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

I have mine propped up in the back, which takes away the wobble. I got rid of most of mine via the "pennies under one corner and tweak the hell out of it" method. Then, I propped it up for temperature alleviation, and the rest went away.

The amount I was left with after tweaking is so small as to be hardly noticeable.

 

Anyone else have issues with the keyboard typing 2 of the letter you press? I've never experienced this with any other keyboard or laptop i've used. Sometimes the laptop will randomly type the same letter twice. Even turned down the repeat speed in Windows and it has made no difference.

Also appears that my DVD player won't read movies after about 2 weeks of having it. This combined with the strange noise my hard drive sometimes makes is scaring me about this laptop.

 

Mine arrived Saturday, I must say, most impressive system I've ever seen from Dell style/quality-wise. No complaints yet, quiet, fast and the GPUs run cooler then my M1330.

I've been doing my best to sit in the dark whenever possible because of the keyboard backlighting, I'm such a nerd.

 

Would like to see some pictures

 

The sxps 13 comes with a tv tuner, but is there a port on the sxps for the tuner or what????

 

What TV tuner? Do not see it in the options or specs

 

The 1340 looks like a great performing laptop at a reasonable price with current discounts, but I do have a few questions:

Does opening the lid still cover the outlet vents?

How hot is it to the touch during general use/under load? Could it fry eggs?

Does the dual-graphic (battery life/performance) option work, or did they disable it through a bios update?

I had a hot running HP laptop a few years back, and that died after warranty-period + 1 week which seriously ****ed me off ... I get the impression that the 1340 is another such laptop. One load test on Youtube indicated a THERM (whatever that is) max temp of 85ºc.

Any advice gratefully received.

Graeme

 

so my laptop was failing, wobble, bluescreens of death, bad memory. i did the clean install and still no love. Took out memory as i was told to by dell. They then sent me a new laptop without telling me and i still have my old one sitting here, looking good... not working lol

 

Just sat mine on a flat surface and no wobble, I must have gotten lucky then?

 

You don't get the dual mode unless you have the 9500M card. Otherwise you use the 9400M all the time.

The design has never changed...the lid will slightly block the vents but the vents are designed to out and down so even with a slight coverage by the lid its not REALLY blocking any air nor do i feel air coming up along the screen. The vent corner is by far the hottest part of the laptop.

This laptop isnt bad if it is on a hard flat surface as far as heat goes....gaming and other intensive apps will bring this laptop to a higher temp than most (notebookcheck.com has it at 110!!!!! near the vent) but it cools off quickly as long as it has good airflow....

NOW the BIG problem is using this on your lap....this blocks the intakes located on the bottom and after about 20 minutes this thing turns into the warmest laptop i have ever owned.

I am going to try and undervolt it to see if that helps at all....

It drives me crazy as the Macbook has almost the same setup and it much much much cooler than this book.

 

I would like to ask my fellow owners to try something for me: When mine is in "Power Saver" graffix mode, it idles hotter than when in "performance Mode".

This seems ash-backwards, and would like to see what anyone else has to say about this.

For example, in "P Save", it idles at 68-70 C.

In "Perf Mode", it idles at 55-ish C.

Using 179.48 drivers...about to change back to Dell stock...

 

My present toshiba c2d laptop behaves in a similar method. Basically for my system turning on any "Power saving" profile turns the fans down as well as the clock speeds, so over time it gets hotter. The key element I see on the Toshiba software is "Cooling Method" ... that can be changed anywhere between "Max Performance" (i.e. max cooling) and "Max power saving" (i.e. minimal cooling).

I see your 1340 runs pretty warm. How does it fair in Perf Mode running a game or other intensive app?

Graeme

 

Does anyone have a 1340, and a 1530?? I would love to see a side by side picture comparison...Not that I'm entertaining any ideas..

If anyone does, that would rock my day! :yes:


Cin

 

Tops out about 80C(GPU), and 71-2 C (CPU).

Have had my first problem today, my AC adapter has apparently stopped working correctly. It's running the computer but not charging the battery.

I unplugged it to see what lind of battery life I would get, and when I plugged it back in, it refuses to recognize completely. Probably has something to do with the clicking noises it has made since new.

New AC adapter already on the way from Dell, no hassle at all, and got a really cute sounding CSR, to boot. I love French accents... The new one should be here in a day r two, and will report back with problem solved or not. A non-charging laptop is extremely inconvenient...

Why my help was from Dell Canada, I have no clue...can't complain, though...

 

I think some of the Tech Support is from Canada.


Cin

 

SO I got XP installed but DPC latency is exactly the same....and it run's even warmer. I'm afraid that the heat will be what casues me to return this...I measured 102 on the surface which is way too hot.

