I'm desperate | TheaterFire

[-]

vawlk@reddit

my wife had a Dell laptop that was really slow, laggy mouse and keyboard, and nothing really showing as why it was doing that. I removed all the software that she didn't use and shut down services that she didn't need, the whole nine yards.

in the task manager I noticed that no matter what I did on the computer, the CPU was always sitting at its lowest power mode. they would never turbo or boost to its full clock speed.

on a whim, I tried a new power brick and all of the issues went away. the Old brick still worked but I think the communication between the laptop and the power brick wasn't working anymore and so the computer just kept running in its lowest power mode.

[-]

Cultural-Horse-762@reddit

You need to analyze event logs, especially around the exact times the user experiences issues.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Thanks. I'm new to IT and am gaining experience. Are the logs meaningful? I've often read that because Windows is designed to work with a wide variety of hardware, the logs in such cases only provide very general or vague error messages. Which logs are relevant in such cases?

[-]

Calyx76@reddit

It's one of the first places I look when there is no explanation of wtf is going on.

[-]

saltysomadmin@reddit

Reading logs is the basis of all troubleshooting. Otherwise you're just trying random stuff that may have no bearing on the issue you're having (like you've been doing).

In addition to the logs check performance under Task Manager and make sure nothing is red-lining. You'd be surprised what Solidworks can use. (No GPU installed? Might be shitting the bed with onboard video.) Hardware Certification | SOLIDWORKS

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Ok, but do you know which specific logs are essential?

[-]

tremorsisbac@reddit

Right down the time, restart the machine, have the user use it until problems start coming up, right down the time, start looking in logs from that time window. LET THE USE KNOW THAT THIS IS A TEST WINDOW TO COLLECT LOGS. To many times have I seen techs not say anything and the user gets upset because they think you fixed it and didn’t let them know you are just trying to collect fresh logs to help diagnose the problem.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

But there are hundred of different log files. Which of them are relevant for this problem?

[-]

Havi_40@reddit

Event Viewer is organised by time, so you will have to sieve through several lines of logs. Google "event logs related to crash" for each possible software. You might find that it could be a disk issue, or memory issue, or a BIOS misconfiguration regarding the disk.

As you're working on DELL, I recommend changing the type or storage to HCMI (in the BIOS), then reinstalling a fresh copy of Windows from a USB (delete all partitions during the process except for the USB), installing drivers from DELL support site, updating windows, then removing any DELL bloatware that was installed when you updated it.

[-]

ansibleloop@reddit

Install Voidtools Everything and look at the recently changed files when the app crashes

[-]

uptimefordays@reddit

I would start with looking at the Windows system and application logs. Start by asking "when did you experience issues?" and looking at log entries around those times.

[-]

Cultural-Horse-762@reddit

System and application are the general place to start.

[-]

saltysomadmin@reddit

Look through Event Viewer. Google "Important Solidworks logs".

[-]

jaydizzleforshizzle@reddit

Application and system events in event viewer around the time the issues happening is your best bet. Sounds environmental with the fact its still happening through restore.

[-]

crccci@reddit

The machine isn't magic. Something goes wrong. There will be symptoms.

[-]

Slamshanks@reddit

You can paste the logs in gpt and it will demo guide you. Also check temps.

[-]

jerryrenault@reddit

Open Event Viewer. Check System and application logs, use the filters and look primarily for critical, error, and warning. It'll be best if you know a timeframe, but just looking through these logs might help uncover the issue. Keyboard input being slow sounds to me like a potential hardware or driver issue, but that's without any additional information.

[-]

BryceKatz@reddit

You won't know if you don't look.

Sometimes Windows logging is less than helpful. Other times it points directly to the problem..

[-]

helixkiwi@reddit

Another thing is, and this is for OP, have the user help you. Have them write down when the issue happened, what they were doing, what file, anything else that could be useful to naildown "ok, thats what caused that"

You mentioned it's a Dell, another program to check and run updates through is "Dell Command Update". If you have an RMM (remote monitoring and managment software), you can do this all remotely on tbe backend via CMD commands (i would inform the user to save any working and not being actively working while you do this)

[-]

Bigdaddyjim@reddit

If you're using ECC memory, you might have a bad stick of RAM and the error correction is slowing down your box. Boot into BIOS and do a mem test from Dell diags. Also, take them out one at a time and see if things improve.

[-]

WheredMyBrainsGo@reddit

This is actually probably it. There have been increasing reports of issues with DDR5 especially under high thermal load.

[-]

Baljet@reddit

I went straight to thermal, this is running hot and throttling

[-]

blairtm1977@reddit

I had a similar issue for this. Almost same use case. AutoCAD user. Especially if it has a discrete gpu in it. These laptops do not have great thermal management built in. The slow input, irregular mouse movements. I ended up getting him a cooling pad for the laptop. All the issues went away. I didn’t want to open it up and check heat sinks.

[-]

reol7x@reddit

Thermal WA my thought. A few years back we had a series of Latitudes where the heatsinks weren't properly installed causing all sorts of issues under load.

[-]

NYCJAACKS@reddit

This is where I was headed...

[-]

kardee785@reddit

I have had 2 16gb sticks in a pc, and it is only recognizing the first. But I didn't get an error in Windows or the bios. I only caught it because I was looking in settings/about, and it registered only 16

[-]

melophat@reddit

Yup, this is what I came to say also.. re-seat the ram and see if that fixes it. If it doesn't, do a mem test and/or swap out with known good sticks and see if that helps.

[-]

akp1988@reddit

Lol, I scrolled through half a dozen replies before I suggested RAM/SSD faults and then you're the next one I read.

[-]

Takeuout44@reddit

I bet 10$ it's that Intel i9 over volt issue that makes the CPU slowly die over time and causes all kinds of strange issues.

[-]

dnev6784@reddit

i9 13900k and 14900k specifically

[-]

MorseScience@reddit

Actually it will die pretty quickly under moderate use. Been there seen that.

[-]

MorseScience@reddit

Sent the OP a DM, but there is a known bug in older BIOS microcode (Intel provided the bad microcode) that permanently ruins some i9 chips. You would update the BIOS (provided to the system/mobo maker) and swap out the chip. There still should be an active recall from Intel for the chip.

The symptoms noted are totally consistent with the known bug. The system will boot and run but with then crash under certain conditions.

