Alienware Aurora R12 or XPS 8940 Randomly Stop Responding After BIOS Update

Summary: An Alienware Aurora R12 or XPS 8940 may randomly stop responding after the BIOS and NVIDIA drivers have both been updated.

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Symptoms

An Alienware Aurora R12 or XPS 8940 may stop responding during usage or may not be able to wake up from sleep.

Affected Platforms:

  • Alienware Aurora R12
  • XPS 8940

Cause

Active State Power Management (ASPM) causes problems with the NVIDIA driver. This occurs when the listed BIOS and the listed NVIDIA version are both installed.

  • Alienware Aurora R12 BIOS version 1.1.23
  • XPS 8940 BIOS version 2.14.0
  • NVIDIA Game Ready driver versions 536.40 and later
  • NVIDIA Studio driver versions 536.40 and later

Resolution

Solution for the XPS 8940

Updating to both BIOS version 2.18.1 or later and NVIDIA GeForce GT 10xx/GTX 1xx0/RTX x0x0 Graphics Driver version 31.0.15.5168, A00 or later on the computer resolves the issue. To download and install the BIOS and driver, reference:

Solution for the Alienware Aurora R12

Updating to NVIDIA GeForce GT 10xx/GTX 1xx0/RTX x0x0 Graphics Driver version 31.0.15.5168, A00 or later on the computer resolves the issue. To install the driver, reference How to Download and Install Dell Drivers.

Affected Products

Alienware Aurora R12, XPS 8940
Article Properties
Article Number: 000218411
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 22 Apr 2025
Version:  8
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