Multiple Vostros Blue Screening

We have just been experiencing this exact same issue with the same models as of the last week or so. So far 5 models from the same batch bought in February 2022.

We have tried re-imaging via SCCM/MDT including using a vanilla Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 ISO and the issue persists. 

We have even attempting rolling back the BIOS from this month to March but this hasn't made any difference. 

Could someone from Dell please provide some information if they are aware of any issues?

Since posting this Dell have suggested I call Microsoft! My response was surely I should be able to rebuild a machine from USB and not expect it to blue screen immediately. They also said they will only support our batch if they have Windows 10 on since that's what they shipped with. But from hours of testing it doesn't make a difference what OS is on there, it will still blue screen just as frequently. 

I've been looking into this more and noticed the following. 

• Re-imaging the affected machines with Ubuntu LTS 22.04 does not show the same behaviour - this confirms that it is a Dell + Windows issue. 
• Temporarily disabling Secure Boot within the BIOS prevents the machines from crashing at boot. Only after enabling this again is where the boot process begins to hang and bugcheck. This may indicate there is something going on between the OS and firmware?
• It seems that the affected systems appeared to be working fine before they upgraded to Windows 11 23H2. Downgrading to an older release or even Windows 10 still has the same issues. 
• With Secure Boot enabled the issue is random. Sometimes the machine will successfully boot without bugchecking and other times it will hang and bugcheck.

As of note, we have not attempted to apply the enforced mitigations as part of CVE-2023-24932 so I don't believe that should have any impact unless there is another side-affect that's undocumented. 

We have other AMD based Dell systems running the same OS + Patch level without any issues, so far its only the Vostro 15 3515 models that this is impacting.  

Hi Greig,

Yes similar here, I have had success by:

Disabling Secure Boot

Disabling Windows SMM Security Mitigation Table (apparently only applies to Windows 10 anyway)

Rebuilding to Windows 11 23h2

Not installing any other drivers or BIOS, just leaving them as is

We are just going to leave them like this as they are due for replacement next year.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Chris, 

Yeah that's pretty much what we did to test, although our security policy requires that Secure Boot and other configurations are in place so we can't really run with it turned off. 

We now have around 10 machines all experiencing the same issue and like yourself, Dell and Microsoft haven't been much help at all.

I am noticing a similar pattern where the machines will install Windows Updates then crash into BitLocker recovery. After getting them out of that is when they will eventually bugcheck at boot. 

We are extremely worried as we have around 47 machines in the entire batch purchased in February 2022 and given that we run on a 5-6 year hardware refresh cycle those wouldn't be getting replaced anytime soon, nor do we have the budget to suddenly replace 47 machines which should be working. 

Not a good position to be in, I hope you get it sorted. We're not big enough to have a proper Dell account manager, hoping you have more luck than us getting an answer.

Hello @Greig_Mitchell Did you sort it out?

We have the same situation here with 6 Dell Inspiron 15 3505 crashing at startup (we have 35 of them, they started crashing in december 2023, usually after a Windows Update). Typically, the spinner under the Dell logo freezes and BSOD about DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION shows up. Restart, asks for Bitlocker or not, re-crash or not. Sometimes Windows launches normally.

This Inspiron series comes with Qualcomm Wi-Fi / Bluetooth module, Realtek audio and ethernet modules. We have 6 other Inspiron 15 3505 bought at another time with different components (at least for wireless, ethernet and audio), they do not crash (for now).

I have tried every driver version for those components available (including default Microsoft's) to no avail.

Minidump doesn't highlight a faulty driver, just an unhappy ntoskrnl.exe and msgpioclx which is of no help.

I have tested with and without a professional account, with and without BitLocker, with 23H2 and with 24H2, removed lots of Windows Update's updates, tried different BIOS versions including 1.26.0 and 1.27.0, tried installing everything from Dell's SupportAssist (including Chipset), tried with a fresh Windows installation with the minimal updates (removed the cable as soon as Windows allowed me to), changed the original NVMe drive for a SATA drive, ... same sad result. Losing 35 computers in a short time is catastrophic for us.