New Dell XPS freezing and locking up

[b00tsnspurs]

Hey there. I just purchased a brand new Dell XPS 8920 from Dell. I use my computer for gaming and for digital art (which I do as my part time job).

Just 2 days after setting this computer up, it began locking up and freezing during Overwatch games. It would happen randomly. At first I thought it was the video card overheating, but the lock up happened while the card was at 80 degrees C (which the card should be able to handle) and it also happened when the card was at 40 degrees C.

I then thought it was the game itself conflicting with something on the computer. I disabled startup processes, uninstalled certain programs. However the freezing happened once while the computer was just idling and no programs were open. The computer is not overheating and I performed diagnostics tests, updated drivers, etc.

The weird thing is, I can sometimes play games without the freeze happening at all, for 4 hours or more straight. Then at times the freeze happens just after launching a game or in the middle of artwork.

When it freezes up, the monitor goes black and nothing responds. No mouse, no keyboard, I can't even Ctrl+Alt+Delete. I have to resort to doing a force shut down. And when this happens the fans get REALLY loud. Only when it freezes up. There is no stuttering during games. Just an immediate freeze.

I did not touch any graphics card settings other than bringing the fan speed from 44% to a constant 77%. Not sure if the card came overclocked or not?

I had this computer built to handle heavy gaming. I thought maybe the power supply could also be an issue, or maybe it's something with windows 10.

I have Windows 10 Professional 64bit.
16gb installed ram.
Intel core i7 processor 3.60 ghz
Nvidia Geforce 1060 16gb graphics card
Intel HD graphics 630

I have 2 monitors. One is connected through HDMI to the Nvidia (which I use to game)
The other is connected by VGA-to-HDMI converter to the Intel card, in which I use to do art. When the computer freezes both monitors go black and they do not say anything about having no signal. Just black.

No matter what I do or change the computer still does this on random occasions. I contacted Dell support, and even with a warranty and a year of on site service, they are telling me I need to speak with a Dell specialized concierge team, and it's a fee based support. I just purchased this computer and it's doing this. Brand new. I shouldn't have to pay more because something is faulty. I was hoping someone here could help.

 

[UniqueMilkMan]

Maybe try unplugging one of the monitors and only use one and see if it works.

 

[b00tsnspurs]

Maybe try unplugging one of the monitors and only use one and see if it works.

Alright, I'll give that a shot.

 

[King_V]

I don't know about the XPS 8920, but I do know that the XPS 8910 if it was purchased from the "For Work" side of things rather than "For Home" would typically come with Windows 10 Pro, but COULD have either a 460W or a 350W power supply. I think the "For Home" ones all come with 460W, but don't hold me to that.

I don't know if you have Win 10 Pro because you opted for it, or because it came standard with your machine. If it came standard, I'd suspect you've gotten the "For Work" version. If so, it's *possible* that you have a 350W power supply. That could be the cause of the issue. Then again, I'm not sure if the 8920 is yet available on the "For Work" side, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[b00tsnspurs]

I tried playing Overwatch with only one monitor connected.

I played 3 matches just fine, then after I shut the game down, the computer froze, and this time the monitor went black and stated "Going into power saving mode" or something along those lines. I had to force restart again. So it's not the dual monitor set up causing this.

 

[b00tsnspurs]

I don't know about the XPS 8920, but I do know that the XPS 8910 if it was purchased from the "For Office" side of things rather than "For Home" would typically come with Windows 10 Pro, but COULD have either a 460W or a 350W power supply. I think the "For Home" ones all come with 460W, but don't hold me to that.

I don't know if you have Win 10 Pro because you opted for it, or because it came standard with your machine. If it came standard, I'd suspect you've gotten the "For Office" version. If so, it's *possible* that you have a 350W power supply. That could be the cause of the issue.

I'll look into this and see what I got, and I'll post it here when I find out. Thank you for the input!

 

[King_V]

Another possibility: That you had both the Intel and Nvidia cards plugged in means there's probably two sets of drivers running. This is just me taking a shot in the dark, but I wonder if somehow the drivers are conflicting in some way.

It might not hurt to use DDU to uninstall both the Nvidia and Intel drivers, then install only the Nvidia drivers, and use only the Nvidia card, and NOT use the Intel stuff.

I may be wrong on that point, though.

