--->The Official Studio XPS 1340 Owner's Thread<---

The on-screen display is handled by Dell Quickset. Just install that off the Dell driver CD.

 

Newbie question: Hey guys, got my 1340 yesterday. Reinstalled using the bloatware removal guide, however I didnt install the AHCI driver because I couldn't find it, should I reinstall with it and does anyone know where to find the driver for the 1340?

 

Thanks alot, all the buttons show on screen now except for the volume up and down and mute

oh well, I don't mind too much. If there is anything you guys would like me test out I would be more than happy to help

 

Hey Aaron,
When did you place your order, and what province are you in???

 

I placed my order on jan 20, It didnt go into production into the 27th though because the credit card didn't go through for some reason, even though I called the credit card company to let the transaction through when i purchased it. Production stage took very very long, and it didn't ship until 2-3 days ago.

I'm in Ontario, but the computer came in from somewhere in the US don't know where. Don't think its too far into US because shipping was pretty quick.

 

I didn't use the AHCI driver. I just reinstalled vista and then installed the drivers on the drivers disc and off the dell support website. Everything is working fine for me so far!
Just having issues with the facial recognition - have requested the discs for that from dell.

 

Well I've installed w7 BETA 64bit now. When i plug the eSATA drive now it doesn't detect at all so it doesn't lock the system up, do I need drivers for eSATA to work? isn't it just wired directly to a SATA port on the mobo? Well it still seems to lock up the BIOS.

 

You shouldn't need drivers for eSATA it is just SATA its like plugging in another internal SATA hard drive. It works fine for me right now and I seem to the be only one I believe. I never had to install any extra drivers or change any configurations. Just reformatted and installed windows 7 beta x64

 

Yeah, eSATA has no drivers, it's just like a normal internal SATA port to the laptop. But all of us are getting lock-ups/no drive detected with it except Aaron1345 who is super awesome apparently.

 

tissie:

don't freak, there isn't anything wrong, hardware wise, with your 1340. I assure you, if it ever worked when you got the laptop, it *is* fixable.

In a worst case scenario, you may need to do a low level format. Just to clarify, you can't put a windows 7 or vista cd/dvd in, boot from it, and delete all current partitions using the installer partition tool, right? if thats the case, you may need a free partition program like what comes with ubuntu or any popular linux distribution. I would then boot from that linux dvd/cd, and act like your going to install linux until you get to the partition manager.

Delete all the partitions, then, turn off the computer. put your vista/windows 7 disc back in, boot from it, and create a new partition, format it, and you should be back in business.


The thing I'd like to leave you with is there is no way to permanently damage a hard drive from partition modification, etc. The only way to truly screw a drive from software is if you mess with the firmware of the hard drive, and trust me, you haven't

 

LOL. When i saw that "auto play open folder to view files" pop up I almost threw myself off the chair. I plugged in the eSATA cable expecting the computer to freeze and to my surprise it detected it right away. I didn't even have to scan for hardware changes in device manager like on my desktop.

and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with a working eSATA port, there probably plenty of people with working eSATA port but no eSATA drive to test it with. Or maybe by an act of God someone messed up in building my laptop and actually did the right thing

 

I think your right, I would test it, but don't have anything that uses eSATA...

 

Just for the sake of curiosity, what's your external hard drive (model, capacity, etc.)?

 

And for reference mine's a Vantec NexStar 3. Cheap brand, but works fine on my other computer. USB works fine on both (including USB in the eSATA combo port).

 

Thanks for the test Aaron! Unfortunately it seems that I was wrong
Hmm where are the spikes coming from..

 

I'm also using a NexStar3, though I have never tested eSATA if it actually worked before on mine. but i can live with it not working as long as USB works.

I've also just tested DPC Latency on w7 and im getting all red bars 8,000-16,000 microseconds with eSATA plugged in (mind you that my w7 doesnt seem to detect anything though vista likes to freeze as soon as i plug it in) =/ then if i remove the cable i get the normal few green bars and a spike to 3,000 us every 5 checks. Soo i guess this may mean something, Aaron could you check if you get the same readings with eSATA plugged in.

 

Long day of work yesterday so I'm sorry for not posting last night.

I got my Best Buy version Dell SPXS 13 last night and it is great. I had two freezing issues. But after doing the windows update, I haven't had another. This laptop is very nice. Fast, Light, gorgeous. Fingerprint issue isn't that terrible (most of you must have greasy fingers). I cannot comment on the battery life yet. Keyboard is different but I'm already getting used to it. Also, the CCFL screen seems great to me.

