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

I had problems with the GS20N drive rubbing my discs and slow reads. They replaced it promptly when i told them over Dell Chat, didn't take very long. (Sometimes its easier to tell Dell that it doesn't work at all instead of trying to explain when it works and when it doesn't....that's my trick to cut down on support chat time)

I'm convinced Dell Tech's are idiots and you need to do your own troubleshooting before you go in...those responses are like a 4th grader just throwing guesses around. regedit...i mean come on lol

They replaced it with a Toshiba Samsung drive, it works fine now.

 

Thanks, that is actually very helpful. Although hopefully, I never get put in a situation where I need to use that.

 

I concur with this analysis, the gs-20 is a piece of s... ( noisy, not working, alot of people have trouble with it) . the tsst is the way to go. Ask for a replacement.

 

Thanks I did ask for a replacement, and she (eventually) agreed to dispatch someone out to replace the drive. I'll have to let the tech know about the GS-20 and see if he can bring the Samsung drive instead.

 

Gah... apparently I've got the GS-20. Now I know why I had trouble installing W7 from a freshly burned DVD.

Still, it DOES work, so I doubt I can just call Dell up and say otherwise. Any suggestions?

 

How can i find out the temp of my cpu and gpu.

 

HWMonitor. Google it and the first thing you'll fine should be it.

 

Hi guys,

I just received my 1340 and I didn't succeed to find the Ethernet drivers for Windows XP. I searched this topic without success. Any clue?

 

I had a ton of trouble with the GS-20 (loud vibrations, wouldn't read discs) and Dell sent me a new GS-20 to swap in. The install wasn't that bad and now I am not having any problems, other than the occaisional disc contact when I move the laptop while the disc is spinning.

Does this happen with the TSST?

 

Use Vista, there is nothing wrong with it.

 

or even better.. the Windows 7 RC

 

Yep I'm downloading the windows 7 64bit RC right now

 

Well I spent hours backing up my data, cloning my drive etc - I downloaded Windows 7 X64 RC Build 7100 and installed it. I told my family I would be unavailable tonight as I am upgrading windows. Well it ended up very anti-climactic.
It installed it as an upgrade in about 90 minutes and everything worked except my Shrew Soft VPN client (my replacement for Cisco VPN)- after a quick google and download of a beta it works perfectly. From boot to copy to shut down - everything is faster. If its this good as a RC can't wait for the RTM version!!

 

Hey guys

I also have dell studio xps1340. I really need to install windows xp, because I have several programs that I need to use for my job that are not working with Vista.

Can you please post an updated guide to follow?
I am partiularly wondering about nvidia MCP79 working on windows xp.

Please help me

 

My advice: return it if you can, and buy one more capable of XP from start.

 

install the windows 7 RC and install XPmode (XPmode is a virtual image/session of xp, that will/should run any apps with compatibility issues)

so you should get the best of both worlds

 

Install Windows 7 then run XP in a virtual machine. Any app you install in the VM will also be avalible direct from in Win7.

 

Bios Revision A07 is out now.

- Enhance memory compability and improve some system stability issue.

 

Nice...Will test soon.

 

Yea, thats what I was going to suggest. I hear that the XP Mode in Windows 7 works pretty well.

 

has anyone tried the new 07 bios yet???

 

Yeah, updated right after my post earlier today. Nothing special, no huge noticeable difference (if any difference at all for that matter)

 

I just did

Yep I don't think we were supposed to see any changes though...

 

Meh, i just tried playing COD4 in my laptop, both times I enabled Hybrid SLi, first no difference in performance, 2nd laptop froze both times..meh!

Windows 7 RC, I think its faulty drivers..

 

I just installed windows 7 and I am going to test crysis and maybe cod4 and see what FPS i get...

 

I had bought one of these a couple months ago and returned it due to the heat (use it on my lap frequently). Have been keeping an eye on it for fixes as I really did like the system. The other day I was reading reviews on BB's site and some of the comments were referring to Dell admitting to the heat problem and stating it was due to an incompatible motherboard and new systems are supposed to be using the same MB as the E6400. Couple refer to this yet I haven't seen any info on this site about it. Has anyone heard this?

