Pro Micro QCM1250, freezes while trashing wired LAN

Question

I put this into service about six weeks ago. It's been running fine except (and this is a big 'except') about once every 3-5 days the following happens:

The system becomes completely unresponsive. The monitor is usually (maybe always, can't remember) off, and nothing I've done helps except for a hard power cycle. I've tried CTRL-ALT-DEL, ESC, disconnecting the network cable, shutdown keypresses (though I can't see what I'm pressing since the monitor is off) -- no dice.
The processor must be very busy because the chassis and exhaust are quite warm
The other wired ethernet devices on my LAN lose connectivity. Sometimes rebooting the router is necessary to recover network connectivity to other devices on the LAN. The router's wifi continues to work.

This freeze can happen whether the PC is awake or whether it's in modern standby in the middle of the night.

I've tried a bunch of things (none of which has helped) including:

Running DISM and SFC to check Windows integrity
Updating drivers and BIOS
Disabling wake timers
Running hardware diagnostics (all passed)
Swapping out my router for a different router
Disabling some services and scheduled tasks that I didn't think were necessary

The computer is only used for perhaps 3 hours a day, but still, it seems odd that the problems usually or always occur when there's no user present. For either a hardware or software problem, one might expect failures to be much more likely to surface when the machine is busy.

Any thoughts?

J S · Answer

I have a month old QCM1250, Win11 (yuck). Put in a Samsung 970 SSD and cloned the 256M SSD that came with it. All OK. It came with a 16GB PC5600 SODIMM. The 5600 is faster than what the specs say, but maybe when built that's all they had. I added a second 16GB SODIMM, and after a number of hours it gets very hot and locks up. Same symptoms as above. Have to pull power plug and then back in. Switch doesn't respond. With both in, and run the f12 advanced test and passes all tests. Tried again, locks up, critical error, etc. have to pull power, etc. etc.

Removed the new SODIMM (have tried two different ones, same results), and now working. Per the owner's guide, says to add the heat sink tape if going to 64GB. Not sure if that means a total or using a 64GB stick. The heat sink tape goes on the bottom side of the lower SODIMM. Can see where the second DIMM can cut air flow over the lower one. Wondering if you should actually add the heat sink tape if adding a second DIMM, regardless of size.

With the second one out, running fine. Has anyone added heat sink to the SODIMM with good results. And would the tape on the lower DIMM suffice? The upper one seems to have better air flow. Suggestions ?

STMLADMIN · Answer

Thank you for posting this. We recently purchased (7) of these units and have had the same issue happen on 4 of them. This is very frustrating.

Al529 · Answer

An update on this: The problem has mysteriously disappeared, with a brand new problem replacing it.

I had added an additional memory module to the system, and one of the many changes I'd made trying to avoid the hang/freeze was to remove the memory I'd added. So the hangs could've been related to a bad memory module (although it had passed diagnostics, for what it's worth).

But the new problem that has popped up is: every few days, the system suddenly reports that no hard drive is detected:

Simply rebooting doesn't help
Rebooting into the BIOS: the SSD isn't detected
A hard shutdown followed by a boot restores operation
Disabling the SSD interface in the BIOS and then re-enabling it restores operation

This is a Samsung 990 Pro, not the original SSD that came in the system. I recently read about users experiencing disappearing SSDs during large data transfers since a recent Windows update, but I don't even have that update installed yet.

As with the other problem, nobody is at the computer when the error pops up. Possibly a coincidence, since the machine is only used perhaps 3 hours a day.

TO2025 · Answer

Hello. Did anyone find the Root Cause for this issue? We are seeing a similar problem where these device models become unresponsive after a period of inactivity. The LED flashes 1 time amber and 8 times white. To recover, the power needs to be removed and plugged back in. The BIOS logs report a Catastrophic error. We have tried upgrading bios, drivers, etc. but have yet to find the cause. We are now removing and upgrading certain applications in an attempt to narrow this issue down. What's interesting is this is not happening to all our Dell Pro Micros.

Any thoughts?

Al529 · Answer

Sorry for the late reply.

To be honest, I'm not sure what's going on. The missing SSD issue hasn't recurred in over a month. The symptoms were essentially identical to the recent reports of disappearing SSDs allegedly caused by update KB5063878, however I experienced the SSD dropouts before having installed KB5063878. Plus, I'm running a Samsung SSD with up-to-date firmware, so it's still a mystery.

