Inspiron 5401 - An operating system exception was caused by system memory

Question

Hello,

recently I started to receive an error 'An operating system exception was caused by system memory' when my laptop was woken up from a sleep state. No matter if it was on a battery or plugged in.

This error happened randomly, but the pattern would be every 24 hours once. It was on idle, no hard CPU or memory stress on the system.

Reboot to BIOS, SupportAssists diagnostics, no issues found.

Ran full diagnostics twice, no errors as well. Memtest passed too.

I've seen that some users also reported the same:

https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/SOLVED-Inspiron-7501-An-operating-system-exception-was-caused-by/m-p/7780001

https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/G7-17-7700-an-operating-system-exception-was-caused-by-system/m-p/7706247

It started probably after the latest BIOS update (1.5.3, released on 28.12.2020).

Following the suggestions of the community users, I've downgraded BIOS to the previous version (1.4.4) and this error is gone for two days now.

Windows is updated, the rest of the drivers are up to date too, except bios.

I have upgraded the laptop with another 8GB of Ram (Crucial, fully compatible with this configuration, checked this up before purchase).

This is my second laptop (got the first one replaced, but it had the same 8GB of ram upgrade) and I had no issues at all (the swap took place before the new BIOS came out).

Could it be a driver fault, or the BIOS incompatibility?

Any chance that Dell would review this matter and release a new BIOS having the necessary fix?

Regards

delhite.delluser · Answer

You need to downgrade your BIOS. That fixed my issue. This option may not be available for all Laptop models. Tag Dell Care, they would help you out.

Ajetos · Answer

Running system with BIOS downgraded for two days - no issues reported so far.

Ajetos · Answer

I've upgraded again to 1.5.3 and had this error again. That's definitely something in BIOS itself.

@DELL-Cares can you take a look on the issue? Is there any estimation when and if the new bios will be released fixing this issue?

Melkei · Answer

I just started getting this message after I added what is reported to be a compatible docking station by Dell, the Universal Docking Station D6000.  If I'm docked to the docking station, this msg eventually comes up and my screen goes dark and I have to shut down and wait.  If I'm not using the docking station, the msg does not occur. Not sure why it's happening.

Tammitlc · Answer

I'm getting this problem too - spent over  4hours on chat with Dell support yesterday and updated everything and diagnostics constantly and everything passed  - have done nothing new or different but same, getting this while it is on standby or sleep mode randomly but at least once every 24hrs and just popped up again Today - such a pain, can't leave my computer with the knowledge that everything isn't going to be re-booted when I come back. Now that I'm reading this post I'm realising it's probably the BIOS update for me as well, as it only started after the update but is now getting properly annoying...

Terricula2 · Answer

Same thing for me.  I rolled back to earlier BIOS to solve my problem.

RohanPhuyal · Answer

First make sure you have enough disk space in C drive.

Then, follow these steps:

Go to settings.
Go to System.
Go to About.
Go to advanced system settings.
Under Performance(Advanced tab), Click on Settings.
Go to Advanced tab.
Under Virtual Memory click on change.
Now select any drive you have more free space on to allocate virtual memory (paging file).
Click on custom size, then put the value 12000 on both Initial and Maximum.
Click apply, Ok then restart Laptop.
And check if the problem is still there.

Maybe these steps are helpful. Sometimes it might work. The less RAM you have the more virtual memory you can allocate.

delhite.delluser · Answer

Since yesterday, even I am facing the same issue. @DELL-CaresCan you please look in to this and fix it?

vol4life · Answer

I too am having this issue with a 2020 (new) top-of-the-line XPS.  Hoping there is a fix soon.

umi0012 · Answer

I have the same problem please let me know if got any solution.

kkarki · Answer

I had the same issue. Mine is Inspiron 5501. Dell is still acting like the issue does not exist. They want me to pay $99  to set up a service repair. This service/issue is not covered by the basic warranty per Dell. My laptop is less than a year old. I regret switching to PC :(, this is like 3rd time I had to reach out to Dell support in less than a year.

Ben P · Answer

Same problem here on a top of line XPS. Just brutal. Happening for about a month. On bios 1.6.3

MGvT · Answer

Same on XPS 17 9700. The long tech calls lead me to think there is an issue with the knowledge of what to do. I feel like I'm being used for testing. They wanted another call, but I asked what steps they would take this time before I set up another lengthy call. The reply is that they are not sure. I'm one of the least sophisticated users, but even I can recognize that this is a problem being put on low priority in relation to the long list of complaints for quite awhile now.

I've been keeping a log since this error started May 21st. Prior to that I was having a VERY warm machine and VERY loud fan.

For my laptop I have BIOS 1.7.2. My laptop was received new on April 9, 2021.

JoyceZ1 · Answer

Hi, sorry how do we do this? I have no clue Thank you!

XPS_Man · Answer

Guys I have been following this issue for over 2 months on Reddit and some other forums

Clearly Dell tech support and their engineering team is working on fix (a bios update may be)

This issue is not model specific and more than 6 models from XPS and Inspiron series are affected.

So far the solutions which worked for different users are

1. Downgrade BIOS by 2 versions

2. Use Hibernation > Set Hibernation time to 4 minutes. Most of the affected models have NVME SSDs and they don't take must time to recover from Hibernation, until a fix is found it can be used as a workaround. (this worked for me)

3. Disable Finger Print Sensor : Use windows pin logging instead. FingerPrint reader driver has been found to cause issue in some model. Remove Finger Prints and in Device manager under BIOMETRIC Devices , disable finger Print sensor

I have been working with tech support for 2 models of my own. Both cases are escalated to the engineering and I will keep updating this thread

Inspiron

Inspiron 5401 - An operating system exception was caused by system memory

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