XPS 8940, random freezing, potential fix?

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@itccs wrote:

It seems like some "magic" had happened. I'm on the 19th day (longest ever) without a freeze. I'm thinking not install this month Window updates to see how long this streak will last.

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We'll at least I know I'm not alone seeing this?

May I ask what BIOS version you are on and what Nvidia card you have?

Did you install the latest Nvidia driver from its site?

Any system changes that you are aware of, Dell apps, Intel ones?

@itccs 

Seems I jinxed myself posting here.

Hit it today, first one since 8/15, didn't quite make it a month since the last one.

Also it isn't completely the same lockup? Not a total one it seems. XPS was sleeping, screen was off. Mouse jiggle woke it up. However I couldn't do anything? Mouse pointer moved but could not do anything? Then noticed on my Systray a mail icon that spins when I had mail was partially there, like it was spinning and stopped, as was the clock, off by a minute and I waited and watch if over a 2 minute period and it didn't update. However moving the mouse around did, so the Nvidia card was 'live' and updating its video buffer... never had a lock up like that before...

Oh well, once a month is better than every few days... don't like it, but it is out of my control. Didn't lose any program setting so far it seems.

Staying on V2.9.0 for now.

Thanks for the tips. I'll start on this soon as I get a chance.

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@ispalten wrote:

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@itccs wrote:

It seems like some "magic" had happened. I'm on the 19th day (longest ever) without a freeze. I'm thinking not install this month Window updates to see how long this streak will last.

---

We'll at least I know I'm not alone seeing this?

May I ask what BIOS version you are on and what Nvidia card you have?

Did you install the latest Nvidia driver from its site?

Any system changes that you are aware of, Dell apps, Intel ones?

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I'm on BIOS 2.9.0.

NVIDIA  RTX 3060 Ti

Latest Studio Driver 516.94 from Nvidia site

I've made couple changes

1. Checked "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" under Device Manager>System devices>Intel(R) Management Engine Interface #1>Properties>Power Management

2. Something under NVIDIA Control Panel that I don't remember. I think I've changed "Power Management Mode" to "Prefer maximum performance" after saw a suggestion in one of those "XPS 8940 freeze" threads that you might have come across too.

I hope I'm not going to jinx myself too. I'm holding off on install this month Windows Updates to see how long I'm going to last.

@itccs 

Well, I AM JINXED!!!!

No lock up since 8/15, and then yesterday, I got one... an odd one too. The XPS went the monitor screen saver... I had run Quicken and it was gathering the on-line data. Got a phone call and I left the room. When I came back the screen saver was on...I jiggled the most and the desktop appeared... but I could NOT do anything? No mouse button worked? Keyboard LED's didn't go on...however, the mouse could be moved all over the screen? Never saw that before... lock ups were TOTAL, nothing worked. Ok, rebooted.

Today, GOT ANOTHER ONE!!!

Left the PC on and did somethings. Come back, the monitor is sleeping. I see the power button on the monitor blinking. Move the mouse NOTHING happened. Tried keyboard, nothing...

2 lock up in less that 1 day!!!

So I checked Reliability Viewer: all these installed, but way before my 4:37PM lockup:

Looked at Windows Update, I knew I got some from Tuesday::

I even looked at my other installed programs?

TeamViewer I used yesterday and updated a file... not a full install.

I suspect one of the MS Updates did me in????

I'd also suggest you reset those changes you made. Every single 'suggestion' made has no basis for doing it, and if it worked, it had nothing to do with those. Especially the management engine. If you needed to use it would have to be woken up, and that is part of the problem. You are on a Desktop, no need to 'save power', leave everything powered up.

Mine has been crashing / locking a lot since this latest windows update! Multiple times a day. Wasn’t this bad before.

@inoodle 

Like I said, it happened to me too....

However, after 2 lock ups (none before in 30+ days prior to MS WU) in 2 days, it seems it has settled down, none since then?

Partial screenshot of the Reliability Monitor (circled are the Error 41 Improper Shutdown errors)

Crazy, no changes and it seems stable?

Ignore the other top errors, they come and go, nothing major.  The blue ones are the MS GameInput reconfiguration on EVERY BOOT!!! Internet is full of reports of this, and MS has not done a think about it.

I hesitate backing out the Tuesday Update. Many CVE's and Security fixes, I'd rather have those.

