Dell XPS 14 L401x Thread

That sounds strange!?! Why would you need some special compatible RAM? I was going to upgrade myself. I don't think I believe Dell on that one.

 

Does anyone know if the eSATA port on this has a port multiplier?

 

No idea yet on the port multiplier, on the Ram it should just be standard 204 pin DDR3 ram either 1066/i5(8500) or 1333/i7(10600) ram should do just fine.

 

Wow, I thought I was going crazy but this is exactly what is happening to me too! I can't sync my phone at all. I thought it was messed up and ended up restoring fresh, losing a ton of photos and contacts. Thanks a lot Apple -.-

My m1330 worked fine, what gives?

 

Let's do this, with what I've read it seems like it's a bios issue, so let's see if we can find out.

-Owners using A03 are you having sync issues and with what?

-Owners on A04 are you having sync issues and with what?

-Owners with A05 are you having sync issues and with what?

 

I have tried downgrading to A03 and no luck, so I didn't try A04. Right now I am using A05 and I am having these issues.

 

What are your settings in your bios set to on the advanced tab for anything USB related Confuzzeled23?

 

When I close my lid the screen goes off, but it doesnt seem to go into full sleep mode...The laptop stays warm and the battery dies within a couple hours...anyone else figure out how to get it to sleep correctly?

 

right click notification battery -> Power Options -> [left hand menu bar "Choose What Closing the Lid Does" -> When I close the lid on battery [sleep/hibernate] ditto for the hibernate column.

sleep mode stores everything running in your memory which uses battery life even while in sleep mode (though very minimal usage)
Hibernate dumps everything on the HD and use little to no power (if it does, its hardly detectable over a few days

 

The only thing I have changed is I set USB Emulation to disabled.

 

Have you tried to re-enable it to see if it will work? The only thing I have disabled in my bios is the USB Wake option and have yet to have a single issue.

 

Yes I have tried enabling. No luck, the computer comes with this enabled by default and it was doing it then too, that's why I disabled it, but that didn't fix the issue either. Hoping that Dell will release a BIOS update to fix this. I was wondering if I should contact Dell about it, or just wait and hope for the best?

 

Definitely don't "hope for the best" when it comes to anything related to Dell or Alienware or it will never change. Dell/Alienware make some overall good products but honestly if the customers don't call and complain they do nothing. I'd call and make a complaint, even ask if you can speak to a lead tech or even an engineer, also as I mentioned before make sure you're speaking to the premium xps department.

 

So I called Dell XPS department. They said that since this is a third party device that I would have to go through software support. Before they transferred me I let him know that other people were having this issue and that is most likely a BIOS issue so he took that down. Once I was transferred to software support they said I would be charged $129 for a one time software support call. That is when I let them know I wouldn't go ahead. I think it's a bit much to charge me another $129 after getting almost $300 extra for my warranty in the first place. In my opinion, I am almost 100% sure that this is a Dell BIOS issue as this is what has fixed other peoples issues. Hopefully they will at least have some idea to fix this. Just think its a bit much to charge $129 for one call. *sigh.
I tried,
Hope we can get this fixed!

 

Confuzzeled23- one way you can get them to pay attention to you and give you support that you've already paid for is to tell them multiple usb ports are having issues syncing with multiple devices. It's not fraud because you're not taking anything away from them that you haven't already paid for and this is not due to software because my ipod and wife's ipad work just fine syncing with mine, there is something within the BIOS or your hardware that is preventing that which falls on Dell. I would just say you've been having intermitent problems with different devices when you try to sync and ask them to trouble shoot it. I'm running A03 and my rig has never gone to the 2 newer bios's so that is the reason I'm guessing it's bios related as I can sync anything just fine.

 

Guys one other thing to keep in mind that I found out last night was that for some reason Dell did not put any thermal paste or pads on the ram for my gpu. I started doing some overclocking and noticed the gpu heating up a little more than what I thought would be normal for the 425m so I decided to do a repaste with some TX-4, there was absolutely nothing on the Vram and very little of a horrible goo that dell calls thermal paste on both the gpu core and the cpu. If you're going to do any overclocking that's more than maybe 5% or if you start noticing temps that are high then a repaste may be necessary. My temps dropped 10 degrees after doing it.

 

Hello guys, I finally got my replacement from XPS 1340. Dell decided to keep me happy and sent me XPS 14. I am very happy with it, but of course not with some issues as you have pointed out here. Screen being the main issue. But looks like there is another ongoing issue with the battery.

Within a week after I got my replacement, I noticed with HW Monitor and BatteryMon programs - wear level on battery has gone already to 8%. I was like what the hell, how can that be. Max capacity was around 4800 mWh when designed capacity was 5200 mWh. I immediately contacted Dell and they after testing sent me a replacement. Right after installing the new battery I checked and of course it was showing 0% wear level. But what do you know.... after just a few days, it's showing now 11% wear level ?! What the hell is going on with these dell batteries?? My max capacity now is 4657 mWh. This is even worse than the original battery.

What do you guys have on yours? Can you test and report please. Looks like I'll be calling Dell again, because this is ridiculous.