 

[b00tsnspurs]

I don't know about the XPS 8920, but I do know that the XPS 8910 if it was purchased from the "For Work" side of things rather than "For Home" would typically come with Windows 10 Pro, but COULD have either a 460W or a 350W power supply. I think the "For Home" ones all come with 460W, but don't hold me to that.

I don't know if you have Win 10 Pro because you opted for it, or because it came standard with your machine. If it came standard, I'd suspect you've gotten the "For Work" version. If so, it's *possible* that you have a 350W power supply. That could be the cause of the issue. Then again, I'm not sure if the 8920 is yet available on the "For Work" side, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Turns out I have the 460w power supply.

 

[b00tsnspurs]

Another possibility: That you had both the Intel and Nvidia cards plugged in means there's probably two sets of drivers running. This is just me taking a shot in the dark, but I wonder if somehow the drivers are conflicting in some way.

It might not hurt to use DDU to uninstall both the Nvidia and Intel drivers, then install only the Nvidia drivers, and use only the Nvidia card, and NOT use the Intel stuff.

I may be wrong on that point, though.

I'll give this a shot. I disabled my Intel card and I have one monitor hooked up to the Nvidia. We'll see what happens. Thanks !

 

[b00tsnspurs]

I tried only one monitor. Still had the freeze up.

A few weeks ago I changed my advanced power plan settings. Originally they were all set to turn off the hard disk after 20 minutes.

I set it to high performance and set it to never turn off the hard disk. After that the computer stopped freezing

A few days later is when it started to freeze again. I went back into the power plan settings and saw that they went back to their original settings... I have now changed them back to the hard disk never turning off. So far no freeze. Could the power plan settings have been causing that lock up?

And I wonder why the settings changed themselves back without me touching them...maybe a windows update.

 

[bwade133]

I tried only one monitor. Still had the freeze up.

A few weeks ago I changed my advanced power plan settings. Originally they were all set to turn off the hard disk after 20 minutes.

I set it to high performance and set it to never turn off the hard disk. After that the computer stopped freezing

A few days later is when it started to freeze again. I went back into the power plan settings and saw that they went back to their original settings... I have now changed them back to the hard disk never turning off. So far no freeze. Could the power plan settings have been causing that lock up?

And I wonder why the settings changed themselves back without me touching them...maybe a windows update.

I just got an XPS 8920 and its also freezing randomly. Has it frozen anymore after changing those settings?

 

[b00tsnspurs]

I tried only one monitor. Still had the freeze up.

A few weeks ago I changed my advanced power plan settings. Originally they were all set to turn off the hard disk after 20 minutes.

I set it to high performance and set it to never turn off the hard disk. After that the computer stopped freezing

A few days later is when it started to freeze again. I went back into the power plan settings and saw that they went back to their original settings... I have now changed them back to the hard disk never turning off. So far no freeze. Could the power plan settings have been causing that lock up?

And I wonder why the settings changed themselves back without me touching them...maybe a windows update.

I just got an XPS 8920 and its also freezing randomly. Has it frozen anymore after changing those settings?

Yes, it still froze.

I went to do a factory reset through Windows 10. The computer did it's thing, set up the files, then went to reboot, and when it did my monitors did not come out of standby. I called Dell and they had me remove my Nvidia card. This got my monitor to come on, but now I am dealing with a corrupted OS. I cannot get onto the computer. Dell sent me Windows 10 so I can try to re-install it, and they are sending me a new Nvidia card.

If I get Windows working again and the new Nvidia card and the problem is still there, I am sending the entire computer back to them. This is way too much crap to be dealing with on a brand new PC.

 

[bwade133]

I tried only one monitor. Still had the freeze up.

A few weeks ago I changed my advanced power plan settings. Originally they were all set to turn off the hard disk after 20 minutes.

I set it to high performance and set it to never turn off the hard disk. After that the computer stopped freezing

A few days later is when it started to freeze again. I went back into the power plan settings and saw that they went back to their original settings... I have now changed them back to the hard disk never turning off. So far no freeze. Could the power plan settings have been causing that lock up?

And I wonder why the settings changed themselves back without me touching them...maybe a windows update.

I just got an XPS 8920 and its also freezing randomly. Has it frozen anymore after changing those settings?

Yes, it still froze.

I went to do a factory reset through Windows 10. The computer did it's thing, set up the files, then went to reboot, and when it did my monitors did not come out of standby. I called Dell and they had me remove my Nvidia card. This got my monitor to come on, but now I am dealing with a corrupted OS. I cannot get onto the computer. Dell sent me Windows 10 so I can try to re-install it, and they are sending me a new Nvidia card.

