XPS 8940, random freezing

Goto Nvidia Control Panel, Manage 3d settings. Scroll down to its power setting and change it from normal to prefer maximum performance.  Save the settings. 

@JamieLinux​ That's what mine is set at, but still had a freeze. 

I will try that setting now to see if it works (just got the newest NVIDIA drivers from Dell, but those do not work by themselves). Guess we will see if this helps at all

@strux​

@JamieLinux​ That's what mine is set at, but still had a freeze. 

Might help if you post the version number for NVidia driver that still has freezes even when set to "prefer max performance" on your XPS 8940.

@RoHe​ Nevermind, it re-installed an old game ready driver from last year. (I deleted the driver via device manager and restarted). Dell's Support Assist doesn't seem to work work for updating Nvidia drivers, so I guess I'll have to begrudgingly download GeForce Experience again. 

@RoHe​ if it locks up with it installed, you need to DDU the nvidia drivers if you are swapping from dell drivers to nvidia or visa versa. 

Just restarted my computer and left. Came back to it frozen with nothing showing on the monitor. 

Bios version 2.18.1, 2.18.1 - April 12, 2024 release date

Nvidia driver GeForce GTX 1660 Ti - version 31.0.15.5222

Power management mode set to Maximum Performance

Power plan set to High Performance

Sleep and display set to never

Photoshop and Lightroom keeps getting sluggish, too. 

@strux​ I believe it is the Nvidia driver, I installed the 2.18.1 bios and ran a few days with no problems I then installed the new Dell Nvidia driver and started getting the freeze ups. After a Macrium restore, I am back to the previous Dell Nvidia driver (536.19) with no problems.

@ohwell1954​ If you driver swap DDU + driver install = no freezing.

@JamieLinux​ I uninstalled my Nvidia display adaptor in device manager along with the driver software, rebooted and had to uninstall it again as it stayed in the system with an older driver after the second uninstallation of Nvidia display adaptor and driver software and a reboot it showed up in device manager as a Microsoft display. I then installed the newest studio drivers (552.22) from Nvidia's website, minus the GeForce experience. So far, no freezes doing the same things it locked up on me before. Just had my first lockup a day later, going back to 536.

@ohwell1954​ Have you had any black screens, or just freezing?

@strux​ No black screens, just freezes with Nvidia downloaded studio driver and with the newest Dell downloaded Nvidia driver. With the older Dell Nvidia driver (536) I have never had a freeze with 2.18.1 or 2.17.0 BIOSes.

@ohwell1954​ I'm thinking my motherboard battery is failing. Just noticed my clock is off. 

@ohwell1954​ You need to use DDU which nukes the driver repository in Windows for the GPU driver. 

I have two different Dell XPS 8940s, one with an NVIDIA Graphics card, and one with AMD. Both have been freezing since about November 2023. I have tried contacting Dell Software Support, and they were unable to find a fix, even after fully factory resetting both computers twice.