Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review & Owner's Thread

Hi, please send me this bios for me. Thanks. My corei7 fan is driving me crazy.

[email protected]

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

 

Hi,

Just thought I'd post with my final decision: the computer is packed up, and will be going back tomorrow. The bios update improved the fan considerably, as did the driver hakwzhere linked to (and I wasn't even having problems with 2 finger scroll!). But I did some testing, and I was getting double letters about every 100 words, which is too much for me. I could probably try replacing the keyboard, but the fan noise makes me on the fence enough that it's not really worth the hassle for me. Maybe if it had a matte screen, or were half a pound lighter, I would have toughed it out. As it is, it's too much like the much less elegant computer I currently have, which doesn't make noise, and doesn't make typos. Thanks to this community, which is really incredible. I am happy to forward bios to any who want it, although I'm sure it will be on the Dell website soon.

 

Could someone please email me the A02 bios. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Adam

 

Sorry should have included my email: [email protected] for the A02 bios.

Thanks,

Adam

 

Please send the A02 to bios to me as well. Greatly appreciated.

[email protected]

 

Anyone having a problem with the Cypress Touchpad driver crashing when the XPS 13 wakes up from sleep? It has been driving me crazy. I have done a complete system restore and it is still crashing. Thanks!

 

New member here and was brought to this thread by searching for xps 13 fan noise, great info here guys.

In addition the the noise, I'm finding that the fan also goes, seemingly, full bore even when the lid is closed at times. I haven't the slightest clue on what it's doing. Anyone experience this?

Is there a download section here for the new bios as opposed to just requesting an email? Seems like a bit of trouble for those who have to email them to people requesting. I would be looking to try the new bios and the new driver for the touchpad. Thanks for any input!

edit: @shelleyevans , if you wouldn't mind ( I know, I know) moofilebot at gmail dot com

 

another A02 bios request here, much appreciated.

 

I am having the same problem where the WiFi just stops working and I have to disable and re-enable the WiFi for it to work. Driver problem?

 

another A02 bios request here, much appreciated.

[email protected]

 

Send me the BIOS file and I will host it on my website for everyone. Its a lot quicker and easier this way...lol

EDIT: Here we go:

http://mirror.jmckee.net/L321X_Bios/L321XA02.exe

Enjoy!

 

Thanks Smooth_J. I have sent you the bios. For those looking, you can find the touchpad driver by googling the filename referenced above.

 

@shelleyevans and Smooth_J, Thank you!!

 

Smooth_J thanks for hosting it... I was just going through all the email addresses since my last reply.. lol!

For the 2.3.6.26 driver you can find that on dells site by going into input drivers for the xps 15z... I am finding that this version doesnt do as well with palm rejection as the stock driver... but hopefully dell will be getting a new release out in the next week or so, for now Im still loving this thing.

My plan is to keep this for a year or so then sell it for something better, Im confident that this laptop can do that for me.

The real selling point on this is that the 13" screen is in a case nearly the same width as my previous Acer 1410 11.6" core solo.. that has given me 3 good years... Not sure this one will give me the same amount of time... but oh well, I love buying toys.

 

thanks everyone !

 

Clearly you are following this thread but in case you missed the earlier mentions, I highly recommend touchfreeze. Open source, if you google you'll find it. This has made all of my touchpads useable, even those with the worst drivers. I ran it in the background along with both versions of cypress drivers, and found that the touchpad worked better with it running. (It's an inelegant, but effective fix.)

 

I wonder if this has to do with your filter key settings?

Disable the Irritating Sticky / Filter Keys Popup Dialogs - How-To Geek

 

*deleted duplicate post*

 

thanks guys! +rep

 

wifi has been working fine for me and I haven't seen any complaints regarding the wifi. Maybe it's your router? Wireless N vs G?

 

I've got Windows 8 on here, dual booting with Windows 7. It's not too complicated, but I wouldn't recommend it, mainly because I haven't figured out how to get the touchpad to scroll. Here's an overview. Sorry if it's too technical or if I've dumbed it down too much; not sure what your technical abilities are. Usual disclaimers of you're proceeding at your own risk, you may void your warranty, I'm not liable, etc.


