I bought a brand new Dell XPS 8500 back in January and really have had nothing but trouble with Windows 8 crashes. I am an experienced PC user and former PC programmer, so I consider myself a power user. I've tried all the logical steps but I can't seem to find the reason for the crashes, which have occurred, I'd estimate, about once a month, perhaps a little more frequently. In all cases the computer is in a state that requires a hard reset (the computer does not respond to Control-Alt-Del or any key combination). In all but one instance I have been able to restart my computer without any loss of data. In one case, however, I had no option but to restore from a backup.
I have 64-bit Windows 8 with Service Pack 0 installed. Build number is 9200. Direct X 11. My XPS 8500 has 12 GB memory and an Intel i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz. I've upgraded my machine's BIO through the Dell site to version A10. I've run all the diagnostics that are part of the My Dell software package with no problems reported. I've added no hardware to the out-of-the-box base configuration except for a wireless Microsoft keyboard (Wireless Comfort Keyboard 1.0A) and a wireless Logitech mouse (M-RBQ124).
The computer is always left powered on. In the beginning I would find it in a state where there was no video on either of the two Samsung monitors I have connected to it (there was no mouse cursor and two black screens). Though the PC and monitors had power my only option was a hard reset. Thinking it might be a power situation I modified the power settings to engage a screensaver but prevent the monitors from being shut off. Never the less, the other day when I cleared the screen saver I was met by a blank screen (though it had the same color as my Windows 8 theme). Again, no responsiveness and the machine only responded to a hard reset.
At one point I saw this message on bootup: "No boot device available...SATA 0: Initiatilized, SATA 1: Initialized.." Despite the message, another reboot and the machine worked just fine.
I have examined all the system logs, but can find no significant error messages.
I have never had any difficulty with the computer while I am using it. This crash situation I am describing has only arisen when I come to device after a long period of idleness (like overnight). The computer is in a secured room and only available to me.
At this point I'm concerned that I may have bought a lemon. Do any of you have any suggestions for troubleshooting? Are there steps I can take to better home in on what part of Windows (if any) or the hardware is causing a problem?
I appreciate very much any suggestions.
-- Robert