 

I wouldnt worry too much about it, these things arent always accurate, and you may to calibrate your battery to make the tests more accurate (full recharge cycle, fully discharged, then fully charged, may need to do it a few times). If you dont notice anything in real life usage, then I wouldnt think too much of it. My battery consistently lasts me 2 and a half hours, so as long as it continues to do that, I wouldnt care if my battery was reported 90% wear

 

Re: sync issues.

I got my laptop with A03 installed and was having the issues. I updated the bios to A05 and it didn't fix a thing. Never touched a single setting in the bios.

 

Ok so it's looking less likely to be a bios issue and more likely a windows setting or other software setting, great.

 

................................

 

If you have the ~90 Watt hour battery for your XPS 14 L401x, please post the Dell part number of your battery. I'd like to order it from Dell, but I haven't been able to find it on their website. Thanks.

 

Ditto for me, Ive got a six cell and wouldn't mind an extra 9.

found this on ebay Genuine Battery Dell XPS L401x L501x L701x JWPHF R795X - eBay (item 280606376331 end time Jan-19-11 01:07:30 PST) should probably be met with the usual level of skepticism for ebay products... but maybe its genuine?

nearly identical posts but this one uses USDs and includes shipping but is a couple bucks cheaper: http://cgi.ebay.com/Genuine-Battery...op_Batteries&hash=item3a619445b0#ht_966wt_959

The site offers two part numbers, I checked one and it matches my 6 cell, so I assume that means the other one (R795X) is the nine cell product number

 

-------------------
Hi,

Do you have the Core i7 or Core i5 processor? I tried it but still don't come close to even 4 hrs of battery life on just surfing interneting or reading document files. I have the Cor i7 processor with a 6-cell battery. Can you reply when you have a chance? Thank you!

 

The core i7 with the 6 cell isn't ever going to get 4 hours of battery life it's probably more in the 2-3 hour range. I have the i7 and 9 cell battery and get 4-5 hours, if you need 4+ hours out of the combo you have you are going to have to get the 9 cell battery.

 

-------------------------

Mine last about 2-3hr too. I saw the post earlier by VSS LLP on the +6hrs of battery life on 6 cells (with the configurations VVS LLP replied on another post) that why I want to ask if it was the Core i7 or Core i5 processor with 6 cells that last ~ +6hr posted earlier. I'm just waiting for confirmation.

Thanks.

 

It wasn't a 6 cell, I believe the same question was asked a few pages back and it was an i5 with a 9 cell. 6 hours of battery even with the i5 and a 6 cell isn't going to happen with this computer, Dell may try to claim it but it isn't going to happen without shutting everything off possible and just looking at it lol.

 

----------------
DaneGRClose,

Thanks for your comments. I saw the earlier post. It was posted for the Core i5 processor with 9-cell battery.

VSS LLP,

Can you confirm your earlier posts.

Thanks alot!

 

RE: Matte finish version of LP140WD1(TL)(A1) screen. After great effort and troubleshooting, I could not get the matte version of the recommended screen upgrade to work with the Nvidia GT425M. The model is LP140WD1(TL)(D2).

I have now returned the screen for a refund. I do not recommend you get this screen. Again, this is my experience with the matte version of the screen. It seems that many people have successfully installed the LP140WD1(TL)(A1) screen (glossy).

If anyone has a good matte finish screen they have installed and can recommend, please let me know!

Thank you!

 

Anyone having trouble with their touch pad acting up?

Mine sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. It acts pretty funky. Did a reformat and reinstall of latest drivers, no effect.

 

You gotta love this.
Although I didn't end up getting a DELL but an ASUS,
I look on Dell Australia and now they are charging $90 or whatever for the back custom design- bit scabby, that used to be free. Glad I didn't order one (well I did but cancelled).

 

In my country the 3G/HSPA modem isn't an option. Anyone knows where I can buy it to install it myself?

 

hey all,

i just nabbed the l401x (core i7, 425m, 8gb ram) for my wife, and i noticed that after about an hour of her playing titan quest, the gpu was up to 77-78 degrees celsius. that seems a little hot, and i've heard that dell does a poopy job with the copper piping and thermal paste -- is this normal, or am i being an anal-retentive nerd? (i assume the 425m runs a little hotter than the 420m in this review here.)

 

Seems alright to me, could be a bit better with a quality paste job of good aftermarket paste/pads. Definitely not a danger zone though if that's the highest it goes. Mine's about high 70's after 15-20 mins of furmark but that's with aftermarket paste/pads and a pretty high OC.

 

I dont have my XPS 14 yet but maybe someone can help me out with this.. Can I move the 640GB drive to something like this and use it for storage after putting an SSD (for the OS) drive in the original HD slot?

 

Hey guys, I just bought mine XPS 14 with GT 425m 2gb and Core i7 , can some1 send a email ' [email protected] ' I would like to talk about this notebook.

Thanks.

 

Markuspxpx if you want to talk about the laptop I suggest you do it on here. There are only 2 reasons I can think of for you to want to talk in private on an email(especially being a noob) 1-something illegal 2-some sort of virus, spam, hacking, etc.

kp416 you should be able to do that, I'd recommend just using an external self powered esata case unless you will NEVER use the optical drive.

