1645 power adapter recall, link to dell website to claim yours

I just got this email from dell.


Dear Customer,

When the Studio Laptop you recently purchased is running high intensive applications, it may experience performance and/or video lag issues. A newly-updated BIOS has been developed to address this issue, and we strongly recommend that you upgrade to this new BIOS.

Download and run the latest BIOS release R269189(A09), located on Support.Dell.Com website. Enter R269189 in the search box on the top of the page and follow the link to the BIOS download. When executed, this file will update the BIOS on your system.

Additionally, as this BIOS update allows additional power to be drawn from a higher-rated AC adapter, we can send to you, free of charge, an upgraded adaptor (130w) to help protect against degraded performance.

To receive the replacement 130w adapter, please submit your name, ship to address and system tag number (in the subject line) at the following website: Studio XPS 1645 Power Supply Upgrade

We ask that you use this method to submit for the replacement no later than September 30th and allow 14-21 business days for arrival. Should you require the upgrade after this time, please call Technical Support to have your request fulfilled.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Dell

 

Hmmm, so this is only for those with 1645s and not those with 1640s?

 

Copy and pasted but really need to know:

OK I downloaded both and really scared to do anything at this point... What's the next step? Do I open the WinPlash64 then browse in the "Specify New BIOS files" to find the extracted A08 BIOS files that I downloaded and click "BACKUP BIOS"? Also should the file that I browsed to find be a .WPH file? If I can get a walkthrough that would be great! =)

 

I went to that website and input my service tag number, and it said it was an invalid number. So I chatted with tech support and they're sending me a 130 watt adapter. He said I'd have to return the original adapter and I mentioned the website made it sound like we could keep the 90 watt adapter, so he said it would be OK if I kept the 90 watt adapter.

 

Better late than never..good to see and funny they're not suggesting you to use A10. I'm guessing this was created before it was released, but I choose to believe Dell know A10 sucks compared to A09.

The tag doesn't work for me (never gotten an email either): says not eligible, I guess us mere mortals residing on another land-mass need to keep calling in..

 

Mine says not eligible

 

Mine did, too. In my post 2 up I mistakenly said it said invalid, but it said not eligible. I have one coming, though.

 

already have a 130w. possible to get anotherone?

 

Are these for those still with the 90? Or is this an even newer rev of adapter...? Anyone know?

 

Darn, I got excited thinking this was a recall for the 130w adapters to be replaced with 150w or higher...Dell is JUST NOW making a press release about this? Do they realize under heavy load the 130w adapter still throttles? I'm also thinking the users on this forum with the 5730 who say theu AREN'T throttling, actually would throttle IN GAMES if they tried playing Bad Company 2. I can play Left4Dead and Crysis without throttling but Bad Company 2 utilizes much more cpu power than those two games, or World of Warcraft for that matter as liquidx2 was playing without throttling. I am starting to think there is nothing wrong with my unit compared to the others here who have the exact same specs and stated they weren't throttling...

 

I have the 5730 and can contest it still throttles : /

 

And if I had the 9-cell battery my temps under load probably wouldn't ever exceed 80 C. Right now with the screen open and blocking the vent they get to, but don't exceed, 85 C. With the screen off and closed my temps never get about 75 C under load. I thought I had a temp problem just based on how hot the bottom of the unit got (especially in the middle), but that's just because of how thin the thing is. Yes it should have been designed for better airflow but besides that the temps are the way they're supposed to be.

 

I just noticed a line in bold from the link says " Please note, there is nothing wrong with the current 90w adapter shipped with your system." Obviously incorrect, no company would be spending millions of dollars trying to fix a problem that is described as "nothing wrong."

Of course, the next line contradicts the first line- " The issue being addressed is strictly related to maximizing the performance of your system.".

What Dell really meant to say is that the 90Watt adapter will not cause health and safety risks, or something like that, but it's still funny such a large company would write something so unprofessional.

 

What does throttling look like? is it just ur computer slowing down? I havent experienced it but i only play games like Sims 3, ME2, and SFIV on 720p. I already got BC2 on 360 so I dont feel like buying another one

 

GPU throttling on the XPS 1645 looks like a major reduction in frames per second (in games), usually reduced by around half, and it cycles every 30 seconds or minute between normal and reduced performance.

CPU throttling varies in severity. Sometimes your frames per second will only drop by 20%, or other times by 95%+, based on how much throttling is occurring. Unlike with GPU throttling, your system usually won't cycle normal and reduced performance states when experiencing CPU throttling.

 

Ahhh as I thought, it is clocking itself down to cool off.

 

Not necessarily. The throttling in most Dell laptops is due to Dell using a power adapter that is not sufficient to power both the CPU and GPU at full power at the same time.

 

Well I don't mean to hijack this thread but as I posted in a different thread, I have had no throttling with both stress tests and intensive gaming sessions 4 hours +. So liquid is not the only one who can claim this.

 

which games and at what settings are you playing? can u also put here your log files for the stress tests?

 

so i'm fairly familar with the throttling issue but trying to consider whether there are other problems involved with gaming performance i've experienced. Last game I seriously tried to play on this thing was Dawn of War 2, and without even maxing the settings, the game "revs" up and down about every second, speeding up to what looks normal and then slowing down as if it were in slow motion, and skipping lots of frames and whatnot. For the most part I can't get the game to run decently at the native 1080p res, maybe only becomes slightly playable with everything turned off and way down (very blury and lacks most effects). what if anything might be suggested to get this game to run smoothly with half-way decent frame rates and all or most effects? I can run it on my desktop which has a slightly better GPU, the 5770. my assumption is I'm just out of luck because nothing I've ever tried has made the 1645 play a game that was performing badly and I think it's just due to the severe throttling/power issues that are hardware/design based more than anything else. I'm still used to running all my games at better than 1080p on my previous E1705 to which this is a replacement and just can't get into the seriuously lacking performance of this system.

btw been running with a 130-watt PSU since November/December, and have recently got two new replacements from Dell, and latest BIOS at all times. the power supply and BIOS updates never helped a single significant bit other than slightly tweaking the throttling amount I saw during "synthic" testing with Furmark/etc. I've seen slight improvements in what the clock multiplier look like and performance modulation, as reported by throttlestop, when running a single CPU or GPU intense task (3DMark, Prime95, or Furmark alone..), but the problem has never improved a bit when running both a GPU and CPU intense apps (ie a real game or Furmark+Prime95).

 

So, this is only for 1645??

What about us 1640 people who have massive throttles???

(I play bioshock2 with throttlestop on... )

 

They had this recall 1/2 a year ago ... I got my 2 130 W adapters in like January.

 

I have a two year old 1420 and I have had those problems since I bought it. Is Dell selling faulty products? I have to press F1 all the time, after starting it shows a black screen that says the power adapter adapter might be unplugged and that the battery it might not charge or the computer might not work properly. Can someone help with this issue?