Dell PC shutting down unexpectedly

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I have a Dell XPS8930 which has started shutting down unexpectedly when asleep. This happened first  on 18/2 but then started frequently on 1 April. The power light remains on and, when I press a few keys it reboots (although on one occasion it needed a hard reboot). I am running Windows 10 Pro 21H2 including the March patches (build 19044.1586). The symptoms do not coincide with installation of March updates and of Dell BIOS update on 31/3, because of the 18/2 incident.

The event log shows critical errors of rebooting without properly shutting down and a reboot with the following message:

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x0000001a (0x0000000000004477, 0x0000017e80a9d8a8, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 57ec0617-9c2d-427c-b78c-09fcd98bea9b.

I have run Dell Update to check all my drivers are up to date. Windows update only shows 2 optional drivers – one is a Dell BIOS that is older than the one Dell gave me and the other is a 2017 driver for a monitor, that I feel sure is out of date.

I have run the system file checker, which did not find anything amiss, and the Power troubleshooter – also no issues.

Any pointers on where I should look next? I can provide the event log if that helps.

Many thanks

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Chris,

The first thing I’d try is to disable Hibernation. This will also disable Fast Start. Reboot the machine and test.

To disable Hibernation:

1. Run Command.exe as Admin.
2. Type: powercfg.exe /hibernate off

 

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Done. I’ll see how we go.

Chris

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Next thing to do if turning off hibernation does not work, stress test your RAM to see if the computer crashes. Has your computer crashed after you wake it up to resume computing activity?

Unless the monitor is a special kind those DELL monitor drivers are usually just a file that instructs Windows how to use that hardware with model and vendor names.

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Chris, make sure those sudden shutdowns aren´t due to overheating issues. Monitor the CPU temperature using Core Temp or a similar app.

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Will do, but I think that is unlikely, because the shutdowns invariably happen after a good period of inactivity or hibernation.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Throwing it out there, 1A is possibly a driver issue, but it could also be a mix of drivers so it might be worth checking if the updates applied to all the parts of the chipset or if one component got missed as that can do weird things when they are all working different parts of the same chip.. although it is a memory management stop message, the chipset is controlling the memory. It’s probably also worth checking your Intel RST driver and management engine firmware have both attained the updates in Dell’s site. They’re not recent but there is no written guarantee Microsoft or Dell will do everything for you… and all the software has to work together or weird things happen..

Also consider your PSU sits there with far less cooling in standby (assuming the fans go very slow or off like every other machine I have seen in that state..), so if you leave the machine on, the PSU standby power components actually get hotter on the inside than normal running (they’re still sustaining the motherboard which is waiting for you to fire it up again.). To rule out that try actually powering it down and removing the plug from the wall long enough to cool (say overnight)  and put it in a cool room and see if the problem manifests in the same timescale as that will give you a pointer to a thermal PSU fault or a driver issue (which of course wont be affected..).

Alternatively (though it seems unlikely) if the unit is out of warranty get a replacement PSU while you can and see if it helps (Dell can be tricky that way as they are usually custom in some way. It’s a spare you might not regret having later – they don’t make them if the model is discontinued and you have to find similar supported Dell model or hope the refurbished units are up to scratch..)

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Chris B

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Hi Chris B:

Do you have the latest BIOS v1.1.22 (rel. 07-Mar-2022) and Intel Chipset Device Software v10.1.18121.8164 (rel. 25-Mar-2020) recommended on the support page <here> for your XPS 8930, and if so did your problems escalate about the same time that your BIOS was updated? To find your current BIOS version open a Run dialog box (Windows key + R), enter msinfo32 to open your System Information panel and look for the “BIOS Version/Date” field.

Did your XPS 8930 come with a discrete video card (e.g., AMD Radeon, NVIDIA GeForce, etc.) and are you using the graphics driver(s) recommended on that support page [e.g., the Intel UHD/Iris Plus Graphics Driver v27.20.100.9664 (rel. 30-Jul-2021)] or do you use newer drivers offered by Windows Update or some other software updater?

