Is the system under warranty? If so call Dell tech support in your region. Otherwise does the laptop seem to be getting very warm? The SSD Has a very small increase is power draw over the HDD. Hard to believe that it is enough to make a difference. But what I am wondering is if the system is getting hot and that would cause a shutdown as you described.

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/Help-Inspiron-1525-shuts-down-randomly/m-p/3168005#M460274

Try updating the firmware on the SSD itself.  If that doesn't do it, are you sure you fastened the SSD properly?  It sounds like the SSD might be triggering a short within the system.  Do any parts of it look like they might be tall enough to touch the underside panel, for example?

Thanks for your replies chaps. Still no luck after numerous troubleshooting steps. The laptop is only 3 weeks old so still under warranty. I'll call Dell tech support, but here is what I've tried so far... (FYI The shutdown occurs at any random time when booted in Windows - browsing the web, listening to music, nothing strenuous. It's not when I'm copying data to the MX500. I can copy data to it fine. Also the laptop is not getting hot at all so I'm certain the shutdown is not due to temperature)

1. I checked the MX500 installation and there was one screw that has not been tightened at all, so that's now secure and there is no movement in the hard drive. It's not tall enough to touch and cause a short as far as I can tell

2. I left the machine in the BIOS mode for over an hour - no shutdowns at all.

3. Ran Dell Diagnostics, which took 45 minutes as I did the extended memory tests. No issues identified, no shutdowns at all in this 45 mins.

4. I booted up to Windows but unfortunately shutdown occurred after about 10 minutes and has occurred every 5-10 minutes since. Must confirm that's it's an O/S or software issue?

5. Event Viewer shows 21 "Kernal 41" Power Critical errors but that just indicates the shutdowns themselves, not what caused them. There are no clear events showing the cause.

6. I created a boot drive using Rufus with the latest Crucial Firmware, but when I boot in to the ISO after it runs for a few seconds I get a message saying "no devices needing update found", and then Windows boots. I've bought the MX500 on 10th December from Amazon, and the latest firmware (M3CR023) was released on 11th December so I can't possibly be up to date already. I'm wondering if it's only seeing my boot drive (the M2) and not the MX500? Not sure how to work around this.

Until I can get the firmware updated I feel kinda stuck As I said, I'll take you recommendation and call Dell tech support tomorrow

For the firmware, if your system’s SATA Operstion is set to RAID mode, set it to AHCI. You’ll need to change it back to RAID after the update to make your system boot from its internal drive again if it was set to RAID before, but AHCI mode removes the Intel Rapid Storage controller from the storage path, so that’s probably what’s preventing your firmware updater from seeing the drive. It likely doesn’t have the Intel RST driver to interface with it.

Simon - the 7580 comes with a bracket and sata cable for installing a 2.5" sata hardrive, so you don't need anything else - you just need to order the SSD. However, at this point in time I'd advise holding off ordering the same one as I have incase it's an issue with this particular laptop's ability to handle it! I'll post an update once I've spoken to Dell Tech Support

Thanks again jphughan - I tried your suggestion and was optimistic it would allow me to update the firmware but unfortunately had the same issue; on booting from the USB I got the same "no drives needing update" message, so it's still not seeing the MX500 even in AHCI mode.

Resolved (hopefully...)

Found a blog post suggesting Intel's Rapid Storage Technology could be causing the problem. It specifically suggested opening the IRST application, accessing the 'Performance' tab and disabling 'Link Power Management'. After disabling this feature I rebooted the machine and we're now at 3 hours of constant use in Windows without a random shutdown. Both SSDs are functioning perfectly, so it's looking good! :)

 i had the same problem with dell e series and crucial 1tb - laptop goes powered off randomly when idle. After install IRST and disable power management in IRST, problem disappeared

This is just a quick message to NikArg, thanking them for sourcing a resolution to this issue.

My circumstances were pretty much identical to NikArg's, even down to the addition of the same 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD.  With the SSD installed, it would only be a few minutes before the laptop powered off.  The BIOS power event log would also show a "Power Off - ASF2 force off" event.

Once "Link Power Management" was disabled in the Intel RST application, the issue never reoccurred.  That was over a week ago, and the laptop has been used heavily since (8-12 hours a day) so, hopefully, that's all now resolved.

I had the same issue with my Dell Inspirion 5480 since I installed an internal SSD. Disabling link power management fixed it. Thanks.

Hey all,

had the same issue with new SSD.

Found the solution here: https://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-Ultra-II-SSD/Sudden-Shutdown-of-SSD-Windows-10/td-p/356649

The only thing I had to do was to turn off intel SpeedStep in BIOS

Wish you luck!

any chance you can display a step by step with no abbreviations??  I have the same issue with my dell latitude using windows 10 after installing a SSD.  Thanks.

I have the same issue when installing WD 2.5 SSD to my Dell insprison 5570. The issue seems resolved after installing IRST and disabling power management.