1640 Throttling - post here

Thanks a bunch dude, Yea i can now configure shipping costs for the ebay page for my dell im gonna sell. Thanks haha
I wanna put the page up the day it ships so i can get it quicker and all ect, the whole ebay process.

 

np man, we're all in this together

 

Fo shizzle lol

 

See you all in another 7 to 8 months! (when we uncover the next secret dell defect )

 

Lol, I wish I could say the same i'm very disappointed with how this is being handled

 

I'd suggest you read some of the threads on the Asus G51Jx before making any hasty decisions. The G51Jx suffers from BSODs while playing certain games. At the moment, there is no fix for it. The G51J on the other hand has a BIOS update that will solve this issue. There is also throttling issues on the G51Jx, but a fix is available ->
http://g51jbsod.wikia.com/wiki/CPU_throttling#fix

 

Love this forum, thanks for the info david. Good to know!

 

Yea i know about this, but the throttling has a fix so atm thats fine, and i read that there is a current fix in progress bios wise for the bsod by the asus team. So im fine with it, overall either way it still beats this xps id have. Especially with its graphics card, and money wise. Plus the dell hassle wouldnt be an issue anymore haha

 

Hmm, concerning the G51JX BSOD BIOS fix - there were a couple of threads about it and various posts - but I suppose if you were not watching it actively it could be easy to miss it. - ASUS sent out a BIOS fix for the BSOD issues on the G51Jx on March 19 - version 205. I'm not sure if ASUS has added it to their site yet, but it can be downloaded here.

A couple of users were reporting freezes in some new games so ASUS also created another Beta BIOS, but only a few users were having those issues and I don't know what the results on it were. At this point though 205 has been confirmed to fix the 0x124 BSODs by at least 5 separate individuals who had the problem before that.

Peter

P.S. More info FYI: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=458464&page=14 and the main 160 page G51Jx Thread ( see page 144)

 

Does the replacement come with a new service tag #? Or does it remain the same?

 

Thanks for the update. Although the 205 BIOS seems to solve the 0x124 BSOD, it also seems to sprout other BSODs. However since the fix is still fairly new, we'll see how it plays out after a couple weeks.

 

Exactly, as mentioned there are the other freezes and a couple of reports of BSODs. I haven't heard anything though since ASUS released the second beta BIOS last week to solve those problems (some of which probably never came up before because people would get that 0x124 BSOD first). Maybe no news is good news, but I asked what people were seeing, so we'll find out.

The first official nVidia driver update helps too - the old 186 driver had confirmed artifacting and game errors on new games so those have now also been solved - and that might also help with the BSODs.

There are other BSODs that are caused if the incorrect Audio Drivers and so on are installed - but these are solvable. At this point the major issues have been fixed either by ASUS or through our own research - but we still have to confirm everything.

One thing that would be nice though, in addition to the throttling fix we found ourselves, is if we could convince ASUS to send us 130W-150W or greater PSUs, since pushing things to their limits can make the current 120W PSUs overload. Since the throttling isn't as bad as you guys had with your 90W adapters though, they're saying it's for thermal and power concerns that they have the limit there in the first place so no idea if that'll ever go anywhere... otherwise it's been a solid system for me I have to say - not perfect, but for $1500 for the top of the line model I got, I can't complain

Peter

More details on other BSODs: http://g51jbsod.wikia.com/wiki/ASUS_G51J-A1_0x124_BSOD

 

WHAT A PEICE OF CRAP.

I'm on the phone with my agent, he can't offer me a 540m replacement because they're no longer in stock. He's offering me a i7 720 which to me is considered a downgrade...

oh and get this the boards with the 5730 apparently don't exist as they're not able to configure a computer with it. I was offered 6gb of ram over my original 4gb. I'm really pissed off I don't know what to do anymore. I want a damn working computer but I'm definitely not willing to settle for what they're offereing.

What should I do? I requested an upgraded warranty because the damn system has so many problems and he said that he wouldn't be able to do that, nor would a system exchange for a different model/series.

 

LOL Now the website only offered Blu-ray drives and yet he's refusing to add that. it's the only option listed.

 

Well we agreed on 6gb of ram, i7 and xfi sound...

so as soon as I get the laptop I'll be selling, not sure what I'll buy just yet, looking at Asus or hell maybe an Envy even though I hate HP just at the moment anything is better than Dell.

