===> The Official Studio XPS 1640 Owner's Thread<===

I officially hate UPS. Laptop was shipped Jan. 22, 2009 and i call today Jan. 27, 2009 to check the status of my shipment. The conversation was quite long so here's the short version: UPS lady - " We're not SORRY, and we've lost your POS package. thanks for shipping through us and we hope that we've made your shipping experience with us a living hell ! have a terrible day sir and good bye"

 

So ups lost your package zink?
Awww man if they did call dell and screem bloody murder

 

I wish i could, but i'm one of those really mellow and chilled out people. I can joke about stuff like that but never really bring myself forth to do it. hehehe................ *crying inside*

 

Gah, my SXPS has been sitting in my school mail room for two hours and they won't let me get it because it hasn't been "processed" (they write a number on it and tell me that I have a package waiting), and won't be until tomorrow. One more day of stealing a friend's lappy, I guess.

 

You don't have to yell to get your point across. Sometimes being extremely calm and mellow in those situations is a very good thing, makes the person on the other end more apt to WANT to help you.

BUT you HAVE to be FIRM in getting your point across about your disappointment in the situation.

 

Just thought I'd throw in my addition to the SXPS club here.

Ordered a 1640 on 1/21.

P8600
1080p RGBLED
4GB DDR3
320GB 7200rpm HD
Blu-Ray
Vista HomePremium 64bit
5300 Wireless-N
Bluetooth

ESD is 2/9, but I'm hoping it'll ship out a week early like some of the other users experience. That would put it in a week or so! Wheee!

 

Then what are you doing on 1640 thread? Why not go to the 1340 thread and see pics, a review, a video, and discussion about 1340?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=345794&page=11

 

I was there (and still reading of course!) and at that point there were no reviews of the 1340 and I thought it couldn't hurt to ask those who are more interested in the 1640 who may have passed over a 1340 one.

Plus, I thought I'd be nice and pass on some information which is quite likely applicable to the 1640. You know, share my experiences for the benefit of others...

 

Some of the people who didn't get the better looking Toshiba WLED screens weren't satisfied with the visually inferior AUO (Chinese company) WLED screens.

 

Got mine....typing from it right now.....the base 720p screen is very nice and my thoughts of a future screen upgrade is gone....for now.

Text is perfect ...running windows update right now but so far, the first 30 mins have been very good.

And did I say, the LED screen is S..E..X.

 

Congrat's...

Glad its working for you!

Don't you mean to say the that the LED screen is: *OH so SEXY* ? :yes: lulz!

Cin

 

BAD NEWS!!! Downloaded windows updates and rebooted and got BSOD!!!!!

I think it's the 64-bit windows update that's causing this as I rebooted the laptop twice before without any problem.

Not good....going to do a complete reinstall off the CD now.

 

I might be tempted now to get the lower res. screen instead of waiting for the 1600x900 option. I'm only worried about the med. resolution becoming available soon after I get my XPS 1640.

Did you do some gaming, what temps are you getting? Does it feel unusually hot?

Yeah, it looks like there's an issue with the 64-bit windows update. It looks like everyone getting a XPS 1640 in the near-future should do a complete reinstall.

 

Very disappointing......well, its good to know it's not a widespread h/w issue

I'm clocking out from work now and I guess I'll spend the rest of the night reinstalling Vista (which was my plan at first anyway).

Doesn't look like I will be able to test any gaming (Fallout, CoD4) on this tonight as I have a appointment with 3 of my buddies for CoD5 (Xbox 360) later tonight.

 

Fragster, I saw this in the other thread too.
Aaah, it looks like this issue is going to have to be addressed.

I hope the reinstall works well....

Yes, at least it's not a WS hardware issue!

Well, if you get things fixed up, you can always test ~ Fallout, CoD4..another day!

Cin

 

It's a good thing that this system is so sexy... if it wasn't I think I'd have stomped on it by now.. LOL.

I've got the "Display driver atikmdag stopped responding error" and have tried every fix I can find and still nothing. Then started getting BSOD on startup that couldn't be fixed. Did a complete new install and am getting ready to try again. All the hardware tests fine. From what I can find it is a Vista 64 and ATI driver issue.

The lower res screen is awesome. It makes my 1720 look ancient. After the first 30 minutes I was ready to order 2 more. One for me and one for my son. He has never owned a laptop and really likes the way this looks. We were putting the order together when the first error hit! For now I'll just stick with the one and my husband won't use it unless I can get the bugs worked out.

Studio XPS 16
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400
WLED LCD
320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

 

Thanks to Cin' and theguac, I gave dell another chance by calling in again. This time, the guy (theguac's rep) gave me:
-upgrade to RBGLED screen with additional $50
-Free overnight shipping
-7% EPP discount
-DEll $120 printer for $39 (overnight shipping as well)
He mentioned that the $200 gift card has been expired so he couldnt do anything about it
thanks guys

 

Aaah finally...we can say *congrat's on your order*

And, at least you got a few good things out of it!

