Dell XPS 420

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Colin
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I wondered if anyone had a view on this...
I have a Dell XPS 420 (running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit) which has developed a problem.
When running a web browser, Chrome or Opera, it will (after a variable period of time) do one of three things:
1. Lock up solid with a drone from the speakers.
2. Blue screen of death.
3. Blank the monitor (and appear put it into standby) - no response to keyboard.

*It only seems to be running a web browser which provokes this*

The Windows event viewer only shows an unexpected shutdown.

I have a gut feeling that the graphics adaptor may be the problem, Gainward NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS and have ordered a replacement.

No other application seems to provoke the symptoms, but running a web browser inevitably does.

Any insight would be appreciated :)
 
With point 3 I agree re GPU.
 
How much memory do you have and are you running any memory management stuff? I've known some sites to progressively bog down Opera until the computer crawled to a near halt due to RAM simply filling up.
 
Hi Toni, thanks for your thoughts. The machine does only have 4Gb of RAM installed. The problem escalated after Opera upgraded itself to the current iteration - to explain...
Prior to this, I had experienced the very, very occasional lockup or BSOD - very rare indeed - but never pinned down a likely suspect.
After Opera upgraded itself, it became inevitable that, after launching and using the browser, it would take the machine down.
Attempting to put two and two together, I tried Chrome - same result. No other application has (so far) caused a crash.
So, unless Opera and Chrome are using common components, it rather undermines the notion that it is Opera which is the culprit.
I am currently using an HP xw6400 Workstation for web based activity - which admittedly has 10Gb of RAM installed and twin Xeon processors using the same build of Opera.
It performs without problems. This machine also has an NVIDIA graphics card installed, an 8600.
 
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It is not unknown for ram to degrade/fail partially.

Maybe run a memtest to stress the ram and see if it fails?

PS I was running the same OS as you with 16GB in 2 sets of matched pairs of ram and getting freezing issues.........I swapped out the graphics card to no effect.

A memtest was a pass so decided to do an elimination test of the pairs in the paired sockets. This resulted in my identifying that one pair was the cause (the oldest pair)

I decided to replace the lot with Crucial Ballistic model and it improved aok though now running W10 pro 64bit

Hth ? :)
 
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Opera and Chrome use the same engine, so quite common components. Try either firefox (far from guilt-free over memory management) or Vivaldi (from the guys who originally created Opera, before it went to Chrome).
 
W7 is toast now and end of life.
i would look at this point as a good excuse for an upgrade.
ram upgrade as well for sure.
might sort the issue with fresh OS
 
My XPS 15 had a similar issue, even with a fresh windows 10 install and 16gb of RAM.

In the end it seemed to be a few tweaks with regards to power management settings and updating the NVIDIA driver sorted it.
 
Hi Paul, I understand your thoughts re Windows7. However, I cannot abide the tiled desktop interface of 8 upwards. I know this is a matter of taste, but do not intend that MS will force this on me until I have no option.
Win 7 is still supported at present (I recently downloaded 109 (I kid you not) updates from MS as I had been lazy - and also updated the NVIDIA graphics driver to the latest iteration).
 
Hi Paul, I understand your thoughts re Windows7. However, I cannot abide the tiled desktop interface of 8 upwards. I know this is a matter of taste, but do not intend that MS will force this on me until I have no option.
Win 7 is still supported at present (I recently downloaded 109 (I kid you not) updates from MS as I had been lazy - and also updated the NVIDIA graphics driver to the latest iteration).

supported at present but you will end up moving on at some time but fair enough th thing is you may well have compaitibility issues that cannot be overcome with W7
 
Hi Paul, I understand your thoughts re Windows7. However, I cannot abide the tiled desktop interface of 8 upwards. I know this is a matter of taste, but do not intend that MS will force this on me until I have no option.
Win 7 is still supported at present (I recently downloaded 109 (I kid you not) updates from MS as I had been lazy - and also updated the NVIDIA graphics driver to the latest iteration).

You do know that the desktop isn't tiled, either in W8.1 or W10? It's just the conventional windows desktop like you're used to. Even the start menu doesn't have to have any tiles at all in W10.
 
Have you run the startup diagnostics ? This is accessed by pressing f12 when switching on I think it does stress test of all components without starting any operating system it's the first thing dell get you to check when logging tickets
 
Meant to finish off with that would then let you see if it's an OS / driver problem
 
You do know that the desktop isn't tiled, either in W8.1 or W10? It's just the conventional windows desktop like you're used to. Even the start menu doesn't have to have any tiles at all in W10.
Really? It must be a matter of reconfiguration then, I surmise. I'm guessing it does not require the installation of a third party app to achieve this then? My daughter runs 10 and swears at it (that's rather than by it)! Do tell...
 
Adam, no, I haven't tried that - but I certainly will, and report back. Thanks you for your thoughts.
 
W10 takes an hour to just learn the differences and that is it.
realy is nothing to it.
the early W8 got rid of the start button and made it more a tablet experience, the next update and W10 bought it all back to the point it is essentially the same
 
Adam, no, I haven't tried that - but I certainly will, and report back. Thanks you for your thoughts.

Seriously, my W10 desktop never had any tiles. Ever. Nor on the new work machine I received yesterday with a fresh install. W8 used to open in 'startup' panel with tiles, and could be easily switched across to normal desktop. W8.1 allowed the user to select whether the machine opened in startup with tiles or in desktop as normal windows. W10 just has a start menu opened from bottom left as normal that comes with tiles in the menu, but these can be removed with a simple right click & unpin from start.
 
Seriously, my W10 desktop never had any tiles. Ever. Nor on the new work machine I received yesterday with a fresh install. W8 used to open in 'startup' panel with tiles, and could be easily switched across to normal desktop. W8.1 allowed the user to select whether the machine opened in startup with tiles or in desktop as normal windows. W10 just has a start menu opened from bottom left as normal that comes with tiles in the menu, but these can be removed with a simple right click & unpin from start.

i agree all the bunkem about W10 is overblown.
MS even gave it away at one point.
 
Windows 10 is brilliant, especially now with the anniversary update.
One other quick suggestion, make sure the CPU port and the fan on the heatsink is free of dust. Those XPS had a habit of hoovering up dust and diminished cooling, causing the CPU to overheat and shutdown/lockup.
 
FYI. Completed the F12 stress test - no issues reported.
 
my experience with Dell says this is a problem with the HDD. over heating is one big problem as well. i do not think this has anything to do with the Graphics !! i suggested u back up everything . let us know
 
my experience with Dell says this is a problem with the HDD. over heating is one big problem as well. i do not think this has anything to do with the Graphics !! i suggested u back up everything . let us know
That could prove interesting then, this machine has twin hard drives in a RAID array...
 
without knowing what the blue screen error is, its pointless guessing at an issue.

turn off auto reboot on crash and let us know the message.

also re windows 7, security update until Jan 2020.
 
without knowing what the blue screen error is, its pointless guessing at an issue.

turn off auto reboot on crash and let us know the message.

also re windows 7, security update until Jan 2020.
Hi Neil. Is this a BIOS setting? When it blue screens, it does a dump to disk and attempts a restart but stops with just a flashing cursor. A power cycle is needed to restart.
 
Go into control panel > System > Advanced system settings.

Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery Settings > Untick Automatically Restart.

That will keep the message on screen until the machine is powered off manually.
 
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