Dell XPS 13 2015 Skylake Infinity Display Owners Thread

Just got my 128 I5 FHD , any suggestions on what I should do as far as updates,drivers, etc..

 

Had my XPS 13 with 16GB / 1TB SSD QHD+ for a month. Beautiful.

Applied BIOS Update 1.0.5. Fixed Thunderbolt output to HDMI.

Applied BIOS Update 1.1.7. Fans DEAD. Ran diagnostics on boot - EPSA Code 511, Validation code 116422. Fans are not starting. Booted to Win 10 and tried 1.0.5. No luck. Reapplied 1.1.7 No luck.

Damn!

 

Trying to do a clean install of Windows 10. Anyone else have issues booting a UEFI flash drive? I can install it in Legacy mode no problem but UEFI detects the installer but just goes to a black screen when I select it.

I've tried multiple drives, using the official MS tool and Rufus. It's formatted properly as Fat32 / GPT but nothing. Even tried a DVD to install and the same thing happens.

 

You try disabling secure boot?

Got my XPS13 today, matte 1080P non touch with 128gb (can always upgrade the SSD later if i want). I tried 2 broadwell units last year and returned them due to touchpad and keyboard problems, this one so far seems solid but the touchpad is a teensy bit rattly. The screens seem a bit improved too, with less fuzzy matte coating. The brightness gets up to 300nits which aint bad at all. Calibrating with dispcalGUI as we speak. I think because it doesn't use the whole screen, the auto brightness adjustment shouldnt affect it the calibration ( i hope). The skylake i5 runs so cool this thing might as well be fanless when you're surfing the web etc even with chrome on youtube. MS has been steadily improving the touchpad and chrome is useable in 10586 build which is great. With the new BIOS the battery meter states 25 hours of standby LOL. I doubt that but more testing is required.

 

That's the same model I got. I've tried with secure boot on and off with no luck >_<

 

Looks like switching the storage setting from RAID to AHCI fixed things or something.

 

Tried SATA Operation RAID On to AHCI? See also https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2751461

 

Any recommendations for a new XPS owner as far as updates or drivers? All seems well right out of the box with the exception of the two finger scroll seems a bit wonky. I turned on reverse scroll and turned off pinch to zoom but it still seems the same. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks- Ryan

 

Just got my new XPS 13, i5, 256GB, & QHD. So far, fairly impressed. Excellent screen, no light bleed, great speakers, long battery life, and solid build quality. Also runs very cool, fan is quiet, & no issues with lap temps. Even when running benchmarks, it only felt a little warm. Got up to 108 degrees in some spots, but nothing my lap or fingers came in contact with. The chassis does a good job of dissipating heat.

Had to return the XPS 12 due to battery life and usability issues. And with the way things are looking, the SP4 sitting next to the XPS 13 is looking like it may not be sticking around for long either. Really can't find much to complain about the 13.

Well, I guess if I put my ear to the keyboard, I can hear a faint buzz (coil whine). The keyboard doesn't have the most travel. And the SP4's glass touchpad does feel a bit nicer, if not necessarily any more accurate. Plus, gotta love that kick-stand.

But I doubt I'd miss the noisy fan, lesser battery life, light bleed (minor), and much higher cost. We'll see how it goes!

 

IMO if nothing's broken don't fix it. Mine also ran quite well right out of the box. Just make sure you have all the windows updates, as those usually have helped touchpad issues(although I didn't really have any issues with mine at all).

 

Just did the Windows update and I'll be damned, I think that fixed the scrolling issue. Besides that, isn't there a Bios update that is supposed to make the battery last longer?

 

Anyone try to shim the touchpad to fix the slight rattly noise whenever you click?

 

Any recommendations on the best choice for gigabit ethernet on this baby?

 

i had referred to something akin to this a few pages prior.
i don't know if it is even an issue or working as intended, but around the midpoint of the touchpad, tapping to click depresses the touchpad into the clicking sound.

or are you referring to something different?

*edit*
just found a video addressing my experience.


involves disassembling the touchpad in order to fill a gap between the touchpad and the frame with electrical tape so even taps towards the bottom don't cause the mechanism to depress, and thus, click.

 

I use this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NOP70EC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00 it works fine.

 

For those kind of accessories, is it better to use the USB-C port or the USB3 one ?

 

I also posted about the loose trackpad issue. I'm curious, do yours get better as the computer heats up? Also, is the problem less when you use the computer in your lap vs. on a desk?

