XPS 8940, AMD Radeon RX5600, freezes

re: I’ve also loaded the latest graphics drivers and Windows version to no avail.

try a clean Windows 10 install and let windows install AMD driver for the RX5600 oem gpu.  do not install any SA or Dell driver.  make it 100% Windows 10 automatic no user intervention of manual driver install.  see how that goes.

Thanks for the reply, redxps630.  I've tried all of that: clean install of Win11, clean AMD driver install direct from AMD, and still the same result.  I'm open to any other suggestions.  BTW, this issue has been reported on this site multiple times - why hasn't Dell addressed it?

@Mike607  - What version of BIOS are you using?

Open the AMD control center and change all settings related to power usage ("Energy Saver") to "max performance" (however they're worded). 

At least for NVidia cards, their control panel has a power setting that by default is set to use a low(er) power level.  When users change that setting to max performance, the freezes stop when using the latest BIOS v2.16.0.

See if that helps...

I'm running Dell BIOS 2.16.0 dated 11/2/23.  I'll give the AMD driver a go and see if I can change the power usage to max.  To be honest, I haven't looked closely at the software since I don't use the system for gaming.  I'll let you know how it goes, though it may take a few days before it freezes.

@mike607 - Also make sure you have the AMD video driver from Dell's support page. 

Drivers installed directly from the AMD site or via Windows Update may not have been tested by Dell, and at least for NVidia cards installed in the XPS 8940, using drivers that Dell posts can make a difference.

Thanks for the info on the driver.  I had downloaded and installed directly from the AMD site, but I've now reinstalled the driver directly from Dell (as you recommended).  So far so good.  No freezes or crashes, but since they have been random I'll continue to monitor and let you know.

Thanks again.

@Mike607 - Sounds like progress!

Did you make any power settings changes in the AMD Control Center?

Keep us posted on the outcome...

@RoHe​ 

Not solved yet!  I just had another freeze and forced boot.  I have noticed that the freezes most often seem occur while on Facebook, or shortly after browsing there.  Can there be some cause/effect do to that app, or is this last bit just happenstance?

Did you check Windows Event Viewer for any errors logged around time of the latest crash?

Did you set AMD Control Center to use max performance?

I never use FB, but possible there's something off about that site.

Don't think you ever told us what browser you use. Can you try a different one? Or, at the least, try disabling "hardware acceleration" in the settings for whichever browser you use.

Check on line for instructions to find/change that setting in whichever browser you use.  Hardware acceleration is known to cause problems in Chrome...

There is noting in the event viewer except for event "6008 - The previous system shutdown at 9:06:20 AM on ‎1/‎31/‎2024 was unexpected".  This is recorded for each freeze/boot, BUT there is nothing else anywhere in the logs to indicate the cause.  As a matter of fact, there is nothing else recorded within an hour of the 6008 event.

AMD control center is set to max performance, however there are many separate settings within which are all defaulted to "off".

I rarely use FB, primarily check of family posts, which is why this cause/effect relationship has stuck with me.

I use FireFox primarily and have not tried to replicate the issue with any other browser.  I will look to disable hardware acceleration.

For what it is worth, I started having this issue at least a year ago (based upon the entries in the event log).  They started out being fairly infrequent and, consequently, not taken too seriously.  The frequency has increased over time to the current which is on the order of a couple of days.  Further, I have no issues when running from the on-board Intel chip.  So, it seems to me that the issue is squarely sitting on the AMD card/graphics driver/Dell BIOS/Windows 11 update combination.

Any ideas or guidance is welcomed.

What options are "off" by default in the AMD CC?

Others have been reporting issues with XPS 8940 freezing randomly in use or when waking from sleep, with either (mostly) NVidia or (fewer) AMD video cards. Removing the card and using onboard Intel Graphics is a work-around.   Only rarely has anyone reported an error in Event Viewer related to the crash, aside from the 6008 you get.

These issues, which started way back with BIOS 2.4.0, got worse with recent BIOS updates, IIRC, after 2.13.0. 

Try disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox and playing with AMD CC settings first. If that doesn't help, you may have to consider rolling back BIOS to maybe 2.13.0  or 2.14.0 and trying either of those with different Dell AMD drivers, the latest or older, to find a combination that doesn't have these issues.

Unfortunately, no one combo of BIOS, GPU driver and GPU settings seems to work for every XPS 8940. At least for NVidia cards, setting NVidia CC power setting to max performance seems to be working for quite a few XPS 8940 users, even with BIOS 2.16.0.

Thanks for the suggestions.  The AMD "performance" settings do not seem to be directly power related, but functional (resolution, image sharpening, vertical refresh, etc.).  I can't find any reference to power usage.  Does the NVidia driver provide any detail as to what their performance setting includes?  I'll turn-off hardware acceleration in FF and try adjusting some of the AMD settings to see what happens, and will let you know.

Definitely turn off hardware acceleration in FF and test that for a while. (BTW: What version of FF are you using?)

NVidia CP, has a whole list of options under "Manage 3D settings". Many users changed the default 3D>Power Management Mode setting to "prefer max performance" and that seems to solve their freeze issues. But this doesn't solve the problem with every NVidia driver version. 

Others have also had to change the default 3D>Vertical Sync setting to "off", but -again- this doesn't solve the problem with every NVidia driver version, and some say changing this setting causes problems with their monitor.

You might need to test setting changes with different versions of AMD drivers from Dell's site. Yes, a pain in the pants...

I don't have personal experience with AMD cards/drivers so I can't point you directly to a setting that needs to be changed.  If I come across a post where an AMD settings change fixes the crashes for XPS 8940, I'll post it here.

I turned-off hardware acceleration in FF, and tried adjusting the AMD settings, but none of that helped.  Using FB as the test app, I still had the freezes and boots.  Interestingly, the freeze would always occur shortly AFTER visiting FB and not while there.

I reverted back to the on-board Intel GPU, stopped all of the AMD processes and found that shortly after visiting FB the system froze and booted.  Somewhere on this forum I read that there are significant heat issues with this chassis and case, so I downloaded HWiNFO64 and monitored CPU and GPU heat.  Seems that my CPU runs warm/hot (between 75 and 95C) under normal use, so I'm beginning to believe that heat may be the prime issue.  With that in mind I purchased a CPU cooling tower and stronger exhaust fan that should arrive in the next week or so.  I'm hoping that once I install those that the problem should fade away, though I am strongly convinced that there is a compatibility issue between FF an FB.  I'll try to stay away from that combo and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help.

Even simpler solution, just stop going to Facebook! 

Do you have any Facebook-specific add-ons installed in Firefox?  You could try disabling all add-ons in FF and see if that stops the problem.

If that helps, you can re-enable the add-ons, one at a time, until you identify the offender.

If you think it's heat, why would the FB site be the one that overheats your PC? What if you go youtube or some other site and stream a big vid? Does cause a freeze too?