XPS 8950, intermittent crashes

Question

Have had an otherwise terrific XPS 8950 w/liquid cooling, 32GB, (2) 1T SSDs, 3060Ti that has experienced random, intermittent hard faults (computer shuts down completely). I'm able to restart after a period of approximately 2-4 minutes using the Power On. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Dell Support has been superb and they're en route to replace parts after Christmas. While I did not mention the motherboard I just noticed in the parts listing they called out the motherboard as a replacement part and apparently that's what the tech is bringing out.

Outside of this issue, I'd give this computer a FIVE STAR rating.

JOcean · Answer

Did you run diagnostics, F12 at boot, to see if any hardware errors are displayed? And intermittent crashes could very well be a MB or the CPU. The only other thing I could think of would be a problem with the cooler causing temp issues.

FrancisJohn · Answer

I did run diagnostics (using Support Asst) multiple times -- each time he came out fine.  Also F12 came back normal.  It does have a liquid cooler and Dell apparently thinks it's the MB (or a temp related problem) -- since they're bringing that part.   Will post an update after the Dell Tech repairs.

RoHe · Answer

Any signs of overheating?

Have you looked in Windows Event Viewer for any errors logged around the time of a crash, eg, "Thermal Event" ?

NOTE: You may not find any errors logged at the time of crash because it could happen before Windows has had a chance to log the event. Or you may only see a "Kernel 41" error which is a generic error meaning Windows wasn't shut down properly.

You might want to install an app like Speccy (free) and configure it to load when you boot PC. It can show temps in its icon in the notification area of the taskbar. One temp (eg, CPU) is shown all the time, but mousing over the icon pops up a bubble showing other temps being monitored (eg, GPU, SSD, HDD).

PSU might be on the short list of ailing components, along with motherboard...

FrancisJohn · Answer

I'm not sure if it's a 'thermal event' but it's likely that or a heat-related transient on the motherboard - I have a Fluke Digital Multimeter 88 and Fluke IR Thermometer / Sensor 568 (I'm a Diesel Tech -- I've been doing 'heat testing' for decades on ICE, Diesel engines and electric motors -- started long ago using an IR Camera) and I'll take a look at temperatures.  I did look at Admin Tools earlier for events and it just shows the Windows event -- doesn't track hardware (it's not instrumented to do this and I'm not sure if Microsoft wants to develop Windows s/w that 'close' (e.g. assembly, microcode) to the underlying hardware - especially having to deal with all sorts of proprietary hardware -- I believe Dell's MB is proprietary ). I've been using Speccy for some years -- primarily to baseline performance -- thank you.

FrancisJohn · Answer

Cores don't look too bad, but the NVIDIA 3060 TI looks a bit warm

kras1 · Answer

That is about what my 3060Ti runs at just before the fans come on. The limit is something like 80 or 90 degrees C before you start to have issues.

FrancisJohn · Answer

Dell Tech just replaced the motherboard and interestingly Fan #2 is now registering RPMs (it wasn't earlier -- see above). I thought those temps looked a little out of whack and with the fans inoperative, that definitely was a problem (lucky it didn't completely cook the GPU earlier - but there's always a possibility that extended "heat soak" did real damage (longer term) and issues will show up later). Heat basically kills -- a good example is the transmission in your car --- overcook / overheat it and components die later.

RoHe · Answer

Glad the motherboard replacement helped. You still have the balance of the 1-year factory warranty, and you could consider purchasing an extended warranty, if you're concerned.

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XPS 8950, intermittent crashes

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