A
Ansel Santosa
System
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 9310 (Fully up to date according to Windows Update and Dell SupportAssist)
Razer Core v2 with RTX 2070 (No firmware updates available for Razer Core. Graphics driver up to date according to GeForce Experience)
I have been using this setup successfully (with my previous Dell XPS 13) successfully for 4 years. The only hardware the changed recently is the laptop.
Symptoms
Random freezes. Full lockup, no BSOD, not input accepted including Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Whatever was on the screen when it froze remains on the screen until system is hard shutdown and rebooted.
Trigger
No consistent repro steps unfortunately. It just happens when I'm using the computer. Sometimes after 20mins, sometimes after 6 hours. I have used the computer for up to 2 days unplugged from the dock and I've only been able to reproduce the freezes when docked, but because there are no consistent steps, I can't tell for sure whether it's the dock or I've just been lucky. Freezes have happened with writing emails, copying files, texting someone, watching a video, but never while playing a game which is the most taxing thing I use my computer for.
Razer Support
After much troubleshooting with T1 support, I've been escalated but they haven't gotten back to me yet
Dell Support
Initial long conversation with T1 rep concluded that it was a hardware fault and did a full system replacement but the issue persists with the brand new system. Conversation ongoing but since it's peripheral related, they are reluctant to dig to deep here because they don't officially support any third party peripherals
Troubleshooting Steps in order of difficulty
So lost as to what's happening here and I have no idea what the try next. Any thoughts? My only idea is that this laptop is my first Thunderbolt 4 device. It's supposedly fully backwards compatible but maybe there are still Thunderbolt 4 to Thunderbolt 3 bugs?
Any other thoughts. Thank you!
Continue reading...
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 9310 (Fully up to date according to Windows Update and Dell SupportAssist)
Razer Core v2 with RTX 2070 (No firmware updates available for Razer Core. Graphics driver up to date according to GeForce Experience)
I have been using this setup successfully (with my previous Dell XPS 13) successfully for 4 years. The only hardware the changed recently is the laptop.
Symptoms
Random freezes. Full lockup, no BSOD, not input accepted including Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Whatever was on the screen when it froze remains on the screen until system is hard shutdown and rebooted.
Trigger
No consistent repro steps unfortunately. It just happens when I'm using the computer. Sometimes after 20mins, sometimes after 6 hours. I have used the computer for up to 2 days unplugged from the dock and I've only been able to reproduce the freezes when docked, but because there are no consistent steps, I can't tell for sure whether it's the dock or I've just been lucky. Freezes have happened with writing emails, copying files, texting someone, watching a video, but never while playing a game which is the most taxing thing I use my computer for.
Razer Support
After much troubleshooting with T1 support, I've been escalated but they haven't gotten back to me yet
Dell Support
Initial long conversation with T1 rep concluded that it was a hardware fault and did a full system replacement but the issue persists with the brand new system. Conversation ongoing but since it's peripheral related, they are reluctant to dig to deep here because they don't officially support any third party peripherals
Troubleshooting Steps in order of difficulty
- Rebooted
- Checked Windows Event Viewer (no relevant logs that I could find)
- Checked crash dumps (none because no BSOD)
- Ran Windows automated diagnostics (clean)
- Ran Dell automated diagnostics (both quick and exhaustive were clean)
- Ran SwiftOnSecurity's Holiday Tasks checklist
- Updated everything I could think of (paying special attention to the BIOS, Thunderbolt, and graphics drivers).
- Windows Full Reset via Windows Settings
- Full re-image with Dell's image via Dell OS Recovery
- Full re-image with Windows installer (no extra Dell stuff)
- Full system replacement
So lost as to what's happening here and I have no idea what the try next. Any thoughts? My only idea is that this laptop is my first Thunderbolt 4 device. It's supposedly fully backwards compatible but maybe there are still Thunderbolt 4 to Thunderbolt 3 bugs?
Any other thoughts. Thank you!
Continue reading...