Dell Pro Max 16/18 Plus (2025 model) pre-release discussion — MB16250, MB18250

[Easa]

Basically everything on the PCIE Bus - some Intel stuff, then Nvidia, Samsung NVMe drives...Ill try to get a complete list. 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

check the WHEA + Boot event stack.
Open Event Viewer and filter for these:

Kernel-Power - Event 6008 (unexpected shutdown)
System events 14/1/0 around boot
 

You already saw WHEA 17, now verify if you also see any of these higher-impact entries:
WHEA 1, 18, 19 CPU internal errors (these are way more serious than 17)
WHEA 20 PCIe fatal error at the root complex
DistributedCOM 10016 after boot Usually caused by Dell power service hammering Windows
ACPI 15 during POST Embedded Controller firmware instability
 

If you’re seeing ACPI 15 + WHEA 17 together, that’s a blinking neon sign of PCIe root-port resets triggered by bad power state handling in firmware. It’s a warning at the OS, but the root is below it.

[Easa]

14 minutes ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

check the WHEA + Boot event stack.
Open Event Viewer and filter for these:

Kernel-Power - Event 6008 (unexpected shutdown)
System events 14/1/0 around boot
 

You already saw WHEA 17, now verify if you also see any of these higher-impact entries:
WHEA 1, 18, 19 CPU internal errors (these are way more serious than 17)
WHEA 20 PCIe fatal error at the root complex
DistributedCOM 10016 after boot Usually caused by Dell power service hammering Windows
ACPI 15 during POST Embedded Controller firmware instability
 

If you’re seeing ACPI 15 + WHEA 17 together, that’s a blinking neon sign of PCIe root-port resets triggered by bad power state handling in firmware. It’s a warning at the OS, but the root is below it.

 

 

1. No unexpected shutdowns
2. No WHEA errors apart from 17
3. Two ACPI 15 Errors always come at the same time as the whole WHEA 17 stack

 

These devices throw an error for instance, with multiple entries. Its 41 Errors in total. 

 

• PCI\VEN_105B&DEV_E11D&SUBSYS_E11D105B&REV_00
• PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_22E9&SUBSYS_000010DE&REV_A1
• PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A80C&SUBSYS_A801144D&REV_00
• PCI\VEN_144D&DEV_A810&SUBSYS_A801144D&REV_00
• PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_272B&SUBSYS_40F08086&REV_1A

[MyPC8MyBrain]

next, check PCIe root ports for reset loops.
 

Run:
powercfg /devicequery wake_armed
pnputil /enum-drivers | findstr "272B 2723 271F 272C 10DE 144D 144D"
 

look for
Do the PCIe root ports reset repeatedly at boot?
Does Windows show link state flapping or ports re-training over and over?
Is anything on the PCIe bus reinitializing in a loop?

Warnings are fine. Repeat resets are not. That’s not “normal”, that’s Dell’s ASPM implementation losing its mind.
 

force PCIe link-state reporting, Check the active power scheme state:
powercfg /qh SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS PCIEXPRESS_ASPM_STATE

You want one answer "0 = ASPM Off"
 

If it shows anything else, flip it off before doing anything further.

Kill ASPM properly (likely the actual root of this mess).

Dell turns on ASPM at the PCIe root ports for battery savings, but on 2025 Intel HX + Nvidia Blackwell + PCIe Gen5 NVMe, their implementation is flat-out unstable.

Disable it
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pci\Parameters" /v "ASPMOptOut" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power" /v "EnableASPM" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power" /v "PlatformAoAcOverride" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reboot.

this has to be done first or you’ll be chasing ghosts forever.
 

After ASPM is OFF If the WHEA warnings still show up after reboot, only then move on to storage:
Replace the Windows inbox NVMe driver with Samsung’s Standard NVMe Driver (through Samsung Magician driver package).
Don’t do this step until the WHEA + ACPI + PCIe layer is calm.

 

[Easa]

powercfg /qh SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS PCIEXPRESS_ASPM_STATE throws invalid parameter

I have done a powercfg /energy report, and it says that the PCIE ASPM is disabled when running on AC Power. 

 

What I am also observing that the machine sometimes freezes for like 2 seconds with no apparent reason, sometimes its when maximizing window, sometimes its when launching an app or opening context menu. No clear link to anything. 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

Good, that confirms ASPM is off on AC, so the PCIe power state isn’t the smoking gun.
you could have run  

powercfg /qh SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM

If that also errors,

powercfg -query SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM
 

What you want to see in the output is 0x0 or Off = ASPM is disabled

for good measure apply suggested reg entries and reboot (system already reports ASPM is off anyway),
and confirm status still persist.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

35 minutes ago, Easa said:

am also observing that the machine sometimes freezes for like 2 seconds with no apparent reason

Even when ASPM is disabled, the vendor drivers still run their own power polling and interrupt management under the OS radar. You can’t fix it by searching logs alone you fix it by trimming the excess until only essentials remain.
 

Most likely suspects

Realtek/Intel audio driver DPC spikes
(shows up when menus open or apps launch because system sounds try to initialize)
 

iGPU  dGPU handoff stalls (Optimus flapping)
Not a “crash”, just unstable driver behavior that Windows doesn’t classify as failure.
 

