Dell XPS 15 (9550) list of hardware and software problems

My replacement unit just did this tonight...Screen would flicker and freeze the entire laptop if I picked it up and set it down table a few time before it wouldn't boot at all. Almost like something's very loose inside, and gets jumbled when set on top of hard surfaces. Now, when I press the power button, the front battery light flashes orange two (2) times, and white four (4) times and repeats. Nothing on screen.

This is a new replacement unit for my first XPS which had a failed motherboard (wouldn't boot, no lights, no POST, or Dell Logo)

I'm out of the 30-day return period, and they won't budge no matter how many times I ask for a refund. This is getting pretty annoying.

 

Hi @coldvodka. In which country do you live? Are they any consumer rights like in the EU? The firm company has the option to rectify 3 times, then you have the claim to get your money back.

 

I had this attitude once so I said that is fine I will contact the credit card company again as they said all I have to do is return to dell tracked and they will initiate a refund along with claiming the money back after reading the emails I passed on.

It was BS but worked a treat

 

I know what you're saying GoNz0 but that was my only option initially.

The 'engineer' has been and gone and I still have exactly the same fault as before he fitted the new system board. I was able to strip the laptop down myself (I am IT trained and qualified) which he was quite pleased with as it saved him some time.

The bottom line is that Dell are building me a brand new laptop to be delivered after Easter. I have been assured that if the replacement has the same or any other issue, I can return it for a full refund within six months of the initial delivery date. After that it will be a repair again.

Fingers crossed.

 

I am having a problem with the HDMI output. When connected to an external monitor (1200x1920) via HDMI, the monitor flickers on and off. It goes blank for a second or two and then comes back on. Sometimes it does that repeatedly and other times not as often. I have a clean Windows 10 install and have followed some of your tips: 1) make sure HyperV is disabled, 2) make a registry "TdrDelay" file, 3) latest BIOS, and 4) latest video drivers, but I still have the problem. I haven't tried the thunder bolt port but I would rather use HDMI. Is anyone having this problem? Any fixes? Thanks!

 

I've used my xps15 last night for 2 hours via HDMI on an external monitor Full HD(a 5 years old Dell 2709W) original Dell win 10 install, latest BIOS, nvidia 362.00 installed...perfect, no flickering. black screen...
I've only the trouble that the notebook will not wake up sometimes from a black screen...
bluetooth works just fine even with wifi at 2.4Ghz--

I'm really surprise to see a lot of problems, glitch with this premium notebook, QC is totally a crap shot... I'm really puzzle..Dell is shooting in the foot with this one...

 

This one?
go look at the 9530 XPS and you will see sod all has changed.

 

I sometimes go through hours where my external monitor doesn't flicker or go black, but then at other times it does it annoying ALL the time! Today it is behaving for some reason. But the fact that it does that even sometimes is concerning, especially if I am using the HDMI out to present something.

 

Hi, I just bought an XPS 15 i5 256gb SSD (BIOS 1.1.19 UEFI) from the Microsoft store and I have a problem with sleep mode. When my laptop goes to sleep mode and I try to wake it up, the screen will not turn on if the laptop is not connected to a charger. I have to press the power button to restart my computer. However, when I go on sleep mode when it is connected to a charger, the screen will turns on with no problem. I avoid this issue right now by just change everything to hibernation mode. I'm wondering if anyone has the same problem.

 

Honestly, I would just download a Windows 10 media creation tool and do a clean reinstall of Windows 10. I've had so many issues with the base install that I think it's worth doing.

 

I had sleep mode and various other problems when the BIOS was set to RAID mode. They all went away when I switched the BIOS to AHCI mode. There's posts that describe the procedure for switching which includes entering safe mode to reset drivers.

 

Did you have a link @BSalita?

 

right click start, type "msconfig" & enter
Select boot tab & tick safe boot, apply and restart when prompted.
you boot into safe mode.
reboot and hit F12 on the Dell screen then go into setup (bios screen)
go to sata section of the bios and change to ahci
reboot
Select boot tab & untick safe boot, apply and restart when prompted.
job done

 

has there been any update to solve the wifi problem when using a USB 3.0 flash drive? If I plug one into the machine the wifi stops working!

 

Works fine here.

 

I mean plugging in a USB 3.0 flash drive directly into the USB port without any extension cable or adapters. It cuts off the WiFi on mine. Having looked into it people have written about a 2.4ghz interference issue with wifi routers.

 

Weird, I've never had an issue like that in either port. In fact I leave my sandisk fit in there all the time.

 

Plugging into my router or laptop I do not get the issue, the routers got a USB3 interference option in the advanced settings but I leave it off anyway.

