Dell XPS 13 2015 Broadwell Infinity Display Owners Thread

Same here, but great update overall.

 

Install of Samsung XP941 : It works !

Just to try help potential users...

Summary :

Initial install :
- Installed the XP941 without removing battery connector between battery & mainboard
- Boot on flash with win8.1 installed by microsoft tool
- Install win 8.1 : success
- Asked to reboot => impossible to reboot (no boot device found)
=> In setup, SSD not visible

Repair boot sector :
- Boot with recovery flash
- Go to command prompt
- Do the job of repair & blabla...
=> No success, still the same
=> SSD not visible in firmware

Flash the firmware with A01 (latest available)
- F12, flash firmware, usb stick with .exe file (make sure to be on charger)
- Flash firmware
- Reboot
- Surprise, the XP941 is now recognized in setup
- Reboot, and

Message "no boot sector"
- Go back in setup
- Disable AHCI
- Disable Sata controller
- Reboot, and

SUCCESS !!!
Work fine now.

 

I've been keeping up with nearly every page of this thread but have not read of this issue....

I have no display problems, no hardware issue, no loud fans, etc. but what I have to do more and more is kill my laptop by holding in the power button because it does what I'll call a "soft freeze". I work in I.T. and have never seen this, where the mouse is responsive, and some key combinations work, I can toggle between apps on the taskbar but none of the apps, nor charms, nor anything is responsive when clicked on. It has always had problems with the "when I close the lid go into sleep mode" setting - sometimes it will sleep, other times the next day I see the orange light that the laptop battery is drained because it didn't actually sleep. Sometimes I'll select sleep mode and leave the lid open - after several hours the light on the power switch comes on, and while it's still sleeping it's a sure sign that I will have to force shut down again. After a month I gave up and reset the laptop to factory settings and started fresh yesterday. Sleep with the lid seemed to work, this time I made no tweaks in power settings and let it ride. After a few hours I felt comfortable and let it do Windows Updates - that took SIX HOURS to complete. Since then I have had to hard shut down about 10 times - basically any time I walk away from the laptop and let it sleep. Sometimes I have to hard shut it down 2-3 times in a row to finally get a working laptop - it sometimes lets me log in and will begin launching processes then "soft freeze". System event logs aren't showing me any app crashes or issues. After all the hardware problems you guys have had I'm scared to send this for repair to get a new issue back. I have no choice right? Windows 8.1 cannot be THIS bad, correct? There has got to be something wrong, maybe at the system board level? Oh also, I did update to BIOS A.01 and that did not help, and probably made things worse if anything. I think I'm of options besides starting the repair/replace process with Dell? I'd hate to keep hating this machine until Windows 10 comes out and have that not fix anything. Thanks for any advice you can share.

 

I can't remember because I'm at work right now, but does Dell provide you with Win 8.1 for you to clean install, without all the dell stuff? Or when people say they reinstalled Windows, did they do it via Dell Backup and Recovery?

 

Mine came with a thumb drive installer yes. But if you follow the link I posted and have your own thumb drive, you can make your own...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

anybody using 2 screens at the same time? If so can you check if there is any lag or stutter scrolling in IE11 when you have a flash player running in another screen? Whenever I have a video open in the 2nd screen, the scrolling experience in IE11 on the first screen is very bad... Don't know if it is a CPU or GPU issue

 

Can you please confirm that you have never experienced automatic brightness changes whenever you are viewing a dark page and a bright one? If this is true, this is the 2nd consecutive post recently that reports no automatic brightness changes. I have yet to receive my 2nd XPS13 and this is the main issue that Im really concerned. I really appreciate the reply. Thanks

 

Could someone stress there cpu and report temps on an i7 please?

 

If you started to "repaste" any System (cause in the past there one gives up within first hours and the reason was manufacturer paste issue or was too loud at all) you´ll repaste everything you´ll get in the hands. Me too so for me that´s little better feeling after i can be sure to work with a system where´s no more optimisation possible and there not heat spots.

But i hardly guess this is not more required in the meantime and any steady habit from the ~2000´s =)

aVa

 

Yes as there´s still no SATA overhead anymore required for the XP941, but are they really that much more responsive and quicker than normal m2 2280 /sata/ SSD´s - i dont mean the benchmarks only.

I mean the "feel", i think its really hard to see a difference beween ~440MB/s read/write vs little under 1000MB/s read/write. Can you recognize that? So is the money or twice the price per GB worth it ( so in focus of the XPS 13 comes with i5U or i7U processor) ?

(I´ve got an m2 2280 512GB SSD SATA-III (~520 MB r/w)and dont feel a difference between 512GB @SATA-II (~240MB r/w) device in same system, so just some games will start some (up to 10) seconds faster but if the OS is on the SATA II or SATA III , there´s not that much difference "in feel")

Regards
aVa

 

Maybe you are using a USB connected display => bandwith is limited and very often it is the issue.
If that case, use the mini display port connector to connect to hdmi/dvi/dp/mdp

 

Looking at benchmark does not leave any room for discussion, XP941 is far better, especially in random access time !