[-]

Inevitable_Use3885@reddit

Try running perfmon.exe /rel to generate a reliability graph. Won't explain problems or specific errors, but can help point you to the right event logs to look at

[-]

themanbow@reddit

This might be a stupid question, but CTRL+F only popped up a few instances of "SSD" or "Solid" on this page (and the "Solid" is for "SolidWorks" and not "Solid State Drive"), but...

...does this computer even *have* a solid state drive? Please say this system is not using spinning rust...

[-]

stranac93@reddit

I had a similar situation and disk was my problem. Changed and everything started working perfectly.

[-]

TargetFree3831@reddit

I had this happen on a Dell XPS and it was related to the NIC gaming software installed on it. It's some performance software meant got "gaming" NICs and it absolutely crushed performance.

Not that it's related to you, but that's an easy check. I just uninstalled the NIC management program in add/remove and performance was perfect from then on.

I forgot what that POS software is called though...

[-]

JustFucIt@reddit

ensure the video driver is a solidworks certified one.

If it has the new ram 'chip' dell has, i forget the name of, re-seat it.

[-]

DenseDepartment8317@reddit

Try replace your storage, a failing storage can do all sorts of strange stuff like what you described.

[-]

sl33pl3ssDron3@reddit

What kind of HHD does it have? Mechanical, SSD, M.2? Also what version of windows is it running?

[-]

Khulod@reddit

Are there 2 virus/malware scanners running at the same time? I've seen similar symptoms caused by that.

[-]

GuessSecure4640@reddit

Check startup apps > uninstall bloatware > check for things running as soon as he complains. See if it is 30,000 chrome or firefox tabs all at once. Run a chkdsk scan

[-]

Thyg0d@reddit

Solid works must be built using virus code.. I have to exclude dll's like crazy from defender due to their shitty coding. And they don't even care when raising a ticket.

[-]

CantPullOutRightNow@reddit

There is open source code that has been used in exploits. It’s not that the code is malware. I’ve had similar for other software.

Caught a user playing Roblox because the firewall sent an alert. I was like, buddy, play that on your own device off the network.

[-]

Thyg0d@reddit

No I know but can't they sort their stuff before sending it out.. There has to be ways to get your code to not be alerted as viruses. At least for such a huge company.

Yeah I've had a bunch of those as well.. Always funny when you pull installed apps and find steam, roblox and sh.t on their work laptops..

[-]

Opposite_Second_1053@reddit

Your first biggest issue from what you said is you reinstalled Windows without collecting data on the issue. Have you reviewed the event logs for any failed or crashed software. Have you checked what he's doing on CAD and made sure it's the right GPU that CAD is using and not integrated graphics. Have you reviewed the resource monitor or task manager exactly at the time the issue happens and checked performance tab. Have you tested network speed at the time the event happens. Have you switched out the keyboard to test.

[-]

UnexpectedAnomaly@reddit

A lot of The symptoms you describe might be related to the user is just not restarting enough especially if you're running CAD. End users hate restarting their computer for some reason and I used to see up times up to a month or more. So anytime I see a slowness issue the first thing I check is uptime. Alternatively the user might have installed something but yeah check event logs and see what's going on.

[-]

aere1985@reddit

I was going to reply with this. I had a user with a similar issue (long lag time between key presses & input). It turned out they hadn't restarted in about 50 days.

[-]

valryuu@reddit

Input is sometimes delayed. He types letters, and it takes seconds for the letter to appear.

My first thought was a Dell DisplayLink Dock. Does he use one with his laptop? I've found that I've had really bad experiences with input delay using them, though mostly for Mac.

It might also explain the CAD program crashing, because iirc, Dell DisplayLink Docks can also act as graphics cards. You'd have to check the settings for that.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

It has a dedicated GPU. Its a workstation laptop and its hardware is build for CAD applications.

[-]

valryuu@reddit

Oh alright. And do you know if these issues happen even when not plugged into any external monitors?

[-]

WhitelabelDnB@reddit

Second this. Regularly my displaylink dock crashes, and takes out applications that are not ready to lose network, accessories, and two external displays at the same time.
Even on a good day, if you're doing too much over the dock, image compression, delay, and loss of framerate starts to occur. They are extremely compromised pieces of equipment.

[-]

Beneficial_Salad3520@reddit

Reseat the ram and see if that fixes it... also review event logs around the time the user reports the machine moving slow and check if you have more than one antivirus running. In the past I've seen where Sophos clashed with another antivirus and that caused a massive delay in almost everything

[-]

Particular-Way8801@reddit

User inventing issues because his coworker got assigned a sleek new imac and he wants one too, and will complain until he got one.
How does a Mac works ? he does not know about that, but it is a Mac
source : happened, more than once, in more than one company

[-]

scrittyrow@reddit

i9 with a HP? yea I'd go with all of the above..

[-]

NecessaryRun1943@reddit

CrystalDiskInfo, check the state of the NVME/SSD maybe it’s end of life?

Failing that, try do “Windows Memory Diagnostic” see if that flags any memory errors?

If the device is crashing & then bluescreening, perhaps take a look at the memory dumps left behind by windows? They’ll be located under:

C:/Windows/Minidump

& then use a program called “BluescreenView” to view the files. You can then google the error codes that show up in BlueScreenView

[-]

NH_shitbags@reddit

Curious what i9 processor you have? 13/14th gen intel have known stability issues.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Unfortunately, I don't know that off the top of my head.

[-]

itskdog@reddit

Does your asset inventory software not track that?

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

I'm at home.. and i'm not working at the moment. I can see that in intune, when i'm working :)

[-]

Frothyleet@reddit

You should save troubleshooting for when you are at work, both because of problems like this and because taking your work home with you is bad for your mental health.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Youre right. Say it to its person who pressures on me to solve this issue by one click. Only because the "problem exsits now longer time".

[-]

duplissi@reddit

You should check. 13th/14th gen chips can slowly seppuku due to voltage issues. Intel released several bios updates to address it.

[-]

valryuu@reddit

Wouldn't be surprised if this ended up being the case.

[-]

Fragrant-Hamster-325@reddit

I love to get to the root cause of things but if this is isolated to one user sometimes the best thing to do is deploy a new machine and see if the issue follows them. If not, great the user can move on.

You now have the old machine and can analyze the logs or you can wipe and redeploy.

[-]

Cak2u@reddit

Try a different power cable. If they use a dock, does it happen off the dock on battery? I've seen similar issues when the power was failing to regulate.

[-]

Alexandre_Man@reddit

Maybe the disk has bad sectors.

[-]

captain_222@reddit

Intermittent issues = hardware issues. Can be very difficult to identify!