When is your ESD???

Cin

 

Well, I hope Dell is aware of this problem and that they'll contact the Asian factory to let them know that they're shipping 1640s with software/driver issues. I'll hold off ordering until I begin to hear some trouble-free user experiences with the XPS 1640. Actually, it might not be a bad idea to do a complete reinstall of the OS, even when you don't have issues.

 

Since I received this laptop on Friday, I have been testing it out thoroughly. I am wondering if anyone else with this laptop can check theirs.
The first thing I did was downloaded all of the updated drivers and patches.
The sound, whether I am playing a cd, dvd or Itunes, is mainly coming from the right speaker. When I open up the control panel and click on the "Windows" sound tab, I can adjust the balance. The right speaker test is fine. The left speaker test sounds like the sound is coming from the left-center. When I go to the control panel and click on the "IDT Audio progam, I am able to perform the same balance tests with the same results.
I checked the sound with an IASCA Sound Reference CD and the speakers are wired in phase.
When I use earphones, the sound and balances are perfect.

I know that I will not get audiophile sound out of a laptop. but I expect the correct balance characteristics.

I would appreciate any feedback on this matter.

Thank You,
Thraak

 

my ESD is 02/16....why does it take 20 days to assemble a system? it only takes 30 minutes for me to assemble a desktop

 

My ESD was today 01/27 but they didnt come today. I thought they were usually early with these things.

 

At least it's good to hear from someone who I don't think has had the other driver/hardware issues that have been reported.

I wonder if I should cancel my order or not? This driver stuff sounds scary.

 

I did get a bsod in the first hour of ownership. Maybe even 2 bsod's. I updated the drivers and patches using the "64-bit" OS option. I first downloaded 2 patches and didn't restart after the first. Then I downloaded about 10-12 patches. One at a time, restarting after each one. I have also "re-imaged" to factory settings with format over the weekend.

This sound problem that I am having is getting the better of me. I really was planning on using the laptop to maybe watching a couple of music videos now and then. I am not planning on hooking it up to a home theater.

Thraak

 

If you don't want to take a chance, you could cancel and wait a few more weeks. If I was you, I would do nothing & see what happens when you receive it. This might be just a software/driver issue, so stayed tuned to this thread.

 

I got my 1640 this afternoon...and I am not pleased.

It only came with Works and antivirus discs-no Vista, PowerDVD, Roxio, etc.

It did have that slip of paper saying 'just download your stuff here!'. That didn't take my existing Dell login (!), and wouldn't let me create a new one. Just gave an 'application error' message (coming from the server).

So, I called, and then did a chat with Dell. They're supposedly sending discs that will get here today or tomorrow.

Next, I tried to play a Blu Ray title using the included PowerDVD 8 (at least it says it's PowerDVD 8 on the invoice...) Didn't do anything. I updated the program. Still, nothing. PowerDVD won't acknowledge there's a disc in the drive (though it is being read, and Vista even says "Play with PowerDVD" as one of it's options).

Tried Mamma Mia, and a Smallville disc.

Next up I tried updating video drivers. I can't get ATi's reference drivers to install unmodded no matter what I do (and I wrote instructions for forcing Nvidia's drivers to install on mobile hardware...worked just fine, at least on XP). Finally gave up and tried that Mobility Modder, which seemed to run and install fine. I'm not comfortable using third party modified drivers though-not something that major. Also Folding @ Home still won't run on the newest drivers for some reason.

So, so far I can't actually set up the system. I can't play Blu Ray (a major reason I got it), and I can't install updated drivers (without them being modded at least).

My system also has a visible issue with the plastic on the left hinge, although for me that's not a huge deal.

On the plus side, the screen is very nice (WLED 1368x768). I absolutely wouldn't want a higher resolution screen than this. It's already pushing it on such a tiny screen size. Very bright-in fact at home I've got it dialed down to less than 2/3 right now I think.

Fully taxing the CPUs, it's...maybe comparable to a desktop system in noise. With no load, you can still hear it, but it's not bad that way either. With no load it's louder than a Macbook Pro. With a load I'd say it's quieter probably (or maybe just less noticible since there's not as big of a shift).

I can't figure out where air is exiting the system, but it doesn't really feel hot to me (probably hottest in the read left, but even then it's not bad).

So...not everything's bad about it, but so far I'm very unimpressed. If I can't get these video driver and Blu Ray issues fixed, I have to send it back (and will if they don't get those discs to me also).

 

What driver issues are you guys talking about? Anything to do with display drivers like my issue?

