Fleet of Dell Pro Max 16 MC16250 having BSOD due to Nvidia graphics card
Posted by New-Seesaw1719@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 16 comments
Anyone else have this model? We've tried everything to fix them but the issue persists. I've gotten system boards replaced, reinstalled Windows and drivers, manually updated/rolledback GPU and BIOS, disabling the PCIE Link State Power Management in Control Panel Advanced Power Settings. One of the big wigs has one of these laptops and I'm at a loss on how to proceed besides getting a different model.
Nvidia card: RTX PRO 500 Blackwell
CPAtech@reddit
What does Dell support have to say?
New-Seesaw1719@reddit (OP)
Why do you think Im here?
CPAtech@reddit
If there is a legitimate build issue then Dell is going to have to provide the resolution, so what have they said?
Lord_Saren@reddit
Wanted to say my org is experencing a similar issue with newer Dell Pro Max 16s with the RTX Pro 500 Blackwell.
Updating Intel Graphics and Nvidia drivers seems to help alittle but still get a good bit of
Errorcode : 0x0000010e CausedByDriver : watchdog.sys
especially on wakeup or booting.
Soft-Philosopher191@reddit
We too have this same issue. We purchased 8 of the MB16250's (128GB RAM,4TB SSD,i9,RTXPRO 5000 @ $8500 each) and they all crash repeatedly. Most of the crashes don't create dump files. Dell Pro support is worthless. They have no idea how to resolve it. The link below mentions disabling C-State helped some users. https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/dell-pro-max-laptops/pro-max-16-premium-ma16250-stabilitysystem-freezing-issues/69008950565edc4dbf22f7a3?page=10
mike_wilsonmj@reddit
It's been crash city the past two months over here too. We've got about 50 deployed with a mix of MC14250 and MB16250. Dell support has been worthless despite escalating and sending in logs daily.
Our workaround for now is to disable the Nvidia adapter, and hold of on deploying any more of these things.
Viashivan@reddit
We have had Dell Pro Max 16's (NVidia version) in our environment for months (100's) without issue, then beginning around 1/15/26 any newly provisioned Pro Max 16 we received began experiencing intermittent BSOD (around 150 machines at this point). The devices provisioned previously have still not had any issues. The only resolution we've seen so far is to disable the Nvidia GPU.
Outside of that we have tried updating drivers, down-grading drivers, 24H2 vs 25H2, drivers from Dell, drivers from NVidia, updated BIOS... We currently have a case open with Dell and are repeating a lot of those steps as we go through the motions with their support.
Working_Bug4914@reddit
Same here. I have one Dell Pro Max 16 MC16250 which is crashing and having BSOD since February. This happens frequently while using Adobe Software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign). Dell support replaced the motherboard and I reinstalled Windows but issues still persist. This is going to be a nightmare...Please let me know if you find any solutions
Working_Bug4914@reddit
Same here. I have one Dell Pro Max 16 MC16250 which is crashing and having BSOD since February. This happens frequently while using Adobe Software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign). Dell support replaced the motherboard and I reinstalled Windows but issues still persist. This is going to be a nightmare..
Kardinal@reddit
For the most part, every blue screen of death happens because of either a hardware, failure or bad drivers. It is theoretically possible that you have a batch of bad hardware. That seems unlikely though. It sounds like you're installing the same driver over and over on these machines and that driver is bad. Don't use that driver. Use an older version or use a version from a different source.
coret3x@reddit
Install the latest driver from Nvidia.com. It has some specific fizesy. The Dell drivers are not updated yet. You might need to run DDU to make sure before applying Nvidia driver.
Heavy_Molasses_2757@reddit
I'm seeing more and more issues with new Dell machines. Just this morning I opened up a brand new Dell Pro 14 Premium and instantly had corrupted installs and an automatic C: drive repair. 3/5 laptops with Nvidia ADA GPU's had to be sent back for repair in the last year.
espeequeueare@reddit
We ordered a batch of the Dell pro 14 premiums. About 60% of them have had issues with webview2/NPU drivers- web browsers not loading web pages, and erratic Teams behavior with cameras. They’ve been a total headache to deal with.
I_Am_Become_Air@reddit
Dang... that sounds annoying!!
Educational_Boot315@reddit
Can’t speak for Dell Pro Max but we have like a 30% failure rate within the first 90 days on the Dell Pro Plus we’ve purchased.
Last few generations of latitudes was like 2% over 3 years. Something is fucked.
inshead@reddit
We've started getting some of these models a few months ago but as far as I'm aware haven't had any issues like that.
I would definitely contact Dell support especially since they should still be under warranty.