Windows 10: I'm struggling - 100% CPU and non-responsive brand new Dell XPS 9300

Greetings Folks!

I got the new Dell XPS 9300 with Ubuntu and immediately I started to face problems. To avoid any doubt, I must clarify that I have MSDN enterprise subscription and we always buy Dell systems with Ubuntu to avoid unnecessary windows license cost.

Things I did to setup the laptop:
- Installed Windows 10 Enterprise, July 2004, build 19041.423 with all latest updates (including optional)
- All relevant drivers from dell website pertaining to my laptop***
- BIOS is up to date
- Installed ESET Internet Security
- Installed Malwarebytes Premium
- Office 365 apps
- Bitlocker is not enabled on any drive, however TPM is enabled in BIOS
- CPU turbo boost enabled in BIOS (default)

***The (i) Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver, and (ii) Intel Rapid Storage Technology Application were failed to install citing unsupported platform reason. I tried several of them from Intel and other sources but none of them got installed. So I see the following drivers for storage devices in my laptop:





Problem Description
To begin with, the laptop was super snappy and fun, but within 10 minutes, I started to feel sluggishness and hanging behavior. Soon the CPU reached 100% and I couldn't see any process utilizing this high CPU, almost all other processes listed in the Task Manager were 0% so I had no idea which process used 100% CPU. I restarted the laptop and as a test I closed the lid. After 2 hours I opened the lid, and, behold, my laptop was again using 100% CPU with no apparent reason. Now I removed every program from autostart and even non-MS services as manual start but still had the same issue. It has been several days and I am still unable to resolve this problem. A couple of times I observed System Interrupts process using 100% CPU but that is also due to some hardware problem (mostly I believe) and I couldn't notice any hardware issue. I double checked all system drivers and everything seems in order (except RST as stated above).

After following several forums, I tried power schemes hacks (I only have a balanced power plan in the system), but none worked. I also tried hacks like disabling turbo boost in BIOS but that made things worse. I tried to follow the tutorial to enable other power plans but it didn't help. My battery is set on max performance setting.

Yesterday I contacted Dell Pro Support (I have 3 years dell pro support next business day), thinking they would just fix it, but here is what the support said:
"You are only licensed for ubuntu, beyond that if we do anything, then we are on our own. If you install diesel in a petrol car, thats ur choice. we are not responsible. If you change a car firmware to make it run faster, it's your doing, we are not taking accountability for it. And finally, we sold you this system with Ubuntu, so please run Ubuntu and let us know if you have any problem with that. I repeated asked if this system supports Windows (blah!) and he said yes it does, but you got it with Ubuntu so we are not responsible if you run Windows!"

Honestly, this is the dumbest thing I have heard. I believe I caught a guy on his bad day, but hey, here I am, absolutely clueless on what to do.

Now, in addition, I did run some other tests like startup dell diagnostics and it reported highest CPU temp as 79 C. Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool reports all tests are passed.

I also notice a weird orange exclamation mark on my D drive. I couldn't find anything about it as all the explanations are about the exclamation sign in yellow triangle but nothing about the pic shown below. Is this due to bitlocker not enabled or some driver missing? My drive is 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive.





I believe I have captured all necessary details in the problem statement, I would sincerely appreciate if someone can help me get this laptop sorted. It is nothing more than a $3200 fancy paperweight as of today. *Banghead

Cheers!

:)

 

Dell XPS: Laptop struggling to get past Dell screen

Hi @fireberd. I have a laptop is a Dell XPS 15 9560. I'm assuming that means I have to take my laptop to get serviced ?

 

Not 100% defeated >1709 Dell Inspiron 9300... but for how long

RJ,

My posts in this thread have been about my own Dell Inspiron 9300. I cannot get mine past Version 1709 either.

I never tried fiddling with SpeedStep.

I did try a clean install with all non-essential hardware disconnected and disabled in Bios. It failed straightaway. I concluded that there was no chance of updating it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

There have been some Version 1709 Cumulative updates recently despite the official end of support having passed. You might know that already.

Mine has once again gone into semi-retirement [as it did for a year or so after XP support ended & before the Windows 10 Preview period started].
- It is about to spend a week comparing the TV recordings on my original large external HDDs with those on my new huge external HDDs to make sure nothing was dropped during the transfer.
- I expect to make use of it for odd jobs like this for some time to come so that my main laptop is not tied up with mundane work.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Did you suffer from these shortcomings?

[my post #10 on page 1 of this thread]

Denis

 

Dell XPS: Laptop struggling to get past Dell screen

There are 10 different XPS 13's listed on the Dell support site. e.g. 9350, 9370. What is your exact model number?

The error with the Video Card - Intel (R) HD Graphics 630 is the Intel CPU video integrated into the CPU.

There seems to be a discrepancy between the POST (Power On Self Test)/Dell diagnostics and the Support Assist tests. We have seen many problems with the Support Assist, in general, on the Dell Community Forums.

We have seen many different start up problems fixed by resetting the CMOS Memory (BIOS). However that requires removing the back to access the CR2032 coin cell battery located on the main (mother) board.