 

Well it'd be an upgrade from the p whatever you had, and a sidestep from the i5 you had briefly. Is not that bad...sorry to hear about your troubles..

 

New..thats how I was table to check if my warranty transferred...

So wait, they gave you a brand new 3 year warranty with your replacement? or it carried over from your first laptop?

 

Hello All..

Which would you guys recommend i5 540m or i7 820qm and why?

Also is there a huge difference in quality between the rgb and wled?

Thanks

 

So I checked the support ticket status page today and it updated from PND to ORD and now it says this at the bottom:

P111R BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP)..., NOTEBOOK..., ANW, BLACK..., M15X 00001
1KYGR MODULE..., INFORMATION..., CHASSIS, BLACK..., M15X 00001

I guess I'm getting an Alienware? Where do you guys go to get more info?

 

Same Crap they pulled on me...

 

check your account on the dell site should give you specs

 

What was wrong with your original laptop and what specs did you have?

 

I just noticed i got an alert that the AW shipped-

I AM SO UPSET!

 

mystycs

I just got the tracking info for my 4GB memory module, it was sent out yesterday immediately after my phone call...overnighted! Srid is the man!

 

I had the throttling issue. I got a dell outlet one with a 4670, 4gb ram, P8700, reg screen.

Here's the new one I found it:
1 P111R Base,Notebook,Alienware,Black,M15X $462.82
1 1KYGR Module,Information,CHASSIS,Black,M15X $.00
1 2835C Module,Documentation,Airborne,2-DAY,DELL DRCT $1.99
1 2J4FR Module,Software,Certificate Of Authenticity,W7HP64,Alienware $.33
1 3C3PV Module,Media,Digital Video Disk Drive,Resource Dvd,Alienware,M15X $.70
1 5FJ8M Module,Label,Intel,Notebook,CI7 $.00
1 6WPVF Module,Information,Artwork,NAME-PLT,Generic,M15X $.00
1 717NT Module,Software,Alienware,COMMANDCENTER,M15X $.00
1 7X54D Module,Information,Audio,M15X $.00
1 8P085 Module,Cord,Power,110V,3W\3P,Asia Pacific,United States $.54
1 CHKFK MOD,PRC,CLF,XXXXX,1.6,M15X $340.02
1 CP1VF Module,Software,W7HP64 Consumer Desktop,English Dao/bcc $.00
1 D00MD MOD,CRD,GRPHC,GTX,260M $233.69
1 D9KVP Module,Software,Quick Fix Engineering,W7HB32,Consumer Notebook $.00
1 FC0J6 MOD,CRD,NTWK,5300,ANW,DAO $20.00
1 H608T MOD,HD,500G,7.2K,SGT-HOLL,XLOB $48.00
1 HHXJ8 MOD,LCD,15.6FHD,TLF,LGP,M15X $74.00
1 JY578 Module,Information,Software,Alienware,ALIENFX,AQUA $.00
1 JY628 Module,Software,Alienware AVATAR1 $.00
1 K467P Module,Adapter,Alternating Current,Delta - Ac Adapt,150W,3P,World Wide $16.64
1 M647N Module,Keyboard,83,United States,World Wide,M15X $31.00
1 N968R MOD,BTRY,PRI,56WHR,6C,DYNPK $33.44
1 NT799 Module,Information,Alienware,AUTO-UPDATES,ON $.00
1 P395P Module,Software,CYBERLINK Powerdvd,8.0,Alienware $2.76
1 P398P Module,Software,NERO,9 Alienware $.50
1 P811N MODULE,INFORMATION,DIRECTSHIP,FLEXTRONICS $.00
1 P916C Module,Dual In-line Memory Module,4GB,1066MHZ,DDR3,2X2G $168.00
1 R0N0R MOD,DVDRW/BD-ROM,HLDS,BARE,ANW $105.00
1 R5FTG MOD-SRV,SW,ANW,M15X $.00
1 R73V3 MOD,CRD,NTWK,370,FXCN,ANW,DAO $3.94
1 T013C Module,Software,Works,9 English $9.95
1 T968P MOD,SHP MTL,PACK,M15X $13.00
1 X582K MOD,ACC,ANW,ENG,D/B,M15X $14.60
1 XM544 Module,Software,PC-RESTORE Transactional Line Of Business $.00
1 Y2FYM Module,Software,W7HP64,Digital Video Disk Drive,Multi-Language,Alienware $.85
1 Y540P Module,Software,Alienware CYBERLINK,YOUCAM $.00
1 YC8XT Module,Tuner,Software,TVT11 NTSC,Advanced Television System Committee $.00

 

I see Intel CI7 which is for Core i7..any idea what processor you got?




