XPS 17 9700 Blue Screen Error while sleeping: Thunderbolt(TM) Bus Driver to blame

Hi @hard2kill i did have a motherboard replacement in sept 2020. I’ve had these reboot issues since then. I also use the 180w dell thunderbolt usb c dock for desk setup with external monitor speakers webcam and usb mic and I haven’t noticed a specific issue with it. The motherboard change was because I noticed the battery draining quite significantly even when plugged in. This was possibly related to a fault in the early batch of motherboards not being able to draw the full 130w from the standard power supply. 

i still get strange charging behaviour like sometimes I notice the charge has dropped below 100% even when plugged in and not doing much. It also does things like drops to 95% as soon as I unplug then jumps back to 100%when plugged in. I can keep doing back and forth which just seems wrong but apparently it’s by design as part of the way Dell tries to prolong battery life. Seems flakey to me but I usually have 95% when I unplug so again I live with it.

for me the disabling of the biometric devices still remains the only way to avoid the bsod while the laptop is idle. One thing you might find is that the smart sleep is the issue. When on external power the device doesn’t seem to really fully sleep. Like I can come back to mine and find it warm enough for the fans to be running after leaving it plugged in over night. I enabled hibernate for closing my lid because I don’t trust the smart sleep to not do something stupid like run software while the thing is in my bag.

i can’t comment on if the motherboard change will help you It may well help but as I’ve said before the dell support process is a bit blunt when it comes to fixing specific user issues and it’s just that is the next thing on their list to suggest.

@Steven Pavett 

Since this issue just started in the last 6 weeks, I'm hesitant on replacing the motherboard. 

This unit was built late November 2020.

I have been having similar issues. This hits home. Your issue in relation to the screen blacking out with the fans running; the computer refusing to boot unless forced to reset; random blue screen errors; two days ago my trackpad just stopped working; and don`t get me started on the random reboots when the laptop is docked. Even the whole fingerprint and face scanner thing, I can live without it but the fact that its not working as advertised rubs me the wrong way. And in support with the comment you made after this, the reason why I opted for a mid-top tier laptop such as the XPS17 is to avoid downtime. I legit have no time to do resets, redownload all applications, all that *sugar* takes at least two days.

Early on this year I had to factory reset the laptop cause of the fingerprint/face scanner not working. yes my laptop is fully updated, yes I have reinstalled and installed the latest drivers. I have not contacted the support team cause I don`t want to factory reset my laptop and it not solve anything (based on peoples experiences). I just want the bloodclaat machine to work!

I am also having an issue with the machine running hot at a black screen with the caps lock light on.  This has been going on for a month, and it has to be an update that occured recently, as someone on Reddit was having the same issues.  The machine will boot up and want to check the ram, but its ok.   Everything in the laptop is stock.  I have reloaded, rolled back various drivers, tried the fingerprint fix, etc.  It seems that a bios update or setting is causing something here.

Hi Steven

just stumbled across your thread... I've been experiencing EXACTLY the same issues/crash logs on my XPS 9700 for months now. Dell have replaced the motherboard twice but the problems persist, I'm at my wits end with this.

So in terms of a recommended solution, just so I'm clear... are you recommending completely disabling Sleep completely (so setting sleep options to 'Never' for both battery and power), and just setting up Hibernate as recommended instead? And in addition to this, also disabling both biometric drivers for Goodix and Windows Hello? I'm willing to try anything to get a stable system...

Many thanks for your help.

Eamonn

I also experience similar errors and issues with a brand new 17 9700 with nvidia card. This was happening right from the original windows.

Also, the power modes seem unavailable, even that in bios they are enabled:

The following sleep states are available on this system:
    Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected
    Hibernate
    Fast Startup

The following sleep states are not available on this system:
    Standby (S1)
        The system firmware does not support this standby state.
        This standby state is disabled when S0 low power idle is supported.

    Standby (S2)
        The system firmware does not support this standby state.
        This standby state is disabled when S0 low power idle is supported.

    Standby (S3)
        This standby state is disabled when S0 low power idle is supported.

    Hybrid Sleep
        Standby (S3) is not available.
        The hypervisor does not support this standby state.

Happening not so often

> I have now set it to hibernate after 10 minutes on battery and after 70 minutes on power (it sleeps after 4 minutes)

I have a similar issue, the sleep states are not available, and find it with a blue screen. I did the same approach and disable the sleep and use hibernating instead. However, mine doesn't enter in the hibernation state. I find it with the empty battery when I close the lid. I have to shut down it all the time and use it as a desktop PC.

Rant:

I had a bad experience with an Inspiron due to a design decision that I attribute to cost and hoped XPSes are premium

I tried many values of hibernation and it's not working all the time. Two times got into hibernation but most of the time doesn't. I closed all apps to be sure none is running. The Dell support is not very helpful: `You have reached the limit for number of private messages that you can send for now. Please try again later.`

I have this issue as well!
it cause laptop freeze in sleep mode when AC connected and fast battery drain to zero when on battery

So only one option to keep laptop always ON connected to the power adapter