New laptop freezes every ~10 seconds

[KTreu42]

Specs:

Dell Inspiron 15 Model 7559
8 GB RAM
GeForce GTX 960M
256 GB SSD
Windows 10

Hey all,

So as the title says, I got this new laptop for Christmas. I noticed the very first couple of times I used it that there was some weird freezing issue. Every 9-10 seconds, the screen locks up, the laptop mouse won't work, and text doesn't appear as you type it (although it appears after the freeze spike ends). It makes it virtually unusable, and like I said, it seemed to begin right out of the box.

I found a thread on these forums suggesting that it was an issue with the Dell's power saving preferences. I noticed that the Disk was showing 99-100% use just like that thread's OP mentioned. I changed the power settings and the disk use dropped down to a normal level. However, it now appears that the CPU is causing the spikes (or at least tracking them). The graph in the Task Manager shows the CPU spiking to very high levels at that regular ~10 second interval.

I haven't done much on this laptop yet besides set up some settings, delete a few Windows 10 and Dell apps that I don't want, and download a couple of programs. The only things I have installed so far are some gaming clients (Steam, GOG, Origin), Chrome, and a graphics driver update through GeForce experience. I know that Geforce Experience has been the root of a few tech problems in the past, but my best guess beyond that is that it's just some weird glitch with a Dell bloatware program that came on the computer.

Any help you fine folks can lend me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much in advance!

Update: I think I noticed that after I reboot the system, it does not freeze, but the problem begins after I wake up the lappy from sleep. Also, if I put my ear close to the lappy I can hear whirring from the inside, which stops and starts with the frozen screen.

 

[ffg7]

return it for warranty replacement as should not do that.

 

[KTreu42]

return it for warranty replacement as should not do that.

You don't think it's something I can fix on my end? I am worried that it's a hardware failure since you hear the gears stutter inside the machine. I just rebooted, closed the lid, and opened it after a minute and for now it's okay. Maybe it's just after the screen turns off while it's still open? That still doesn't make much sense though.

If anyone has any other ideas for me to try I will; I am willing to have it returned under warranty though, since it's still new.


And wow, okay as I type this, the problem began again. It was fine for a minute but it's right back to freezing.

 

[ffg7]

return it for warranty replacement as that is what the warranty is for.