Edit: ram just got here...Says refurbished on the box...ughhh...Hopefully its okay..Free 4gb is free 4gb

 

he fancys you more

 

I'm thinking of writing an email to corporate this is getting rediculous

 

Didn't you already email michael dell? that's what I did, and how I got my replacement in 2 weeks!

 

Thinking hard about selling whatever replacement they're send me and picking up an envy for 950.00 on sale right now new.


Argh, so tough to pick.

 

No I have not, lol judging by what happened with you i should have, but now I have way more to write about after this experience if this final config is not right i will be emailing corporate

 

good point, you have way more ammunition than I did considering I went through 0 replacements parts. Make sure you ask for the world. I'm about to pop in my new 4 gig dimm so I have a total of 8. 3 weeks ago if you asked me if I'd be getting this config which is about $650+ more dollars than what I paid for, I'd laugh at you...I cant believe what I got..I am so happy.. still typing on my old 1640...haha old..anyway the new one is about to go under the knife! arctic silver 5 on cpu/gpu and ram upgrade~

wish me luck!

 

Had an interesting talk with a friend who works at Dell today. Told me the 5730's are available, yet I'm being told they're not by my case manager. My friends wouldn't lie to me. Here goes yet ANOTHER email to Dell...

 

I think someone just explained it another thread...THe 5730 are available to dell in their system as a generic part number. Its available for other laptops. People made the assumption it could be configured with the 1640 series..A tech said that wasn't the case and explained what I just said..

Reading everyone's posts, I feel like its all of you who are wanting the 5730 so bad that you just believe it's available, regardless if it is or not. I really hope I'm wrong, but don't let your desires skew the truth. Remember this all started from an order error on the CA website and it spun outta control from there...Also remember you were promised to get it by a random tech..The same random techs that weren't informed about the throttling issues or the 130w replacements (at first)..I don't know why....but you believe the tech when he says what you want him to say, ie when he said he could configure you a 5730, you wanted it so bad you believed him..and now that its not really available you don't believe him..? you see where Im getting at?

 

If a Dell Corporate Manager is considered a "random" tech than who the hell should I be talking to? because if that's not authority I want to talk to someone who does have authority. I believe if you promise something and you don't deliver on it that something else should be done.

I know exactly what you're getting at but I want to stick it to Dell to teach them a lesson not to screw with the consumer.

 

I'm guessing from this line: MOD,PRC,CLF,XXXXX,1.6,M15X since it says 1.6 the 1.6ghz quad, but I have no clue how to read this stuff.

Don't they want the old one back after you get the new one?

 

I think I'm going to throw in the towel here very soon I was told I would get a call back today (not true) then called up and they told me some requestwas made but could not tell me the request that was made and that I would receive a call back tomorrow So I might just take this I7 deal they are giving me with the 4670 and save my head from anymore Hell aches. As my 1640 is acting up again, and I don't want to have anymore tech visits for this, BTW is any one having a problem with the pinch zoom feature with just one finger? and when I watch movies its been stuttering in fullscreen but not windowed. Anyway Like I said I'ma deal with it till I get this new laptop.

 

Yup, you have some time to back up your stuff before you send it back though.

 

Ah I just found out the M15X only has DisplayPort not HDMI... guess I'm going to need a new monitor. Ugh.

 

Why would you need to buy a new monitor ? Displayport works with HDMI with adapters. They have passive ones too.

HDMI is based of the DVI spec and they just recently updated the Displayport in the same vein.

Are you sure it doesn't have both though? Either way you are fine with an adapter.

 

Yeah it only has the one. Good call on an adapter though. Much more practical, lol.

