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September 21st, 2023 16:52
XPS 8940, freezing again after almost a year without freezing
XPS 8940
Good day everyone,
When I first purchased my 8940 it would freeze a lot. As new BIOS updates were released the problem went away. This is until BIOS 2.14. Since the upgrade my 8940 has frozen at least 3 times that I know of. I also have read that other owners of 8940's are experiencing the same issue. I hope Dell figures this out quickly.
Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz 3.40 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB (63.6 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on 5/31/2023
OS build 22621.2283
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22662.1000.0
I will be downgrading my BIOS to 2.13 and will keep everyone posted if the freezing stops.
Thanks
mwsheldon
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October 29th, 2023 01:41
@DELL- Nat M I'm pleased to report this solution has worked for me! 6 weeks of random freezes have now completely stopped since I completely removed NVidia's own drivers and used the latest version for the XPS 8940 as provided through Dell Support. And yes, I have version 2.14 of the BIOS update installed.
DELL-Nat M
Community Manager
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October 18th, 2023 17:00
Hi all,
We would like to share the most recent workaround provided by the team:
If the issue persists, please contact Dell Support by using the "Get Help Now" button located at the bottom left of your screen.
(edited)
RoHe
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September 21st, 2023 18:16
Lots of posts with same issues after updating to BIOS 2.14.0. Some users say if you uninstall the NVidia video driver and install an older NVidia driver version, the problem goes away without downgrading BIOS.
Read this thread, and especially the post by Dell-BradL
figureguy
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September 22nd, 2023 17:20
I am also having this same issue with my XPS. I thought there was a serious issue with my system. My 8940 just started freezing a couple of days ago, randomly. I have run every test I can think of and even reset Windows 10. Still happening.
Markd1015
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September 22nd, 2023 20:34
Good day everyone,
My downgrade to BIOS 2.13 did not stop the Freeze problem. After the downgrade my XPS8940 froze at least 3 times.
I read that if you downgrade the NVidia graphics driver that should stop the freezing. I downgraded to 537.13. I will let everyone know if this works.
THanks
figureguy
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September 22nd, 2023 20:48
I downgraded the BIOS to 2.13.1 and the graphics driver to 31.0.15.3619 from Dell's website. I will see if this works. I wish I knew this was more of a common problem before I did a system reset. Sigh.
Also, stupid question but if I am following a topic how do I get notifications on it through email?
(edited)
figureguy
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September 22nd, 2023 21:08
Also, GeForce Experience is yelling at me to take it's new driver, 537.42.
ispalten
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September 22nd, 2023 23:18
@figureguy
That is BROKEN in the new Forum S/W... Known problem, will be fixed, but no timeframe known.
Sign into the forum and if you have had any replies, it will show up as a red number on the Bell icon on the top to the left of your account icon.
figureguy
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September 22nd, 2023 23:53
@ispalten Thank you.
MigdalorGuy
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September 23rd, 2023 14:04
Unlike everyone else who has reported these issues over the years, I don't have an NVidia card. I have a Radeon RX5700 . I've had all the same issues as people have reported, but stating they only happen with the NVidia cards. Balderdash! The problems had gone away for about a year, but after the latest BIOS update to 2.1.4, the daily, sometimes more than once daily freezes are back. I have to force shutdown with the power button and restart. Sometimes more than once a day. It can't go on like this. I tried downgrading my AMD (video driver (just a note, AMD, that the Adrenalin software does not make that all that easy to do, so using device manager is the only way that seems to work) and that did not help. The freezes remain. Not gonna downgrade my BIOS because the latest upgrade fixed some other annoyances related to waking up the system. Are they just trying to force us to buy new machines? Been a faithful Dell customer for years, but not so sure anymore. This XPS8940 has been problematic from day 1.
(edited)
Markd1015
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September 23rd, 2023 19:59
Good day everyone. I downgraded to NVIDIA driver 537.13 and left my PC running last night and all day today (09/23/2023) without issue. When I did install 537.13 I checked the option to do a clean install.With the latest NVIDIA driver it would freeze when the monitors went to sleep.
I will be upgrading my BIOS back to version 2.14 and let everyone know if the PC is still stable.
