XPS 8940, new NVIDIA 31.0.15.4609 driver?

Read the latest post by @larryc, here.

So far so good after about 10 hours. No freezes, anyway.

Larry

@larryc - How was 3D settings>power management in NVidia Control Panel set after updating to this latest driver?  And, did you change it...?

@RoHe​ 

Power management mode is set to "Normal" and I've never changed it from this setting. At least in my case, I didn't need to change that setting to stop the freezing I fought with weeks ago.

I just checked, and installation of the new driver didn't change any settings, at least none that I can spot.

Larry

@larryc  - Good info. 

That still means some users may have to change that 3D power management setting after installing NVidia driver 31.0.15.4609, if the PC starts freezing again....

That driver is 'old'.

Why that one was 'sent out' I don't know?

The present Studio driver V546.33 and the Game Ready drive is same, both released on 12/12/2023. Some cards do it appears have a later driver, V546.40 Studio one I recall.

For my RTX2060, that driver was never released either:

You might want to check this link to see if it was released for your card? https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

Does it matter how old it is, as long as it works, and doesn't cause problems?

@RoHe​ 

Does it matter how old it is, as long as it works, and doesn't cause problems?

No, but one should question 2 things:

- Why was it put out, and potentially back leveling users?

- WHO put it out?

Knowing those 2 things would help one understand/know why it went out now.

Of course, there is the possibility that it was siting there for a long time and then first noticed. Still, installing that 'optional' driver, not know why it was put there, OP never stated what Driver they had either. It was not stated that or what was done before to 'solve' the problem.

That said, many people have stated that using Dell posted Nvidia drivers also solved the problem, but not everyone.

Those are questions only Microsoft can answer. Dell has no control over what NVidia drivers are offered by Windows Update.

I also got offered that same driver as "optional" for my XPS 8930 this week, but so far ignored the offer.  Sooner/later WU will do its dirty work and force install it. I can always revert to the one installed now using Device Manager, if this "update" causes problems. (Some NVidia drivers have caused probs on this PC in the past, but not freezes.)

@RoHe​ 

After Windows Update force-installed the new NVidia driver this morning, I immediately visited the Dell Support/Drivers page and downloaded the version that's been stable for me: 536.40. If and when the new 546.09 driver causes any problems, I'm ready to downgrade back to that old version.

On the other hand, after 15 hours of running smoothly, the new driver looks promising so far.

Larry

For the record, WU has not offered an Optional Update for my RTX2060. As posted above, that specific driver that was part of WU was never 'released' for my card, so I assume that is why it is not offered?

Nvidia does include Security Fixes in their drivers as well. However, the Game Ready ones are more focused on new games and added features for older game. You can go to the Nvidia site and look for the info on that specific driver with you card model and old drivers available as I've shown above.

My 8940 froze this morning while on the 2.16 bios. But I found out that WU (Win10) had stealthily updated the Nvidia display driver to version 546.09 (31.0.15.4609) three days prior. The only driver so far that I can confirm that is stable with the Dell bios freezing problems are the Nvidia studio display driver version 536.40. (Nvidia Power Management was set to Normal for both drivers.)

Uptime until system freeze was from 1/11/2024 7:15:16 PM through 1/13/2024 9:23:16AM, from the Kernel-Boot log time entries.

I updated my NVIDIA driver to V546.33 and running BIOS 2.12.0.  Have had zero freezes.   The NVIDIA power management setting, which I've never changed, is set to "Optimal Power."  Is that the default / normal setting? 

It appears a few have posted that they're using BIOS 2.16.0 with either NVIDIA V536.19 or V536.40, with that power management set to default/normal.  Is the consensus that the 8940 will successfully run with BIOS 2.16.0 if using either of those NVIDIA drivers?   (At this point, am leery of updating the BIOS till this freeze issue is definitively resolved.)

@ishmael​ Optimal Power is probably a low power mode for the core and memory clock rate. Normal mode for me as I recall just floats the core and memory clocks as needed for on demand requirements by the software. The options are probably based on what series Nvidia card that you have installed.

With Dell bios 2.16 and Nvidia studio graphics driver 536.40, that configuration would be rock solid for me for many weeks of uptime, while using the Normal power management mode setting in the Nvidia control panel. 

Because Windows Update now wants keep pushing the new Nvidia graphics driver update, I'm just going to try out the Maximum Performance power management mode setting for a handful of days or until it freezes, to see if just applying that setting has an stability effect on driver 546.09.  

If I were you, I would religiously avoid updating the 8940's bios for now, until Dell resolves the PC freezing problem with both Nvidia and AMD GPU's. 

@Penwell​ 

If I were you, I would religiously avoid updating the 8940's bios for now, until Dell resolves the PC freezing problem with both Nvidia and AMD GPU's. 

You are kidding, right?

Dell 'resolve'? For Nvidia cards this has been happening since BIOS V2.4.0! Some users have found solutions by making BIOS and Nvidia card changes, other the same 'solution' doesn't work. Some that had it working 'break' with the next BIOS.

AMD user's seem to have had better luck in some cases, one in which Dell DID make a new release of the same version fairly fast, but overall, lately, you can't count on any Nvidia or AMD card working with an updated BIOS.

This though it not 'universal', there are users that never have had a problem, both updating to the latest BIOS/Card driver. Reason for that, unknown why?

Just forget about Dell fixing this, it seems to be beyond their ability.

Should also not that for AMD and Nvidia, this appears (with respect to lock-up/freezing) only and XPS8940 problem.

For what it is worth, I am on BIOS V2.13.1 and installing the latest Nvidia (now on V546.33) Game Ready driver and is has been so long ago since I locked up, I can't remember the exact date, but it probably was Sept./Oct. last year.