How can fix windows camera frame server error Dell 16 pro plus pb16250, that is causing machines to freeze and not being able to make a video call with teams, or use a video function online like YouTube, mictest.com, ect.

Thanks, everyone, for keeping this thread active. So far, disabling the NPU has been the most effective workaround.

Dell continues to tell us that our organization is the only one reporting this issue. Even after sharing this thread with them -and acknowledging that everyone here are experiencing the same symptoms- they maintain that no other support cases have been logged on their end. Honestly, that’s hard to believe.

At this point, Dell has asked us to send one or more affected devices for further testing and investigation. They’ve also mentioned the possibility of involving Intel engineering.

The main challenge is that we haven’t been able to reproduce the issue using an OEM image. However, we’re now testing with the Cisco AnyConnect app, and early results are promising. It appears that the freezing/crashing behavior returns when the VPN is connected. The findings aren’t conclusive yet, but I’ll keep you all updated as we learn more.

Thanks for the update and for continuing to share your progress. That aligns closely with what we've observed — the freezes only seem to occur once the VPN connection is active. Disabling the NPU has also provided temporary stability on our side.

Dell has also asked us to test with OEM installations, but as you mentioned, the issue simply doesn’t occur on those images. That makes it challenging to reproduce the real-world conditions we’re dealing with in production. They’ve been requesting quite a lot of additional input — extensive logs, traces, and repeated testing — but honestly, we’ve already invested a significant amount of time and resources into this over the past few weeks. There are still plenty of other IT topics demanding attention, so bandwidth is limited.

I agree that involving Intel engineering might finally help move this forward. Please keep us posted on the results of your device testing — we’ll share any new developments we find as well.

Just out of curiosity, on the machines where the issue occurs most frequently while connected via VPN, which VPN clients are you using?

Cisco AnyConnect VPN

Hi all,

Cisco AnyConnect VPN for us as well. We’ve also had it occur for some users when not on VPN, I've seen it happen myself, but it’s very hard to reproduce consistently outside of the VPN.

Dell have also asked for one of our affected devices, but I’ve made it clear that by the time it gets to them it will just be a wiped OEM build anyway. To be fair, they haven’t said outright that they’re unaware of others having this issue, but they’re definitely not giving much away either. We’re putting a lot of pressure on them, and I’m hearing word of Intel engineers into the mix too, though they’re asking for even more logs.

Completely agree, this issue has consumed a huge amount of time. Gathering logs and testing repeatedly while still maintaining the rest of the environment is a real challenge.

We’re also working closely with Microsoft and seeing some strange behaviour during logging. The NPU driver appears to somehow be involved in a DNS lookup process, and when the issue occurs the NPU seems to lock up entirely, getting stuck while being involved in some weird DNS call while other processes start making unusual DNS requests to a long, unknown SID string that can’t be resolved. It could be related to the freeze and might also explain why it’s worse on Cisco AnyConnect VPN, since the VPN client intercepts DNS and may be exposing a deadlock or timeout condition in the NPU driver or Windows AI stack. Although, it could also be unrelated to the actual freeze, but it is suspicious.

Is anyone else seeing DNS-related errors or unusual lookups around the time of the fault?

We’re still using the NPU workaround for now as it remains the only reliable fix we’ve found.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s another Dell thread on the issue (noting that the Dell accepted answer there doesn’t actually resolve it). https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/dell-pro-laptop-computers/pro-14-plus-pb14250-freezes-when-using-webcam-with-teams-or-zoom/68f17ba5a3935b753dc08618

Thanks again for everyone in this thread, its nice to know we aren't the only ones affected by this issue (and for this long). Dell keeps telling me to use their OEM build and test there, but that feels like I'm doing their work for them and if they ask again I will point to this thread and tell them their AI chip needs to be looked at. I will not use their bloatware image in our privacy centric environment.
We also use cisco VPN and issues occur only when using this on Wi-Fi. Disabling the AI chip greatly improves performance across the board. I do agree Chris that DNS is something that could disrupt that AI stack, the VPN client is unaware of the local SID DNS that is being called for, and isn't designed for it. I think disabling the AI chip outright skips that check and skips the lockup that we are all experiencing.
Any new Dell computer with this Intel AI chip benefits greatly with this NPU disabled. Since we got these machines, I noticed funky behaviors that have since disappeared once we disabled the AI chip.
What an insane 2 months this has been, and a terrible time to rollout new hardware for a department that relies on zoom

