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April 21st, 2025 18:45
🚨 PSA: If You're Experiencing Instability on a NEW Dell PC — Read This! 🚨
Hey!
I’m posting this as an end user and advocate, especially for those who might not have the technical background to push back when things go wrong with their machines.
My Alienware R16 is equipped with an Intel Core i9 processor — one of the chips affected by what’s now being referred to as an industry-wide Vmin Shift instability issue, impacting 13th and 14th Gen Intel Core i5, i7, and i9 (K-series) desktop CPUs.
Here’s the thing:
Dell, Intel, and others have known about this since at least mid-2024. BIOS updates containing microcode fixes have been available on the Dell Support Website since August 16, 2024, and Intel has even extended warranty support for affected models.
But here's my experience:
On April 19, 2025, Dell’s senior technician ran diagnostics and said my hardware was fine — “Must be a software issue.”
Today, after repeat failures and me sending every blue screen error code under the sun, I was finally told it’s a hardware failure and I’d need a repair.
This inconsistency raises concerns. If you've had similar issues — repeated blue screens, crashes, or sudden reboots — please double-check your BIOS version and confirm you’ve applied the update. If you're still having issues, you DESERVE support. Don’t let anyone dismiss this as user error or random bad luck.
🔧 Helpful Links:
🆘 Click “Get Help Now” on Dell’s support page to open a ticket. Hit them up during their core business hours of 8PM - 5PM CST. Chances are you'll be set up with someone a lot more qualified than their 24/7 standard phone support to help you.
🛑 Final Thoughts:
There doesn't appear to be any public acknowledgment from Intel of fault in these individual cases. But enough customers are being affected that you deserve transparency, especially if you're within warranty or were told “everything is fine” when it clearly isn’t.
Speak up. Share your experience. Help others who might otherwise feel stuck with a lemon. You don’t have to accept “this is as good as it gets.”
As of April 21, 2025, Dell Technologies finally agreed to send me an empty FedEx box which I can then use to send my computer back to them for repairs. I am not certain the nature of the repairs that will be made, but I bet they will be looking at that Intel Core.
salt28
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April 21st, 2025 18:47
Sorry, that link didn't carry over as I expected. Try this one here.
Vanadiel
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April 21st, 2025 18:47
Interesting thing is, that even after a BIOS update the damage might already have occurred.
salt28
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April 21st, 2025 18:59
@Vanadiel It's been the most baffling of issues. Dell Technologies support staff assured me this issue (from that original message board) had been resolved and didn't affect my computer. But even after I showed them the specs from my BIOS menu, they simply assured me everything is as it should be (which is a "safe" answer). I'm just grateful they're taking a closer look at my computer at one of their depot repair centers.
SuperSub100
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April 22nd, 2025 10:48
Just adding my 2 cents...this is still a problem, but it seems nobody knows how to solve it.
We are ordering Dell Precisions 3680's, with i9 14900k processors, brand new from the factory, with the latest BIOS applied. The CPU fails usually within a few months, sometimes we see it happen after a few weeks.
Thank god the new Dell Pro Max T2 has arrived and we can move away from these processors as they are highly problematic.
salt28
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April 22nd, 2025 11:57
@SuperSub100 It's definitely frustrating for so many. I've been reviewing Intel's support boards and they are experiencing similar issues: https://community.intel.com/t5/Processors/i9-14900k-Current-EDP-Limit-Throttling/td-p/1683721
It seems they are still very aware that this is happening, but there is little unacknowledgement of it from Intel. Just ghosting.
DELL-Nat M
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April 23rd, 2025 12:19
Hi everyone,
I'm glad to hear that tech support is already handling this case for Salt.
For the other users, could you try disabling Turbo Boost and SpeedStep in the BIOS to see if this resolves the issue?
Please let us know the results so I can share this information with the engineering team.
Thanks!
Vanadiel
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April 23rd, 2025 13:40
@salt28 As per Intel it has been resolved with a BIOS update to include fixes for the issues at the firmware level.
However, if the processor ran on a previous BIOS before the damage could already have happened. The damage is permanent so there's no way to fix it with a firmware update after the fact.
The key is not to boot it up ever with the old BIOS installed. So unless Dell ensures the BIOS on the motherboards is updated prior to inserting your CPU, the damage could already have happened.
None of the Dell systems have a BIOS flashback option, so they need a CPU installed on the motherboard in order to flash it. So I am not sure how they do it. Hopefully they have a method to do it before assembly.
If they do it by flashing the BIOS after the initial OS install, that would be a problem I would think...
SuperSub100
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April 23rd, 2025 13:56
@Vanadiel The issue is, the bios updates don't actually work. We are ordering brand new machines, still to this day, that have the bios updates already on them from the factory. We see the CPU fail on a few of them within a few weeks/months.
SuperSub100
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April 23rd, 2025 13:57
@DELL-Nat M This resolves the issue, but what good is a Dell Precision with an i9 without turbo boost?
salt28
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April 23rd, 2025 14:02
@Vanadiel Oh, huh. Interesting! I appreciate this added insight.
salt28
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April 23rd, 2025 14:09
@DELL-Nat M Hi Nat,
An IT specialist from Dell Support did ask me to try this as a last step.
Initially, it appeared to make some progress. However, I eventually encountered a blue screen error with the message:
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.
At that point, I was informed that I'd be receiving a FedEx box so the device could be sent to a depot repair center for a more thorough inspection.
salt28
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April 23rd, 2025 14:13
@SuperSub100 This does not resolve the issue. A couple days ago, I attempted this. But it hit me with a INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE blue screen error moments later. At this point, they finally agreed to ship a FedEx box so I could ship this computer to one of those depot repair centers.
salt28
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April 23rd, 2025 14:56
@SuperSub100 YES. Please, I need the community managers to pay close attention to this. It's what I keep telling support whenever I've had the chance to talk to them. They tell me (more or less) it surely can't be that ("that's been fixed") but it HAS to be in the realm of that arena because nothing else makes sense.
DELL-Nat M
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April 23rd, 2025 15:19
@SuperSub100
Hi, was your system's processor replaced earlier due to this issue?