PARTITION TABLE:
Click Start - Type in "Computer Management" - Hit Enter
2nd to last item on left is "Disk Management"
There are 4 partitions, which unfortunately are all primary partitions:
a) Windows has to be on a primary partition to boot.
b) Windows / Harddrives can only have 4 primary partitions
c) The only partition big enough to install Windows 8 on is the 3rd one with Windows 7. Windows 8 requires at least 20 gb. Although my 64bit install is currently only using 16gb (32bit should use less).
...Basically the problem is that you can't just resize the Windows 7 partition to make room for Windows 8, because Windows won't let you make more than 4 primary partitions, it'll try to have you create a non primary partition, which you won't be able to boot Windows 8 off of.

P1: 39mb - Probably a boot manager / table
P2: 18gb - Windows 7 Recovery Partition. It should have the OS + Drivers.
P3: 92gb? -Windows 7
P4: 8gb - I think it was for hibernation (which you really shouldn't use on an SSD).


SOLUTION
1) Deleted P4. Windows 8 and Windows 7 are both running fine for me without that 8gb partition, however I make no guarantees or warranties that you won't miss that partition.
2) Resize P3.
3) Combine P4 and P3. Well they are already combined as unused disk space once you do steps 1 + 2. Just need to format them as NTFS. You'll want at least 20gb total for Windows 8, and I think in the tool below you have to calculate it by GB * 1024 (cuz the tool resizes in MBs).

Unfortunately Computer Management wasn't letting me delete P4...

a) Have blank 4gb USB drive on hand.
b) Download Windows 8 (32 or 64bit, your choice) ISO (not the installer).
Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO formats
c) Download Microsoft's USB Tool. Run it to copy the ISO onto the USB as a bootable drive.
Microsoft Store Online
d) Reboot. ESC or F2? or whatever to change the boot order. Boot using USB.
e) Follow the installer.
f) Go with the advance option. Somewhere in there you can pick which partition to install windows 8 on. That's when you do all the resizing.
g) Follow rest of installer.

Btw, might not come up for you, but first time booting back into Windows 7, just go with normal boot, and not fix.

That should cover it all. Everything worked fine besides the scrolling thing. I probably won't have time to figure it out for a week or so.

 

Didnt see that before, downloaded and trying now... seems to be working better! Thanks again shelly, hopefully you find a new laptop soon!

 

Is the recovery partition really necessary if you can make a recovery usb? I feel like Im really missing that 18gb of space.

 

The fan is really starting to annoy me...

 

Did you update the BIOS yet?

Also, thanks for the breakdown on Windows 8.

 

No. I deleted it from my XPS 15 to free up almost 20 GB.

 

FYI, the Partition 4 is required for Intel Rapid Start to work.

 

I flashed the A02 BIOS and fan is now on low constantly. Is that what everyone else is experiencing?

 

I just heard my fan for the second time in about 2 hours of constant surfing on battery. My battery settings do have max processor state down to 99% and coretemp is showing me hovering around 63 degrees C

That is with the A02 bios...

 

When does the A02 BIOS become official at Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States] ???

 

According to this article, I don't think Rapid Start uses the harddrive
Intel Says Ultrabooks Will Dominate, Launches New Instant-On Technology | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Even if it did, it seems to be a form of hibernation, which isn't advisable when using an SSD.

I personally never use hibernation, just sleep or off. But I guess if it's important to you, keep the partition.

 

I'm pretty sure that Windows 7 will continue to run normally if you delete the Recovery partition. I don't think it'd let me do it from the Computer Management. You could probably follow the steps I outlined for installing Windows 8 to delete the Recovery partition. I would go back into Windows 7 and use Computer Management to merge the two (Windows 8 installation might not care if you mess up the Win7 partition, but if you're in Win7 it won't let you screw up merging partitions).

It's really just for convenience. That partition probably has Windows 7 + Drivers + Software. Worse case, you could always get the drivers and software from dell: Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States] ; and you're Windows product key is in the silver flap underneath your laptop (btw what a rip...I thought that was where they stored the SSD haha).

I guess you're main difficultly would be in obtaining a copy of Windows and having to install it via USB or external DVD. Also you'd have to install all the drivers and software individually. But if you don't think your Windows installation will every be completed screwed or if you don't find the installation process daunting, then yeah, you'd be fine without it.

 

Someone was kind enough to host it on their own website:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...book-review-owners-thread-17.html#post8356877

(make sure to rep them!)