[-]

milieu786@reddit

Try removing USB devices and test one at a time. I ran into an issue I don't quite understand yet, but noticed a pattern after a while. If I plugged in a USB device into a particular port on my computer, it would get really unstable as you described. Any other port it would work great. Any other device in that port was fine too. The two together went downhill quickly.

[-]

jeggy111@reddit

Do they use a docking station? I find their display drivers can be awful. Try with just directly attached screens or laptop monitor

[-]

pawwoll@reddit

"SolidWorks (CAD program) sometimes crashes randomly"

this is solidworks feature, it begs u to save work every 20 minutes, guides have "save your work" rule, especially on complex models

[-]

Bigfacedhundread@reddit

Couldn't tell if desktop or laptop. Failing power supply can also cause these issues on desktop. Replace power supply if desktop

[-]

Bigfacedhundread@reddit

Also have seen bad ram recently, any blue screens?

[-]

MeetJoan@reddit

One thing worth trying before going deep on hardware diagnostics: log in as a different user on the same machine and see if the issues follow the device or the profile. If a fresh local account is stable, the problem is in his profile. If it's still unstable, you're looking at hardware.

Also - has anyone checked the PSU or run the machine on a different power circuit? Sporadic issues that survive a clean reinstall and don't show a clear software pattern are sometimes just inconsistent power delivery. Easy to rule out before pulling the machine apart.

[-]

ExcellentQuestion@reddit

PSU was my bet too. Also check the surge protector/power strip if there is one, along with the outlet. A loose connection to a system that draws a lot of power can cause all kinds of weird stuff.

[-]

Fluent_Press2050@reddit

This is usually one of the first things I do to determine if it’s a device or profile issue, especially if event logs aren’t helpful.

[-]

CincyGuy2025@reddit

The "killer" network card software? Disable the "killer" services. I have to do it on all the Dells.

And disable sending keystrokes.

[-]

Nuke_Bloodaxe@reddit

Also, make sure the NVMe drive has not gone bad, those will produce all sorts of weird errors, aside from RAM.

[-]

Commercial_Ad_7818@reddit

Try looking at reliability monitor, event logs, correlate times with crashes and slowness.

[-]

MattH665@reddit

First you need to examine what is happening. These reports are vague.

- Input is sometimes delayed. He types letters, and it takes seconds for the letter to appear.
Is it only input being delayed or is the entire machine slow?

- SolidWorks (CAD program) sometimes crashes randomly
Does it have any error logs or reason for the crashing?

- Explorer crashes randomly
Check windows eventlog, why is it crashing? Out of memory errors perhaps form the user opening a ton of tabs + Solidworks?

"The device is basically acting up."

I think you need to see this with your own eyes instead of second hand reports for the user which are too vague. you need to see if it's a performance issue with the hardware or something else.

Open up Task manager while this is happening and look at the performance stats. How is memory and CPU usage.

Another thing to look for is CPU throttling. Is the CPU throttling down it's CPU frequency to slow speeds like 1ghz or less. if it's doing this, it could be thermal throttling because it's overheating.
is it an older machine? Heat sinks and internal dust filters could be clogged up with dust.
Does the user use this at home, in a hot environment?

Are they putting the laptop on top of a soft material? That inhibits airflow from the vents and soaks up heat.

[-]

alucardunit1@reddit

Does it have dedicated video ram?

[-]

Home_theater_dad@reddit

Are you using 365? Outlook client and one drive sync?

[-]

ArborlyWhale@reddit

It’s either hardware or user error, or a truly unlucky software error.

Chdsk even without flags will tell you if the storage is getting corrupted.
Check power supply wattage.
Check event viewer system and application logs at time of crash/surrounding events. Patterns?
Check ram using the windows memory diagnostic on reboot.

[-]

Silvercos57@reddit

If i remember correctly, Solid needs powershell v2 to run and the newest Windows CU’s remove it causing that program to fail. Had to stop updates for a computer and remove the windows update until we moved them to Cabinet Vision 2025.

[-]

Ill-Mail-1210@reddit

Couple things I’ve found: Webroot (open text) hates solidworks. If running this, disable. Also, if multiple screens, does the crash happen when shifting active window from screen A to screen B? Have struck this with laptops on docks (hp thunderbolt docks to be precise), in this case we got the user a single ultra wide.

[-]

TinderSubThrowAway@reddit

Input is sometimes delayed. He types letters, and it takes seconds for the letter to appear.

Wireless keyboard?

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

I already asked him if he was having the same problem with his laptop keyboard. However, he couldn't give me a clear answer.

[-]

showyerbewbs@reddit

However, he couldn't give me a clear answer.

Full stop right here. He's not giving you a clear answer because he doesn't want to. It would change his workflow. People LIVE in their workflows.

I would tell him we need a good solid base line. No USB connected. No dongles for mice or keyboards. No USB connected. Not even to charge a phone or smart watch. Attempt to observe and document that the symptom either IS or ISN'T happening.

If you're unable to catch it in action, add in one device at a time. LOG what time you did it and how long it takes or doesn't take for the symptom to occur.

Check for any connected BlueTooth devices. No ear pods, no speakers, nothing.

Document EVERYTHING so you can go over it with your rubber duck later.

I would say escalate to your L2 or your manager but I'm getting the feeling you're kind of twisting in the wind here.

[-]

MGF1997_2@reddit

Make him give you an answer, we have seen this types of issues with wireless keyboard and it turned out the MS keyboard did not want to play nice, but a Logitech keyboard did.

[-]

gregpennings@reddit

I’ve had USB power saving issues on a dock with an attached dongle. So frustrating! Moved dongle to the laptop to resolve the issue.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Thanks for your tips. However, my supervisor has very little knowledge of IT, and I'm the only one in the department.

[-]

RagnarStonefist@reddit

you're an entry level IT person trying to support a company and you're the only IT person in the company?

oh man. ok. I'm so sorry.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Yep. About one year. Handled many issues, but this one makes me crazy. Lol.

[-]

reserved_seating@reddit

Your boss either needs to back you up in your troubleshooting or guide you. They can’t do neither…

[-]

NextDefinition3433@reddit

We have the same problem - sometimes - with some users - intermittently - with various CAD software. Every time, I just give them a wired keyboard (or mouse - those have the same intermittent latency problems) and the issue goes away. I suspect RF interference with BlueTooth headsets or something, but I don't give enough shits to look at 2.4 in a WiFi analyzer.
You'll have to then find whatever specialty keyboard with their favorite macro keys to match their cool MX Master, but that user will probably be fired by the time they get through your red tape (if you're doing it right).