 

Hey everyone,

I've been facing the same problem of throttling as everyone here for many months. I got my Studio XPS 1640 in July 09 and from day one I noticed it throttling while playing games. Earlier, I thought that it was an OS and even re-installed Vista a couple of times. Then I upgraded my OS to Win 7 and the problem still didn't go away. Very recently, I read about the throttling problem here and found that its a BIOS issue with the 1640 and that a 130W power supply usually makes things better. So I called up Dell and after a long argument with the tech support, convinced them to replace the parts inside my laptop. So a few days ago, they came and changed the motherboard, the fan, the heatsink and gave me a new 130W power supply.

After that, I noticed that when using throttlestop things seem to work just fine but without it I face the same throttling issues. Now, let me tell you beforehand that my experience with Dell has been bad. Even when I bought this laptop last year they sent me a dead one and then I had to literally fight with Dell to get a replacement. The situation got really ugly and I had to threaten them that I'll take legal action if nothing is done. Dell has been by far the worst customer service experience of my life.

I want to ask you guys what should I do now. Should I fight with Dell again for another replacement? Seeing that its an inherent design flaw in the 1640, would that be of any help? Or should I ask them for a refund? I am really pissed at them actually and I'm not prepared to accept this flawed piece of machinery. I know throttlestop is a solution but its not a permanent one. I paid Dell good amount of money ($2600 Canadian) for my laptop and this is just not acceptable.

What is your opinion? Should I ask for a refund or for a replacement?

 

Haha. Well, if your picture is any indication, honey will get you a lot farther with dell tech support than vinegar. I personally have never had any issues that I could not resolve. I am however a bit silver tongued in this respect. I made a post of my conversation with dell tech that I used to get a replacement laptop. I'll find it and link it if you're interested.

The key is to be polite, compliment them, but be firm. Tell them tech support is awesome, but you've really had a lot of issues and you just want a final resolution. They'll usually work with you pretty well.

 

@gs_31 It sounds like you thought a current BIOS for the 1640 would fix the throttling. They have not released a BIOS for the throttling on the 1640 yet only the 1645 and 1647.

Agree with Magicite. Getting tech support to do what you want is not about about threats to sue it is all about working with the person on the other end.

I spent maybe a total of 15 minutes over 3 calls with my rep before getting a replacement to a 1647. No parts replaced on my 1640 other than a 130w adapter being sent. Many here know more about the problem than tech support, but you have to do a little dance with them to get the outcome you want.

 

If I was you, I'd phone Dell and say enough is enough. This product is defective and can not in its present form live up to the specifications you paid for. Dell has been in denial and twiddling their thumbs for the last year and its great that an updated bios is just around the corner but as of right now, it still isn't available well over a year after these originally shipped.

Call Dell, stand firm, mention that you will be lodging a complaint with the Better Business Bureau which they hate and also mention legal action if you need to go that for. They should be willing to swap your computer for a 1647. Don't accept anything less than a Core i7-620M which is the fastest Dual Core available now. That would be a fair exchange for your T9600 combined with the BS that you've been through since last July.

As for ThrottleStop, I'm a little biased but it wouldn't be a problem to run TS full time when using a 130 watt adapter. You can use the Task Scheduler and have it start up with Windows. If you use the Start Minimized Option, it is very efficient and last time I checked, used less than 1 second of CPU time after it had been running constantly for 2 hours while it remained minimized in the System Tray.

Here's the latest version that lets you set low MHz and core voltage at idle so it's no longer just for gaming.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

Once properly set up, you won't have to give it a second thought.

I have no idea if the next 1640 bios will 100% cure throttling. Some of the other Dell laptops can still benefit from ThrottleStop because they are still being limited to less than the full 130 watts DC that the new replacement adapters are rated for. Once the new and improved bios is finally released, it will be more difficult to get your XPS 1640 replaced so your best bet is to call Dell immediately.

 

Hey thanks magicite, peppe1 and especially unclewebb. I did what you guys said...I called Dell and then stood firm. They went through the usual scripted steps and patiently kept explaining the situation. I spoke to about 7 different reps and now finally...they've agreed to give me a replacement. Here's what they are offering me...compare this to the config in my signature and let me know what you guys think about this system.

