My brand new XPS 630i freezes randomly!

HI Muzhyman

I would contact dell tell them the problem and that it was like that when you resived it ie new build and demand a new pc or a full refund regardles what dell say thay are under a oblegation to refund you or send you a new pc .  ie the sales of goods act .And i would ask for a free upgrade as a good will jesture on dells part ,I did and i resived a new pc with a big up grade

I think the biggest problem with dell is the call center no matter what probs any one has thay say the same thing over and over again lets do some tests hard drive memory .lol  17 times i had this problem cost me a fortune in calls to india and the person at the other end dident have a clue what i was talking about but just new how to do these tests it was when my pc cought on fire after the 5 time being back to dell for repare after another format for what reson i dont know becouse it was not a softwhere prob .Ow bye  the way it came back with no card reader my g card gone and a cheap as chips one put in becouse dell replast mine whick was a 8600 gts for a £25.oo card in stead becouse the man at the other end off the phone told me that was the problem that card is no good for playing games lol.... was this man all there i think not so i contacted nvidia uk and told them what he said well that whent down like a wet dog in a barbaque ... well to dell credit thay replased my pc with a brand new one upgraded my cpu memory and hard drive but put it in a inspiron case which is poo but ow well all done now thakes dell but if you listed to youre custermers the one that know whart thay are talking about .You will only have to send it back once not numeras times for a format lol lol  bb for now all :emotion-10::emotion-2:

nobreadfred,

I believe that is a UK act. It does not apply to the Americas. In the Americas, if you are inside the initital 30 days from the invoice date, you may get a refund. Outside of 30 days, you are entitled to system exchange.

Hi Chris,

Is there any progress on the investigation?

Also, please share your knowledge regards my previous post.

I understand you are bussiest guy, but We need your help.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Kenny

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I would like to learn from you guys which component of motherboard is controlling/maintaining voltage for CPU , Memory and etc. I am totally ignorant about these Stuff.

Please share your knowledge. Also, I would like to know if I increase voltage for CPU and Memory via BIOS setting (F2) to the below figures, any possibilty to

1. damage any components 2. Loose Hardware warranty from Dell ?

 Original Voltage Setting for CPU: 1.1875

I want to test Increasing to 1.3

Original Voltage Setting for Memory: 1.85

I want to test Increasing to 2.0

After many hours of trying to segregate this hangup issue, my best guess is fluctuation or shortage of voltage to core components. But hey, please remember that

I am not engineer. I think this is the best I could and I do not have any 1. CPU spares, 2. Power supply spares, 3. motherboard spares to further investigate this issue.

My company staff started to make fun of me that I am a volunteer test engineer for Dell, so I will stop my testing here and I will wait for Chris reply.

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Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply.

Chris Said, "All I can do is escalate it to the engineers."

Ok, then could you ask your engineer regards my previous question, 1. Which component of motherboard is controlling/maintaining voltage for

core components such as Memory, CPU, etc. 2. Increasing voltage can damage hardwares? Warranty will be voided?

Also, could you add a note to your engineer that After I increased voltage for CPU, Memory and other core components via F2 Bios Settings,

Hangup frequency decreased dramatically, (Used to have 5-8 times a day, now 1-2 times a day).

I hope you make this note to your engineer so that they can accelerate to solve this issue.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Kenny

This will take some time to find the root cause. All I can do is escalate it to the engineers.

Hi Squid771,

Wait until Chris reply regards voltage issue. After we receive confrimation from Chris that increasing voltage for core components does not affect dell warranty and hardwares, you should try. My system become much more stable after increasing voltage via bios settings.

Best Regards,

Kenny

I've tried numerous things now in hopes of fixing the freezes:

-Unchecking native command queuing

-Updating SATA drivers, video drivers, audio drivers

-Turning background programs on/off

Nothing has worked, my computer will still freeze at random times whether I'm using the internet, playing a game, watching a DVD, or even when the system is idle.   I called XPS Tech Support yesterday.  The technician used the remote desktop control tool, poked around a bit, then updated my BIOS with the Dell driver.  That didn't help one bit, I've had 6 system freezes since I was on the phone with tech support.  I'm going to call them again today, but I'm not optimistic, I'm leaning towards exchange or refund at this point.

It's no fun to have a brand new computer that requires troubleshooting.

surecords

I think that you are missing the point M8 no offense meant but if you have to increasing voltage for core components to make a xpx system work properly that you paid for and was built by dell for you .I think some thing is very wrong in the terms off conditions in the UK.If work is carried out not by a authorized dealer or a engineer the warranty is null and void you wave all statutory right there after . So me personal i would let dell do the work for me rather then lose my warranty :emotion-9::emotion-9:

Beautiful, when I hit the "post" button for my message just above the computer froze up yet again.  At least the message got through.

I agree, I shouldn't have to tinker with voltage on a brand new system.

XPS Tech Support had me do a Dell Factory Image Restore today.  After that was done, I rebooted for a Windows Update, then the computer froze while activating Norton Antivirus.  It has continued to freeze at random times the past several hours while playing DVD's or using the internet.  I have not installed any new software since the Restore.

This situation is very frustrating.  Tech support has been polite and helpful, but they don't really seem to know how to fix this system freeze problem.  I didn't pay good money to have to troubleshoot a brand new computer.  I will be contacting Customer Service about an exchange or refund.

If you go into the bios and disable the unused Sata ports, do the freezes stop?

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the suggestion, but I've already contacted Customer Service to receive a refund.  My system is already at UPS too.  My XPS turned out to be very disappointing, though I must say Tech Support and Customer Service were incredibly polite and helpful, even though they were unable to fix my system freeze issue.

Anyone have suggestions on another system with similiar hardware that is not an XPS 630i?

Chris & All,

  Not to jump on the bandwagon, I have had similar issues, and posted over here. Since I did not know it was the same issue, I found the link here as I was rebuilding to quite similar issues, yet a few more; thus why I decided a new post was in order.

- Xelkos

I'm also new to this, but had a similar experience. Dell sent a replacement with the wrong components. They sent another computer and I continued to have the same issues. Hours on the phone with support. They suggested a BIOS update. I was denied the update, because I didn't have administrator privileges (I am the administrator and only user). I was told that I would have to reformat my hard drive to fis the Bios. I blew a gasket and started looking to return the computer. Of course, I was well beyond the 21 days by  that time. Dell offered to take the return if I paid for the shipping. The case escallated up the chain of command until a smooth talker convinced me that it was really a Vista64 issue. Recalling the issues we had when XP first came out, I bought into it.

The problem (I think) is that I can't update the BIOS driver. I thought that I found a work around when I found the Windows Automated Installation Kit. The problem is that it is an .img file and my computer can't open it. Ive tried the links that microsoft provides, but they just send me to sites to purchase some other software with no guarantee of results. I'm too heavily invested to switch to Apple now but I sure wish I did at the time I bought this Dell.