[-]

edharristx@reddit

Hey just for future reference, this is an example of a piece of info you 100% need to have, and the user needs to confirm this explicitly and expeditiously. It’s definitely ok to be polite and firm, and sometimes even explain that they are just as responsible for helping you do your job as you are helping them do theirs. It’s unacceptable to rely on more complex tools when a fundamental issue is not ruled out. Good luck!

[-]

BrorBlixen@reddit

Check performance monitor while it is happening to see if system interrupts is spiking the CPU. That would be a sign that there is a piece of hardware acting up.

[-]

Sengfeng@reddit

Or a crappy USB docking station...

[-]

Sea-Aardvark-756@reddit

Seen similar things with a bad storage device connected as well, user on the phone was so skeptical but removing it completely resolved everything, re-attaching it brought back crashes and weird freezes or slowness with any program that tried to look at connected storage. I would actually check that first if a USB drive or similar is connected, just in case they don't have backups of whatever is on it.

[-]

reserved_seating@reddit

This is my first thought. Has a similar issue with just an exec assistance (nothing fancy) and it ended up being her keyboard.

[-]

Jethro_Tell@reddit

So, non windows answer, this was for a Linux machine that I was running. However, it wasn’t OS specific, so bear with me.

As a server admin, I’m running a Linux OS, at work but the machine is care of the help desk, IT folk.

I had this particular machine for 18 months already, everything was setup and running fine.

For what ever reason that we never properly understood, one day, it just didn’t work right. Something over half the time, the machine would just freeze, or hang after I had just gotten started.

So I started messing with it, some times it would crash right away, and other times several hours.

I’ve got a ticket open with IT, and they basically look at the machine and say, ‘well that’s not supposed to happen.’ So I’m trying to work and throwing stuff into the ticket.

I get to scrolling feed entries in the ticket and they all happen at xx:28. I start digging and there’s a hardware probe, that the IT department runs that catalogs every piece of hardware and runs diagnostics.

I boot into single user and disable the IT checks and compliance runs and then reboot into my user.

This is a well run IT department, so of course being on the network but not having my machine run the standard compliance checks cuts me and my manager a ticket every 60 minutes. I’m linking to the ticket I have open and setting the ticket back to pending, but I’m actually getting shit done for the first time in a week. I’m blocked from lots of stuff on the network but I’m actually just writing a script so I’ll figure that out later.

So after a couple days, I manually run the compliance scripts and things crash.

So either it’s my install or this physical machine. IT gets me a similar machine and we swap disks, and as soon as it boots I call the compliance script, no issue. We swap a spare Motherboard into my old machine and put the disk back into it. Then boot and run the compliance script, all good. So I keep the new motherboard and they send the old one for RMA.

I don’t think we ever figured out what specific piece of hardware was bad, but when they probed every single thing on the motherboard, it crashed.

This is a little long, but the point is that there could be something specific in the hardware that can be messing things up but only when it’s called.

Don’t be afraid to try the same install in different hardware, to validate that the problem is at a software level.

[-]

kloeckwerx@reddit

Thermal throttling? Check fans and heatsinks? Pull the cpu and reapply thermal paste?

[-]

SuxMcGee@reddit

Heat.

[-]

Bad_Times_Man@reddit

Are you using a dedicated gfx card? Is solidworks assigned specifically to that card and not say, onboard gfx?

If you're using a dedicated gfx card, is it specifically listed and officially supported on Solidworks website?

If it is, are you using the specific driver version solidworks has flagged as compatible for that card?

[-]

Bitcoin__Dave@reddit

could be thermally throttled

[-]

Rough_Condition75@reddit

What’s the backup schedule? That or another timed process might be interfering and limiting resources

[-]

AccidentAnnual@reddit

64GB is minimum.

[-]

Jug5y@reddit

How often is it rebooted

[-]

Psychological_Luck37@reddit

Are you guys using PDM? If you are clear up the recently accessed files and see if the prompt to login pdm gets hidden sometimes. You could have him logon PDM to fix this bug issue with the dialog not showong up. Feel free to DM me if you need clearer instructions

[-]

diarrhea-forecast@reddit

Might sound silly but are the ram sticks in the right slots? Recently had something similar and our vendor we buy from out the ram in the wrong slots so it was running on half it was supposed to

[-]

Assumeweknow@reddit

Overheating, and or he doesnt have all the ram sticks full preventing the cpu from using all its memory channels for max speed.

[-]

Sillent_Screams@reddit

See if you need to uninstall it completely including any runtimes it needs and do a fresh install

Also clear up temp data on the system

[-]

No-Setting-8108@reddit

Two things pop out to me to check.

Make sure the mouse isn’t dongle if wireless. Is actually in range and not having interference.

Second. Make sure in the bios the memory has no overclock turned on like xmp.

Lastly run a memory test.

“ type Windows Memory Diagnostic into the start menu search bar, select the app, and choose "Restart now and check for problems". The PC will reboot into a diagnostic tool that automatically checks for RAM errors, displaying results in the notification area after restarting.”

[-]

TheNotSoEvilEngineer@reddit

What does task manager show during these issues? Is any cpu thread locked at 100%?

[-]

htphtphtp@reddit

Reimage.

[-]

AppIdentityGuy@reddit

Is the user an admin on the machine??

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

nop

[-]

AppIdentityGuy@reddit

If you log another user onto that machine do they experience the same behavior?

[-]

nytel@reddit

Op. Create a new profile on the computer and see if the issues persist

[-]

FantmIT@reddit

Replace the hard drive and remove admin rights from the user. One of those 2 will 99% guaranteed fix it.

[-]

jeffrey_f@reddit

Is the user installing software to his profile (not a normal system wide install)?

What processes are running? Are they recognized?

Task scheduler? Anything not approved or normal?

Scripts? Anything running that the user created or downloaded

[-]

Audience-Electrical@reddit

I had a SSD that did this. Reinstalled Windows, no errors, but would periodically, constantly delay input.

New SSD fixed it in that case.

[-]

dnev6784@reddit

Graphics card with failing memory or other memory related components. Replace GPU

[-]

Sammeeeeeee@reddit

Check for driver updates around the time it started after the reinstall
Check for adobe's new shitty auto downloaded program, we have been having somewhat similar issues, but they mainly affected older pcs

[-]

Talenus@reddit

gives sophos side eye

Does your sophos agent do real time scanning during the day and while the user is using his device?