SYSTEM COLOUR - Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
PROCESSOR - Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM - Genuine Windows ® 7 Professional Edition with XP Mode
LCD AND CAMERA - Full HD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
MEMORY - 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
HARD DRIVE - 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
GRAPHICS CARD - ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
OPTICAL DRIVE - Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo
BLUETOOTH - DW 370 (USB module)
SOUND OPTIONS - Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio


I think it falls under the 1645, am I right? And seeing that most of the throttling issues with the 1645 have been resolved I think its a decent exchange. What do you guys think? Any thing I should be concerned about with the above configuration?

Also, the only thing that I don't like is the screen. I have a 16 inch Full HD RGBLED screen right now and I don't like this downgrade from a 16 inch to 15.6 inch WLED screen. The best thing about this laptop is the screen I think. Its just gorgeous and I really like my current screen.

What do you guys think I should do? Should I call them up again and ask for 16 inch RGB LED screen? I don't know what the quality difference between an RGBLED and WLED but I paid GOOD money for the RGBLED screen and it would be unfair to get short-changed like this. My concern is that on the Dell Canada website they don't even have the option for the 16" RGBLED screen anymore! So have they stopped manufacturing it or what? Can they put in that screen if I ask them to give me what I paid for?

I really appreciate you guys helping me out here. Its nice to know that I'm not the only harassed Dell customer. As they say, misery loves company

 

all the questions you have asked have all been answered previously numerous numerous times throughout this thread and the newered 164X replacement thread..

 

And oh yeah unclewebb, thanks for the link to the new version of throttlestop but I'm facing a problem when I try to run it. Here's the msg that I get.

"For Throttlestop to work correctly, you need to set the minimum processor state to 100%. This can be found in the control panel - power options. See the documentation for further details."

After that when I click ok, it crashed most of the times. And sometimes it works. I get the usual error report sending window. My power settings are on High Performance and the AC adapter is plugged in. I don't know if its an issue with my system or what.

BTW, unclewebb...dude...this program that you've written throttlestop is amazing! I can't tell how much its helped me. I bought my Studio XPS 16 for my animation work but the main reason why I got a PC and not a Mac was for gaming (graphic designing and animation is way better on a Mac but gaming...not so much). I'm a real gaming enthusiast and I've been dying to play some games on my laptop without it throttling after 15 mins of gameplay. Throttlestop solved that problem for me if only temporarily and I could play the games that I've been wanting to play for a long time now. It was just fantastic to be able to play my fav games and it was time well wasted I would say

I don't understand what they were thinking while designing this system. And I feel like smacking myself in the head really hard that I fell for it. When the laptop was launched it seemed like the best thing in the market for a relatively affordable price. I had a desktop with an E6600 2.4 Ghz C2D with 2 GB RAM and an nVidia 7600GT GPU before this so you can understand how amazing this config seemed to me. It was like a poor man's Alienware...but man...things that seem too good to be true usually are.

I just hope I don't face the same issues with the replacement 1645 that Dell is giving me now. That would be really uncool. I swear if that happens then I'm never ever going to buy a Dell product in my life, not even an Alienware...and that shows how truly pissed I am at these guys for giving the customer defective products like the Studio XPS 16 series.

And if this one doesn't work out for me then I'm gonna get a refund and I'll get a......a...(gasp)...a....Mac Book Pro!!! That's right...I'm switching loyalties...I'm going Apple (Oh noes)

 

To solve throttlestop issue with min processor state: Leftclick battery/power symbol in taskbar, left click more power options ==> make sure its set to high performance and click change plan settings ==> click change advanced power settings this should open



make sure minimum and maximum processor is set at 100%

 

Thanks JKleiss but its already at 100%...I checked before I posted here. Might be some issue with my system. Oh well, its going back to Dell in another 3-4 weeks anyway

I see in your signature that you have a 1645. How's the heat on this thing? I'm getting a 1645 with an i7 720QM and I read at some place that it gets like REALLY hot. How has your experience been?

Also, I noticed in ur signature..you have 15.6" WLED screen. I was getting one of those in my replacement system I could sure use some comments from you about it. I've been using the 16" inch RGB LED screen and it totally rocks. How do you find the 15.6" WLED? Isn't the screen size a little too small for the Full HD Res? I mean I found even my 16" screen small and 15.6" would be really pushing it, what say? And hows the WLED screen...is it as good as the RGBLED or just a slight minor diff in quality?

I wish there is some way I can keep the i7 720QM and have the 16" RGBLED screen as well. I'll call Dell tomorrow and check if they can do that.