 

Okay thank you. I realised after you said it works fine that it may not be the laptop's fault. The USB flash drive had a cap/connector on it. I removed that and plugged the USB flash drive directly into the laptop and it works fine. So the cap/adapter thing was causing the interference. Really happy now because this is the only fault I was having with an otherwise wonderful laptop.

 

Maybe a surge protector?
what flash drive is it?

 

I have just received my XPS 9550 (i7, 16 GB, 256GB SSD, 4K, 84Wh). It was bought from Dell Europe and came with stock 1.1.19 BIOS.

So far it has 2 hardware related problems.
- The ports are misaligned. Anyways, plugging a device is no problem. The one that looks the worst is the Thunderbolt one but I haven't got a proper device to plug in.
- Reddish screen at wide angles. Specially noticeable in either black or blue images.


+ NO SOFTWARE PROBLEMS AT ALL: 0 BSoDs and freezes, Suspend and Hibernation working
+ I expected the ghosting to be worse than it actually is in my 4K model
+ No screen flickering
+ No coil whine at all
+ HDMI port working flawlessly
+ No sticky space bar
+ No weigh distribution problems
+ Neither audio lost after reconnecting headphones nor audio crackling

Let's see if some software-related problems appear when I change the SSD to the 950 Pro, switch mode to AHCI and perform a clean Win10 installation.

 

That large gaps due to the case not fitting together well, I had to grind down my standoffs to pull the case in better. That raised the ports up enough.
The redshift is normal as you are meant to sit in front of the laptop so it shouldn't matter. I mean come on, who uses a laptop at that angle?

 

Its not working as great as I thought it was. The USB drive is a 128GB made by Grixx - extremely reliable and fast but an unknown brand I think.

If I disconnect from WiFi, and have the usb flash drive plugged in, the WiFi will not reconnect to the network. It just says cannot connect to this network even if I try multiple times.

If I first connect to the WiFi network WITHOUT the flash drive plugged in, then it connects fine. If I then plug the flash drive into the machine, the WiFi stays connected (it was cutting off before) but it runs so slow its almost unusable. It sounds to be like the 2.4ghz interference issue but I don't know how to get around it. My router is provided by the ISP and I can only see options to change channel but not the frequency.

 

who is your ISP and what did they supply?

 

Were you able to plug your devices without having to sand the standoffs? I am buying tomorrow a USB-C cable to check if it fits.

To be honest, the redshift is unacceptable. I am gonna keep it because it does not have any other problems and I should never be using the laptop at that angle, but I am not happy at all. The viewing angles and the response times make an astonishing screen average at best.

 

USB was stiff but I don't have USB-c cables.

 

An update about my xps 15 not wake up from a black screen (not sleep) sometimes...

Over the weekend I've reset the BIOS to Bios and Factory default on consecutive reboot. (what is the difference ? I've never see a BIOS with these 2 options before only the classic Bios default (or failsafe and optimal settings). I've disabled win 10 fastboot setting.
I've updated the BIOS to 1.19 and only used the BIOS default before.

Sunday I've tried all over the day to wake up from black screen, from sleep, from hibernate.. by touchpad, by bluetooth mouse; my xps has works flawless..on well over a dozen of tries. All from battery (so more aggressive energy saving settings..)
I'll continue this week on evening...
the weekend before I've at least 2 black screen where my xps15 can't wake up. (all from AC adapter)
I'm still on Dell original win 10 upgraded to Pro version by a old Technet serial for 8.1 pro.
It's early but until now it's look promising...

 

Psyco Flipside is the first person I've ever read without having any major software issues with the computer.

Could you tell us (or me at least ) which are your drivers versions / configurations? Did you have to download anything (drivers, firmware etc I mean) after you took the computer out of the box?

Particularly, i'd be interested in knowing which are the Video drivers version (integrated and GTX), SSD drivers (You know, the one that appear in the Intel RST version app), and sound drivers

That would be really helpful to may be a lot of people.

Thanks!

 

I didn't download anything. Everything was installed and updated out of the box. Anyways, I will have to perform a clean install since I'm changing the SSD so I will keep you informed about any issues that may appear given the fact that I need to switch to AHCI mode (otherwise Linux OSes will not work).