I did find out that multiple devices share the Same IRQ including the express card slot and the video card (a major no no!!!!!!!!!)

After reviewing this laptop has some serious issues with how the BIOS allocates memory for device IRQ...the chipset shares on with almost everything (the list of conflicts is so big!) which is most likely the cause of the sub-par audio quality. Modern OS's make it so end-users don't realize that there is an issue but there is!


On a side note I dont see power save or perf mode besides under vista power settings? Is this something you need the Hybrid SLI for as I only have the bestbuy model with the 9400m in it.

I dont get any nvidia systray apps either with the Dell drivers.

 

You only have Hybrid SLI if you have the Hybrid SLI systems (9500m card). Not sure about your systray icons, but the only one I have from nVidia is the Hybrid SLI one, so you probably are looking for something that isn't there.

 

Hi everyone -

I've read what I think is 75% of the posts in this thread, and didn't see anyone with a similar problem...

I have a brand new 1340, fully optioned save an SSD, and am installing XP on it. I need XP for my work environment. Everything is working except the video and the IR -

The video I have a yellow exclamation on a 9200GS and an unknown VGA device.

The IR I have an ITECIR with a yellow exclamation. Interestingly, I have the exact same issue on a Dell 1640...

Any tips? I'm going to nuke the thing and reinstall, but after my experience getting XP on the 1640, I don't think the IR issue is going to be solved.

Thanks for any advice...

 

You won't be able to use both graphics cards in Hybrid SLI in XP, but you probably should be able to get some working drivers for the 9400 at least. I can't really help, I haven't heard of others runing XP on the 1340, only the 1640. Try the notebook drivers from the nvidia site if you haven't maybe.

Hey since you're running XP, would you possibly be able to do us a favour and run DPC Latency Checker and post the result? See if you still get a big red spike every 5 bars.

 

Picked up my replacement 1340 from dell and so far its perfect, i have installed all the updates, itunes, office 2007. and have not had a wobble or a BSOD. I think dell is starting to send out good machines. The guy on the phone said that one of thier robots was missing defects as they went through the system and apparently they have fixed the issue.

so far with the new one.. i am VERY happy!!

 

I got XP installed last night and it is no different. The issue with these laptops is looking like an IRQ conflict which is something that for the most part the BIOS assigns. You can try to change it by uninstalling/re-installing different devices but this almost never works.

Because the 9400m shares the same IRQ as the expressslot even using a firewire expresscard doesnt work for audio production.

DPC latency whos the exact same thing in XP as it was in Vista. I have ruled out the HDD controller by booting into a PE environment and it still had the DPC Latency.

I am picking up a Sony Z to do some more testing and to decide if I can return this one.

 

Oh well, good that it's been tested anyway. Thanks for the info.

 

Does anyone use their infra-red port? Could someone test if theirs work.

 

I think that's been the case for every system I've had since Win2k came out. At the time I had a AMD Thunderbird 800mhz dual-booting Win98 and Win2k and while I could use the bios to influence irq settings for Win98 ... Win2k *always* did its own thing and devices were invariably on the same Irq. That was with Phoenix bios on a Soltek mainboard.

I don't know how Win2k was overriding the bios this way but it did (win98 seemingly couldn't do it), and so the trend has remained with Xp and right now on this Vista machine I'm using - a dell xps 420 - a few devices have indeed found themselves on the same Irq. However that Latency checker has the highest value at 1098 and it claims that I should not suffer drop-outs.

I've just checked two other systems nearby ... my folks Packard Bell with some ghastly bios and my toshiba with phoenix bios and both are sharing irq's in the same way. I imagine you're trying to process data streams ... have you tried it for real rather than the latency checker? You might find it works well.

I'm still not really sold on the 1340. I want to be. I really do, because it's reasonably priced with a faster nvidia chipset, but these temps...

Graeme

 

The 1640 has all sorts of issues under XP, but none of which are all that important for my application... Firewire doesn't work, IR doesn't work, audio over HDMI doesn't work, and there is a permanent unknown device in Device Manager. I've tried several different combinations of drivers across multiple clean installs with exactly the same results each time. Since the thing is used for business, none of this affects me, so whatever.

Yeah, no worries... any specific combination of drivers you want installed or not installed? I just completed the reinstall and have only the nForce and GeForce drivers installed... FWIW, the MCP79MX is working, the 9200 shows disabled right now. Nothing else is installed, but I was planning on installing everything but the IR drivers, then making an image of the drive so I can mess around some more.

 

If all else fails, it might be worth grabbing and installing VMWare Workstation under Vista and installing Xp as a virtual machine. The latest version even provides Directx9c support to the virtual machine.

Graeme

 

My brothers hp has an ir remote, and it worked with mine.