 

I agree with the esata case, much easier/cleaner to do, and you can get an enclosure for about $20. I would put the OS on the SSD then use a 16/32gb SD card for common files that wont fit on the SSD, and then stick the rest on the hard drive in an enclosure

 

To give you a bit more specifics on what I'm talking about, after a repaste I never broke 73 degrees after an hour of playing a combo of COD:BO, SC2, and L4D2 running an overclock of 700/1400/900. So unless your wife is running a ridiculously high overclock(one that I don't think this card is honestly capable of) then the temps are a bit high(maybe 5-10 degrees higher than they could be). The 4 thermal pastes I recommend are: OCZ Freeze, MX-4, TX-4, or MX-3. Another thing you may want to pick up that I did on mine is a good set of aftermarket thermal pads for the vram on the gpu, when I opened up my computer it didn't have pads or paste at all on the vram. Let us know if you need any help on redoing the paste. I may be redoing mine sometime next week and think I'm going to do a pictoral guide on how to do it

 

I got the replacement xps 14 but the fan will come on for about 5 sec. then shut off it will do this quite often is this normal? Dell wants to change the mainboard and the heatsink/fan? I just received this last week and have been waiting for a week for the parts.

 

Sorry double post

 

Hello Chandldj,

I have been following the whole screen replacement process. I have been waiting for a successful matte screen replacement. Just as yourself I don't particularly favor glossy displays.

So sorry to hear that the LG one didn't quite work. I have read on pages 28 and 29 of this same thread that the Studio 14z's matte display might work. They say it has crisp colors.

CHI MEI N140O6-L02 LAPTOP LCD SCREEN 14.0" WXGA++ MATTE LED $75

I don't actually own the XPS 14. But I have been considering it as a replacement for my old but reliable Inspiron 9300.

What's been keeping from purchasing it is it's glossy display and I a not so sure how reliable it is. So it would be nice if someone could successfully change its glossy display for a matte.

Hope this info helps.

 

im curious would this SSD work if i were to order the xps 14?
OCZ (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) Vertex 2 Extended SATA II 2.5" 120GB Solid State Drive, Read: 285MB/s, Write: 275MB/s | Canada Computers

 

Hey guys,
I installed the Chi Mei Matte screen on my xps 14 today and had some issues. First of all, it was not a matte screen so they sent me the glossy version if not the wrong one entirely. In addition, when I booted up, I was greeted with a blank white screen and could not get any further. Did I install it wrong? Is this due to the screen being incompatible? I have to send it back anyway but I am hoping its the screen and not me at fault here.

 

v1be- yes that SSD will work just fine in the XPS 14. Any 2.5" SATA drive will work in the XPS 14.

 

thanks for the advice! i have ocz freeze here i used on my older 1647. i'll open it up after the holidays and give it a shot. any pictoral guides would be appreciated so as to minimize any bad snap decisions when field stripping the rig... ;-)

 

also, does someone have a link to the A06 bios that fixes the touchpad issues? every time i try to download ir from dell using their download tool, i get a "session data is corrupt" message. thanks!

 

Hi, i'm assumming ur also brazilian by the globo.com, we'r having some reviews at this topic (port) http://forum.clubedohardware.com.br/notebook-dell-xps/867475/169
although only a handful of people already recieved their XPS in brazil (most of us, me included, just conplains about dell's outrageous deadline and assistance issues) feel free to ask anything there.

 

Excuse my 'noobness', this is my first post on this forum.

There is lots of numbers on my battery, but I think this is the most relevant one? -->
TYPE R795X?

90Wh DELL R795X Battery | Replacement DELL XPS 14 15 17 Battery - Stylehive

and

DELL R795X Battery | Replacement DELL R795X Battery Online Store

I have just purchased an XPS 14, i5-560, 8M, 90Wh, backlit keyboard. My only complaint (as many others) is the grainy screen. However, I am getting amazing battery life, and excellent speed out of this laptop (my previous was a Studio 1555, that I still have and love) and this is my new work / home laptop, so I needed good specs, good battery life, and relatively small size. Has anyone played with the resolution settings to try and tighten up the look of the pixels?

I'm definitely contemplating the screen swap as others have done, but may wait a few weeks before I make the jump. Great thread, and a big thanks to everyone who contributed and helped me make the decision to buy this laptop.

 

Hello guys, I am going to try this again, as I didn't get any feedback from you.

Today wear level on the 6 cell battery reads 13%, in my first post on page 32 it was 11%. I don't think this is a glitch as I am confirming this with 3 different programs. What do u guys see as for your designed and full capacity?

Design Capacity = 5200
Full Charge Capacity = 4567
Current Capacity = 4403 (this is being unplugged for 3 minutes)

I don't think this is normal, this was a replacement battery for one that read 8% wear during first week of use. This one is already 13% gone in just 2 short weeks. I am talking about a drop of about 650 mWh!!! at this rate this battery will be dead in only a few months...

Care to enlighten me on this?