As far as audio recording and DPC latency goes...

I checked with the DPC latency checker and got similar results to everyone else here. However, I didn't spend any time trying to pinpoint the source.

I installed the drivers for my Presonus FirePod (The newer model is called FP10 Link. Breece, I bought this baby for $300 used. It was worth every penny. There are cheaper ones out there that many not have as many in/outs. The firepod has 10 i believe. I don't think I'll ever use all of them.

Next I installed Adobe Audition 3 (multitrack recording software). I recorded a track and dubbed over it with some similar riffs and a little solo. Result:NO LATENCY, NO POPS, NO PROBLEMS. Now, I only had two tracks going, so it could get worse but so far it works flawlessly.

Tonight I would like to do a video screen capture of recording both tracks with the DPC latency checker running and post it here or on youtube. What is the best freeware to do this with (i need to get the audio as well)?

I'm sorry for not posting any screenshots. It got pretty late last night and work has been brutal this week. I will have more for everyone tonight...

 

Okay Breece Now I have been waiting and waiting.

So as far as I can tell I have to routes to make it work again.

1. Using XP to wipe everything and create new partitions. Exit XP installation and install vista

and

2. Tom wrote this before bedtime:

So currently I am awaiting Tom. But I have the XP cd, so i am tempted to try to do something.. but I fear if that goes wrong then i cant do Toms method.

 

I have the vantec nexstar hard drive dock. The one that sits on your desk and you just slap in hard drives. I tried it on 2 different seagate 500 gig 7200 rpm hard drives and one western digital 250 gig 7200 rpm hard drive all of them are 3.5" internal drives, they all worked.

I use to use the vantec nexstar 3, i might still have it sitting around somewhere in my room. When i get home i'll look for it and try it out.

 

At first: Thank you Did you record with the line in? Maybe a stupid question, just want to make sure... And if you did not, could you test that

 

Vantec nexstar is reportedly flawed in that it won't negotiate SATA II, only SATA I, so maybe that's what's making the difference:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1322088

If the dell is having trouble with esata at SATA II, this enclosure could be avoiding the problem.

 

Just got my XPS 13... It's ok, but there is the screen. I ordered the LED but I'm sure this is a CCFL. It's a samsung SEC5441, which most people abhored in the XPS 1330 thread which btw is ccfl. It's not bright at all... I would be greatful if some of you could check up the model of your monitor. You do that in Device Manager under monitor - the last tab under hardware-ID.
Thanks!

 

I have the SEC5441 as well and it's an LED (I hope...).

 

Thank you theguac! It's alright but nowhere near as bright and white as the LED screen on my old LG P300.

 

How would you tell which screen they actually gave you?

I would be pissed if I got a lesser screen when I paid for the LED.

 

I kind of noticed that too. I thought LED screens are thinner too and this one wasn't that thin. Hope they didn't screw up!

 

Haven't seen anyone else note this, but prices dropped/configs changed. I just ordered mine. I was going to wait for the NBR review, but too good of a deal right now.

 

I just recieved my Studio XPS 1340 yesterday.

Sadly, the WiFi card was defective and causing a conflict with something (Windows, Drivers, no idea). Tech support could NOT fix the problem. They told me to either live with no WiFi or exchange it for a different model. Apparently they can't send me a replacement with functioning WiFi because "it will probably have the same issue".

I had high hopes for this one

 

Mmm i have some issues to with the xps 1340. (Freezes, sometimes black screen, Heat).
But is SEC5441 a LED screen or did dell screw us...?

 

It might help if you told us your specs? Haven't heard about defective WiFi yet...

 

I had the P8600, the 256MB hybrid sli video card, slim screen - everything else was standard.

It was the Dell Wireless N card that came with the laptop. I hadn't found anything else on the net about it - which made me suspect MY LAPTOP had a defect. They refused to send me a replacement nor could they resolve the issue.

 

Hmm I dont want to believe yet that this is a general problem... They probably dont want to give you a replacement for some reason...

Order a new one and return this one

Why do you have so many problems with the dell support in the US? In Germany it works alot better ^^

 

Is that a 1510 or 1515 card? And what country are you in?

 

Well i'm in the USA and we don't even get an option. I think they are all 1515 cards

 

Hmm, is this only the vantec nexstar hard drive dock? does this also affect the vantec nexstar 3 because I have one and i can test it out.

