I recently returned my 1645 after 2 months of struggling with random crashing and throttling back to Dell for a full refund.
I am in need of a new system and was considering HP Envy 15 as an alternative, but I still like the 1645 given that it performs as advertised.
I believe there are 8 of us with inexplicable random crashes. For me sometimes its been freezes that can't be ctrl-alt-deleted out of (need to pull plug and yank battery).
Sometimes its been BSOD. I average about once every 2 days between crashes. The only thing that I've seen that we all have in common is 6GB of RAM (I have a 4+2 hynix/samsung mix)
for 130 Watt Adapter and update to the latest BIOS
View 10 Replies View RelatedI am having a bad blue-screen issue with my hp dv6-1245dx laptop. Â I am crashing to a blue screen at very random times, starting with one occurence a few months ago, followed by two months with no problems, then a few crashes in a row three weeks ago, followed by three weeks of good use. Â In the last three days the occurences are pretty much every 10 to 20 mintues, at random, and they require a few minutes of waiting before it will crank back up again. Â ( Â If I don't wait this short time, it will crank but it throws a black error screen saying "No operating system found" )Â I fear it is some failing hardware issue, like the HD about to give out. Â I have run the Image Diag.exe from the first post on this forum, and have that log cab file available. Â I also have an image of the blue screen ( it is the same each time, the error is a STOP: 0x000000F4).
View 4 Replies View RelatedI recently (Dec 7) bought a XPS 1645 and I'm experiencing the throttling issues. It's apparent when I play games (Left 4 Dead 2) and I have the RGBLED brightness set to high. If the brightness is at the max setting, the game is unplayable. If I minimize the brightness, the game immediately becomes playable. I have been keeping up with the throttling thread. From what I've read the upcoming bios update will not fix the issue. It has to be a combination of a bios update and new AC adapter. I don't expect Dell to send out 130w AC adapters after the battery fiasco they had - considering the 1645 was designed to use a 90w AC adapter.
This got me to thinking. If the bios update doesn't resolve the issue, there are only so many options that we have left.
1. We buy third part 130w AC adapters and hope that our laptops don't burn out.
2. We each individually call Dell Tech Support and stay on the phone until we get a refund/replacement unit (possibly the 1647?).
3. We roll over and use the throttled laptop and accept Dell's bios 'fix' - never getting the full performance out of our laptops.
4. Dell offers replacement units for affected customers.
Options 1-3 don't resolve the issue for us. As far as #4 goes, it's hard to imagine Dell issuing a voluntary recall on affected units. But I think option #4 is something that as a community we could make happen. While this issue seems to be fairly well known on the forums, (as someone mentioned in another thread) it is largely unknown to the outside world - based upon the reviews the XPS 1645 gets on Dell's website. If we were to go out and let others know how certain configurations of this laptop under perform, perhaps we make Dell notice enough that they would want to protect their brand by issuing replacements. The catch is that we have to loud and get this out there.
Dell won't voluntarily offer a product replacement. This issue is unknown. If they were to go ahead and replace our XPS 1645's, that would be letting the whole world they screwed up on the design on the laptop.
However, if we can somehow get this into the news cycle and let the world know, then it becomes in Dell's best interest to offer replacements.
On the featured systems, i was thinking of purchasing the second one which has the i7 processor, but i have a few questions before i would like to buy it.
1) This is a 1645 system meaning that throttling will be there right?
2) Does installing the A09 BIOS Solve the throttling issue?
3) Without using throttlestop is there any way to control the throttling?
4) Is it compulsory that throttling occurs on all the systems or some don't have it?
5) Will me playing NFS Undercover cause the laptop to throttle?....
Dell has released their solution to the throttling issue, if you have updated to the latest A07 or newer bios, and recieved a 130w adapter from dell. Need to call the reps and get a 130w sent free of charge.
After more testing looks as if the A07 bios has indeed greatly improve the performance of the laptop. More testing will continue to see where the limit is at, as there may be close to the throttling edge perhaps.
Purpose of this thread is to educate those about the throttling issues with dell's laptops. Specifically to the xps 16 with i7 processors. Also to show community driven solutions as we wait for dells response to this issue.