 

I bought an express card ir remote off ebay and it works on my 1340.

 

I am strongly considering this as a near-future option. It's really a last resort, though...

 

Nope... holds pretty steady at 8000ms with an occasional spike as something happens on the system. Maybe once every 30 or 40 bars, certainly not every 5.

The only device driver not installed is the IR. Everything else (webcam, WWAN, wifi, BT, etc.) is installed.

Still have a disabled 9200GS, enabled whatever the other one is. I can't get the 9200GS to work at all. I don't care; it's not going to affect Internet Exploder...

 

You mean 800 not 8000? But still...sounds nice

 

Assuming you mean 800 microseconds, that's good. But then justanothercrowd just said he still gets the red spikes:

So now I'm not sure. Also I had an unknown device in Windows 7, that turned out to be the infra-red.

 

With a wipe and all the drivers installed it was exactly the same. 4 green and then 1 red with a random variation every now and then.

JUST TO BE CLEAR I have loaded a VistaPE (basically the same as an Ubuntu LIVE CD but it is based on the Vista Kernal) OS that runs off only from RAM (thus ruling out the SATA driver) which doesn't support most of the drivers (only the basics VGA etc) and with DPC latency checker the results are the same..SO IT IS NOT as simple as disabling a device driver. The VGA shares IRQ's with the firewire bus which caused issues regardless of OS...these IRQ's are assigned from the BIOS which is where the problem will need to be corrected.


Now it could be that Dell did not assign certain IRQ values to specific hardware devices and it looks more like it hands them out on a first come first serve (similar to Vista and Virtual IRQ's)....which would explain why SOME people (a very small amount who are lucky enough to have correct IRQ management on the firewire bus for some strange reason/timing) can use this thing without latency issues. Or it could be that their software just handles the buffer or has larger default buffer values)

I have tried with Sonar 7 and 8 and audacity (through ASIO4ALL) which did not work without pops...or didnt work at all through an express card just froze the system graphics due to it sharing an IRQ with the 9400m...if it was anything besides a data stream it would probably be fine (HDD's etc) I hope Dell fixes this in the future...I really wanted to keep this laptop but I had to return it. I got a deal on a Sony Z which is a bit lighter and produces so much less heat it is amazing and of course (I checked at the store before I bought it without sales peoples permission since I wan't sure they would let me)does not have the DPC issue.

I wished so much that it would just work so that I could be done with the headache.

Good luck to those still with this book...Dell doesn't seem to consider this (DPC Latency or compatibility with Audio Interfaces) a priority so it MAY or MAY NOT be fixed via a BIOS update from DELL which I cant wait for. This can be seen with all the previous Dell models with these issues. Every once in a while Dell will realease a BIOS that most likely resolves the IRQ issue by chance and not because the DPC issue is what they were trying to fix.

And of course Dell isn't the only notebook manufacturer with these issues but they do have the highest ratin of products with the DPC issue compared to everyone else...so don;t think I'm trying to single them out I just want a notebook that works with my audio equipment.

I have read so many darn threads about DPC lately I am DONE WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So frustrating.....

 

I vaguely remember in XP there was something you could set during install which let you manage IRQ values manually. You could then untick 'Use automatic settings' in device manager and change assignments around.

 

Tried it with no luck...but maybe someone with more patience will give it a go in the future.

 

I have a problem with my Studio XPS, wonder if anyone can help me.

Overall the laptop seems fine apart from the fact that Bioshock does all sorts of strange things ie hangs the system, opens fullscreen on half a screen, any change in graphic settings makes the game freeze etc.

My actual problem is with Windows Vista performance. When graphic driver is installed (stock or any other) suddenly windows 'freeze up' when I'm moving them around and there's overall a lot of lag going on, that should never be there on such a powerful machine.

When drivers are uninstalled for the graphics solution, everything runs normal and I can even set the resolution to the laptop's native. Screen refresh is quick, no lag whatsoever.

Is it something with the drivers that I'm doing wrong or is my graphics card damaged? This is after a clean install of Vista by the way.

 

You might want to hunt down some drivers from laptopvideo2go.com they have some for the hybrid setup and just the 9400m that seem to work fine.

 

Update: Received new adapter. Problem remains (not detected properly: doesn't charge nor drain battery). Flashed BIOS, no change.

Have re-contacted Dell XPS support, awaiting further response. Will keep post updated.

 

Next thing I'd try is another battery. The circuitry in yours could be faulty. It's almost behaving like an old pack that will no longer hold or accept charge.

