Former Dell Fan... Never buy another one. XPS 18, critical process failed since last win updates.

I've always been a big DELL fan... probably had 10 of them over the years and been responsible for dozens more being purchased by employers. I can't see ever buying another or recommending them anymore though...

Most recently I have a Dell XPS 18... updated windows and get 'critical process failed' after a few minutes whenever its left running. Its received all the updated drivers from dell and all the updates from windows update. It never tells what process failed... hangs at the 'collecting information' screen for a while then fails out and I have to restart so it will run another 10 minutes before doing it again.

I used to have a top of the line XPS 27 as well... it updated to windows 10 and ran for a few weeks until It was fully turned off... upon restart a bios update bricked the computer. Dell supports solution was... replace the motherboard and only install windows 7 or 8 on it... when I went to the page they provided with the motherboard... they were no longer offering it.

Dell was more than helpful in directing me to their sales page to spend a few more thousand with them though.
Anyone had this issue with the XPS 18? I haven't found any info on it anywhere.

Thanks,

 

Sounds more like a driver issue or windows error than an issue with it being a dell. I’d reinstall windows and call it a day... I bet that would fix it. I always wanted an XPS 18 and thought they were pretty cool.

I have not had any issues with dell but often do spring for the 4 or more year warranty they offer. It has certainly paid for itself in the past with new motherboards or free upgrades.

 

So after 10 years you realized that Dell s-u-c-k at updates?

 

Ever since the problems I had with an ages old Inspiron and the circular "your battery doesn't match adapter" and now "your adapter doesn't match your battery" that always ended in throttling the laptop for my safety...

Yeah. Never. Ever. Buy. Dell.

If Dell was the last computer company on earth, I'd move to the mountains, grow strawberries, bake bread, and wait for the new future...


(funny enough though, I typed this on a Dell)

 

Well actually I was once very pro dell and had a lot of luck with them... then not so much, culminating in me asking to talk to a supervisor on a support call... he gave me the number to call in case the transfer failed and transferred me... to a phone porn site... so i hung up and called the number... sure enough... same porn site.

After that I didn't use them for years but really liked what they were doing with the XPS 27 and 18 models so gave them a try... and they worked flawlessly until it bricked the motherboard on the xps 27. That was it for me and dell again, although I still had the XPS 18 which is still a rarity in the world. (light 18" tablet with battery that doubles as all in one).

 

I had the one year on site with the XPS 27. Turns out it had a 1/4" crack in the glass so had them come out and put a new screen on it. The part was $900 so that worked out well. But when it bricked all they did was direct me to go buy another.

The XPS is a nice unique machine... It was my daily carry for a while when I was doing more DTP than programming. I've updated all the drivers... tried safe mode with and without network support... always does the same thing.

I could wipe it clean and reinstall Windows... but... when Windows 10 the machine was listed on dells 'works with windows 10' list... it was one of the first dells actually to go on that tested and approved list in fact... but I noticed its no longer on that list. I'm guessing there is an incompatibility with something dell is doing and the latest windows release so they just quietly took it off the list... Oops, its not windows 10 ready anymore. So i'm kinda hesitant to go through the whole mess and end up where I am again.

 

Where do you get that these machines are not supported by Windows10 ? They still sell then with win10 installed standard. As a matter of fact I do not think Dell is selling a single computer, apart from the chromebooks, that is not capable of running Windows 10.

It doesn't seem reasonable to blame Dell for a failed update. Frankly my experience with Dell and their support has been very good. I've been a field engineer mostly for Compaq and then later HP and Dell's support is superior to none. On most of the machines you can get three to four years of next-day-onsite support. Most of the professional machines come with 3 years standard.

If you compare that with Apple where you get only 1 year carry-in, even in Europe where you legally have to give two years of warranty. For three you need to pay more than for four year full support at Dell. After paying that much, you are allowed to bring your broken device to the store and you are allowed to pick it up when it is ready, three weeks later or so.

I find it strange that for two problems, one that is clearly not Dell's fault, you are willing to make that the rule over the dozen or so previous machines you had from them.