 

I'd be interested in hearing info about this as well. I don't consider my unit to have heat problems as it only becomes intolerably hot on my lap when the 9200M GS is enabled (which I somewhat expected) even before updating to A06 (from A05). That post was dated 5/10/09 so it isn't too long ago....

 

AFAIK, they cant use the same mobo, as e6400 is based on intels chipset while 1340 needs the nvidia for the sli.

 

^ What he said......its the stupidiest thing they can say. Different chipset thats all.

 

Thought I'd post a quick update to this.

The technician came out yesterday to swap out the drive. He took the replacement drive out of the shipping box he brought with him, and lo and behold, it was another HL-DT.

An hour later, after he'd gone through removing the drive and replacing it (my GOD, there are a ton of screws to remove just to get to the drive)... I had the exact same problem.

I had to call Dell Technical Support again. They wanted to try sending me another drive, and I told them I wasn't having any of that, and that I wanted a new unit. The tech agreed without even putting me on hold. He's having a replacement unit overnight'ed to me, but couldn't say when it would get here.

Of course, I just saw on Fatwallet that there's a new 25% off coupon on the Studio XPS 13, so I went and configured a "new" unit using identical specs... and the coupon saves me $250 over what I paid last week.



I think I'm going to be on the phone with Dell this morning to try and get them to credit my account that price difference, or else I'll just return the existing laptop outright and order a new one.

To be fair, I really like the SXPS 13. I just hope it won't be long until I get one that works right.

 

Hello all,

Just received my XPS 1340 today. I impulsed bought this laptop from the outlet after getting sick of waiting anymore. I failed to read this thread before I bought though so imagine how I was cringing as I read through most of this thread .

Upon first visual inspection, I can say that I really like the look of it.

Closed the screen for 5 minutes while I was finishing with some work on my desktop and when I went back to the laptop, I found it had froze.

Whelp, time for a fresh install!

 

I purchased the system with the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB software but have no idea where to download the software after I've reformatted the system. Any clues?

Also, I upgraded the BIOS to 07, installed Dox's newest Hybrid SLI drivers and can now get a 3722 on 3DMark

 

My Laptop started to freeze too... Vista fresh install...
I found out though that it is linked to the energy saving settings.
When set on "Energy Save" it freezes, when set on "Balanced" it does not... It didnt do this the last 2 months..I will install Windows7 now.

 

Which DOX drivers are those branas? because the new 185,66 wont run with my xps13 as it doesnt support my graphic card ''the 9500M GE''.

Im new to this thread and i just wanna tell that my laptop is flawless and it only freezes when i overclock it over 25% lol. The only thing tht kind of worries my is the heat it produces but thats just cause the fan is not on when the laptop is in idle. Because when playing CoD4, HAWX, NFS carbon
it stays around the same temperature as it is in idle, but then with the fan on

3Dmark06 score now:3389 using standard drivers
A07 and 179,82

Overclock results:
CPU 2,65Ghz
Shader on both graphic cards +150mhz from standard
Temperature increase: 3-5 degrees on top of the standard
in celcius.

 

I also have that problem. When i click directly to power saver then it will freeze. If i click balanced then power saver, it will work. However under power saver it cannot go to sleep when i closed my lid and it would froze!!! Can some one solve this problem? I have a clean install too.

 

i also have the freezing problem. howver i have been using dell recommended power profile. i have changed to vista balance. i contacted dell who said it was a known problem. note they have released a07 which might help.

i am just trying on vista balance first, will upgrade the bios if still freezing

 

Yeah.. but the power saver mode runs fine with power chord plugs in. It will have no issue at all. Only it did is on battery. Did anyone try the DOX's new 185.85? I saw a lot of good things from it.

 

Can you compare the specific settings that these power profiles apply under certain conditions?

I.e when you close the lid is the laptop trying to sleep of hibernate? Does the hard drive shut down? Etc. Once you know the difference, you can better pinpoint the cause.

When I had Vista (Win 7 now) I had to go out of my way to find loads of patches to make sleep/hibernate work every time.