READ
Seq : 734MB/s
4k : 27.36MB/s
4k-64 : 444.48 MB/s
access time : 0.097ms !

WRITE
Seq : 607.07MB/s
4k: 63.40MB/s
4k-64 : 215.71MB/s
access time : 0.056ms

For me you really can feel the difference.
I have been very surprised with the LiteOn at box opening => far more slow than the Vaio Duo 13 I had (1 year 1/2 old) with haswell i7, 8Gb; => only difference roughly was the SSD LiteOn 512

 

Oh ok, was not was aware of access time will have that difference. So in other words, such an PCIE-SSD is in the shopping cart when the 128 pr 256er sata drive is out of memory in future i hope the price will get better in future for those. Thanks =)

Thx
aVa

 

I have never noticed any brightness issues on mine, but my brightness is never set above 50% and often times closer to 25%. It is used mostly in the evenings while watching TV. The brightness does not seem to change as is the common complaint but I do tweak my brightness depending on the light in the room so my brain isn't conditioned to expect it to look one certain way all the time.

 

Just wanted to follow up with that appears to be the culprit. After nearly 6 hours of Dell support (2 on the phone) and them running a [useless] disc cleanup to fix my software freezing issues (WHAT?!) I finally traced my "soft freeze" issue to CoreTemp app. Unreal. I've been fighting this gremlin for nearly the whole time I've had this laptop and it was a 3rd party monitoring tool. It doesn't happen every time so it was really hard to track down. Anyways, CoreTemp isn't playing nice with Win 8.1

 

According to Dell support, the automatic brightness change is an "intermittent" issue and does not occur on all xps13. But the fact that the Intel Graphics software for this particular model does not have the option to disable/enable Adaptive Brightness and many people reporting this issue, including my own experience plus many tech reviewers mentioning this say otherwise. Thanks for the reply

 

This may be a dumb question, I just installed the new firmware update for the touchpad, when I go to Device Manger and look at the driver info for Standard P/S Keyboard ( I assume this is the touchpad) it reads:

Driver Date 6/3/2006
Driver Version 6.3.9600,1748

Would this be right? I am kind of new to some of this. I thought the Driver Date would be something like 3/20/2015

 

So I am pretty excited that i just ordered mine. Went with the +QHD touch screen, i7, 8GB of memory. One question I did have is that i do play Diablo 3 and Hearthstone. Will I be able to play these without an issue?

 

You should be able to play these fine at lower resolution like 1600x900? And lower the game settings, I have played borderlands the presequel and was able to play fine at lower res but on 3200x1200 was terrible.

 

So overall what do you think of the laptop? I currently have the P35K from Gigabyte, and really just think its OK. I am not playing PC games as much and was looking for something sleek and fast.

 

I am in the same boat as you, I play very little on a notebook so for me this one handles the games I play if I am on the road and wanna get some play time in and it fits my needs for portability and being professional looking.
I also bought the dell power companion for long trips and so far have been very happy with my choice. I leave the Origin in the bedroom on a bed desk and I use the xps as my carry everywhere machine.

 

overall though you like it? i think the price point is high at 1800 for not gaming, but it seems like such a nice machine.

 

The quality of mine anyway is very high, so after feeling it and using it for a few days I was sold and justify that price.
You should just order one if you don't like it you can always return.
I am a firm believer in test driving.

 

I'm not sure about Diablo, but it can definitely run Hearthstone. It's fine at 1920x1080/high, but I've since bumped it down to 1366x768/medium so it's less taxing/better on the battery. If you only plan on playing while plugged in, you would be fine at the higher settings (although it can get pretty hot like this).

 

Darkie,

What temps are you seeing after repasting mine has not reached over 87c?

 

whats the return policy?

 

30 days.

 

Since its a Firmware update, the software should get downloaded onto the device itself. That way the touchpad has the smarts instead of the driver.

 

I just wanted to share my experience with the i5, 8gb, 256, qhd touch model. I updated the bios to A01 on day one and was having an issue with fan noise being out of control when power adapter plugged in later. Tried everything like changing tdp, dell power manager, uninstalling software and nothing worked. Took it back to the MS store for a replacement and the new one started revving up the fan when plugged in but not as bad but still bad enough. So I installed all the chipset drivers from dells support site for my system tag including video, MEI, audio, trackpad, and wifi. Ran the Command Power Manager and as soon as I clicked 'Quiet' the fan sound died down instantly. Then I installed the A01 bios update and noticed after that the xps 13 was barely making any noise and if it did it didn't last longer than a minute. The Power Manager however seemed pretty unresponsive. Changing modes I couldn't tell the difference between 'Balanced', 'Performance', or 'Quiet'. I can only conclude that the A01 bios changes something such that the Power Manager no longer works but the last setting prior to the bios update is still there ie Quiet in my case..

 

Just make sure your processor is getting above 0.57MHz now as the Quiet setting tends to throttle the processor and it could be stuck on that.

 

Hi all, I set up the bios so my XPS 13 would show the Dell Security Manager requesting a password BEFORE Windows loads. I have a question about much security this password really adds. My SSD is partitioned into A: and C: drives. If my laptop was stolen, does the password only protect/encrypt the C: drive, or is the whole SSD, both A: and C:, now encrypted? Is BitLocker or something similar superior to this protection that Dell provides by default?