Graeme

 

There are problems with this hybrid setup and the drivers currently out there. For example, if you take a window on your desktop and drag it around in circles it's VERY choppy but after a few seconds, the GPU realizes it needs more power, beefs it up and now it becomes smooth. This is also apparent in games. For example when I launch COD4, the menu system is really non responsive, and then after a few seconds, it becomes smooth. When the game finally loads, it's very choppy and then smooths out, but this continues while playing. Or when watching a video, there will be a few glitches while the GPU is ... doing whatever it's doing.

It's really hard to tell what's going on but I would guess the drivers are not optimized to handle this new chipset properly, at least I hope it's software and not hardware related. All I know is that somethinge is going on that makes the graphic responsiveness a bit choppy.

 

Have had nothing but problems with Dell since l placed this order. When placing the order my bank declined the card transaction, Dell tried again and the my bank blocked my card, which was embarrassing when l was trying to check out of my hotel. Anyway managed to pay for Studio XPS 13 and eventually received a call from the couriers and l confirmed with them that they would deliver between 8am and 1pm on 24th March.

At 3:30pm it finally arrived. I was very unhappy with the delay as l am a one man business and can't really afford to sit at home and wait all day. Complained to Dell via Email as l can't face the outsourced Indian call centre as l am based in the UK. Barely got an apology and they refused any form of compensation, not even a friggin mouse mat.

Had to get on with work so l didn't open the box till the 25th. Attractive packaging and l was really excited, pressed the power button got the Dell logo, was looking great, booted into Windows VIsta and the left hand third of the screen was all corrupted. Rang Dell Tech Support (Indian based) and after a few tests arranged for an engineer to come and replace the WLED on the 26th. I was quite disappointed, but another 24 hours wouldn't kill.

Got a call from Dell at 11:30 am on the day of the engineering visit, "sorry sir, engineering visit is cancelled, part is out of stock, not sure when it will be in stock will ring you when we get it"

At this point l was spitting blood l spent an hour getting passed between Customer Dis-Services and Technical Support as at this stage l wanted the whole laptop replaced. After getting transferred at least 12 times between the two departments l finally got them to agree to replace it. The reason l wanted a replacement it that they couldn't tell me when their engineers would get the part in, couid of been 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months.

Is there someone in the UK l can complain to as l am fuming and feel l deserve some sort of recompense for the problems l have suffered at the hands of the couriers that Dell use and Dell itself. You just go round in circles when talking to the Indians and never seem to get anywhere.

Also my delivery is missing the Facial Recognition CD which is Dell P/N: N349C. A friend of mine who has the Studio XPS 16 has this CD.

On another note has anyone stuck Windows Server 2008 on this laptop yet?

 

I recieved my studio xps yesterday. And it is a sweet lappy
I was planning on installing windows 7 x64 but it wouldn't work b/c win 7 has some issue with nvidia chipsets.

Anyway could some of you sxps 1340 owners post the temperatures of your CPU and GPU so I can compare them to mine. I replaced my thermal paste and currently have the CPU Core 0 running at 35C(94F)
Core 1 running at 35C(94F)
GPU GF 9200MGS Core 55C(130F)
GPU GF 9400MG Core 50C(121F)
BTW I used HWmonitor to measure the temps http://hwmonitor.en.softonic.com/
Thanks

 

I am running Vista 32bit, energy saving profile, room temarature is 21°C. Right after boot idle temerature is Core 0 - 33°C, Core 1 - 37°C, GPU - 45°C. What I do not like is that the idle temperature progressive rises up to 45 - 50°C.

By the way the power consumtion (from the wall oulet 220V) in above mentioned conditions is around 25W (I have good quality German energy monitor). IMHO this is not so much. At 100% CPU charge it rases to 60W.

Questions:
- what were your temperatures before replacing the thermal paste?
- what is you room temperature?
- does you CPU/GPU temperature progressively rise?
- how did you proceed to replace the thermal paste? (short description or a link is welcome)

 

How do you check the temps?

 

with HWMonitor 1.13
http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

 

Hey guys, I'm having the dreaded 1340 wont wake from sleep issue

running a clean install of vista 64, most updated drivers, no other issues


any thoughts?

 

Hey guys, just got my laptop today. I love it! Only problem I have had so far is those line that flash across the screen when on a low brightness and battery. I remember this issue being discussed before, but I don't remember the fix for it, and can't find the page. Any helpwould be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

last friday i ordered the remote for the sxps 13. I got it yesterday and i downloaded the drivers and it worked. I wanted to see if it fits in the slot on the side. I put the remote control in and it clicked BUT the remote control sticks out of the computer!! After, I compared it to the placeholder that comes inside the slot and you could definitely tell a difference.
Design flaw?

 

@telkayam - How long did it take for your order? I'm thinking about selling my laptop and downgrading. Plus I need to pay some things off first.

 

Anyone? I would love to fix this today w/o calling dell.