However, I've had recurrences of weird random behavior including the system becoming very hot and 100% unresponsive, and on another occasion exactly what you reported: an error code of 1,8: Catastrophic error. I wonder if the latter is a result of chipset overheating due to the former?

I've taken a bunch of steps to try to avoid these crashes. It's only been 3 days since the last crash, so I'm hesitant to conclude anything. But here are the steps I've taken recently:

Using Autoruns, disabled Cyberpower PowerPanel (lots of weird behavior and error log entries)
Disabled Samsung Magician from starting with Windows
Changed to Disconnected Modern Standby by setting the NIC to be able to be turned off to save power (in Device Manager), adding a particular registry key to permit the Power Options settings to offer the "Networking connectivity in Standby" setting, and then disabling that setting. I did this because most of the problems the PC has experienced have occurred after putting it into sleep mode. Honestly, I think this should be the default setting for desktops.

powerpodge · Answer

Hi,

I have had a Dell QCM1250 (Dell Pro Micro) out of the box randomly crash twice while idle - flashing 1 amber + 8 white.

This has a secondary Samsung 980 1TB NVMe drive but is otherwise stock.

This has nothing to do with any loaded applications - a vanilla system with just 'Dell Command Update' (i.e. all the latest drivers and BIOS) crashes when just sitting there idle ('sleep' is disabled).

Some of the 14th Gen Intel Optiplex all-in-ones needed multiple BIOS updates over the initial launch year (2024-25) to become stable (booting issues - not finding the SSD) but they never black-screen crashed.

We have reported to Dell and so far they say wait and see if it goes away?!

Ill post if I have any update - or if it magically 'goes away'.

...

Al529 · Answer

Yeah, this same symptom (1 amber + 8 white) happened to my QCM1250 again a few days ago, three weeks after the prior instance. In between have been one or two instances of the machine hanging in a state where the processor is hot and the wired network is brought down.

These faults have been with the Samsung 990 Pro 4TB as the sole SSD. I've now re-inserted the as-shipped SSD to see whether these issues are SSD-related or if it's something else. With the MTBF for these events being in the 1-2 week range, this debug process is very frustrating.

Since @powerpodge has seen this with the C drive I suspect I'll experience the problem again.

Madion-QOS · Answer

Am currently having the same issue since before december on 4-5 stations, was able to get on singular answer, wait for the "Intel Innovation Platform Framework and Provider Package Driver" update that was supposed to be released in november 2025.
And as expected from DELL and their recent troubles on many of their services, the update still hasn't rolled by now.

powerpodge · Answer

Hi,

My fix (no issues for a month) was to replace the Dell supplied video driver with the latest Intel ARC driver - which is always newer. This may also apply to AMD based PCs in the same range but I'm not sure if they have this crashing issue anyway.

Dell don’t mess with the hardware so you can always (in my experience) use the Intel driver for embedded video though usually never need to.

1. Disable windows update for manufacturers drivers (you don’t need this as you should use 'Dell Command Update' even if you have no issues)

- Right click START / System / Advanced System Settings / Hardware tab / Device installation settings / Click 'No'

2. Download and run that latest Intel ARC video driver

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/intel-arc-graphics-windows.html

3. Whenever subsequently running 'Dell Command Update' *deselect* the Dell Video driver if offered

- If you leave it in then it will revert to the old Dell driver

After the above I have not seen the crash to a black screen with flashing light issue again.

One issue I did subsequently have was 'unexpected shutdowns' and reboots (but not the BIOS hangs). This seems to be related to some Dell monitors doing this when the PC goes into sleep.

It happened when plugging a 'Dell U2421e' monitor via the front USB-C (to use the USB hub in the screen - not for a USB-C video signal, which this PC can produce if it has the extra USB-C expansion ports added in.)

I disabled Windows sleep as I don’t need it and that issue has gone too - I do not think its related to the main BIOS hang issue but I mention it just in case.

For that issue Dell said disable 'deep sleep' in the BIOS, but I never needed to get that far.

Thanks.

Dell Pro Desktops

Pro Micro QCM1250, freezes while trashing wired LAN

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