XPS 9310 Ubuntu Random Freezing

Question

My company recently purchased the XPS 9310 2-in-1 for me which had Windows home on it. This is a development machine, so I wiped the drive and installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I have no need for Windows on this system. It was installed using LVM and LUKS.

The issue is that the laptop will just randomly freeze out of nowhere. When this happens, nothing works and I am forced to do a hard-poweroff by holding the power button for 10 seconds. The trackpad stops responding, the keyboard doesn't work, and the screen just stays completely frozen. There is no specific indication of what causes the freezing, it is 100% random.

I ran the Dell diagnostics from the BIOS, and everything came back A-OK. I am running the latest BIOS, v2.2.1. Secure boot is turned off. I was running kernel 5.8.0.33 (the latest stock kernel in 20.04 LTS).

I have recently updated to Ubuntu 21.04 and installed it using ZFS with encryption. It's using kernel 5.11.0.18 and seems to be running a bit better. However, this morning, it did the same thing and just froze up, causing me to hard-reboot the machine again.

I am at a complete loss as to what's causing the freezing/locking up. The system isn't heating up whatsoever, so it doesn't seem like an overheating issue. If anyone has any insight regarding this, it would be greatly appreciated. I really love this machine when it runs.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thank you! We have received the required details. We will work towards a resolution. In the meantime, you may also receive assistance or suggestions from the community members.

Esokra1es · Answer

@ae179dplDid you get a solution for your issue? Using the 9310 2-in-1 with Ubuntu as well and it works fine, never had a freeze in over half a year of owning it.

ae179dpl · Answer

@Esokra1es Thanks for checking in. I never got it to work so I returned it. There was definitely faulty hardware somewhere causing it.

Qviv · Answer

Interesting.  I am having the same problem (random complete freeze/lock up) on a new 9310 (not 2-in-one I think), on which I wiped windows and installed Ubuntu 20.04 (with LVM and encryption).  Then updated to 21.10 but still getting the freezes.  I thought it was bluetooth related, but the last freezes were with bluetooth turned off.  Now I'm wondering about the ethernet dongle, so will run with wifi for a while.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Welcome to Dell Social Media Support for Technical and After Sales inquiries.

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blob007 · Answer

I remember there were discussions on some Arch forums about freezes when encrypted LVM was used due to some issues with swap volume when the RAM would fill up. Perhaps searching for those could shed some light on this issue too...

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XPS 9310 Ubuntu Random Freezing

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