 

I checked that using aida64. Idling the cpu was at 800mhz and under load it went as high as 2500mhz as the multiplier shifted gears in between up and down. So far no noise while charging. I'm happy I returned the one I had before. If anyone is having fan noise issues I would flash back to A00. Side note my core temps just shot up to 66-68 degrees and IE just locked up. Then the fan revved up for 20 seconds and stoped. I love the silence but don't want to cook the cpu. Anyone know what are safe operating temps for the i5 cpu?

Thanks.

 

Definitely. AFAIK Dell doesn't encrypt the drive.

 

Thanks TZW, I guess my brain was stuck on driver update not firmware update

 

I think under 90c you should be fine 90 and over would concern me.

 

New BIOS update, which includes fan fixes. http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...-13-9343-laptop&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

 

A02 Bios available for download... Dell posted something about improved fan control and Update Intel CPU microcode. Does anybody know what the second one does?

 

A02 has lowered fan noise for sure as I think they turned down the rpm? Running 3dmark skydive now my fan was barley noticeable where before was much louder, however before my temps never got over 87 now it hit 95. I think I had rather stay under 90c and be alittle loud when doing heavy task then be over 90 and quiet.
Mine under normal use web browsing movie watching etc was never loud with A01 only when temps hit over 70c

 

can somebody confirm that FAN (during charge) is solved with A02 bios? somebody says on dell forum issue still pertains.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19617192/20744634#20744634

 

In my case, I rather like the trackpad as delivered. I do notice a small delay - seen especially when performing (initiating) a two-finger scroll, particularly in Chrome (but also elsewhere). However, my cursor "precision" and positioning is spot-on perfect, pointer maintains position to-the-pixel (it seems) when tapping or clicking. Never see a "jerky" pointer when moving, tapping, gesturing, or clicking.

What advise would you give w.r.t. the new firmware? Should I flash? Seems like there is no "going back" on this update - firmware update. Does the new firmware address "jerkyness" reported by users which I don't see (possibly because of slight variations in hardware tolerances, etc) and ignore the lag, or is the lag improved as well? Not clear to me from people who posted so far.

Also, does anyone know if the keyboard backlight "delay off" is adjustable. Mine fades off after 9-10 seconds of no-typing, which seems overly aggressive to me. I would prefer something like 30 or 60 seconds. I have not found this option.

 

Mine is set to 0.6Ghz for both "plugged in" and "on battery." Should this be like this for both silent and performance profiles? Also checked task manager which shows the CPU hitting 2 to 3ghz., which indicated my CPU isn't being limited.

 

I flashed the A02 bios. Haven't heard the fan so far. Previously, with the A00 bios, the fan went on during a NoveBench test (at the end generally). Now it doesn't even turn on. Also, fan doesn't turn on while charging. So far very positive, but I have to test it for a few days to be sure.

Details: i5 QHD, Balanced power mode, 0.77ghz-2.55ghz.

EDIT: I was able to get the fan running when the CPU reached 80C while charging, the fan stopped only when the CPU reached 40C.

 

Hi guys,

big problem with my Dell XPS 13. Made a new installation of Windows 8, did all the updates, everything went fine.
Then I wanted to restart the notebook und the screen stayed black. No Dell logo showed up with the possibility to press F2 Or anything else.
It isn't possible to go to the BIOS. I cannot do anything.
I need your help
Thanks

 

In my case A02 did absolutely nothing in that Dell Power Command still doesn't work and the fan barely powers up any more. Not only that the system was stuck at 600mhz. It took resetting the power profiles to default settings and reboot to see the multiplier jump up and down again past 2200 MHz all the way up to 2400 MHz turbo setting. So I got what I asked for. Its really quiet now. Just hope it doesn't over heat as I never hear the fan anymore except after prime95 and 83 degree temps!

 

can you reformulate it less confusing?

- so did bios upate fix the fan problem?
- Dell Power Command still doesn't work?

is everything ok now, or not?

 

Short answer: No.

Is everything ok? Yes and No in that my system is locked in low fan quiet operation mode so theres more heat. I can't set it to performance mode with max fan speed at all. I believe though if I go back to A00 it will work again. Untested.

 

but if I recall, you can set in Windows Power Plan (0.6ghz -> 2.5 ghz in TDP). Does the Dell Power command really effect performance? Didn't really notice it.

Does one notice difference in ordinary activities (browing the web, youtube) when Dell Power Command is in quiet mode?

Also, couldn't one just uninstall Dell Power command?

 

In my case i could only set either 0.6ghz or 2.2ghz in the windows power plan. Dell Power Command is suppose to affect performance. Doesn't work. It only worked with A00 when it shut the fan off during all that noise. Hasn't worked since A00. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it to no effect.

 

A02 fixed the "jet take-off" fan noise issue but at the expense of CPU temps, it's running ~5-10C hotter now (before low 60s, now high 60s/low 70s):



It's also the first time I noticed >=90C.

 

my system is pretty silent since the a02 update - well done dell