Windows 11 freezes since KB5077181 (OS Builds 26200.7840 and 26100.7840

Question

Windows 11 freezes since KB5077181 (OS Builds 26200.7840 and 26100.7840

Damien RICHARD 10

Since KB5077181 (feb 26) deployment in Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, many devices (DELL Latitude laptop) freezes randomly.
Hotfix post KB5077181 like KB5079473 (mar 26) don't fix this behavior
Long press Power button is the solution to retrieve a functional environment until another freeze.
All devices are managed by Intune

Thibodeau, Luke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-18T22:25:39.5+00:00

Wow this sounds like our issue on our Dynabook X30L-J laptops. Our production environment is getting hit hard with this patch particularly with 11th gen intel laptops we have, and since we are a month behind on our update cadence, I am reporting late to this thread. We have 11th gen i5 1135G7 laptops that are affected since build February 10, 2026—KB5077181 OS Builds 26100.7840. I've shared this story in subreddits and a patch tuesday megathread as well.

Currently we tried updating the bios and EC and intel graphics drivers. We are having an issue though when the laptops are on battery they will freeze and the device has to be hard restarted.

We couldn't gather much from the windows reliability report history and there's no blue screen. The mouse will suddenly get stuck.

This only seems to affect our 11th gen intel laptops with Intel Iris XE graphics. We're still going through a list of troubleshooting ideas for this. The most reliable thing we can do for our users is to tell them to keep the device plugged in and adjust power options while plugged in to never sleep and never turn off the display.

3 answers

Your answer

Thibodeau, Luke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-18T22:25:39.5+00:00

Wow this sounds like our issue on our Dynabook X30L-J laptops. Our production environment is getting hit hard with this patch particularly with 11th gen intel laptops we have, and since we are a month behind on our update cadence, I am reporting late to this thread. We have 11th gen i5 1135G7 laptops that are affected since build February 10, 2026—KB5077181 OS Builds 26100.7840. I've shared this story in subreddits and a patch tuesday megathread as well.

Currently we tried updating the bios and EC and intel graphics drivers. We are having an issue though when the laptops are on battery they will freeze and the device has to be hard restarted.

We couldn't gather much from the windows reliability report history and there's no blue screen. The mouse will suddenly get stuck.

This only seems to affect our 11th gen intel laptops with Intel Iris XE graphics. We're still going through a list of troubleshooting ideas for this. The most reliable thing we can do for our users is to tell them to keep the device plugged in and adjust power options while plugged in to never sleep and never turn off the display.

Answer 1

Hi Thibodeau, Luke,

Brilliant catch! You hit the nail on the head. You are 100% correct: AC stands for Alternating Current (plugged in) and DC stands for Direct Current (battery). Since your Dynabook laptops are specifically freezing while on battery power, you absolutely must use the /SETDCVALUEINDEX command!

As for that frustrating "power group setting does not exist" error you ran into: Windows 11 (specifically with Modern Standby) intentionally hides these advanced PCIe power settings from the OS by default so users don't mess with them. We have to "unhide" them in the registry first before powercfg can edit them.

Here is the complete, correct sequence to run from an elevated Command Prompt (Run as Administrator) to fix your battery freeze issue:

1. Unhide the ASPM setting: reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20\ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4 /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

2. Disable ASPM on Battery (DC): powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20 ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4 0

3. Disable ASPM when Plugged in (AC): (Recommended for consistency) powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20 ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4 0

4. Apply the changes immediately: powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT

Give this full sequence a try on one of your affected 11th Gen laptops. If this complete script finally kills those random kernel freezes for your fleet, please consider clicking 'Accept Answer' or voting this up! It massively helps other IT admins dealing with these nightmare Intel/Windows 11 power state bugs find the right fix.

Tracy.

Thibodeau, Luke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-20T15:54:42.4033333+00:00

This is how we were able to change it. We had to use alias not the specific GUID you suggested, Tracy. Hope this helps anyone else who sees this.