BIOS 01.01.19 - RAID On mode
Intel HD Graphics 20.19.15.4331
nVIDIA 358.94 + GeForce Experience 2.5.15.54 + PhysX 9.15.0428
Intel RST 14.5.2.1088
Realtek High Definition Audio 6.01.7628
Realtek USB Audio 6.3.9600.41
Intel Thunderbolt 15.3.39.250
ST Microelectronics 3 Axis Digital Accelerometer 4.10.0067
WIDCOMM Bluetooth Software 12.0.1.730
Dell WLAN Card 1.555.0.0
Intel ME 11.0.0.1167
Intel Serial I/O 30.100.1519.7
Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework 8.1.10604.207
Intel HID Event Filter 1.1.0.311
Intel Security Assist 1.0.0.532
ASMedia USB Host Controller 1.16.28.1


I have been using the laptop 24/7 for 3 days (YouTube, browsing, Office and PDFs, VMs, gaming, benchmarks and stress testing) and no software issues at all. By the way, I am hating the 4K scaling problems, specially with VMs .

 

Issue #1: Try this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/4betlc/windows_10_dell_xps_no_sleep_upon_closing_lid/

 

Honestly I'm not trying to be rude, but that's just part of the screen. It's not a defect, in the sense that you'll find it on every single 4K UHD XPS 15 out there. My advice: Get a different computer, or don't go looking for problems that really don't exist. The fact that my car doesn't drive underwater doesn't make it any less of a good car that gets me places. Just my $0.02.

 

An IPS/IGZO panel should never have such bad viewing angles (one of the two main reasons to use them instead of a TN panel).
It is a factory/batch defect, and the same happens with the terrible response times. Some models show almost no reddish screen.

The problem DOES exist and it is completely unacceptable, but the rest of the hardware is brilliant and it is the only laptop in the market that suits my needs.
However, this should not prevent anybody from complaining about the crappy Sharp panels Dell used, and their terrible QC. As customers, we should be raising our voice with these shameful practices (specially if the panel is the key marketing point for this product). This is the only way Dell will not be using crappy panels anymore and will improve its QC. Conformism will only turn things worse in the long run.

 

Have you tried using teamviewer as that scales a small screen up to 4k when I have RDP'd into my rack servers and had to virtually stick my nose to the screen to read it.

Oh and I just checked my screen, no red shift on a black test panel. I did expect some as the last one had it and I had never bothered to check as this panel had no crap under the screen like the last 2.

 

Hi.
New to this forum as I have just purchased an XPS15, just waiting for delivery.

As soon as I receive it I am going to perform a fresh install of Win 10 Home, and install the relevant drivers/latest BIOS.

Should I be leaving the device in RAID mode or should I perform the install in AHCI mode?

Also, is there any order I should be installing the drivers? Should i update the BIOS before the clean install?

Chris

 

I think there should be a sticky in the XPS Forum for Clean Installs on this 9550 machine as the same questions keep popping up. It could tell readers what to do from start to finish and answer all the questions about the 32GB cache/1TB that keep reappearing!

Chris - it may help if you let us know what spec machine you have, especially the hard drives setup

 

Apologies for that, I did mean to post it.

i7/16gb/512gb SSD/FHD/84Whr

 

i dont know if this is the right topic for it but maybe you will so kind to help me out.
Question: Can the dell xps 15 9550 run adobe after effects cc 2015?

Laptop spec: 16gb ram, i7 processor, 1tb ssd nvme, gtx 960m

 

A quick clean install guide. LINK

 

It would probably be able to run Adobe After Effects all the way to the 2025 version.

 

With ease.

 

I don't have any problems either...Mine was from the Microsoft Store, but I did a clean Windows 10 fresh install anyways. All drivers are good, and no bugs whatsoever.

 

You have to remember some of the space is also already partitioned for Windows Recovery, UEFI, etc. Yes, this is completely normal. The advertised SSD drive and actual size is different.

 

First of all thank you for taking time to answer. Second... well, here comes the problem... as specified above i`m trying to run adobe after effects cc 2015 on dell xps 15 , 16gb ram, i7, 4k touch display and i cant manage to get it work.... the rendering is terrible "not real fps". I can understand why i cant run AE properly keeping in mind the fact that you say that this should not be a problem.

 

First of all thank you for taking time to answer. Second... well, here comes the problem... as specified above i`m trying to run adobe after effects cc 2015 on dell xps 15 , 16gb ram, i7, 4k touch display and i cant manage to get it work.... the rendering is terrible "not real fps". I can understand why i cant run AE properly keeping in mind the fact that you say that this should not be a problem.

 

In Nvida's control panel make sure that it is using the Nvidia GPu as some apps will set to the Intel GPU and run like crap.

 

i have tried that as well and nothing changed i went all over the web searching for a solution.

 

just tried it out... changed the nvidia settings but still wont render properly. And besides this its says gpu not supported in after effects preferences. So... im really confused right now....

 

Sorry, no idea then. it has the power to do it so it must need the GPU approving?

 

managed to make it accept the gpu but the problem is still there. no real fps and runs slow as hell... like you said... based on the specs i have i thought there wont be any issues running AE. the reality is cruel....