I went to the NVIDIA forums and there are a lot off people who are mad that their PC's are having other issues instead of freezing. It may take a few releases before NVIDIA gets it all figured out. I will be sticking with 537.13 for a while.
I also called Dell even though the warranty ran out a month ago because since I purchased this XPS 8940 it has been randomly freezing since day 1. I told the tech that this is an on going issue but no sympathy on Dell's part. Pay us 99.00 dollars and we will fix it. I did not pay the money and decided that I would try troubleshooting it myself. Dell needs to look at these forums and see the numerous people who paid good money to have a subpar product. Dell used to have great customer service but now it is all about money. Too bad.
If my PC starts to freeze again I will purchase a motherboard that will work with my CPU and memory and build a system that hopefully will not have any freeze up issues.
Thanks everyone.
(edited)
ispalten
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September 23rd, 2023 20:16
@Markd1015
I would not put BIOS V2.14.0 on right now if you had not done it before.
Dell IS looking at the problem. Brad L from Dell also posted in this Subject, https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/xps-8940-nvidia-rtx-2060-6gb-lock-up-starting-again/64d68fc2a4d80b4578504a34?page=4 at time stamp 20-09-2023 09:25 AM this:
========================
Thanks for highlighting this issue. Please follow the below workaround and share the outcome:
If the above didn't help/change symptoms, please share the below details via "Get Help Now" and update tech support on this issue:
Once we have the required logs we will work on this issue with our internal team which could take some time.
(edited)
If still under warranty, click theGet Help Now chat icon on the right to start a live chat session.If already out of warranty, click here.
Find your Service Tag
DELL-Brad L
#IWork4Dell
===============
Obviously there is no tried and true solution yet. Maybe not be an Nvidia card problem either, another user posted they had the problem with an AMD card.
Markd1015
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September 24th, 2023 14:21
@ispalten I wish I knew this before. I have been having lock up (freezes) a lot after the upgrade to 2.14. I downgraded back to 2.13 and the freezes continue. I uninstalled the NVIDIA drivers and installed the NVIDIA drivers from the Dell website that are recomended for my XPS 8940. I will see how this goes.
I do wish Dell would aknowledge the issue a lot of people are having with their XPS8940's, but that might cost them some momey to make it right.
Has anyone reading this switched their video card to an AMD video card? If so, does this fix the issue? Which card did you choose? I noticed the last line in your post that this also occurs with AMD cards. I guess the only alternitive would be to buy a new motherboard, case, power supply and use the parts from my XPS8940 and build a home made PC. Has anyone tried that?
Thanks
(edited)
Markd1015
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September 24th, 2023 22:26
Good day everyone,
Another day and more troubleshooting. On BIOS 2.13 I had numerous freezes. I did notice that a lot of the freezes occurred when my monitors shut off. I was using the balanced setting in Control panel under Power Options. So I changed my power setting to High Performance. The only setting I changed was "Put the computer to sleep:" I put never for both the on battery and the plugged in setting. Though I also had freezes where I click on a link on a web page and it freezes. The last time this happened I was browsing Amazon, so it was not a shady website.
I also downloaded the NVIDIA driver from the Dell support page. So I am running 536.40. My thinking here is that if Dell put that driver on their support site for my PC then they must have felt that there were no issues with it. At least that is what I tell myself.
I have had the PC running for over 10 hours. The monitors went into sleep mode and I have not had a freeze up. Of course I know 10 hours without a freeze could be a coincidence but I have been having freezes occur very frequently before this. I will keep monitoring it and let everyone know if this works.
Thanks
figureguy
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September 26th, 2023 12:00
I did have a lock up this morning. I was using Firefox and a page was loading and everything just stopped. I rolled back the BIOS but while I did roll back the graphic driver when I reinstalled GeForce Experience after my reset it updated to the latest version. It was my first freeze in two days so that is progress, I guess.
I just rolled my Nvidia back to 536.19. I'll see if it makes a difference. My question now is if the video driver could be the problem or part of how do you know when to resume updates on it? Do we just sit on an older driver and lose new capabilities and software updates?
(edited)