Can you replicate the problems?

What do the crash logs tell you?

Sophos can be a real resource pig, especially if you've not done any kind of optimization and its just running on default settings.

[-]

alcatraz875@reddit

I recently had an input delay issue, that was caused due to the user plugging their Bluetooth adapter for their keyboard into a 3rd party hub. HID and GPU drivers can be a pain in the ass sometimes too

[-]

RANCH@reddit

does the PC have a GPU or is it relying solely on integrated graphics?

[-]

analogrival@reddit

Run the pre-boot diags, short first, then extended if short passes. Don't do the web version. Yes this can take a few hours but it's one of my first go-tos when a bsod shows up.
Saved countless hours of troubleshooting when it's hardware failure

[-]

Able-Stretch9223@reddit

I haven't seen anyone else mention this but I've run into this a ton recently and the problem has consistently been Logitech mice and keyboards basically being shit. If they're using a Logitech wireless adapter (other brands have been affected as well but Logitech is the most common) and it's plugged into a USB 3 port there's too much USB noise and this causes the mouse and keyboard to act up. The quick fix is to plug the adapter into a USB 2 port or use a USB 2 extension cable. Additionally, find all of your USB ports and adapters in device manager and disable the setting "Allow Windows to turn this device off to save power" under power management.

[-]

RootCauseUnknown@reddit

Agreed. Mine may or may not be Logitech as it was just the mouse and keyboard that came with my computer. I had been using them perfectly fine for about 8 years, then suddenly slow typing in local applications. Mouse was always fine and apps responsive to Mouse clicks. Thought it was a new headset, Thought it might be graphics card related as we were having others with Intel card issues. Finally after nothing else, got a new keyboard and Mouse combo (Logitech because it had the features I wanted) and haven't had an issue since going on nearly 2 years.

[-]

dowhileuntil787@reddit

I bought a GPU, and for months I was convinced there was some micro-stutter or uneven frame rate going on with my GPU, or maybe even a reoccurrence of the AMD fTPM micro-stutters. It turned out to actually just be my mouse stuttering because I had my Logi Bolt plugged into the USB 3 port next to the USB webcam. I guess I had re-arranged what was plugged in where while installing the GPU.

[-]

wtathfulburrito@reddit

Was looking to see if anyone was going to say this first. We’ve seen so many issues recently with Logitech and their garbage multipoint peering stuff. Disabling their software and plugging into a legacy port has solved it. There is a “smooth scrolll” extension that they like to load into chrome that can cause issues as well.

[-]

billnmorty@reddit

Have you uninstalled all third party security solutions ? Defender recently updated how they treat and update through DLL libraries and security solutions are becoming gate keepers on processes and making systems crash. I would also like to know what your CPU and RAM utilization look like at a baseline. If you’re at 32GB RAM and utilization is floating at 40-50% at the baseline, there’s a problem. Last question, several have asked, no GPU? Only crashes when using CAD?

[-]

gr4ss_fev3r@reddit

Bluetooth/wireless input? Ive seen HID devices connected via BT to be laggy when 2.4GHz spectrum is congested. Or whenever Janice decides to microwave her fucking snacks.

[-]

JCH760310@reddit

☝️THIS. BTW very poor information provided for troubleshooting.

[-]

gr4ss_fev3r@reddit

Occam's razor

[-]

mobileaccountuser@reddit

wow nice station... now what's the graphics card

[-]

Feral_PotatO@reddit

Have you benchmarked this computer? How’s the computers hardware? I know you said you reImaged it and it was fine for a few weeks. Were you allowing updates during that time?

Benchmarking, or at the very least, run the bios extensive hardware test to confirm no hardware related issues.

[-]

jadedarchitect@reddit

First, stop using Dell SupportAssist, it's fried buttlips and pushes bad drivers constantly.

If this is coming back after a CLEAN reinstall, it's software or hardware. Check easy stuff first, like removing any third party driver management tools, as vendor software like Dell's is notoriously bad.

The delayed recurrence makes me think it's pushing bad updates and causing system issues. Manually install base updated intel drivers and BIOS versions as a first step. If that doesn't fix it, try a reinstall WITHOUT supportassist or ANY third party driver management software.

Windows will update its own driver stacks on its own, supportassist is absolutely not needed in a business environment. The possibility of Sophos interfering with something operating that deeply rooted in the system and causing corruption in something it's updating exists, and needs to be ruled out.

My first and strongest suggestion would be to remove Dell SupportAssist.

[-]

SubstantialWing1270@reddit

Ive worked a lot with engineers with cad softwares, if the user has admin rights, which most enguneers are, than check what he has installed also addons of solidworks. Try stress testing and removing one by one. Thats how i solved a while ago a similiar problem, an addon of mathcad (i cant remember the cad software name) interfered with docker for windows which thw user had installed and autostarted...

[-]

aringa@reddit

32gb and an i9 don't necessarily mean the laptop is capable of running Solid Works.

[-]

sdrawkcabineter@reddit

Memory.

and an i9 processor

YMWV

[-]

Dave_A480@reddit

Anything running that kind of software should have a dGPU or eGPU....

[-]

cubic_sq@reddit

Solidworks is always “interesting” - what av / edr do u have?

[-]

Hhoppperr@reddit

I would disable Tamper Protection in Sophos and turn it off for a little while, and test performance. Solidworks does publish an AV exceptions page somewhere, if not them one of the big vendors, like Hawkridge or GoEngineer do.

Also, make sure your graphics driver is on the HCL. That can cause issues. They usually don't want the latest and greatest drivers.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

By path

[-]

cubic_sq@reddit

Fwiw… Solidworks on its own is temperamental. Solidworks with PDM is another level…

[-]

cubic_sq@reddit

There is also a device driver for licensing as well, outside of the path

[-]

cubic_sq@reddit

Same issues evwb if sophos is completely removed?

Had similar issues with other AV in the past. And there is a KB article from the vendor. We got a custom build from our AV vendor to treat the lovely app in a different way and performance is mostly back…

[-]

DeathEater25@reddit

Check out the SolidWorks RX tool and also their health check tool. SolidWorks is VERY specific for GPU drivers so that may take you down that path.

[-]

SikhGamer@reddit

First, I did a complete Windows reinstall (using a bootable USB drive), and things were fine for 4–6 weeks

You need to look at event viewer.

[-]

I_Am_Become_Air@reddit

Start simple.

Swap out the keyboard and mouse. Plug those input devices into a laptop and check their speed.