I'm seeing a lot of people having similar problems that I've seen.    I have 2 XPS 8940 desktops, one with an Intel 10900 CPU, and the other with 11700 CPU.  I've updated to the latest BIOS 2.9.0.  Both run Windows 11 (Just last week updated to 2022H2).    Both machines have Nvidia discrete GPU's (1030GT), and have RAM upgrades to 64GB in 4x16 configurations (but different brands).    I can't remember exactly when the freeze issue started occurring, but it's probably a few months ago, i.e. mid 2022.

This freeze occurs far more frequently on the 10900, but probably because I use it more.   I just wanted to share some observations and my workarounds.

1)   Happens most frequently when using Zoom for work meetings, and while screen sharing my chrome or edge browser, but I don't think exclusively only freezes because of that.   The last 10 freezes seem to be during Zoom screen sharing sessions

2)    Since the Windows 11 2022H2 upgrade, seems to happen less.  Machine had uptime > 8 days before the freeze occurred again.  Colleagues at work were like "I thought you fixed the issue?!"  

3)   I've seen a freeze on the 11700 cpu'd desktop even when I had removed the Nvidia card, so I'm not convinced it's directly related to Nvidia GPU's, though it still could be a driver remanent issue or something like that.

4)   I don't believe the freeze ever happened when I've disabled Turboboost on the CPU.  Unlike other users' suggestions, I do this via software rather than BIOS updates, because I can just turn it back on easily using cmdline. 

powercfg -attributes sub_processor perfboostmode -attrib_hide

powercfg -setdcvalueindex scheme_current sub_processor perfboostmode 0
powercfg -setacvalueindex scheme_current sub_processor perfboostmode 0

This stability issue is not great.   The turbo boost workaround seems reasonably reliable, but is not a permanent solution, because we're effectively downclocking the CPU.    Hoping we can find a true root cause/resolution.  Thanks!

One question?

Some people use the term 'Freeze' and 'Lock up' interchangeably.

A 'Freeze' would be a momentary stop of everything, No video movement, no mouse operations, loss of all indications of the OS operation. Then after a brief pause, everything resumes operation, until the next time.

A 'Lock Up' is similar, however the OS never resumes normal operations. The only recovery is the use the Power Button to power down and then power up. This results in an Error 41 in the Event Viewer for improper Shutdown.

Which is happening to you? A 'Freeze' or a 'Lock up'?

A 'Lock Up' is what most of us have.

Some symptoms you have are different though as well. All have no problems (as I recall) when the built-in Intel Video adapter is use vs. the Nvidia card. There is  no consensus on the cause, it is so varied. I, myself, have had only one Zoom Lock Up. I can't even recall what it happens the most on. Idle XPS, opening a Windows (normal desktop icon), opening a desktop URL icon, closing a window, typing in a browser or program, using a browser, playing a game (many), too many ways to mention.

The 'root' problem for all seems to have been started in Jan' 2022 with the Release of BIOS V2.4.0. At that time, all that went back to V2.3.0 solved the problem for most. Some had to go back to V2.2.0. Since then, the problem has continued with each BIOS release. The only difference seemed to the mean time to lock up got longer with each BIOS update.

Once one of the later BIOS were installed past V2.4.0, going back to V2.3.0 no longer solved the problem for many.

If you indeed are having Lock ups, do you have anything related to that in the Event Viewer?

What you wrote is exactly what I am dealing with 2 dell systems. Same specs.

After a later bios 2.3 doesn't work anymore with freezing.

So far removing the video card. Installing fresh windows 10 pro seems to be working.. but no I don't get my video card?

I been troubleshooting for 7 months now and can break down everything that hasn't worked.  But so far the video card removal seems to keep system stable.

Hi

I have the XPS 8940 with GTX3060 32GB ram and i7

My pc passes every diagnostic test with flying colors.  But the one thing diagnostics do not test is the power supply.

The power supply in this unit does not have adequate power to keep this machine running with the GTX3060.

How do I know this is the problem?  I removed the GTX3060 and replaced with my trusty GeForce GT1030 with 2gb RAM and have not had the problem since.

Is my machine slower?  No.  Do I notice any difference? I'm not a gamer so no I do not.

The machine shipped with a power supply that cannot adequately power the components.  I'd check available power supplies for this unit and replace it with the highest wattage power supply they have available.  If you bought the PC without configuring the machine manually you definitely have the base 360 Watt power supply. They have a 500 watt power supply available for this XPS 8940 which should do the trick.

How can Dell not know this? Would anyone build a powerhouse pc with an I7 and a gaming graphics card and put a 360 watt power supply in it?  I think not.