 

How do you know this? You don't hear the Fans or somewhere in dignostics it says Fan error? Also just got my new laptop couple of days ago, and I updated to the new BIOS. I too don't hear any FAN noise. How do I confirm if FAN's are really a issue?

 

Hey guys.

Tried to search through thread but 74 pages is alot.

I'm looking to buy the QHD+ model. I'm worried about the dynamic brightness/contrast. I was doing research and found that Dell promised to release a tool to disable it, at least on the QHD+ model. Did they ever release this tool yet?

Thanks.

 

This fan is really quiet. Just go into diagnostics. Although interestingly, mine won't even run the DST (HD) diagnostics, and fails. I see another BIOS update in the near future.

1. Shutdown
2. Power on and Press F12 a few times right away
3. Select Diagnostics
4. If you see any errors, click OK, then swipe to the right or click the arrow in the bottom right corner
5. Select thorough mode, and Run

On this screen, you'll see the RPM of the fan. The diagnostics does a super fast fan test, but after it's run diagnostics for a bit, you'll hear the fan. It's still pretty darn quiet.

If you can't catch F12, try holding down FN while pressing Power Button (from shutdown).

Mine is very recent build (i5/256/8/QHD), just got it yesterday. I also turned off any "enhancements" in the intel control panel. I haven't seen any dynamic contrast anywhere. Looks like they're disabling it from the factory now.

EDIT: Also ran this test to confirm

 

Thx for the quick reply. How do you like it? Did you order straight from Dell or did you get the Windows Signature Edition from windows/amazon/other/?

Also, any problems with the high-res screen and scaling issues? Any wobbly touch pad problems?

Thx again

 

I'd be real surprised if they're disabling it at the factory, but you never know. Did you set your brightness on max and screen to "full" using F11 before running the test?

 

Ordered from Dell.com, then uninstalled all Dell stuff, Dropbox, and McAfee. So now it's a Microsoft Signature Edition. No wobbly touch pad, works great. And scaling issues do present themselves in some apps. Such as remote desktop and any old out-dated app. I have a image resizer app that is super tiny! But damn is it crisp.

So far, I like it. I'll like it even more with a few more OS/Driver updates.

You mean did I read the instructions? Yeah.

Not to mention I'd absolutely have noticed it by now with my testing. Benchmarks, video playback test, light bleed testing, screen/image comparisons, etc. In particular as I'm doing said testing with the Surface Pro 4 sitting right next to it.

 

as far as i know this specific tool only works with the qhd 9343 model and unfortenately not with the skylake version. it is available since the beginning of december.

 

Hehe. You'd be surprised how many people didn't, then claim they don't have the problem, in posts I've read online.

Regardless, that's great news for QHD owners. Come to think of it, I remember reading they were disabling it on the XPS 15, so it makes sense they would do so on the XPS 13, too.

 

All good! I wouldn't trust me either. "Me" being a random internet person.

 

Thanks.
I did the Diagnostics. I get this:
** Hard Drive 1-0-0 DST Short Test **
Test Results: Fail
Error Code: 2000-0151
Validation: 67580
Msg: Hard Drive 0 - S/N, incorrect Status =8000000000000000003
Could not send DST Short

All other tests passed successfully.

The funny thing is my laptop runs fine. Infact I am typing this on my DELL Xps 13. I have a 1Tb Hard Disk.
What is this issue. Should I be concerned about it. Especially since I got my laptop a couple of days ago.

 

Ahh, good. You're getting the same error I did. . As I recall, the latest BIOS update made a change that effected the HD controller. Seems that it improved battery life, but now the DST can't run.

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure the next update will clear that up. I just ignored and let it run the rest of the diags, which passed.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

Cool!! Thanks.

 

I have the FHD model, I did a fresh install, have the new bios, no programs opened and lowest brightness it idles around 5w. cup is at 1/2% mem at 26%.

 

How do I know if my fans aren't running? I installed the new BIOS and want to make sure they are working so it doesn't hurt my battery

 

I've seen a few posts about the speakers crackling. Everything is updated (Windows and drivers). I even changed the wireless card today as I've heard that may cause the crackling. Everything works like a dream except for that specific issue. Has anyone found anything that has helped them? Thanks

 

Check a few posts back with instructions on how to run diagnostics. You'll be able to see if the fan is spinning. It's probably fine; have to push it to get the fan to spin, and even then, it's fairly quiet.

Mine does that too, but only seems to effect Windows sound effects. Everything else sounds just fine. Haven't had a chance to try to fix it, but I suspect an audio driver reinstall (or future driverupdate) will be a final solution.

