Latitude 5431 with Nvidia GPU locking up

Question

Latitude 5431

12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1270P

Nvidia MX 550

32GB/1TB SSD

W11 Pro

ProSupport

Computer had been in use for a few months with no issues. The user saw a popup from dell command and ran the available updates. Of course, they did not see which drivers were updated. Upon rebooting, it would freeze after a few seconds on the login screen. No BSOD, just frozen. Went into safe mode, disabled nvidia GPU, rebooted, it did not freeze. Tried to roll back driver, ran sfc, still freezing if nvidia enabled.

Here's what I've done since-

*the w11 installer we use is straight from MS with no modifications. We've deployed dozens of other dells with it without issue. However we rarely buy dells with dedicated GPUs.

Something to note as well- After that first time I got into safe mode, the 'Startup Settings' option for safe mode in the Advanced Startup menu was no longer present, so we were unable to get into safe mode again. All the other buttons were there, but that one was just gone. Therefore, we can't collect any event logs.

-Boot diagnostics report no issues, even extended tests

-Fresh windows 11 install, let windows update install all drivers = freeze

-Fresh windows 11 install, disabled windows updates, downloaded latest drivers from dell site = freeze

-Fresh windows 11 install, used dell command update = freeze

-Fresh windows 11 install, used official 5431 driver pack = freeze

-Fresh windows 11 install, installed everything but nvidia. Then installed the previous nvidia driver version from dell site = freeze

-We then ran the Cloud Restore option via Dell Support OS Recovery boot menu. Notably, it did not install any video drivers itself, and missed a few others. Regardless, after installing nvidia drivers from dell site it froze.

-Handful more fresh installs trying different versions and order of operations, no luck

We have prosupport, so I engaged Dell. They went straight to replacing the motherboard/GPU.

-Dell tech came out and replaced the motherboard. Fresh windows install = freeze

-Didn't notice that the BIOS was outdated, so ran 1.11. Stuck on black screen for 30m after install, force rebooted, then started freezing before it even got to login screen.

-Installed 1.12 BIOS via the BIOS

-Another fresh install, another freeze

It seems pretty clear to me that this is a nvidia driver issue, but we've tried every driver version we can find. We've never had an issue like this, but again, we rarely deploy laptops with dedicated GPUs (because they're always a pain). Some combination of drivers perhaps.

Dell is sending me a new SSD, but this has nothing to do with the drive. Nor does this seem like a memory problem. The most likely culprit was the GPU, but that and the entire motherboard were replaced.

I'm at a total loss here and the end user is pretty frustrated. Any ideas?

Anyone have a similar rig and could export driver versions?

Thanks

phoenixxko · Answer

hi mate, I am having similar if not same issue. I got 5431 today, out of the box, the user just powered it on, most probably did the updates and now I even cannot get past login screen ( of course I can sometimes ) as the screen flicker for a nanosecond and froze … even if I can login sometimes, it froze as well in a second … no BSOD, just login screen or desktop frozen … I am on latest bios 1.12 ( it came with 1.11 to me, no idea what was there before ) so I am going to focus on GPU drivers as soon as I find out how to get to safe mode … so we can try the stuff out together maybe ? my plan is to do full factory reset and then I’ll see what could be culprit …

sctdan · Answer

Yea sounds like the same thing. I've had it freeze in various places, before the login screen, at the login screen, and after logging in.

It's 100% a driver issue, and easy to reproduce. Do a full reset/reinstall, but don't install nvidia drivers, it'll work fine until you install those drivers. If you keep the nvidia card disabled in device manager, it'll run just fine on intel.

But it's not just the nvidia driver, it has to be a conflict with something else. We've tried 6 different nvidia driver versions with the same result.

Dell sent me a new ssd pre-imaged, and even that did not have the nvidia driver. Locked up immediately after installing the driver.

Dell requested I send mine in to the depot so they can take a look. We've reimaged it 2 dozen times at this point probably and made zero progress.

Certainly worth doing a rebuild or two just to see if it's a fluke on your side, or you pick up different drivers somehow, but I wouldn't spin your wheels on it. I'd suggest opening a ticket and referencing this thread so they can see there's another instance of this happening.

phoenixxko · Answer

hi mate, I don’t think it is a driver issue - I have Intel UHD graphics … but I found strange things in event log about cpu clock so I disabled intel speedstep and VT-X and couple other things in BIOS and it looks like the laptop is stable now … I am testing further what was exact culprit - speedstep issue I know from the past, I did not expect such new and expensive laptops would suffer same thing … but I will post results here … right now I am updating W10 to full with latest bios as well, just to be sure it’s not soft related issue …

phoenixxko · Answer

hi mate - safe mode worked ok ( just basic drivers etc ) even with everything ON ( speedstep, vt-x, … ) but as soon as I got into system, it froze in different screens as I described already … since I disabled few things, not a single freeze happened … I’ll finish the updates and I will start enabling the parameters to see which one is causing the freezing but for now I will not engage Dell …

sctdan · Answer

Interesting. I posted this on Reddit and there's one person who is reporting the same as you, just Intel.

For me it happens after installing the nvidia driver 100% of the time, but maybe that is a red herring. I know it's not just the nvidia driver though, so maybe it's a chipset driver or something that's doing something with the CPU and for me the nvidia install just happens to trigger it.

Just got an email that they're working on my laptop at the depot now, so hopefully I'll get an answer in the next day or 2.

phoenixxko · Answer

looks like C-states control is the culprit - I enabled almost everything - virtualization support, speedstep, speedshift … but when I enabled C-states control, I experienced same freezing after login or so … (S3 is disabled as well) … so give it a shot, I am on W11 now without issues so far …

sctdan · Answer

Got my laptop back from Dell. They replaced the motherboard (again) and ssd (again).

Booted it up, let it sit for 15 minutes, didn't freeze. No network or power connected.

Plugged in power, came back after 5 minutes and it was frozen. Rebooted

Unplugged power, Ran SFC, froze

Disabled c-states

Ran SFC successfully (found issues), no freezing. rebooted

Plugged power in, ran SFC again (no issues found), no freezing

Ran all windows updates, no freezing

You might be onto something here with c-states. The nvidia driver was just triggering this somehow. Makes sense, as video needs to interact with those settings.

Will continue testing though, I'm not ready to give this back to the user.

wavingoctopus · Answer

Thanks so much for posting this. I had an identical issue with a Latitude 5431 - multiple freezes each day. Disabling C-States has stabilized everything - hasn't crashed once since.

phoenixxko · Answer

happy to help gents unfortunately I handed tha laptop over to the client so … maybe next time

Latitude

Latitude 5431 with Nvidia GPU locking up

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