For the record I am an IT Consultant with 30 years experience with Dell Servers, PC's and laptops.  

Been there done that.  It is the power supply.

@mresnick​,

If you got the Standard 8940, it came with the 360W PSU. Purchased the SE version, a 500W PSU is standard.

Don't know if you ordered the PC with the Nvidia card or not? Can't see the old order/customization page? I would have expected Dell not to have a video card that was not within the power range of the CPU?

I see the Nvidia Spec's for the card is 550W's even? See https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/30-series/rtx-3060-3060ti/

That said, I know Dell has the video cards built specifically for them, and if you did buy the card with the XPS, it would have been one of these:

H74DC MSI GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
M49TT MSI GeForce RTX 3060 LHR 12GB

Now Dell's cards are not the same as the Retail MSI (or other vendor) cards. I have a 2060 and physically it does not look the same as the MSI Retail card. The 'assumption' is that the Dell cards are tailored to work with the PC CPU.

From the web, the 3060 seems to draw 200W's by itself? My RTX 2060 6GB has a 160W draw, and I have the 500W PSU SE version.

I have a UPS that has a utility that shows the power draw, as I type this with nothing else happening, I'm using around 130W's. I've looked at it over time and have never seen the power draw above 350W's, even when using a GPU heavy load MS Flight Simulator.

At that card draw, I am surprised Dell would have sold a Standard Edition with the 3060 as an option?

I am wondering why now you've hit this problem? The XPS is from 2021-22, and you only started having the problem now? Could your card be the culprit, have a physical problem?

I've had this issue since I did a round of updates on or around 9th October 2023. I tried all the ideas posted here and elsewhere including downgrading BIOS and GTX drivers - but nothing worked. My build spec sheet suggests a 500W PSU.

I've now got the latest BIOS (2.14.0) and the latest GTX3070 drivers via GeForce Experience (545.84) as of this week. I've completely removed the Killer suite using RevoUninstaller and used "std" drivers (10.65.421.2023) for the E2600 Ethernet card.

I still had freezes every hour or so when doing basic work or when idle, never when "gaming".

I completely uninstalled the Dell Peripheral Manager using RevoUninstaller 1.7.0 yesterday - I've not had an issue since and the PC has been on all night sitting quite happily without issue... Let's see...

Well at 09:23 GMT today, it froze whilst I was looking at EventViewer - Pah!!!

Just used the KIllerUnistall programme (https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/killer_software_uninstaller.html) as I keep seeing files all over the place and lots of errors in EvntVwr (it seems to have done a better job than Revo but then there are loads of Killer exe's about that don't feature as "apps" but as services) - again, wait and see.

It froze overnight

I was having the same issue.  I had done everything that I found recommended on the various forums (rolled back BIOS version, rolled back nVidia driver, uninstalled various apps, disconnected external hard drives, ran DSIM and SFC, ran Dell's SupportAssist, reinstalled Windows several times (from the Dell partition and from Microsoft), and anything else that people had suggested.

I the end, I sent the computer to Dell for repairs (luckily I was still under warranty!) and they replace the processor.  When I got it back 10 days later the issue was still there.  After many, many phone calls and emails they agreed to send a service tech to replace the motherboard and SSD.  The technician then installed Windows and everything seemed fine until I tried to install my programs and noticed I was now using Windows 10 Pro instead of Windows 11 Home that had been installed previously.  Another call to Dell got me someone who used a variety of programs to eventually install the proper version of Windows.  This took an enormous amount of time and I was told that the Recovery Partition on my SSD was now updated with the correct version of Windows so future reinstalls wouldn't be problematic.

My computer has now been running for 2 days without freezing.  I contacted Dell to ask that they send me an email confirming that my SSD Recovery Partition was updated and was told there is no way to verify that it was.  I explained that my warranty expired in 4 months and if there was a problem I wanted something to show that this was an issue that I was NOT responsible for.  So far they have declined to verify anything.  I was told that if there was any issue I could just install Windows from the Microsoft site.

This is frustrating... my system is now not the system I bought.  Future Windows re-installs are no longer as simple as they should be and Dell is taking no responsibility.  I know that installing Windows from the Microsoft site is not difficult, but I don't like that their error is now my problem.

See here, seems to be working for me, for two days anyway...

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/xps-8940-freezing-again-after-almost-a-year-without-freezing/650c74c82ae49d628fae48ed?commentId=656071b5ee208720b8982402