 

It only does that while watching videos online. Playing a movie from the hard drive works fine. I'm also wondering whether this is the case for every person with this notebook. If not, wouldn't it be a hardware issue? Guess I'll play the waiting game.

 

Damn, my couple days old XPS13 seems to have bad RAM. Freezes randomly and during the RAM diags it sit for hours and didnt finish (froze). back to the MS store it goes. Hopefully for an exchange

 

Has anyone tried powering a USB (3.1 gen2) device using a USB C to USB A cable plugged in to the Thunderbird 3 (USB C) port?

I tried this cable connected to this drive enclosure with a 512 GB SSD inside and its not powering on. It works fine with the USB A to USB A cable that came with the enclosure, but I can only plug that into a USB 3.0 port, so I can't get the USB 3.1 gen 2 speed that I purchased this for.

 

Yes, but factory setting expect to be set to Raid On.

It happens because with clean installation you remove Samsung SSD drivers, and Windows does not recognize it correctly.
If you leave AHCI, you get problems rebooting the XPS (freezing on DELL logo), and if you noticed you CAN'T use Intel Rapide Storage (you can't install it).

You have FIRST download RST from Intel website, load drivers before Windows installation and instlall Windows.

Everything is well explained at the following link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3rxyo3/fix_guide_xps_13_9350_screen_freezing/

 

Can anyone post a picture from the front of the closed notebook? I think my notebook has a big gap there.
Here's a photo: http://www.pic-upload.de/view-29114680/IMG_0798.jpg.html

 

Hey Guys,

Just an FYI....I was getting lot of coil whine...meaning like a faint hard disk read/write...when I move my cursor over icons etc...
Here's what I did..I noticed that my network card was getting disabled intermittently..so I did a brief check on the DELL site for a upgrade on the network drivers. And indeed there was one available with a higher version. I upgraded the driver. This seems to have solved my network card getting disabled.
But funnily this seemed to have resolved the coil whine too...hmm surprising.

 

Hey all. If you're having an issue where Chrome bounces back randomly when you're scrolling, try disabling "Enhance Pointer Precision" under Mouse Properties. Seems to make a big difference.

 

Hello all,
Is there a DELL App which I can run in the background and monitor internals..like CPU temp, Fan speed etc..?

 

hey all,

wanted to update.
so my xp13 is still outta commission due to methinks a faulty ssd.
supposed to arrive on monday.

in the meantime, i employed the trackpad fix linked above.

some might argue that i shouldn't need to employ such a fix for the money paid, but i'm not one who expects tech to be ideal no matter the price point. i kinda take joy in experimenting with this sort of thing anyway.
as far as how it functions, that's yet to be determined, but i can say there's nothing left of the depressing-from-tapping. it is a fantastic fix.
nowhere on the trackpad am i getting that sinking movement from tapping. completely silent.
i had to use 3 strips of electrical tape versus what was proposed in the tutorial video.

can't wait to see how it functions once i get my rig setup again.
seems people have been having the most success just updating to the most current w10.
i'll give that a go myself. with what little time i did spend, i thought the trackpad was pretty great to begin with.
now, having removed my only real significant snag about it, i'm a bit giddy.

it makes me much less anxious about snapping on the intel 8260 card.
(or isn't there a 9260 coming out soon)?
i'll be adding a 1tb ssd eventually too.

for any of you who are clumsy as f... around laptop innards,
go for it. i'm not one to delve into such things myself, but this was a great fix.
remember, it's not so much a functional fix as one about feel.

 

Hi guys,

I just got my hand on an xps 9350! it is an awesome machine! However, I have been experiencing some WIFI dropping after sleep. it can't detect any wifi signal at all, anyone else has similar problem and any solution?

 

Yep the electrical tape mod works great. Windows 10 10586 build works wonders for the touchpad as well, i'd say 90% as good as a macbook/OSX trackpad now.

 

Nope, not that I've ever seen. No Fan info, but HWMonitor & Intel Extreme Tuning Utility give you all of the important stuff.

 

yeah. having never used a macbook, i would think the gesture pc users miss out on is three finger swipe to navigate back and forth.

 

I have had a problem with the adapter going offline. Updating drivers from Dell site fixed it (instructed by tech support).

 

Has anyone found a good Thunderbolt or USB to HDMI cable that works yet? None of the stores around me seem to have it in person, so I would like to make sure I get one that will work.

 

Hello,

Can you please explain this electrical tape mod please and what does it do? I'm getting a dell xps 13 tomorrow

How do I get the latest dell drivers and bios updates? Will the laptop find them automatically?

Thanks

 

Works great
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01689NS8W?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00