quite a few times over a couple of hours, but then doesn't repeat itself for a few days.

I've also tried to check to see if there was any common factors (i.e. ONLY occurring when I'm undertaking a specific activity or task), but I have NOT been able to establish any pattern!

Any assistance would be much appreciated!

Regards,

John-Jay

@John-Jay  - Did you try making all of the power settings changes I suggested on page 1 of this thread?

next time ( in a week) it freezes

press keyboard keys, (real WIRED USB keyboard not wireless)

press control + alt + delete.

the infamous 3 finger salute. (hard to do  ,if you have only one arm)  even try 10 times, !!! to wake it up.

then that must pop up the big huge blue screen if that fails, then  the PC is frozen (is it?) TRULY.

if is not frozen  there, click TASK manager there.

if that works , then it is NOT 100% frozen , then look at CPU and memory loads. 99% is bad

so is memory overload and swapping to disk, (slug mode)

on my PCs only windows updates are pain, in this regard. (but later cured, with w10-64 pro (gpedits)

there are 2 common causes, of this

1: Overheating ?, is your room too hot 95F is . or more.???

2: a corrupted, or infected process running?.  ( ever clean out your startup folder ?)

sleep /hybernate and omg ,  hibrid mode are a pain.

at MS.com read how to use Presentation mode.  (otherwise you get to  click vast boxes in custom power profiles)

in the run box type.

presentationsettings.exe

then click that and check 2 boxes.

windows 10 64bit v1903 , and is still here.,

this is just a test. omg a 1 click test.

end easy:

or do this. (the hard way)

control panel + power options

then click create a power plan.,

then click high performance  and give the plan a name, like nosleep1.

never , never and create.

then click the new plan. nosleep1

here are the 13 bits to flip; made just for you , even while windows will not go full screen on these CP windows.

--------------------------------save and exit--------------------------------------

now you have  PC that never sleeps or slows down.  if drivers are bad, this too will fail.

but the above bit fiddling, puts you in to a quasi presentation mode, and learn there is one more mode to try

KIOSK mode,  (ask at ms.com,  it's there, i promise) this is the anti-thesis of Energy STAR. dig?

many chips in the PC have sleep, modes,  and is very complex. ( S0 to S5 modes and all that)

The device manager in the pC must not have failing drivers,  as seen endless after w10 upgrades.

or reloads. fresh. w10. (or kids playing with any PC)

Be sure to have BIOS updated the safe way using only F12, hot key, and to have w10 v1903 only.

Then newest W10 allows yours,(more control) over W10 updates, for example this.

never update my PC with me logged in, unless after midnight.

and , only update at boot, never at shut down or logged in.

take control of updates first. or you will , not happy. (GPedit.msc) is the KEY here.