Question about laptop freezing and blue screens, possibly due to bad HDD or RAM.
Question about laptop freezing and blue screens, possibly due to bad HDD or RAM.
Hi all,
I own a Dell XPS 15 7590 laptop (i7-9750H, 16GB RAM). The system is up to date with all Dell and Windows updates, but it’s essentially unresponsive. It sometimes freezes when starting up, other times on the lock screen, and if it gets past that, it stalls within minutes of basic operations.
All hardware tests through Dell SupportAssist passed, indicating no physical issues. A chkdsk scan also shows no problems.
I attempted to boot from a USB drive to reinstall Windows, but the installation failed at 10%, and now the system doesn’t start at all.
Is this device beyond repair? Should I consider replacing the RAM or HDD? Thanks!
Ben
I own a Dell XPS 15 7590 (i7-9750H, 16GB RAM).
Have you checked if your device is running the most recent BIOS update?
The machine occasionally stalls during startup, sometimes on the lock screen, and when it does proceed past that point, it freezes shortly after basic operations.
This might indicate a failing or defective SSD controller.
We should examine your .dmp files by uploading them to a service like DropBox and analyzing them via this discussion thread.
I attempted to boot from a USB drive to reinstall Windows, but the process stopped at 10%, meaning the system won’t start at all.
Have you attempted to rebuild the bootable installer to eliminate a faulty one? Regarding installers, where did you obtain the original one for your operating system? You might consider borrowing or swapping in a spare SSD and installing the OS using only the native laptop drives if you suspect RAM issues.
Yes, I have consistently run the Dell Command Update and the BIOS remains current, at least until the machine could boot and run the program successfully.
I obtained the Windows installer from Microsoft’s site and also set up an Ubuntu live USB to test booting from the drive (to exclude a faulty SSD). It stopped right away when I chose the “Try/Install Ubuntu” option.
I’ve been struggling with this issue and prefer not to invest further unless there’s a clear solution to pursue. My main confusion is that all hardware self-tests in BIOS pass without problem.
Is the laptop connected when it stops working? It seems to be an older model, so checking inside by removing fans, heatsinks, and air filters could help identify if overheating is the cause. If you suspect a RAM issue, you can try memtest using another computer as a storage device. I experienced similar problems a few weeks ago; running memtest produced thousands of errors in seconds, confirming memory was the problem (after replacing it, everything worked).