You'll have to ask Bill when it'll be official.

 

Got mine yesterday and I love the build quality/fit/finish.

Thanks for the bios update. Seems to help a bit.

Anyone have a issue with the scrolling using the touchpad ?. Mine seems to move the mouse pointer as well when I scroll with one finger and the edge. Two finger scrolling seems better than the single finger scrolling using the edge of the pad.

 

Also noticed after sleeping the display is at a pretty dim setting, even though in the power management in windows I have set it for max brightness. Some of the other dell laptops had a issue with the cypress touchpad driver causing this issue.

Anyone else have it ?

 

Have you turned off the dell software that auto adjusts the display brightness? I turned it off but forget where the setting is. Maybe check the small triangle next to the clock - Hidden Icons.

 

Woohoo! ordered mine tonight, eta Tuesday. Can't wait...

 

New comparison photos added to the first page HERE.

Scott-

 

Excellent pics. Nice job! Can you share a few personal thoughts and observations comparing the Samsung Series 9 to this Dell?

Thanks !

 

I don't see that in the tray. Maybe I already uninstalled that. All I see is the intel graphics adapter setup.

 

Hmm... I installed the A02 BIOS this morning, and zero improvement with the fan. It's actually running nonstop now. Do I need to change a setting somewhere?

 

As I recall, I changed it through advanced power settings in windows, under "Display."

 

I'm not getting a warm-and-fuzzy about this fan issue...

 

Strange. Somebody else posted constant fan as well, which didn't happen to me. My fan was off for long periods of time (up to 25 minutes) when the computer was cool, and cycled about every 3 minutes when doing something modestly CPU intensive (installing programs, some internet stuff). When I had it working, I was still using the "power saving" power plan, with max CPU turned way down (40%), and passive cooling enabled for both battery and plugged in, in order to prevent turbo boost from kicking in. Maybe if you fiddled with those settings...?

 

I'm using the "Dell" power saving plan, but had gone in and set the cooling to passive on both battery and plugged in. Fan is still running nonstop under bios A02.

Turning the max CPU down to 40% is not a good solution. What's the point of having a faster CPU if you're running it throttled all the time?

Not happymaking.

 

Interesting @heavy

I set mine to passive and have not changed the max CPU settings. Just that helped tremendously.

How long have you had your system?

I noticed that at first it was really load because there were a lot of things going on in the background using high CPU causing it to get hot and run the fan a lot. Search Indexer was a big one for a good while not to mention the crappy anti virus the put on this thing, removed that right away.

I would check to see what is, if anything, is pushing our CPU. I cleaned most of the bloat crap off and that helped.

I also installed Coretemp and have it running in my tray to see where my temps are. If you are constantly running higher than low 60s the fan is going to make you miserable. I could generally see a correlation between the heat and a process that was running like crazy on the machine.

Ever since A02 mine has been very quiet and to be honest it was getting pretty quiet after I got rid of a lot of processes from the bloat off of there. You can also use CCleaner to disable a lot of the crap they have startin gup by default.

Anyway just throwing out a bunch of stuff I tweaked.

I am extremely happy with mine now.

 

clintre, I also disabled/uninstalled alot of the standard stuff. How many processes do you have running in task manager after a reboot ?

 

Don't shoot me for not knowing, but are there threads for XPS 15/17 fan issues? If so, can you send a PM to Dell-Chris_M with the links?

Bear in mind these are mSATA SSDs, and aftermarket selection will be limited for a while. If you plan to upgrade, I would plan on waiting a while until prices and selection become more reasonable. Scott_RC-TEK would be a good resource to ask about mSATA aftermarket options and the supply outlook. (Give him rep while you're at it. He's awesome and a very good impartial source of info.)

All driver and A02 BIOS are available from our downloads site now. Sorry for the delay.

I had PM'd the FTP link to a few folks. It's up on our downloads site now. Link above.

Interested in your findings after you flash A02.

Interesting bit of info on the TP drivers. I'm parking this here for my own benefit so I can come back and find it later when I escalate this symptom to engineering.

 

I'm running Speccy to show me temps, and right now both the motherboard and CPU temps are at 48 degrees Celsius, but the fan is running nonstop.

 

If that is the case then I think you may have a problem. May actually be something faulty and not a bios or software fix. Mine most certainly is quiet now even when hitting over 60.