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

Don't really no this software, but many 3D CAD software require openGL support to take benefit of the graphics card. This is why the precision 5510 have another Nvidia card.


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I think we found the answer!

 

Drivers maybe?

 

I am not able to install Windows 10 on my new Samsung 950 PRO. Windows simply does not want to recognise the drive.

I don't know what's going on.
I tried:
- RAID Mode: Loading the Intel RST drivers. After the loading is completed, it does not recognise the drive so I cannot install the OS.
- AHCI Mode: It does not recognise it, even after loading the Intel AHCI drivers!

Any ideas? I'm starting to think that either it is a BIOS-related problem (1.1.19) or the drive is faulty.

 

in an hour (ish) my custom ISO will be uploaded, this has the drivers to see NVMe and m.2 drives, I have the post ready to go so hold out for that and it should get you going.

 

That is really nice. I will definitely have a look at your custom ISO!

Anyways, somehow, I fixed it:
1. I switched to AHCI once again
2. Booted up with a Kali Linux USB Stick. It recognised the drive (Windows did not even recognise it in AHCI mode) and allowed me to install the OS. However, I did not install anything.
3. I rebooted and switched to RAID once again.
4. Booted up with Windows 10 USB Stick. Loaded Intel RST drivers and MIRACULOUSLY the drive was recognised!

Really really weird stuff since I tried to install Windows the same way last time. Somehow, booting up with a Linux USB made Windows to recognise the drive later on.

 

Hi guys, im curious about one thing. Whats does the temperature stand on your xps 15. (overall temp, just just on high use) Im asking cause according to intel expreme tunning my xps most of time runs at 50 to 60C and this is not on high load

 

I browse the net between 35-45c

 

thats not bad at all compared to my temps... its a constant 45 to 50. most of the times 50 and that worries me. On high load like playing assasins creed syndicate it reaches 87C ))

 

Time to repaste the CPU & GPU!

 

I'm having a lot of trouble with eye fatigue on my XPS 4k unit. I've tried applying icc profiles, different settings in dell premier color, messing with the individual channels in the intel utility, but still feel like my eyes are wrecked by the end of the day.

I'm at a loss because almost all of the reviews praise the screen - my guess is the problem most likely rests with me (perhaps my overhead fluorescent lights, sensitivity to led flicker, or the sharpness of the display).

 

Start using F.lux!!! It helps a lot...

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I think my color profile was corrupted somehow - uninstalling dell premier color then reinstalling changed the screen colors drastically (even if I disable premier color at startup).

 

Its especially good that you can tweak to to suit your needs and is automatic.

 

Some improvements! Thanks to the latest Thunderbolt firmware update, the USB 3.1 port within the USB-C connector is now able to work with audio interfaces in USB 2 mode (interrupt transfer), and USB 3 mode (bulk, isochronous). There is no compatibility to USB 2 isochronous mode though, that still stutters as before.

At the same time some driver/firmware updates have significantly improved the low latency behavior of the 9550. Where before 32 samples had regular clicks, this ASIO buffer size now works perfectly. That is much better than I ever expected!

Of course not everything is green - the ****ty Realtek HD audio background thread is still fired up multiple times, and when connecting an external audio interface one of the threads tends to hang at 25% CPU load. As this is known for more than a year also with other laptops I have no hope that this will ever get resolved.

 

Does anybody actually have xps 9550 without sharp aluminum edge in the front?

My first laptop had it and a bad space bar. I had it replaced for a brand new one that was literally in production 3 days ago. Needless to say it has a sharp edge as well.

I decided to go to Microsoft store and look at 2 display models they had. All had a sharp edge.

Xps 13 did not have any sharp edge..... I assume xps 15 should be the same way.

Should I have my laptop replaced again? At this point I don't know if it's even possible to get xps15 without sharp edges at the bottom. Please advice.

 

This base seems to have a machining issue where the stand offs on the base are a little longer than needed, a couple of us have taken a dremel to the standoffs to shave off a mm and it has worked wonders to make it fit together.

 

I bought my 9550 (i5/4k/256gb/8gb) on Feb 6 from the Microsoft Store. It suffered from some black screen issues, even after updating everything fully, BIOS, Intel/Nvidia drivers etc.

The past week, a new development has occurred. The laptop goes to black screen and a loud buzzing noise emits from the speakers. It's not the usual coil whine but a really loud buzzing sound. This happened once when I was watching a short video on Facebook, and again when I was watching a video on Youtube, both times using the laptop's speakers. It has crashed to a black screen before while watching YT but without the buzzing noise (I was using headphones), this is new. I have checked that everything has been updated, and it has, yet this is happening.

I'm past my return date, and surely all the force shut-downs I have to do because of the black screen can't be good for the laptop. I hate that I can't even watch a video without fear of my laptop black screening and making me force reboot. I'm at a loss as to what else I can do to help the situation along. I can't return it, nor am I willing to send it to be fixed, as the semester has just started and I can't be without a laptop and the depot would take ages. I would appreciate any help, thank you

Update: Today (March 26) it went to black screen + loud buzzing noise again while watching Netflix on Chrome. I guess it's not handling videos very well...

 

Clean install, use the link in my sig.

 

It's a Signature Edition, only had Windows 10 on it when I got it. Should I still do a clean install? What could be contributing toward the buzzing noise?

 

the buzzings when the system locks up for a guess. my iso is basically a bloatware free install so as close to a MS Sig edition as it gets.