See if those input devices require charging, or have internal batteries, or are wired.

Once you check out the input devices, find out if the computer or the APP is slow. Have the user pull up Notepad when their machine is hanging. Have them type their name when they see the slow behavior and note if the stops are jerky, or each letter is a fight.

Jump into Windows system logs and see if another computer is using the same IP. See any errors and start running Google searches until you can explain to your lead what the errors are for and why that error is not what you are looking for.

Good luck!

[-]

kinkymonkey1982@reddit

Wireless keyboard by chance?

[-]

No_Desk_4921@reddit

Couple of things:

1.) How old is the system? 5+ years, maybe consider cleaning and re-applying thermal paste on CPU.

2.) Use CrystalDiskInfo to look at the health of what drive(s). SSD's age too. I'd be curious if the drives are failing.

Lots of great info in this thread. Read it all and you will learn more than you expected. I do hope you get it figured out.

[-]

DaftPump@reddit

Going thru comments your user isn't answering all your questions for you to resolve. It's a management issue now.

[-]

Hot-Grocery-6450@reddit

Does it happen with the CAD program running and without it running? Try new keyboard? Switching USB ports? NVME? SSD? How old is the drive? Overheating? Ram reseated?

[-]

Zaiakusin@reddit

memtest, prime95 cpu test, hard drive tests... could be a bunch of things including a psu giving slightly off power.

[-]

FleaDad@reddit

A failing hard drive resulting in high disk io or latency can cause all of these problems.

[-]

SevaraB@reddit

Delayed input... SolidWorks, a GPU-heavy CAD program crashes... is all this running locally, or is this maybe a KFR issue where the "user profile" is actually on a remote machine with a poor connection?

[-]

cubic_sq@reddit

Compared to other 3d apps, solidworks is actually quite light on the hw.

[-]

Exalting_Peasant@reddit

If hes using Intel iGPU then it could be bottlenecking pretty good. He said i9 not Ultra 9, too...

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

It is local.

[-]

Draken_S@reddit

Something to check, make sure that the Endpoint Protection registered in Windows properly. Sometimes after an AV update Windows security center wont properly register the AV and it will reenable Windows defender automatically, then there is a conflict between 2 AV's and that causes massive issues.

[-]

GrtWhite77@reddit

Sounds like bad ram or a bad ssd.

[-]

leolegend@reddit

Bad RAM

[-]

Ermoore32@reddit

Sounds like maybe overheating/throttling potentially... Is it a laptop? And does it get hot or are the fans running all the time?

Also check to make sure they're using the correct AC Adapter, but I'm assuming laptop here. Under-powered adapters can throttle the sysetm.

Finally, I'd run extended diags on ram and ssd to make sure there aren't failures.

[-]

Millerboycls09@reddit

My work laptop was having frequent Windows Explorer crashing and event logs didn't point to anything.

It was causing all kinds of weirdness though, from hanging file searching to just all apps taking a nap for like 5 minutes.

I was having to go into task manager and manually kill explorer a few times a day.

[-]

mikeblas@reddit

Examine the crash dump files. Examine the logs.

[-]

jeditwisted@reddit

Run memtest86 see if your rams are ok

[-]

MunchyMcCrunchy@reddit

Bad SSD?

[-]

abr2195@reddit

You may also want to look at the GPU driver and how it is being updated. We had similar issues with CATIA and it boiled down to GPU driver versions that were not officially supported by the software. Controlling when and how GPU drivers are installed resolved the issue for us.

I’ve also seen (again, for CATIA) cases where even though a computer should be able to run the program, because it is not a computer build certified by Dassault, it just never worked right. A similarly specd certified build worked so much better than the one that wasn’t certified (very sad, I know).

[-]

Mean_Fondant_6452@reddit

sometimes, it's best just to swap it out completely. You maybe flogging a dead horse. Use the machine elsewhere and it's amazing sometimes how these problems evaporate with the next user.

[-]

jedimaster4007@reddit

From the things you've tried, none have ruled out problems with the hard drive. A low hanging fruit is to see if the drive is full, as this can cause unusual behavior and crashing applications. Then you might also try scheduling a chkdsk to see if there are corrupted sectors. Also might not hurt to run the Dell built in hardware diagnostics since that will check the drive and RAM plus everything else, at least to rule out hardware issues.

[-]

JustAnotherPoopDick@reddit

Please be more specific. What is the exact CPU being used?

[-]

Aware-Owl4346@reddit

https://i.redd.it/niphj6czc0vg1.gif

I've seen it happen

[-]

Local-Skirt7160@reddit

have you checked task manager when this happens? There are many users reporting slowdown when defender runs the full scan and in case your org has some scheduler for defender scan then you might be facing this due to that as well.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

He once sent me a screenshot when one of his programs crashed. However, the system metrics didn't indicate at all that the system was overloaded. CPU usage was under 20% and RAM usage was at 64%, if I remember correctly.

[-]

1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v@reddit

He once sent me a screenshot when one of his programs crashed.

Programs shouldn't crash. You seem to have multiple problems with this machine. I would rebuild it from scratch, load all the drivers, and make sure everything works perfectly.

Then image it so you can easily restore it back to this point if needed.

Then load the apps and continue to test.

But to me, it sounds like you might be having HW issues.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Yes, the thing is, I've already done that. Once with a bootable USB drive and once via Windows Update. I'm starting to think it's a hardware problem.

[-]

1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v@reddit

If you can swap out the memory and\or the SSD, that's the easiest thing you can do.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

I simply don't have anything comparable in stock that I could install. If I order both parts now and it doesn't work, I'll have to order a new device. Wouldn't it make more sense to just replace the device directly?

[-]

1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v@reddit

Absolutely, if you can replace the whole thing, I would start with that.

[-]

SiIverwolf@reddit

You're stating the system has more than enough resources, but have you actually done monitoring of that?

Everything you're describing could be explained by extended memory and/or CPU spiking.

Have you looked at the system logs for any information on what is going on?

[-]

Affectionate-Cat-975@reddit

check which video card and drivers it's using. If there's an onboad video card and a supported card windows can switch between processors. NVIDIA has an admin applet that can force SolidWorks to use the right chips. There's also some GDI registry settings that can help Solidworks run better.

[-]

Ok-Actuator9118@reddit

More RAM?

I like the replies about checking the event logs, AV settings after an MS update, or overheating but sometimes the answer is the simplest one.

32GB are we sure this is enough? Have we tried 64GB and seen if the issue still persists?

Better airflow?

