XPS 8930, freezes for 3-5 seconds

freezes (global , macro viewed)

1:HW freezes , hardware and for sure overheated it WILL.

2: the wireless keyboard froze, some models can (dead batteries or marginal) or can cause both mouse and keybaord to freeze,  do to very tight dual integration schemes) why not use  wired keyboard for  day and see if the wireless is bad,  a $8 test. with dirt cheap keyboard, heck barrow one?

3: OS freezes (endless possibles.)   corruption or startup box full of APPS doing endless updates. turn them off.

3b: OS corrupted (and endless topic) infections endless.

4: the unstated browser  stalls only?,  try Firefox v67+ yet>?

5: internet stalls, (a whole other topic not related to this PC at all if...) unless using stinking wifi,  use Ethernet all week see it does not fail does it... wired ethernet works best, always,  $10 cable and wow fixed?

what I do is boot to USB stick , with  Linux live , "try me mode"  ubuntu v17+   and run that all day.

if linux is happy gee check off bad harware. ok?

or if scared of that (why) put in a spare SSD, and load w10 fresh to it,  run for a day see it does run. proving again its NOT hardware unless first HDD/SSD was in fact bad and fails SMART tests.

how do deal with 1 week long stalls.? gee, try a spare SSD , with w10 loading only, do not pile 100 apps on top then scream w10 is bad, oK>

good luck on stalls, the only way to find it  is  to test it. do the tests, stated,

if not get a refund.

@John-Jay- I guess you'll just have to wait/see. I made those same suggestions in that other big thread about XPS 8930 freezes and that solved the freeze problem for at least one user over there. 

On some models USB Wake Support is disabled by default in BIOS which is why I suggested you checked that setting. "Disabled" is a dumb default BIOS setting for USB Wake Support so maybe Dell changed that in the XPS  8930 BIOS.

There are times when Windows suddenly turns things off during an "activity period" -if only briefly- for unknown reasons. So that's why I suggested unchecking that "turn off" box for all USB root hubs and for HID too. You might also want to uncheck that box for your WiFi card in Device Manager, and set WiFi to Max performance on the Additional Options screen in the active power plan too...

Keep an eye on things for a while and post back when you have something to report about the problem -hopefully- being fixed...

Hi, @RoHe it froze up, a few moments ago, for the proverbial 3-5 seconds!

As per @savvy2 comment, I gave it the 3-finger salute & it did NOT respond immediately. However, it did respond when it "unfroze" - hence I'm getting the "impression" that it is "accepting-input", but is delaying processing it!

(NOTE:- I thought that I had previously noted that the Cursor seemed to jump when unfreezing (implying that it had "stored-the-movement") but I wasn't certain, hence hadn't mentioned it before)!

Regards,

John-Jay

@RoHe  @DCFAdmin @DELL-Chris M

Since the last time I reported, it has frozen a few more times!

On these I deliberately moved the Mouse - obviously, without any immediate response, but it DID initiate the requested Cursor Movement a few seconds later when it "unfroze".

I think this confirms that it is NOT a Connection-Issue, NOR is it a Settings-Issue - the XPS 8930 is simply stopping Processing for those few seconds (with the "Requested-Activity" simply filling up an Input-Buffer) &, after unfreezing, processing the delayed Inputs!

Regards,

John-Jay

Have you looked at Resource Monitor to see if it is excessive CPU, Disk, Network, or Memory activity that is occurring during those freezes of 3-5 seconds? Task Manager / Performance tab / Open Resource Monitor at the bottom.

Obviously, I cannot get to Task Manager, during a Freeze but, when I get to TM immediately following a Freeze - nothing obvious is showing!

Regards,

John-Jay

You could run Task Manager and Resource Monitor and wait for the freeze to happen.

Better yet, download Process Explorer, free from Microsoft, which is more detailed than Task Manager.

Open PE and click Options and select Always on top

Then click View and select Show processes from all users

Expand the lists in the Process column so you can see all of them. Now click the CPU column header so processes are arranged in order of highest to lowest CPU use (ignoring System Idle process).

Drag the Description column header next to the CPU header and resize the PE window so Process, CPU, and Description columns are visible. (You can hide the rest of them) and drag the PE window off into a corner of your screen.

When the system freezes, quickly look at the CPU column and see what process has jumped to the top of CPU usage, again ignoring System Idle, and read the description.

If I had to make a bet, it's going to be System>Interrupts and the Description will be "Hardware interrupts and DPCs"...

Hi, @RoHe ,

Have just downloaded it & shortly after had a freeze (before I had a chance of settings up the options you suggested!

However, the CPU History Graph does show a massive Peak (over 96%)! Will obviously set up the options &, hopefully, be able to determine the actual Event/Action/Process causing it!

Regards,

John-Jay

I will add that my experience is similar to what is described in this forum. I have found when the freeze/hang occurs there is a huge spike (98 percent) in the CPU using the Process Explorer. I am not sure if this has any significance, but the spike is always on CPU "Core 6" when I have checked. I have not been able to see or find what happens as it spikes. If I find something that shows an an "interrupt," or some obvious activity, I will post again.

Hi, @RoHe ,

Partially because of another thread on Dual-Monitors, I've now set up a 2nd Monitor - where I'm "parking" the Process Explorer (as well as its Graphs).

I'm now waiting for a Freeze!

On one occasion, the CPU Usage jump to over 50% (normally CPU Usage is around 5% or less), without Freezing, & it appeared that the biggest culprit was Dell Assist!!

Incidentally, on the Graph (whether showing combined CPU or separate Cores) it shows both a Green Graph & a Red Graph without any explanation (well, I couldn't find an explanation) - do you know what these represent?

Regards,

John-Jay

@jg2711  - Did you set Process Explorer up the way I posted above so you would be able to see what process is hogging the CPU?

Keep an eye on System > Interrrupts > Hardware+DPC in PE. Check the "baseline" CPU usage for that process from time to time, when PC is working normally, and then check quickly as soon as a freeze occurs. Even a small increase from baseline CPU usage by DPC, eg going up by ~~2-3% above baseline usage, might be enough...

What add-in video card do you have, if any?  Are you willing to physically remove the  add-in video card and try using onboard Intel HD Graphics for a while to see if the freezes continue? And/or is there anyone in this thread that only has onboard Intel HD Graphics and sees these freezes?

Some time back, a different PC model had "hesitations", accompanied by a small increase in DPCs, which was caused by one batch of add-in video card.  Swapping that video card fixed the problem.  Not saying this is the problem here, and obviously the hardware is totally different, but still worth a look....

Red in that PE CPU usage graph is CPU usage in kernel-mode and green is the sum of CPU usage in kernel-mode plus user-mode execution. 

And now you probably want to know what kernel-mode and user-mode are, so you can read all those geeky details here.  Aren't you glad you asked...?

There's so much info available in PE that whole websites are devoted to explaining it. And to think PE was developed totally independently of Microsoft, who ended up buying it from the guys who wrote it. 

BTW: You didn't answer my question about what video card you have and if you're willing to pull it out for a while...

Hi, @RoHe 

Quote:- "BTW: You didn't answer my question about what video card you have and if you're willing to pull it out for a while..."

Sorry, I must have missed that question!! The Card is a "NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X"!

Too be honest, I'm NOT over-keen on pulling the device apart (unless I have to, or a Dell-Specialist requests it), the PC is still under Warranty (its only 5 weeks old)!

Regards,

John-Jay