This is an advancement from the power investigation thread, to summarize the thread here is a quick list. The 1645 is supplied and designed for a 90w adapter which is undersized and cripples the laptop under gpu + cpu stresses,
such as gaming and photo editing.Running on battery seems to let the laptop run more towards it potential.The problem severity varies and depends mostly on configuration and type of program being ran.A 130w or bigger power supply will not solve the issue alone, as the bios actively throttles to main 90w anyways.Through reps Dell seems aware of the issue. As of yet there has been no official announcement and is .....
Please note that my GPU Throttles down when it hits 84C. This cycle will continue up and down as the system system downclocks the GPU.
View 10 Replies View RelatedI have been testing my Studio 1557 today for throttling issues.The i7 does throttle down to the x10 multi under a 100% load on the CPU and GPU after about 10 minutes.
But it seems to be temp related not starving for power.
When my GPU hits 100c it will throttle back to about 88c.When the GPU does that the multi on the CPU goes from 10x to 12x (1.6ghz stock speed).While the GPU creeps back to 100c the CPU stays at 10x until the GPU hits 100c then back to 12x for a few minutes.
I've been running on a T520 4239-CTO for a little over a year now without issue. I've been getting lots of random bsod and services crashing in the last few days; even Windows 7 cannot validate itself anymore.
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I ran all the hardware checks in the provided Lenovo utilities and it all seems to pass. I didn't trust this so I manually checked the smart values on the hard disk and noticed around 2400+ reallocated sectors so I decided to replace the hard disk.
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It should be noted that there are no viruses/malware on this machine. After receiving the new hard disk I did a factory restore using the dvd backups I made when I received the machine. Upon booting the new factory install on the new disk I'm still getting the same random bsod and issues with Windows 7 not being able to validate.
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I notice that everytime I boot now on the newly restored os that the "Microsoft Software Protection Platform" service has issues and cannot start. I started doing some updates using the Thinkvantage tools and they're crashing too.
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This machine is currently on pass 4 of memtest without any errors so far.
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I've replaced the hard drive and from the looks of things so far the ram seems fine. Where do I go from here?
My Dell XPS 1645 [see sig for specs] will random shut off on me. I will be doing anything from watching a movie, listening to music, or just browsing and it will random shut off. They are like days apart but It shut off 3 times on my today :S.
These shut offs are not Temperature related as In BOTH Windows and Ubuntu it has shut off and I have been monitoring temperature in both, with log files so I can check the temperature @ shut off time.
I live in Jamaica and it would be kind of hard for me to just send it in to have it looked at. I'm hoping the next BIOS revision along with fresh installs of both OS's will do the trick.
today I bricked my new 1645 when I was examing the BIOS for the 1647. The BIOS release 1647_A00.exe released this month automatically begins flashing on an 1645
and does not seem to check compatibility or confirm with the user before it updates.
The BIOS is completely incompatible with the 1645 to say the least, so be very careful if you download it on to a non-1647 system.
Dell is building a new system due to this really sad event. Rip XPS 1645 - December 5th 2009.
A new bios update was released today for the XPS 1645 which apparently enhance sound quality. Thats the only thing listed in the release notes anyways.
I installed it on mine, but haven't noticed a difference as of yet.
http://support.dell.com/support/down...&fileid=364341
I'm about to buy one of these and Dell sales assistant told me that the original 1330 was shipped with incorrect BIOS settings and this caused problems..
He assures me that current laptops are shipped with updated setting and there won't be any problem. If there is they will replace the laptop.
I notice most of the major bugs with the new XPS's are vista related, so when windows 7 comes out later this year
View 3 Replies View RelatedI just got a new Studio XPS 1647. Specs are i7-620M, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM, RGBLED, and the standard ATI 4670. Now that dell actually appears serious about fixing the throttling problem, I am seriously considering keeping the laptop. I would however like to make a few modifications. I need to actually put the correct RAM into the computer (they put in 133Mhz rather than 1067, i know its lol). More importantly I would like to change the GPU out for an ATI 57xx series. My question is can I put in a 5730/5750/5770 and not void the warranty? Also have the 5750 and 5770 even been released yet? It seems like it can only be a win-win situation. The 57xx series runs on less power (25-30W compared to the 35W of the 4670), and also they are faster, DDR5 with the two higher end models.