[-]

Leather-Arachnid-417@reddit

Faulty memory maybe. Ive had devices act this way and that turn out to be the case. Also, whats the graphics card like?

[-]

Sintarsintar@reddit

Check the hard drive smart status if that shows no errors try swapping the ram.

[-]

XxxweebguyxxX@reddit

I had a solide edge 2020 crash because of a gpo mapping the same share path twice on a device.

[-]

Dragje@reddit

make sure it has the right power adapter

[-]

turbotails23@reddit

Sys admin, who really feels like they are more of a desktop solutions person--Before you get too deep, see if the computer is self throttling itself. The symptoms scaled down reek of something I have encountered far too much.

Ive worked with too many computers lately, especially Intel, where the computers throttle themselves out the wazoo to get battery life. Task manager, use it for a bit, see if it dips below 2.1 ghz. If it is, set performance mode in BIOS to performance if its possible, if not you can use registry entries in windows to set allowed throttle up/throttle down amounts. Set the down floor to 70% and the high to 100% and move on in life. If battery suffers too much for them, lay out the problem for them, and let them decide if they want battery life or if they want performance.

That would be my approach--based on experience anyways. Could be other elements to this.

[-]

Mustade@reddit

Is it a Precision 7670 or 7680? We've had roughly 7% of our devices with memory issues. We just got one back last month from Dell support with a replaced CAMM.

[-]

Moontoya@reddit

It's the user , they're doing something fucky

Source, same issue , solidworks especially, has followed the user acrss three different laptops, clean builds each time

[-]

arkiverge@reddit

How much administrative access does the user have? If the answer is some/all and another re-image immediately fixes the issue again you should turn auditing on to monitor any system changes and inform the user to not make any system-level changes without your knowledge. If it happens again check the logs.

[-]

I_T_Gamer@reddit

Saying Solidworks crashes randomly is just like saying "water is wet". You will need to dig deeper. Be sure the user is on a certified card, with a certified driver for Solidworks.

https://www.solidworks.com/support/hardware-certification/

[-]

whookid1209@reddit

What's the gpu?

[-]

AnalTwister@reddit

Test RAM and test the blocks on their hard drive.

[-]

thegarr@reddit

Wireless keyboard/mouse? Swap it out/change the batteries. Aside from the possible lag due to input issues, I have seen bonkers behavior due to misbehaving bluetooth keyboards/accessories that cause blue screens/freezes.

[-]

STEVOMAC7@reddit

If they are using a wireless KB with a dongle it might need line of sight to work properly. Had a similar issue before with a certain desk blocking signal. USB extension cable for the win.

[-]

Aprice40@reddit

Lots of good info in here. Another route to check is the disk. Does the user have big ondrive folder synced. Are there big rw operations as part of this software. Is indexing going crazy? These can all cause machine wide issues.

[-]

hevvypiano@reddit

have you tried reseating the ram?

[-]

Roland_Bodel_the_2nd@reddit

my guess is hw issues and if it were up to me I would swap the hardware with known-good hardware from the spares pool

[-]

jort_catalog@reddit

Running "perfmon /rel" can sometimes help diagnosing crashes or crashed services

[-]

Michichael@reddit

Almost certainly an SSD issue, but could be memory.

Run deep diagnostics on both.

[-]

Walbabyesser@reddit

BIOS self test for all components? 🤔

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

That would be my next thing. Does this test take hours?

[-]

Walbabyesser@reddit

It depends - If you check all boxes and test everything, maybe a few hours. Mem test takes a lot of time

[-]

akp1988@reddit

Have you checked the hardware? Minor faults on the RAM and SSD will cause similar issues. I didn't go through the whole thread but no one mentioned it in the ones I checked.

[-]

green_link@reddit

Solidworks is just trash. But it's industry standard. It doesn't matter what hardware you run it on it crashes. They need to rehaul it entirely but that will never happen. It doesn't take advantage of cores in multi core processors.

[-]

itskdog@reddit

Reminds me of ActivInspire in my environment - it's the flipchart software that comes with our interactive whiteboards, works most of the time, but it's been going for decades, and easily corrupts files and/or crashes.

[-]

badaz06@reddit

IF the user is able to demonstrate the issue (meaning it always happens), using procmon might be a good idea. That will load in the background and watch all the processes, and you can have the user do whatever it is that kills the system.

It's a memory pig though, so not something you would want to leave running on the system for a long period of time.

[-]

idle_handz@reddit

Run reliability monitor and see if anything stands out.

[-]

TerrorToadx@reddit

Warranty still on it?
Just replace it lol

[-]

snookajab@reddit

Try upping your page file size. I’ve got 8 or so solid works users at my company and they were getting explorer lag and lag in solid works. I can’t remember the exact size to bump it to. I believe it was 2 or 3 times the system ram size. It’s helped them out. Also in explorer turn off preview. If there are large files that’s going to slow things down.

[-]

mindshockdnb@reddit

If it's a laptop, check the BIOS for graphics settings. Laptops with studio grade GPU's usually have a setting which GPU to use: onboard/hybrid or discrete. Set it to discrete, that could fix your issue. I've had at least 2 models which had some comparable issue and setting the graphics device to discete fixed it.

[-]

burnte@reddit

Bad power. Swap out the PSU.

[-]

4wheels6pack@reddit

If this is a Dell Thin-station, it might be overheating Had two of these suffer thermal failure in one year. Many of the same symptoms you described were the first warning signs, before the BIOS started to give temperature alerts

[-]

cysiekw@reddit

Diagnostic track: 1. Full Memtest - ram. 2. Hdd - Cristal disk info, Victoria. 3 power supply, occt an power stress test. 4 cpu test in occt.

[-]

vato915@reddit

Is this on a recent Dell Pro laptop, by any chance?

[-]

KamikazePenguiin@reddit

I understand you reinstalled the OS, but have you tried actually wiping his profile? All of those sound like technically different issues though. His keyboard and mouse for example I'm assuming it isn't wired. So bluetooth? Or is it using a dongle? Have they been swapped? Has a wired set been tried? I've found bluetooth (especially) depending on interference can run into that issue.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

The devices are managed through Intune, so I don't think I can just delete his user profile. And if I reset the device, he'll have a new profile - then everything will be reset. I also get the impression that the issues aren't related.

[-]

Made4FunForced2Work@reddit

A profile wipe is just running powershell and doing
Get-CimInstance Win32_UserProfile | Where-Object { $_.LocalPath - like "C:\Users\username" } | Remove-CimInstance

This removes the profile directory and cleans the registry. Then you have them sign out and back in, when they sign back in it rebuilds their profile fresh.

afaik Intune has no impact on your ability to wipe a profile or not.