 

wow, i hope they got the bugs out of their systems on these earlier machines you are all getting

by the time they make mine theyll have been dealing with so many mistakes and returns that theyll be pros ;-)

 

It looks like on this model, it pays not to be 1st. Missing software, display driver/Vista 64-bit issues, minor cosmetic issues/damage, blu-ray not working, etc. Definitely teething problems here.

You're not alone.

 

This is why to never buy something when it first comes out.. But I suppose someone has to do it. Doesn't matter what you buy, If it just came out, There will be tons of bugs.

People will hate new products because of the bugs... A few months from now, People will love it. Go figure, happens with everything.

 

True, I recall reading about people having issues with the M1330 when it first came out. I forgot if there were any issues with the M1530 when it was first released.

 

Haha. I have this exact problem as well. I thought I was going paranoid but I guess not. The right speaker is much more powerful than the left speaker. I was thinking maybe thats where the subwoofer is?

 

Maybe there's a note in the "getting started" booklet that because of the location of the subwoofer, the right speaker will sound more powerful than the left.

If not there should be.

 

Maybe the left speaker is coated or made of a different material to withstand the heat on that side of the keyboard. (joking).

Stereo is over-rated anyways.....I never had this problem with the Victrola.

Honestly, this could pursuade me to get the MBP. I'm really trying to love this laptop.

Thraak

 

Hmm...I don't know that that would be good... The MBP really seems to be built for looks over function.

 

So I restored my system and tried it with no updates. Loaded World of Warcraft and crashed the video driver on the login screen. So it doesn't have anything to do with Windows updates. There are about a hundred different suggestions out there... and none of them work.

I'm tempted to go buy a copy of Vista 32 and see if that fixes the problem.

I've got to find out where to get modded video drivers. I've been using Nvidia for so long I don't have any resources for ATI.

 

Placement of the sub wouldn't affect it. When you turn the balance all of the way to the left, the right speaker still outputs mid-high frequencies. The strange thing is that the headphone jack plays everything correctly.

Thraak

 

Looks like all the driver issues are Vista related. Why don't you guys try Windows 7, since you are at it, reinstalling the system anyways.

 

Has anyone gotten Blu Rays to play? If so, how? I restored to the factory condition and it still doesn't work. Install the PowerDVD update and it still doesn't work. And of course it didn't work before, when I'd updated the video drivers using that Mobility Mod tool (which I don't want to have to use anyway).

If I can't get Blu Ray working, I think I need to send it back.

Someone may have already suggested this, but have you run Memtest overnight on this thing to check for errors? Could be a memory issue...or a GPU/Video RAM issue.

Mine hasn't blue screened once (I just can't get new video drivers installed without risking third party hacks, and can't get Blu Ray playback to work )

 

I would but Microsoft says you can't update to retail from beta and I really hate having to backup and reinstall everything. I've done it too many times over the years. It is easy right now with a brand new system but come August it won't be as nice.

 

Man, this is all very scary. Even though I ordered the 1340, all these problems are testament to Dell's work (or lack thereof) and I am definitely getting anxious.

 

Sorry to hear you are having so many problems. It is so frustrating not being able to get everything to work right.

I haven't had a BSOD since the restore. I'm sure they were from all the changes I was making trying to fix the problem. I've had the same issues before on my 1705 with a Nividia card and it was the drivers.

Looks like we all need to start calling tech support. I just know that they'll start telling me to do stuff that I've already done or that has nothing to do with the problem.

 

Has anyone got Blu-ray working? I really starting to wonder if I should cancel my order.

 

I found it. It's on the back. Close the lid partway and look at the back. Notice that opening the lid moves the hinge over the vent?

 

You know, I was seriously questioning my intelligence when thinking about why it takes so long to assemble a notebook (no change on my order yet). Now, I kinda figure that they must have got the BSOD themselves when installing the software and have to wrestle with the problems themselves.

Now, in a very strange way, I'm glad I don't have it yet...

 

By the way, on Jan. 21, there was a new Bios for the xps 16 (i just checked on dell's support website): A05.

The Graphics Driver is still from Jan. 14, however.

 

Interesting. Anyone try that out yet?

 

I tried the BIOS on the Dell site now and it was the same version that was on my 1640.

 

Ok, I suspected that but just wanted to try whether there was maybe already some sort of fix for the problems. Never mind!

 

I performed some additional tests and here are my conclusions:

I used Alan Parsons Sound Quality "Soundcheck" CD. I performed these tests at 50% volume. When I played a "pink noise" generated tone, the left and right speaker each recorded a 107 db level with each channel isolated.

When I played 1 khz reference tone at the same 50% volume, I recorded 107 db for the left speaker and 115 db for the right.

So, there is a 8 db differential.

This may not be an issue with some, it is for me.

Thraak