If I get Windows working again and the new Nvidia card and the problem is still there, I am sending the entire computer back to them. This is way too much crap to be dealing with on a brand new PC.

I believe i may have solved this. Looking in event viewer, I found that there was a bad network card driver. I updated that driver along with everything else that needed to be updated and haven't had a restart all day, before, it would restart every 5-15 mins. The alert is also no longer showing up in event viewer. My best advice, update all drivers especially everything network related and restart system. Event viewer is your friend, after resolving everything that showed up out of order, its been smooth sailing.

 

[b00tsnspurs]

I tried only one monitor. Still had the freeze up.

A few weeks ago I changed my advanced power plan settings. Originally they were all set to turn off the hard disk after 20 minutes.

I set it to high performance and set it to never turn off the hard disk. After that the computer stopped freezing

A few days later is when it started to freeze again. I went back into the power plan settings and saw that they went back to their original settings... I have now changed them back to the hard disk never turning off. So far no freeze. Could the power plan settings have been causing that lock up?

And I wonder why the settings changed themselves back without me touching them...maybe a windows update.

I just got an XPS 8920 and its also freezing randomly. Has it frozen anymore after changing those settings?

Yes, it still froze.

I went to do a factory reset through Windows 10. The computer did it's thing, set up the files, then went to reboot, and when it did my monitors did not come out of standby. I called Dell and they had me remove my Nvidia card. This got my monitor to come on, but now I am dealing with a corrupted OS. I cannot get onto the computer. Dell sent me Windows 10 so I can try to re-install it, and they are sending me a new Nvidia card.

If I get Windows working again and the new Nvidia card and the problem is still there, I am sending the entire computer back to them. This is way too much crap to be dealing with on a brand new PC.

I believe i may have solved this. Looking in event viewer, I found that there was a bad network card driver. I updated that driver along with everything else that needed to be updated and haven't had a restart all day, before, it would restart every 5-15 mins. The alert is also no longer showing up in event viewer. My best advice, update all drivers especially everything network related and restart system. Event viewer is your friend, after resolving everything that showed up out of order, its been smooth sailing.

I have updated all drivers.Thanks for the input! Have you had any freezes since?

I just got my OS working again with Dell's help. They sent me a replacement Nvidia card, so I will be installing it tomorrow, crossing my fingers and hoping everything works properly.

 

[bwade133]

I tried only one monitor. Still had the freeze up.

A few weeks ago I changed my advanced power plan settings. Originally they were all set to turn off the hard disk after 20 minutes.

I set it to high performance and set it to never turn off the hard disk. After that the computer stopped freezing

A few days later is when it started to freeze again. I went back into the power plan settings and saw that they went back to their original settings... I have now changed them back to the hard disk never turning off. So far no freeze. Could the power plan settings have been causing that lock up?

And I wonder why the settings changed themselves back without me touching them...maybe a windows update.

I just got an XPS 8920 and its also freezing randomly. Has it frozen anymore after changing those settings?

Yes, it still froze.

I went to do a factory reset through Windows 10. The computer did it's thing, set up the files, then went to reboot, and when it did my monitors did not come out of standby. I called Dell and they had me remove my Nvidia card. This got my monitor to come on, but now I am dealing with a corrupted OS. I cannot get onto the computer. Dell sent me Windows 10 so I can try to re-install it, and they are sending me a new Nvidia card.

If I get Windows working again and the new Nvidia card and the problem is still there, I am sending the entire computer back to them. This is way too much crap to be dealing with on a brand new PC.

I believe i may have solved this. Looking in event viewer, I found that there was a bad network card driver. I updated that driver along with everything else that needed to be updated and haven't had a restart all day, before, it would restart every 5-15 mins. The alert is also no longer showing up in event viewer. My best advice, update all drivers especially everything network related and restart system. Event viewer is your friend, after resolving everything that showed up out of order, its been smooth sailing.

I have updated all drivers.Thanks for the input! Have you had any freezes since?

I just got my OS working again with Dell's help. They sent me a replacement Nvidia card, so I will be installing it tomorrow, crossing my fingers and hoping everything works properly.

Nope, no more freezes, i am definitely in the clear now. I hope the new GPU gets you squared away.