View 6 Replies View RelatedThis has been happening lately ill be playing starcraft 2 ( other games as well ) but this one specifically that all of a sudden frame rates dip to 2 - 10 fps and the game crawls. Starcraft 2 gives me a warning saying my computer is running slow. I normally get 30 - 40 fps with a mix of medium/high settings at 1920 x 1080. Temps seem normal but my cpu usage is spiked at 100% when this is happening. I know throttling on the 1645 and 1647 is common but ive never had this problem with my 1640 until now. I have 2 years left of warranty so im ok. If i call dell what am i going to tell them and what are they going to do?
Below is a pic of temps
http://i43.tinypic.com/2gv254l.png
I got it in November, sometimes when i go to ANY of my browsers to view pages with flash. The whole browser freezes and crashes, so i start it up again and go to the page, and crash again.. so i try to use another browser (i literally have chrome, Firefox, safari and IE) all of them do the same exact thing.. and once it crashes there's no way to get it back up unless you restart. It gets very annoying having to restart my laptop about 5 times a day. I've done everything, uninstalling flash player, reinstalling it, reinstalling browsers.. I've even reinstalled my OS because nothing else would work. I don't understand why this laptop has so many issues. Randomly freezes, crashes etc. Its basically brand new and i shouldn't have these issues. My old Compaq presario cq60-215dx NEVER ever did any of these thing this Studio laptop does. This laptop is about 400 dollars more than my Compaq.. Also, i dual booted Vista and Windows 7 and Vista is a hell of a lot faster, it boots up faster and never crashes.. It just seems as if Dell did something to this OS to make it a piece.. help?
View 7 Replies View RelatedHas anyone had their Studio 1747 with a 1080p screen crash while playing 1080p video full screen?
I tried playing a movie trailer full screen in 1080p on youtube and mine crashed.
Does anyone have any idea why? Is this something affecting Dell globally or is it just UK/Europe in a mess?
I guess I could survive with just wireless G, but it seems ridiculous to be limited to that these days;
I guess I could also just order it and pick up an intel/dell Wireless N card for ~£25 and install it myself,
but again the question arises, why is it necessary? I assume some of you do have an 802.11n card of some description in your 1645/1747's have you seen any problems with it? .....
My Studio XPS 1340 runs just fine, it's not overheating or anything, but once in a while it randomly just beeps. I think it must be an internal buzzer, it sounds like it comes from the left hand side of the keyboard somewhere. It's not too big of a deal, but Id just like to know why it randomly does this.
View 10 Replies View RelatedMy Dell Studio 15 is only about 3 months old and I have been having this problem for the last month now.
Every couple of days or so my laptop lockups - the cursor sticks and there's nothing I can do other than power it off and boot it back up and then its fine for the next couple of days.
This is random... sometimes it happens when doing something intensive, sometimes it happens when its just sitting idle on the desktop after it has only been switched on for about 5 mins
I'm university student and ntb is meant to be carried almost daily (16" is ok for me), it's mainly for multimedia oriented jobs, some programming in C and Mathematica, some photoshop or even premiere (occasionaly), A LOT of movie watching. I also want it to be futureproof and well-built.
Dell XPS 1645 meets most of my criteria, but there are few things I'm unsure about...
1) after reading a couple of reviews and many posts on this forum I'm really doubtful if RGB-LED is worth the extra money. I'm not doing colour sensitive job (however I do sometimes edit RAW images in PS), but i want things on the display to look natural, especially in FullHD movies... (and I'm occasional gamer too)
Those who had honor to work with RGB-LED: would you pay for it in my position???
And just to make sure I haven't overlooked something: biggest DISadvantages of RGB-LED are supposed to be: inaccurate colors, bigger power consumption and some heat produced;
while advantages should be: 0,4" gain in size, wider gamut and (maybe) better brightness...
Do you know any more to be added?
2) I'm also considering usual Studio 17 with Core i7 720QM (almost the same config), because it should be cooler, it has numpad and place for additional hdd (I'd buy 80GB intel ssd 34nm for system while keeping stock 500GB for data, I think it's beatiful idea), but what I DISlike about studio 17 is: dimensions, weight, speakers and design (and maybe a bit worse overal built quality).
So which one do you think is better for me?
3) how does combined e-sata/usb work? Since I have a external e-sata drive I have to plug 2 cables at the moment: USB for power and e-sata... With this 2-in-1 port do I need only 1 special cable? Or is it meant to be either/or thing??? From the placement of combined e-sata/usb on the opposite side of ntb than other USBs I'd say that 1 cable should be enough,
I am looking to get a Studio XPS 16 soon, but can't quite decide on which model to get and had a few questions...
