SOLVED Micro freezing on Dell XPS 13

[dasforsyth]

Hi,

I've just got a new XPS 13 with windows 10 installed on it.

I've got an intermittent problem with micro freezes as I work on it throughout the day. The same thing happens during my scheduled AVG scan which I'm OK with - its when it happens with no apparent reason at all that I'm concerned about.

I've sat simply moving my mouse with my standard programs open (Outlook, Chrome with Gmail, and this forum open, A small Excel sheet, Trillian, SQL Server with nothing running on the only DB) and am experiences spikes in CPU around the same time as the freezes.

In the past I've shut all my open windows down and the issue has regressed but I'm not 100% sure this is a cause it due to the intermittent nature.

Anyone else experienced the same or know what sort of investigation I should conduct to identify this?

Thanks
Dave

 

[Gideon]

I would contact Dell Support. It may possibly be a hardware issue.

 

[dasforsyth]

Hi Gideon,

I've contacted them prior and run their hardware scanning tool to no avail. They've come up stumped.

NB: I've also found that the SQL Server was not running at the time - the service was set to disabled.

Thanks
Dave

 

[Trouble]

or know what sort of investigation I should conduct to identify this?

Hello Dave and welcome to the forum.
The first thing I would try, is uninstalling AVG (it can be a bit of a resource hog). Use the Programs and Features applet in the control panel and uninstall it. Follow that up with the appropriate vendor specific proprietary removal tool from here http://www.avg.com/us-en/utilities You can always reinstall it later if you like.
See if that does anything to alleviate the problem.
IF not you should probably begin further diagnostics with a Clean Boot. Use the Windows 8 method described here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135
IF that seems to have helped then you will need to slowly and deliberately reverse the process by re-enabling, individually or in very small groups, the non-Microsoft services followed by the Startup items, rebooting after each adjustment to test for behavior.

 

[dasforsyth]

So, I did some tests and it looks like it was down to the XPS Dock.

I've tried this on 2 of their docks now and had the same problem so presuming this points to faulty firmware/drivers rather than the hardware its self.

Two scenarios seem to cause this:
1. Connecting Microsoft wireless desktop dongle to a USB port on the dock. I presume this is something to do with the cycle frequency between the dock USBs and the actual USBs. Fixed just by using dongle only on in built USB

2. Same problem when plugging in external HD's to the dock USB ports. Flash memory sticks seem to be fine, just actual hard disks aren't.

So, no real resolution, just a hack around.

 

[BigFeet]

If it did this before you installed any programs on it, that points to some kind of issue, whether hardware or driver. If you bought it new, it's under warranty. I'd RMA it and ask for a unit that works properly. You pay good money for a new PC, it should work properly.