USB controller power polling at interrupt level
Shows up when context menu, context click, or window maximize triggers HID calls.
 

None of these will scream error in logs. They produce invisible queue stalls.

 

try disabling every Dell add-on service you don’t actively use.
Not drivers that operate hardware, services that pretend to optimize things for you.
 

Turn off system sounds temporarily to test if audio driver latency is involved

Control Panel > Sound > Sound Scheme > No Sounds
 

If the freezes vanish or reduce, that points straight at the audio stack.

[Easa]

5 hours ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

Good, that confirms ASPM is off on AC, so the PCIe power state isn’t the smoking gun.
you could have run  

powercfg /qh SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM

If that also errors,

powercfg -query SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM
 

What you want to see in the output is 0x0 or Off = ASPM is disabled

for good measure apply suggested reg entries and reboot (system already reports ASPM is off anyway),
and confirm status still persist.

 

Registry entries added. After running the command:

 

"Vypnuté" means OFF.

 

WHEA Errors still present, they were there even before I had the 990 Pro drives inside. Nothing changed, yet. 

 

This: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000216115/laptops-with-12th-gen-and-12th-gen-hx-intel-core-processors-may-display-warning-message-whea-loggerid17 eh? 😄

[MyPC8MyBrain]

If Advanced Optimus off fixed the black screen, that already tells you the issue sits in the switching pipeline, not the touchpad event.
 

The WHEA-Logger Event 17 flood on multiple PCIe endpoints during boot is not individual devices failing.
It means the system is struggling with PCIe lane initialization at POST, retrying link training before it settles.
 

Since the warnings were there even before adding Samsung 990 Pro or any drive changes, and persist after disabling ASPM, the remaining root causes are
The CPU PCIe controller (root complex), or
Dell’s BIOS/EC layer mis-training lanes at boot, or
Board-level power/clock signaling noise affecting PCIe during early boot
 

A quick way to confirm direction
Remove all secondary PCIe storage
Turn Advanced Optimus off in the BIOS
Boot using only the main SSD
Check if WHEA 17 warnings reduce or stop
 

If the warnings still appear in the same volume, it points to a hardware or BIOS-level defect, most likely the mainboard or CPU PCIe path. No driver update is required for this kind of instability to surface—it can start after runtime state drift, stress, or uptime even when nothing visibly changed.
 

If stability matters more than battery life, running with a fixed MUX path or AO off is the reliable choice.
But long term, a workstation laptop should not produce PCIe training retries at every boot.
If it continues even with minimal population, it’s a warranty case for the system.

[Easa]

10 hours ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

If Advanced Optimus off fixed the black screen, that already tells you the issue sits in the switching pipeline, not the touchpad event.

 

Yes and I agree with you from the start on this, but like I have said - I have followed your instructions:

 

1. Clean uninstallation of all GPU drivers, installed the latest Intel driver (just the driver, without CC)
2. Installed the RTX driver (also latest, full package)
3. Disabled PSR through registry

After these steps, I have decided to give it a try with the AO still enabled, and the issue has not manifested yet. It crashed frequently during the VLC video playback before, now its all good and the battery life is great. If there wont be any more black screen events or other crashes, Ill probably leave AO on.

 

10 hours ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

Since the warnings were there even before adding Samsung 990 Pro or any drive changes, and persist after disabling ASPM, the remaining root causes are
The CPU PCIe controller (root complex), or
Dell’s BIOS/EC layer mis-training lanes at boot, or
Board-level power/clock signaling noise affecting PCIe during early boot
 

A quick way to confirm direction
Remove all secondary PCIe storage
Turn Advanced Optimus off in the BIOS
Boot using only the main SSD
Check if WHEA 17 warnings reduce or stop
 

If the warnings still appear in the same volume, it points to a hardware or BIOS-level defect, most likely the mainboard or CPU PCIe path. No driver update is required for this kind of instability to surface—it can start after runtime state drift, stress, or uptime even when nothing visibly changed.
 

If stability matters more than battery life, running with a fixed MUX path or AO off is the reliable choice.
But long term, a workstation laptop should not produce PCIe training retries at every boot.
If it continues even with minimal population, it’s a warranty case for the system.

 

Yes, the warnings were there right from the start, on the first day of running the system. I will try to shave off everything I can to determine this issue, starting with a fixed MUX. As for the stability, except for the black screen, there is no issue so far (or I have not discovered any, yet). The machine can run 24/7 without a single error entry, the errors appear only at the post (or wake up from screen). 

[Easa]

• Running dGPU via BIOS MUX Switch
• Disabled WWAN and NFC
• Disabled C-States for dGPU 
  
  Now however...
   
• POST WHEA Error count reduced to 17, but now the WHEA errors pop up even during usage, without a specific usage trigger like 3D Workload, etc. During 5 minutes of OS run, 14 more errors appeared, few of them pop up each minute. Now, its only these devices throwing errors: 
  
  PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_272B&SUBSYS_40F08086&REV_1A
  PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_2C39&SUBSYS_0D131028&REV_A1
  PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_22E9&SUBSYS_000010DE&REV_A1
   
• Getting spontaneous ACPI 13 and 15 Events now 
   
• Total System Power now idling at 50 - 70W even with no usage