Dell Precision 3591 randomly crashing is this happening to anyone else.

Question

irst an introduction I am an electrical engineer who has been using PCs since DOS 3.1. I have several computers that I maintain at work. This computer is my new home and personal travel laptop.

I got a Dell precision 3591 with the i9 processor and a WD22TB4 dock month ago. It came with a 1 TB SSD and I added a 4 TB Samsung 990 pro secondary drive. I wanted it to last so I bought the 5 year I break it you fix it warranty.

The computer crashes with a combination of BSOD and blue screen saying do you want me to go to bios and troubleshoot the computer (which never finds anything) or restart anyway. Sometimes the screen flashes black before it goes down. Usually the mouse just freezes in the middle of one of the screens and I have to hold the power button down until it switches off.

At first I thought that it was just automatically restarting after doing system updates so I turned that off so now it prompts me to restart. Then I thought that it was automatically restarting after a BSOD so I set it up so that they go to BSOD and wait for me to restart the computer.

I installed HWiNFO64 and monitored (and from time to time logged) the core temperatures, etc. and did not see anything excessive.

I have done 10 separate chats with tech support where I did everything they asked regarding their software checking my hardware. I also restored the system twice.

I had similar problems in the past on another laptop that ended up being a failed SSD. So I ordered a new SSD. Yesterday cloned the original drive and swapped them. The computer crashed again last night.

I am coming to the conclusion that there is something subtle wrong with the hardware. I am open to suggestions as to what else to check, diagnostics to run, etc.

Is anyone else having similar problems with this model computer.

HedgeFundManager · Answer

If it is not present grab the Dell Support Assistant which can find fixes for most issues

ECharles · Answer

I had a similar problem with a 5530. I solved it by wiping the drive, reinstalling Win11Pro and nothing else. I removed all of the superfluous Dell and Windows programs. I ran that for a week and did all the updates - again removing any fluff that might have been installed.

I then added the programs I wanted one at a time - running the computer a day or two in between.

If the computer burped, then I uninstalled the last installed program and went on to the next - meanwhile searching the net for similar issues with that program.

Once done, you can install any extra Dell and Windows programs.

For me, it was most likely one of the four thousand iterations of Support Assist that came installed and conflicted with an update.

This reminds me of troubleshooting early DOS on 286's when 512k of memory and a 40MB hard drive was the cat's meow. On that 40MB drive, you could install full versions of WordPerfect, Lotus1-2-3, Harvard Graphics and Pagemaker.

TomVA2 · Answer

It got better. I on the 11th chat with dell in 30 days I nice person named Kimberly C had me go to.

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000203831/how-to-use-log-collector-in-windows?lang=en

and Download Dell_Log_Collector_Example_adv_V2.2_pkb_en_US_1.zip

Unzip it and run the .cmd flle. She looked at the results for 15 minutes and said that it looked like a possible processor problem and that I should get a new mother board. Out of frustration and listening to someone on reddit I went dell and manually downloaded the NVIDIA drivers for the computer and updated them after I got off of the chat. That was three days ago and it has not crashed since.

One of the cool things about the Log Collector is that it does a listing of all the driver, software, etc. If I do this regularly I can use a script to see when driver versions changed.

Next I went to the old control panel. Went to Programs and Features (The uninstall menu) and sorted by Installed on. I confirmed that I installed three Nvidia drivers. Nvidia USBC driver, Nvidia Graphics Driver, Nvidia PhysX System software.

I still have an occasional one of two 27" external monitors goes blank for a second that I am pondering. But at least the computer does not freeze up and crash on my.

Waiting until next week to decide if I really need a new mother board.

HedgeFundManager · Answer

Support Assistant is not problematic

I do not have that particular dock so I cannot be sure but I suggest using the laptop PSU and dock PSU so that enough power is available especially when using demanding equipment

ECharles · Answer

@HedgeFundManager​ That's a good point, because it may depend on which power supply he has. I still don't understand why several iterations of support assist come pre-installed - and then get installed again when you try to update drivers or do troubleshooting.

TomVA2 · Answer

I have three different docks. At home at the moment. Two belong to work as I work remotely on a regular basis.

An old thunderbolt dock, a new new thunderbolt doc WD22TB4 and one of those that has two USB-C connectors on it. I also have a variety of power adapters for them.

The WD22TB4 I just purchased. It was giving me trouble but I can not say for sure which power supply was on it when it was. It came with a 180W power supply.

I know that it did not work well with the one with the two USB-C connectors and a 240W power supply as I went in and grabbed it half way through this process.

It is working well with the WD22TB4 and a 180 W power supply.

I can not remember what happened with the older one but I would bet that it can only supply 100 W through the USB-C connector.

I can do a series of experiments with the different ones and see what happens.

One would think that it should work with all of them with reduced processor speeds if they are under powered.

HedgeFundManager · Answer

USB power delivery is designed to allow for multiple power sources

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Dell Precision 3591 randomly crashing is this happening to anyone else.

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