First, run the query command powercfg /query SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS and see if it returns a 0 for AC and DC, it will most likely return a 2. The most aggressive power saving option.

Unhide the ASPM setting: reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20\ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4 /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

(This may require a restart, we might have to test this)

Disable ASPM on Battery (DC): powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM 0

Disable ASPM when Plugged in (AC): (Recommended for consistency) /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM 0

Apply the changes immediately: powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT

afterwards I would run the query command again powercfg /query SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS and see if it returns a 0 for AC and DC after restarting just to be thorough
Damien RICHARD 10 Reputation points

2026-03-23T08:52:22.2433333+00:00

Hi @Tracy Le
I try these commands on few devices to see if there is a positive impact on my laptops with 11th gen intel proc.
These laptops (Dell Latitude 5420) have the second-to-last BIOS update. I always wait a few weeks before installing updates like BIOS updates or Windows Update patches
In my case the Link State Power Management is ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a576df5, not ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4
Thanks for your help

powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM 0 powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT SUB_PCIEXPRESS ASPM 0 powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT

Answer 2

Tracy Le 5,295 Independent Advisor

Hi Damien RICHARD,

I'm just circling back to see if you managed to stabilize your Dell Latitude fleet.

I noticed Luke chimed in on the thread mentioning the exact same hard freeze happening on their 11th Gen Intel laptops, specifically when the devices are running on battery power. This perfectly aligns with the ASPM (Active State Power Management) conflict theory I mentioned in step 2 of my answer, as Windows aggressively alters PCIe link states when a device switches from AC power to battery.

Did pushing that PowerShell script to disable ASPM prevent the lockups for your users, or did a specific Dell BIOS update end up doing the trick?

Let us know how the testing went! If my previous guidance helped clear things up or resolved your issue, please consider clicking 'Accept Answer'. This really helps other IT admins find the solution much faster when they run into this exact same kernel freeze!

Tracy.

Thibodeau, Luke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-19T14:25:27.6033333+00:00

I wanted to try this powershell trick my only question about the code is that it I noticed it says "SETACVALUEINDEX" does this only apply while plugged in?

And, should we adjust DCVALUE i.e. powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20 ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4 0 powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT ? Or does that not work or not matter?

Answer 3

Hi Damien RICHARD,

When a laptop locks up so completely that it requires a hard reset (holding the power button), it is rarely just a standard software bug. It is almost always a low-level kernel conflict between the new Windows update and the hardware's power management state or specific Dell/Intel drivers. The new OS build is essentially miscommunicating with the Dell motherboard.

Here is the most effective way to stabilize your fleet:

1. Push Critical Dell Firmware (Not just Windows Updates) Windows updates often introduce new power state requirements that older BIOS versions cannot handle. Before fighting the OS, use Intune (or Dell Command | Update) to push the absolute latest BIOS and Intel Graphics/Chipset drivers to these Latitudes.

2. Disable ASPM Power Management (The Quick Fix) If updating the BIOS doesn't stop the freezing, the KB update likely broke Active State Power Management (ASPM), causing the hardware to hang when waking from micro-sleep states. You can deploy this quick PowerShell script via Intune to disable it and prevent the lockups:

powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20 ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a558cb4 0 
powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURREN

3. Pause the Update Ring Since you manage these via Intune, pause this specific update ring for your Dell Latitude device groups until Microsoft and Dell release a synchronized patch.

Try pushing the BIOS updates or the PowerShell script to a test group first. If my guidance helps you stabilize these devices, please consider clicking 'Accept Answer'. This really helps other IT admins find the solution faster when they run into the exact same Dell/Win11 problem!

Tracy.

Thibodeau, Luke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-19T15:19:24.5633333+00:00

Hello -- Unfortunately when I tried to run the first powercfg command it said that the power group setting does not exist
Tracy Le 5,295 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-19T15:27:44.4933333+00:00

Hope that you can fix it

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Windows 11 freezes since KB5077181 (OS Builds 26200.7840 and 26100.7840

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