 

I just tested my DPC latency with eSATA plugged in and its the same as when its not plugged in, red bars every 5 checks.

I also tested my vantec nexstar 3 on eSATA and 2 out of 3 drives worked. The two seagates worked but it would not detect my western digital.

EDIT: okayyy.. something is going on now. I just tried the vantec nexstar 3 again and right when i plugged it in my computer froze immediately. This was the seagate drive that i tried earlier with the vantec nexstar 3 that worked.

 

My screen is also the SEC5441, it's meant to be LED, so hopefully it is.

Aaron1345, thanks for testing so thoroughly. My Nexstar has a Seagate drive in it also (500GB). I like the fact that out of all the possible brands of enclosure we could have, we have exactly the same one. Sucks that it seems to have broken for you as well now though.

e: Does the drive dock still work?

AppraiserDan, I'm using that same wireless card with no problems so despite what Dell's saying, it does sound like you just got a defective one.

 

Something tells me that it's the Vantec Nexstar's problem rather than Dell's, but let's hear from more users.

 

There'd still be something weird with the Dell though since it works on other machines. Maybe the Nexstar can't handle some sort of new technology. There were a couple of other people with non-working eSATA so yeah, I'd be interested in what brand their enclosures are.

EDIT - minor breakthrough
I tried plugging a drive in directly - no enclosure, just a SATA to eSATA cable and power from my desktop. It works. So um...yeah I don't know.

 

I don't know the full set of esata enclosures that have sata ii problems. I do know it's a bit of a common problem with thermaltake max4 active & thermaltake blacx also only able to negotiate sata150 despite marketing claims of sata300 support. Many of the cartridge style esata enclosures look to be OEMs of each other (vantec nexstar = thermaltake blacx = sharkoon sata quickport). I supsect they all have the same issue with sata300.

The nexstar 3 looks suspiciously similar in build to my bytecc bt-380satacombo which works fine at sata300.

The problem with this laptop's esata may have nothing to do with this, it's just a guess. It may be a more basic screwup with the nvidia driver support of sata hotplugging. I would test it more myself but I still cannot get dell to ship my friggin' laptop.

 

lol.. i dont know what is going on with the eSATA port. The drive dock still works fine i just transferred some files off of it. Its weird that the nexstar 3 actually worked on my two seagates, then all of sudden it just stops working, and now your just plugging your drive in straight works. I think dell is messing with us now.

 

Anyone, pls?

 

I would boot the gparted livecd and check out what's going on with the partitions.

 

If you don't necessarily need to restore the partitions to factory default, then go ahead and try with Windows XP disc. At one prompt it will ask you to press 'R' to enter Recovery Console. After you find yourself in command-line mode, type 'diskpart'. After that you'll be able to edit your partitions. After you exit 'diskpart' you can also format your drives, by typing 'format c:', etc. Then exit the XP installation and start Windows 7 (or Vista) installation by using their respective discs. HTH

 

Ok guys, im one of you now!

1. Got the same latency spikes as you.
2. Will test esata with a sata-esata cable next week.
3. Its glossy but so nice screen!

Im in love with it, still playing around on the included vista installation, found a nice multi-desktop program that works flawless.

Only problem so far is that msn got problems activating and keeping the cam going.

Got 3550 06-3dmarks on the 9500 sli card, will do more testings the coming week.

 

Webcam worked fine for me in MSN, though I didn't try it or long - just normal Windows drivers.

SATA-eSATA cable will probably work going by my test just before. Dell just hates enclosures or...something.

 

Or the chip/controller in the enclosure is buggy, which is more likely the case here.

 

Hi guys,

Just got my 1340 on monday. Today i turn it on and it keeps freezing. Sometimes during login, sometimes 10 minutes later. I called dell and the tech just pretty much disabled some startup programs and said try that out and call us back if it isn't fixed. Has anyone else had this problem??????

My specs are:
Everything basic plus:
Bluetooth
SSD
upgraded screen....

please let me know. I hope this isn't a problem for everyone. Thanks

 

Yeah I think so too, but what's different in the Dell that's causing that bug to appear? Enclosure works in other systems.

Some people have got this and found that doing a wipe and reinstall of the OS fixes it. See this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=348918

 

And/or nvidia's chipset or driver is buggy. Nvidia has had SATA driver bugs in the past, including a serious NCQ disk corruption bug so I wouldn't be too quick to put full blame on any enclosure chip.