Sleep / hibernate problems seem to be a common occurrence with certain Dell laptop models, including my Inspiron 5584, although I only recall my laptop displaying a Blue Screen error and re-booting on its own once or twice after it went into Sleep mode. It was more common for my Inspiron 5584 to simply refuse to wake from Sleep mode, and when this happened I would have to perform a forced shutdown (i.e., by holding down the power button for ~ 10 or 15 sec). Unfortunately, I don’t know if there was any one troubleshooting step I took (including a reset to factory condition) that fixed the problem, but for some reason the problem rarely occurs now as long as I put my computer into Sleep mode manually (Start | Power icon | Sleep) instead of allowing it to go into Sleep mode on it’s own.

When I enter powercfg /a into an elevated command prompt I can see that the outdated Dell motherboard in my Inspiron 5584 only supports the old S3 Standby mode and does not support Modern Standby (S0 Low Power Idle), and I suspect I have some sort of wake timer that’s trying to check the status of my NVMe SSD or some other hardware device during Sleep mode that occasionally causes problems on my computer.  Just something to keep in mind while you’re troubleshooting, and note that the commands powercfg -lastwake and powercfg -waketimers will provide additional information about any wake timers running on your computer.

If you search the Dell XPS forum at https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/bd-p/XPS for “8930 reboot sleep hibernate” (without the quotes) you’ll find dozens of threads from XPS users who have reported a similar problem with Blue Screen errors during Sleep mode. If you have Dell SupportAssist installed check the History tab for details about your Blue Screen errors to see if a particular device / driver is mentioned. For example, see the image Steven Pavett posted of their SupportAssist history in XPS 17 9700 Blue Screen Error While Sleeping: Thunderbolt(TM) Bus Driver to Blame, who noted that their crashes usually pointed to the drivers for their Thunderbolt Bus and/or Goodix Fingerprint Reader.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Firefox v98.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18 * Dell Update for Windows 10 Universal v4.5.0 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6635
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

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Chris B

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Thank you everyone. Partial answers, because you have given me lots of leads to follow up.

I turned off hibernate last night, and have not had a crash since.

I have just installed Coretemp and my cores are all running at 29C to 30C, 51C max, and I put the PC to sleep for a bit to see if that changed anything., so it looks as if heat is not my problem.

@Imacri

Running BIOS v1.1.22 installed on 31/3 and the problems did escalate on 1/4, but there was a single episode on 18/2 before then.  No BSODs – just abnormal shutdown, with power light still on, while asleep, but Support Assist reports the April events as BSODs blaming Dellinstrumentationdevice in each case. Interestingly, SupportAssist does NOT report the 18/2 crash as a BSOD, or at all.

I have an Intel onboard graphics 630 plus NVIDEA GeForce GTX 1050 ti card. The drivers are whatever Dell Update offered me, and are up to date according to that utility.

I’ll have a look at the Dell forum link you gave me, but it does now look as if the Dell BIOS update might be at the root of it

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Chris B wrote:

I turned off hibernate last night, and have not had a crash since.

Hi Chris B:

I would not be surprised if hibernation turns out to be at least part of your problem, as RetiredGeek suggested in post # 2437179 . Hibernation is not disabled on my Inspiron 5584, and if I change the advanced setting of my Dell power plan at Sleep | Hibernate After to 360 min and let my computer sit for at least 6 hours, for example, my computer will wake from Sleep on its own exactly 360 min after it first became idle instead of transitioning to Hibernate mode as it should. If I change Hibernate After to “Never” it stays in Sleep mode until I press a key on the keyboard to wake it. See my Dec 2019 thread Inspiron 15 5584 Wakes After 180 Min of Sleep (ACPI Wake Alarm) in the Dell forum for further details.

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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1586 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2202.4-1.1.19000.8 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.7.186-1.0.1645 * Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.17.0 * Dell SupportAssist v3.10.4.18

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@imacri Thanks – I appreciate your optimism. I will persevere.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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My issue appears to be solved.

I came back after a trip on 1 May to find Dell offering a new BIOS update v1.1.23 (they do not normally update the BIOS so often).  After installing the update the problem stopped and has not recurred in the week that has passed since. I had always suspected that BIOS v1.1.22 was the problem and this update appears to confirm that suspicion.

Thanks to those who tried to help with the problem

This also goes to show that, sometimes, good things come to those who just sit back and do nothing!

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

2 users thanked author for this post.

oldfry, lmacri

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