Last week, the new Intel NPU driver was released. So far, we haven’t been able to reproduce the issue with this version. We’ll keep running additional tests and share updates as we go. In the meantime, any feedback or testing results from your side would be greatly appreciated! https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/download/794734/intel-npu-driver-windows.html?wapkw=npu

I am going to install this driver on a few of our systems. Dell has been useless on this so far. we even shipped them a couple of our laptops with no success.

Dell told me there would be a new graphics driver thats getting released soon to fix this, meanwhile they are not offering the NPU driver through DCU just yet.
Honestly in an enterprise environment I would remove this driver and disable the processor altogether until its stabilized. Who knows if another future microsoft update breaks it again in a different way, thats where this all started anyways.

We just got off the phone with Dell and told me about the same but also said they don't know if it will fix the camera issue.

Thanks, everyone. We’ve also been testing the new NPU driver direct from Intel today and so far haven’t seen the issue pop up. Looks promising, but we’ll be expanding testing to make sure it’s solid.

Even with the latest Intel NPU version 32.0.100.4404, we are still experiencing the problem. Disabling the Intel(R) AI Boost is the only working fix.

Note that we are also using Cisco Secure Client VPN as well.

We also use Cisco VPN but we see this a lot even when VPN is not connected.

@Will Power

Do you have Always-On-VPN option enabled by a chance?

No, we do not use the always-on option.

@Will Power

I just tested with Intel(R) AI Boost re-enabled and Cisco Secure VPN uninstalled - no freezing/hanging. The interaction between AI Boost and Cisco VPN appears to be the cause.

Is it something that you can also test with VPN uninstalled on your end to confirm my suspicion?

P.S - I've tested with GlobalProtect VPN and couldn't reproduce the same problem.

yes, I'm going to test this now will get back to you.

so far, it's been working with and without VPN installed anyone got tips to make it crash faster?

@Will Power - I meant to test

• Intel(R) AI Boost enabled with VPN installed - may encounter freeze
• Intel(R) AI Boost disabled with VPN installed - no freeze
• Intel(R) AI Boost enabled with VPN uninstalled - no freeze

My test methodology is

1. Boot PC
2. Connected to Cisco Secure VPN (if it is installed)
3. Open Microsoft Teams
4. Go to Settings > Devices > Make a test call
5. Repeat 1-4

I usually encounter 2-5 crashes in 10 test runs with both AI Boost and VPN installed. Uninstalling VPN is not a viable solution for end-users, so disabling AI Boost seems to be the best option until Intel or Cisco fixes the problem.

with the latest NPU driver and bios update. I have not been able to reproduce.
I have started to notice users that report the camera disappeared also
have Yellow bang on the Intel Control logic in Device Manager
but since the updates this has slowed down.

We still have both issues camera sometimes just not available have to reboot to get it back and cpu pinging at high rates.

Just disable Intel(R) AI Boost to fix the problem

Unfortunately, disabling AI Boost alone doesn't fully resolve the issue. We're also experiencing intermittent camera failures on our end – the devices show up in Device Manager, but they're not accessible through either Teams or the Camera application.

Can you downgrade/revert NPU driver then test it again??

it took a while, but the problem came back with even with the latest drivers / or disabling the NPU

Seen it happened on laptops without AI chip/Intel Boost too.
Unusual DNS queries.

guess we wait for Intel or Dell to come up with a driver that works.

Hey guys, it looks like this Intel NPU driver may help. (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/794734/870903/intel-npu-driver-windows.html) I did some initial testing with the NPU enabled after installing, testing included restarting multiple times and loading teams each time. some delay (probably from startup) but no freezing or unresponsiveness occurred. I was able to access the camera without issue after this update.

I was only experiencing the issue on a remote connection through Cisco AnyConnect VPN but this driver for the NPU seems to have fixed it after initial tests.

thanks!! going to try this driver now