XPS 8940, switching off randomly

Welcome to Dell Social Media Support, Could you private message me the Service Tag, so I can look into this for you right away? 
You could refer to the below link to find the Service Tag: 
dell.to/2KwgYVt

RTX video card you say? What is your BIOS Version, 2.4?

Many of us have hit a BIOS problem, but that is only a LOCK-UP or a FREEZE. Desktop or what you were doing stays on the display. Only way out, use the Power Button to power OFF.

No BSOD or anything in the Event Viewer.

Yes, you appear to have a slightly different problem, but I'd suggest trying the WORK-AROUND that works for 'us'. Backlevel the BIOS to version 2.3... poof, problem goes away. Also have to be sure to stop the BIOS from using Windows Update to put you back on V 2 4 (turn off Capsule Updates in the BIOS) and/or Dell's Support Assist doing it.

Hope this works for you.

Thanks. I sent the PM

I have BIOS version 2.4. I'm not sure what version I had before that but maybe 2.3? I actually upgraded because it was a recommendation to fix this issue. The issue exists with both versions. My video card is a GTX 960. It gets pretty warm and I'm wondering if it's heating up the case and triggering the safety shut off. With just one fan in the back, it doesn't seem ideal for a large gaming card. Event Viewer is as much help as you'd expect. 

I suggest getting HWINFO64, it will show you the temps, no guessing that way.

I've got an RTX 2060 6GB card. It runs around 100F or so:

(it can take some time for the above appear, so check back to see it).

The XPS is an SE with the 500W PSU if that matters.

I am pretty sure my card will draw more power than the GTX 960 and also generate more heat.

Heat could cause the CPU to drop speed or possibly stop, but that program can also give you the CPU temps. My i7 11700 does run about 30F warmer than the video card.

I did check temps with another program. Nothing extreme. My question to someone is does my issue point to a feature of the PC to protect against overheating, etc., or something else?

Let me give more details: It will freeze for a few seconds. The mouse cursor won't move and the keyboard won't work. After a few seconds, it restarts and takes me to the blue Windows troubleshooting screen where it gives you the option to do diagnostics or restart.

That does sound different that the 'BIOS' problem?

Sort of sounds like something is using all you CPU or DISK capability?

From what you describe, you might be actually getting and error but taking a DUMP is not enabled. I recall in W11 it was not?

You need to check the PC's Properties. In Settings, on the SYSTEM, on the Device Description, click on Advanced System Settings. That open's the PC's properties. Select the Advanced tab, and look at the System Failure settings. On my W11 that line, Write Debugging information was set to NONE!!! Need to change to the Small dump and set the Directory to "%SystemRoot%\Minidump". That way, programs, such as WhatCrashed or BlueScreenView, will read that dump and provide some info, and it just might also allow an Entry into the Event Viewer.

As for you getting the Windows Troubleshooting screen, I suspect the Restart goes there as the PC was shutdown improperly due to a crash, no you powering it off by using the Power button. If the Dump/Debugging was not set in the PC's properties, then I'm sure that would help.

Here is what my settings look like:

Again, it might take some time to appear, so check back later.

Reboot and tap F12 when you see the Dell splash screen to open the boot menu. Select the option to run Diagnostics and run all of them, including full RAM and drive tests. Be patient because this can take a while. Copy error message(s), if any.

Have you looked in Windows Event Viewer or in Windows Reliability Monitor for any errors logged around the time of the crash?  Ignore Kernel 41 errors because that's just a generic meaning Windows wasn't shut down normally, but it doesn't tell you anything what caused the issue.

Have you scanned thoroughly for malware recently? Malwarebytes (free) is a useful tool for this.

Have you tried disabling all Dell apps so they won't load at boot? Eg, Dell SupportAssist, Dell Update, Dell Mobile Connect, Dell USB Type-C Display Application. You can disable them on the Startup tab in Task Manager, and/or by setting their Startup type to Disabled in Start>Run>services.msc. (Do not change anything else in services.msc.) Reboot when done and monitor for the problem.

Here is what her settings looked like for .DMP. I did change it to yours. Hopefully, that's ok but not sure if it makes a difference:

@greymann, hard to tell is that helps or not? I've not had any lock-up or crashes that took down the whole OS. I have had errors in the Event Viewer though (not unusual), never a dump was created?

I'm too lazy to force a dump to test it...

I'll know at some point if it works or not I guess?

I will check my existing dmp file to see if it noted anything about the previous crashes later.

All tests pass on the full test. I will check the event view, etc. later and report:

@greymann  - Have you tried disabling all Dell apps on this system, eg, Dell SupportAssist, Dell Update, etc, as I suggested above?

One of my Dell contacts suggested I remind you, again, to try that...

There were no Dell startup programs listed in Task manager. I disabled and stopped all Dell services.

Malwarebytes had 50 items to remove mostly related to google or chrome. I removed them.

I checked the memory dmp and event viewer. I don't see anything with the date of the last crash to give me a hint on what happened. Much of it is code and doesn't make sense to me. I can paste code or screens if you think it's worth your while.

I'm waiting on a new monitor so I can test the PC without this video card and just run it off the board. A dell rep in PM said to run the PC without any of the hardware I added. Trying that soon.

The PC crashed again so the search goes on. Event Viewer isn't logging anything notable around the time of the crash. There are errors only in the Application section on the same day but doesn't tell me anything. Most are Bonjour and VSS. There's a Microsoft game bar, DNS and others. Any other suggestions before I start taking out hardware?