 

I think it is graphic card driver's issue. I don't have this thing with the first three graphic card drivers. When I unplug the power chord and change to the pwoer saver from high performance, then the notebook would freeze. So I changed from high perf. to balance then the ppower saver, then it works fine. Then i closed my lid to let it into hibernate but i noticed that the light from the lid's side wasn't flashing so i opened the lid. The lid was in totally black, no matter what i did it was still black. I also noticed that the hard driver's light wasn't flashing also.

 

I'm using his newest Hybrid SLI drivers. There's a link to them on the front page. It is the first driver to correctly install and allow me to choose Power Saving and Boost Performance as well as a 3rd option which unfortunately does nothing. They are based on 185.85 and in fact, he just released a new "Final" version today. I ran 3DMark06 3 times, I got 3720 the first 2 times and a 3722 the last time. I do have the SSD hard drive, however, so that helps.

 

I noticed the same problem! Since I have updated to the latest nvidia driver from DELL, all problems!
So I got pissed and installed Windows 7!

Problems! I'd forgotten that my DVD drive doesn't work...had to run to a shop & buy a 4gb usb drive so I could do it! What hassle.

Love the system; but so many issues.

 

I'm in (or was, rather) the same boat: just picked up a refurb of this laptop with the 9500 in it and it freezes when I closed the lid or hit the power button.

The whole problem is when the unit hibernates. The dell proprietary software for their buttons/etc can't wake the laptop from a hibernation. It's a problem they know about and could possibly fix in the future with updates, but for now go into your power management settings and turn off hibernate. Default, our laptops are using the power button to hibernate and hibernate is on a short timer when unplugged and a long one when plugged in. Just turn it all off and only allow it to sleep or turn off.

So far, this has fixed this issue of mine.

Right now, I have a problem where my laptop screen can't display the typical 1280x800 resolution (it is either 1280x720 and has a 'clipped' bar on the bottom of my screen that is a duplicate of the top of my screen) or the display extents off of my screen. Also, my laptop screen is incapable of showing the 'Dell' boot screen etc. so I have to use HDMI or VGA connections to see my bios screens. It sucks!

Anyone know how I can get my laptop screen to behave correctly? I've got the latest nvidia drivers installed (64 bit version for my 64bit vista platform). Should I re-install vista from the ground up? I have already done a 'factory restore' to no avail.

Anyone have any good ideas?

 

I was wondering if anyone can tell if the GPU temp is normal. I included the normal mode and boosted mode screenshot.

The boosted mode was with Left 4 Dead running.

I'm running Dox 185.85 "final" build w/ windows 7.

 

I have another problem with my SXPS13.. According to dell, the DVD drive problem is caused by the VISTA!! After the dvd drive reads a disk, it will not eject the cd out. So i asked the dell rep and they told me to go to bios and try to eject. Then the cd finally came out. and they conclude that it is the os problem. can someone help me with this? i don't want to change cd/dvd and go to bios and restart everytime!!!!

 

I have the same issue with Windows 7. It didn't do this with my other system that I just returned.

 

OMG.. now i asked the Dell rep to change the drive for me. They also thought it was the media buttons so they will replace two things. Hope it goes well. Do you guys have the same issue with the newest update vista?

 

Can you guys with SXPS 13 test it also? Just insert a music disk and let it play one song. After that press eject to see if you guys can or not. Please tell me the brand of your dvd drive also. thank you.

 

Is it normal for the facial recognition camera to show colored bars for the first few seconds at the logon screen? It also seems like it has trouble recognizing my face.

 

I don't have a music disk to test this with, but I can say that after you insert a disk, you cannot eject it immediately. You need to wait about a minute or so before you can eject it.

 

Can anyone tell me if they have been having problems with BIOS update A07 and the SLEEP function on their laptop??

I use an external hdmi monitor and keyboard with my 1340..ever since that bios update... when coming OUT of sleep.. i have lost my internet connection and the laptop HDMI output stops responding..

Everything is fine again if i reboot the system.. but it defeats the whole benefit of a SLEEP Function!!

I went back to the A06 bios by downgrading the bios and everything was fine again...

any ideas anyone??