1) What is the battery life of the 1647 (i5) compared to the 1645 (i7) assuming they have the same specs. I've read that i5's should last longer, but I really couldn't find anything comparing the two for these systems.
2) When configuring the 1645 and 1647 side-by-side with the same specs. The 1647 is about the same price as the 1645, if not more (depending on which processor selected). I thought the i5's were supposed to be less expensive than the i7's. Since they are about the same price, would it be better to go with the i7? Any reason to choose the i5 over i7?
I noticed that the Studio 15 is pretty much the same as the Studio XPS 16 minus the RGBLED screen. I really don't know which to choose and really need some guidance from some expert people. Here's what I have in mind:
Studio XPS 1645: ...
After a development version of the BIOS for the Studio XPS 1645 turned up, some people were concerned about reverting back to an older BIOS after flashing the X29 version. To solve this problem I extracted the WinPhlash utility from Dell's BIOS package and modified the settings.
Now you have several options:
- Simply backup your existing BIUOS
- Upgrade to any version you like
- Downgrade to any version you like
I compiled a package that contains the following BIOS versions:
A01, A02, A03, X29 and A05, A07, A08
This is as far as I know the order in which they were released. The X29 version was never officially released.
Just to be clear: I did not change anything to the actual BIOS files, just to the WinPhlash program settings. These are original, untouched Dell BIOS files, and the same program Dell uses to force-flash your laptop. I just changed a few settings (allowing us a choice of options).
Disclaimer:
I cannot and will not assume responibility of somehow your laptop is bricked during the flashing process. This can happen with Dells own updat packages as well. I myself have used the tool in my package, and others have too, with success. This is however no guarantee for succes.
Please also note that I do not have either a 1647 or a 1340, so I cannot test these files. The theory behind updating the BIOS is the same for all these machines, and the 1340 packages appear to use the same WinPlash64 tool.
The packages can be found here:
20100327_Dell_Studio_XPS_Bios_Tools.zip This package contains the flash tools and the crisis recovery bits.
I have put the different BIOSes in their own packages:
20100327_SXPS_1645_BIOS.zip contains the BIOS files for the 1645, including the latest A08.
20100327_SXPS_1647_BIOS.zip contains the BIOS files for the 1647, including the latest A05.
20100327_SXPS_1340_BIOS.zip contains the BIOS files for the 1340, including the latest A11. The BIOS files for the 1340 seem to be smaller (about 2Mb vs 5Mb) than the 1645/1647 files.
UPDATE: I added the A06 version to the package. Also included Andrew's crisis recovery kit (see this thread for details). I have moved the package to my own server.
UPDATE: A07 is now also included
UPDATE: A08 is now included, and added packages for 1647 and 1340.
Hi at the moment i have a dell sxps 1645 and i wold like to know about the bios because im on the A01 bios at the moment and im not experiencing any crashes or anything else apart from the throttling ;( is it worth upgrading to the A03 or A05?
View 6 Replies View RelatedFor those who don't know yet, Dell has released a new BIOS for the S-XPS 1645 machine; A06. Since Dell wasn't very clear about what this system does other than:
Quote:
1.Enhance system stability.
2.Support new graphic card.
Dell has released A09 update for Studio XPS 1645 on 17-May-2010
The update resolves following issues:
*Features update:
1. Update Processor Power Management(PPM) from 0.60 to 0.63-1 .
2. Support 2nd source SPI ROM EN25F32(BIOS) and EN25F80(EC).
3. Update ME bin file in BIOS for 2nd source SPI ROM EN25F32(BIOS).
4. Modified flash part size to prevent BIOS crash in failsafe part for factory only.
5. Support over 230W adapter to treat as 130W(EC).
6. Update Clarksfield thermal table to V.03(EC).
7. Enhanced PPM RC code for P-state thread count.
*Issues fix:
1. Fix S4 long run failed on DC mode with BSOD 9F.
2. Paltrow freeze issue: Hang up when playing youtube HD film.
3. Fix unable to communicate with battery error under delldiag.
4. Fix ACPI_PSD error in "powercfg -energy" tool under windows.
5. Fix Micron DDR3 memory can not boot up issue.
ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/1647_A05.exe
ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/1645_A08.exe
