XPS 9500 Hangs/Crashes Using Photoshop or Lightroom

[MidnightStars]

Device: Dell XPS 15 (9500) (Laptop) | i7-10750H w/ GTX 1650 Ti | Windows v1903 (64-bit)

When plugged in, zero issue. On battery however, if I have BOTH the iGPU + dGPU enabled, using either Photoshop or Lightroom will cause the entire PC to freeze. If I move the mouse, the keyboard will light back up, but I can only recover by forcing it to shutdown. Win Key + Ctrl + Shift + B (restart GPU drivers) doesn't appear to fix it either.

Now, if I disable either the iGPU, OR the dGPU, both apps will pick the enabled one just fine, and function on battery. I have also told both apps to exclusively use the iGPU or dGPU (Settings > Display > Graphics settings) when testing, and in either case, freezing occurs.

EVERY single driver is up-to-date.

I have tried clearing all GPU drivers w/ DDU, and attempted the following configurations:

1. Dell OEM Intel + OEM NVIDIA drivers

2. Dell OEM Intel + NVIDIA Game Ready drivers

3. Dell OEM Intel + NVIDIA Studio drivers

4. Dell OEM Intel + NVIDIA Studio STANDARD (non-DCH) drivers

5. Intel supplied drivers + Dell OEM NVIDIA drivers

6. Intel supplied drivers + NVIDIA Game Ready drivers

7. Intel supplied drivers + NVIDIA Studio drivers

8. Intel supplied drivers + NVIDIA Studio STANDARD (non-DCH) drivers

In ALL the above cases, Photoshop and Lighroom freezes the laptop only on battery. In all the scenarios above, apps works perfectly fine while plugged in, OR when I disable EITHER the iGPU or dGPU.

I thought it was a power issue for the GTX card, but interestingly enough, I can play games (e.g. Genshin Impact) perfectly fine, on battery, as it runs on the 1650. To top it off, the iGPU can run at the same time with ZERO issues (recording video on the iGPU, and gaming on the dGPU).

 

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

[MidnightStars]

Bump...

Issue still unresolved...

[MidnightStars]

Situation (somewhat) resolved.

After countless hours spent testing and diagnosing...

 

It appears to be the driver for the Realtek SD card reader. With the Realtek SD card driver installed (and no SD card present), the entire system crashes when Lightroom is opened.

Why? I have no idea. What puzzles me is that it functions perfectly fine when there is media playing in the background (browser or any video/audio file in the system), or if I leave my device plugged in on the charger (which defeats the point of being able to edit on the go).

 

After testing about nine different drivers, two were stable and Lightroom doesn't crash the PC.

Man, technology sure is weird