Burning smell from new XPS 13.

I just received my XPS 13 today (01/16/15) and it is beautiful. But I noticed issues immediately.

The first problem is that Windows won't update no matter what I do. It can find updates but it can't install them. It will show the download bar but no progress is ever indicated. It stays at 0% no matter how long I wait for a 1MB, etc file to complete. I have tried every method I could find including a clean install over the factory install and the error checking Windows provides. The funny thing is Windows does find 2 errors with Windows Update and still can't fix it even though it keeps claiming it fixed all issues. The laptop won't update no matter what I tried.

The second problem is the battery life. I started the laptop at 2pm (96%) and ran it on battery power until 7pm when the battery level reached 25% at which point I connected the power cable. I'm pretty disappointed with the battery performance (I have the 1080 screen).

Anyway, the biggest concern was I connected the power cable and continued to use it to find a solution to the update problem. At 11pm I noticed a faint burning smell. I didn't realize until moments later that the smell was getting stronger. I immediately picked up the laptop and noticed it was coming from near the charging port underneath the laptop. The smell was so strong that I turned it off and placed in a safe area.

I was constantly running scans, formatting, etc, so I was sort of pushing the laptop more than just surfing the net would. I don't know if the poor battery life and the burning smell are related. Could be a faulty battery.

I'm contacting Dell to find a solution but keep tabs on any burning smells if you have one of these.

 

Did you buy yours from Dell or Microsoft? I bought it from Microsoft, and there's zero bloadware. Windows update did its usual thing, sat there motionless for a few minutes and then it started. The fan was going full tilt while it was updating (I think more than 40 updates), battery dropped 15% by the time it settled down and rebooted. No smell other than the lovely new electronics smell If there's a constant load on the CPU, I won't be surprised if the battery is less than half of the 15hrs claim. I do believe I'll get 10-12hrs doing my usual light duty stuff that I do on my laptops.

I reloaded all my boxes to Windows 8 recently. All of these sat on the Windows update screen for a while before it actually started doing anything.

 

Regards to battery life, download Battery Bar Pro (free version). They will show you the wattage usage real time. See if it is using too much under power saving battery mode, etc. If battery is running like 10whr, you know something is up.

 

I bought it direct from Dell. They include a bunch of Dell software, MacAfee, dropbox, and other things so it's nice you didn't have to deal with that.

Have you noticed slight brightness changes at all? Try switching from Metro to Desktop and back. Also look to see if the brightness increases against white backgrounds.

Thanks for the tip Dellienware. I'll look into it.

 

Go into the Intel control panel and turn off the two power savings mode. They're turned on by default.

 

Thanks for the reply. I just tried that and unfortunately no luck. I remember "adaptive brightness" being a selectable option in previous computers under Intel settings, butt there isn't one in this XPS.

I uninstalled the Intel HD Graphics program and it stopped adaptive dimming. So It's the intel program causing this I guess. The only problem is if Iremove the Intel HD program, the brightness can't be adjusted. It's stuck at 50%. Any ideas on how I can change the brightness without Intels program?

 

I bet you removed the whole graphics driver.

Well, reinstall the thing... then for the adaptive settings you can also look under Contro Panel -> Power Options -> (choose your plan) change all settings -> Change Advanced Power Settings

 

Your right. I removed it completely to see if it was the cause. After I verified it was, I reinstalled it so I can adjust the brightness again. The advanced power settings have no effect.

 

Could you do me a favor?

Go to Settings>Change PC Settings>Power and Sleep>

Search for a "Brightness" setting with the option to "Adjust my screen brightness automatically" on/off. I'm curious if you have that option. I don't but others using a clean version of Windows 8 do.

 

There is no option like that on this laptop. The brightness selector is not even there. Just the screen and sleep options.