NOTE: any locally saved files that are saved in their documents or desktop or anywhere in their profile, gets deleted. Typically users are told never to save things except to the fileshare / OneDrive but they almost always save things locally. Worth telling them to back up anything important to the fileshare / OneDrive before wiping the profile.

[-]

KamikazePenguiin@reddit

You're right. I dont believe Intune should restrict you from removing a profile, I was just mentioning that there are ways to clear user profiles using Intune since they brought it up.

[-]

Made4FunForced2Work@reddit

Yeah, I was just responding to them saying they don't think they can just delete the user profile because the device is managed through Intune. You're all good! (I like your username btw)

[-]

KamikazePenguiin@reddit

Right I'd agree that they are separate issues. It depends on how the device is set up using intune. I believe though there is a way to wipe profiles (I'm just not sure if it dependant on if multiple profiles exist).

I would see if any of these issues are reproducible (communication is key for this part). As in are they happening during specific actions in or outside the program. From there wait until one of these things occur (then check for logs usually a few minutes either before or after). I wouldn't go super deep on event logs, you will see errors and sometimes they may be responsible and sometimes they wont be. Once you look them up you'll usually have an idea if it makes sense to you.

[-]

Beesechurgers2@reddit

Does he have a roaming profile?

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

nop

[-]

RooAh17@reddit

replace the hard drive(s)

[-]

ElixisTechnology@reddit

I'm only making this suggestion because I didn't see it on your troubleshooting list..... Wireless or just failing keyboard can be the root cause of input lag. Try a different wired keyboard.

[-]

Recent_Perspective53@reddit

First, works keyboard? Next, network drives send saves? After, disk full? Review the event log and see if there is anything in there

[-]

Cormacolinde@reddit

Make sure power oiptions is set to “high performance”.

[-]

223454@reddit

Do you have a spare computer of similar specs? I would swap the entire computer and see what happens. To make it simple, at first, you can just move the hard drive to the new computer. But I suspect it's either software, network, or hard drive related.

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Nop, we only use HP. I don't know which person had the idea to vuy a dell for this person only. 🤦‍♂️

[-]

GX_EN@reddit

Right, but the same question remains - do you have an HP machines with a similar spec? I'd try one of those, that's an easy way to rule that out.

[-]

mdervin@reddit

Turn off windows indexing/search

[-]

Muffin_Shreds@reddit

Random thoughts in no particular order: Replace the machine and see if it returns. Test as a different user on the same machine. Check for roaming profiles. If it takes a month to return its probably an issue with storage. There may be a cache for Solidworks that needs to be cleared.

[-]

IZEN_R@reddit

Most likely not the solution but have you checked temps? Some of the issues remind me of thermal throttle

[-]

New-Seesaw1719@reddit

Does the user have a USB Flash Drive? Sounds like hardware issue

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

USB Storage is blocked

[-]

ServersgoBrrrrrrrr97@reddit

Hey, had a similar issue a few months ago. Check which model of SSD they are using - there's certain Western Digital/"Sandisk" Models. The Dell & Windows update systems will NOT update this you need to download the Sandisk Dashboard to install it.

https://support-en.sandisk.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/51469

It made no sense and I was pulling my hair out - same issue on 2 boxes with 32gb RAM & i7s - would do it after 1-2 minutes at startup.

[-]

Crunglegod@reddit

I've had a similar issue with a couple Kioxia brand drives that firmware didn't fix, we ended up just getting a new SSD

[-]

shorty80@reddit

I can tell you from my personal experience especially users running autocad. Don’t use a device running the graphics from the CPU. We had to upgrade our engineering department to dell precision’s running a RTX gpu. If you’re running one already, check to make sure the default graphics card isn’t set to the intel. I believe this is in the graphics property

[-]

Sad_Mastodon_1815@reddit (OP)

Nop, the dedicated graphic card is setted to use with SolidWorks :(

[-]

djDef80@reddit

I've had trouble with wireless keyboard dongles being placed right next to USB flash drives that interfered with the keyboard and mouse input significantly. Is he using a wired keyboard and mouse or wireless? If it is wireless I would recommend at least attempting using a wired keyboard and mouse instead. That's the first thing I would rule out.

[-]

weHaveThoughts@reddit

Just give them a new laptop and call the Dell tech to check the boards on the current one. Not worth your time.

[-]

NoradIV@reddit

"- SFC/DISM

- I made sure Fast Startup is disabled"

Stop wasting time with this stuff. Your problem is very likely driver related. When using software like solidworks, use the certified hardware page and use the drivers that they say to use.

And yes, look at application logs and system logs, and solidworks logs if there is any.

[-]

eagle6705@reddit

Check the logs before and after symptons appear. Also cad software really needs a decent workstation card to function properly. One of my clients uses autocad and solidworks and updating the card to a rtx2000(something like that) a workstation grade card and fixed all issues.

[-]

ksteink@reddit

Check for Hard Drive physical errors. Maybe you have a drive failiing

[-]

qkdsm7@reddit

Logs first---- then try hopping on with another profile? Ran memtest86 or anything else to rule out something laying down under load?

[-]

dmitri_ac@reddit

When problems like input lag, random crashes, and instability show up across multiple programs at once, that usually means hardware rather than software. If it were a software issue, it would more likely affect specific applications or show up as a consistent error. The fact that it came back after a clean OS reinstall is a strong sign that the reinstall just temporarily covered the problem rather than fixing it.

The first thing worth checking is the RAM. Faulty memory can cause exactly this kind of unpredictable behaviour, where everything seems fine one moment and then something crashes for no obvious reason. Memtest86 is the standard tool for this, running it overnight gives it enough passes to catch errors that might not show up in a shorter test.

Drive health is also worth looking at early. CrystalDiskInfo will show the S.M.A.R.T. data for the drive, which can flag things like reallocated sectors or high error counts before the drive actually fails completely.

The other thing to check is thermals. An i9 inside a Dell chassis can run into thermal throttling if the cooling system is dusty or the thermal paste has dried out over time. This would explain why performance feels fine on some days and not others, the CPU is running normally until it gets too hot, then it starts throttling to protect itself. HWiNFO can show CPU temperatures and clock speeds under load, so running that while doing something demanding would show pretty quickly whether throttling is happening. That is probably the first thing I would actually check before pulling the machine apart.