 

Hey so would you say that all of them experience sharp edge problem? If thats the case that I assume that me returning it would be pointless as I would get the same issue an replacement model.

Did anybody took any pictures on what to shave with dramel?

 

Mine doesn't have sharp edges or a sticky space bar. Does have a bunch of software issues, hoping it'll sort out in time.

 

Of course, the machined base has a sharp angle, but when fitted together properly you don't feel it as it is level with the palmrest.

 

Hey Techland,

Which driver/firmware updates have improved the latency behavior of the XPS?
I've checked mine with latencymon and I'm getting some spikes. It says acpi.sys is the culprit but I don't know how to disable it.

 

I only installed all the lastet ones offered from the Dell download site, here the TB firmware update, the new WiFi one, and the new Realtek audio one. The TB firmware update obviously fixed the 3.1 stuff. Not sure which of these three improved the 32 sample operation, and I won't waste my time to find out!

One always sees spikes of acpi.sys, the question is how high these spikes are.

 

Thank you so much for sharing this, I've had the "black screen" issue for the longest time and I honestly never would have thought that it was a BIOS issue. I rolled back from 1.1.19 to 1.1.15 and I haven't had the issue since whereas I was previously getting the black screen once every 1-2 days.

 

Some here have posted about problems with long bootup times. In my particular case, after nearly five months with our units, I have noticed something. If I have been using my unit for a short time, say less than an hour, and then reboot, the machine reboots normally in just a few seconds. However, pretty consistently, if I have been running the unit for several hours and then reboot, I get hit with an unusually long reboot time of nearly thirty seconds. Not sure why, maybe it has to do with the way Windows 10 flushes its caches and cleans up.

 

Hello peeps,
If I swap out both the 1TB and 32GB will have to do anything when reinstalling windows? I want to do this as easy as possible. Will bios read both storages as just one or will one cache off the other depending on settings? Someone shed some light? And will I see improvements going RAID with two MSATA SSD? (m.2+2.5ss) or should I not do RAID. It seems like Raid is the most safe option. someone advise. Thanks.

 

I'm still awaiting the arrival of my replacement laptop - due delivery on 4 April. I intend to use the laptop as delivered for a while to ensure I have no issues with it - especially the 'Black Screen' fault. Once I'm happy, I'll swap out the hard drives, do a fresh Windows 10 install and then start installing my software. If it fails again, Dell can have it back and I'll get a refund and look for something else.

 

Same experience. Rolled back at 1.1.15 fixed the issue at least... Leave it running nearly 3 days in a row no Black screen at all...
I wish that the will be a Fix really soon with a new BIOS.... but Dell has been a let down.... some many issues.. in a top product and very slow updates... They should working around the clock to fix them... instead 2 months since latest BIOS...

 

same problem here, I used GoNz0s Image to install ... (sorry for the edit: not used to this multiquote thing)

After reinstalling windwos 3x times Dell Technician told me to reinstall Windows...

 

I was hesitant to upgrade the BIOS further -- am running 1.1.15 without problems. (I updated to .15 to see if it'd help with a couple of the early reported problems.) Battery life seems better, but can't tell if it's due to BIOS or driver updates or normal cycling of the battery. Anyway, thanks, guys, for the detective work -- I'll avoid 1.1.19 for now.

 

Dell engineers are "special"

 

Yeah, we have a great machine that the 'engineers' managed to cripple. Seems they know it all too well as the only commercials I see around here are for the XPS 13!

 

Just to check everybody is on the same page, has anybody solved the issue that the fans go crazily fast when the laptop is connected to AC and charging? Is this a real bug?

 

Do I follow Configuration 1: if I only have M.2 SSD (SATA) + 2.5"SSD too? or does this only work for M.2SSD that is NVME?

 

If they go crazy fast call Dell as the rest of us find they run at low speed on charging.

 

Ok, but what I meant is, there is a change in fan speed while you are charging, is this right?

I've seen there are some configurations in the power options saying Passive Cooling when Battery and Active Cooling when on AC. Does this make sense? Why is that?

 

it is well documented on here that the laptop fan kicks in at low speed to aid cooling the charging circuit/battery from 0% to 80% (ish) until fast charge mode stops to trickle charge the last 20%.

 

Oh I wasn't aware of this. That's a great piece of information. Thanks! I believe everything is all right with my laptop then.

 

This is a tricky one as so many here seem to have different experiences. I run both my units almost exclusively on AC and when its especially quiet I never hear the fan. If I disconnect and go on battery power for a short time, say five minutes or so, when I reconnect to AC I still often don't hear the fan. When on AC for a protracted period, say an hour or two, when I reconnect I can hear the fan faintly on what I suppose is low speed.

In other words, what GoNz0 just said!

 

Yeah. Then we must standarize what low and fast speed means. Is there any way of measuring the rpms? I don't want to install a lot of bloatware, but intel extreme utility does not seem to have it.

 

There is an update for Dell 1830 Wireless!!! (released today)

This was a long awaited one

After this update, my BT mouse works even when Bluetooth Collaboration in advanced wireless settings is enabled. Also, my wireless display finally works as it should!

Lately my computer is working increasingly good, most of the problems disappeared (there was plenty of issues at the beginning) , I think those with the Wireless card were the last ones. I was planing to change my WiFi card to Intel's, but seems that now this Broadcom crap is finally working as it should have from the beginning. My battery life also increased significantly recently and my CPU is going below 1.6GHz in idle (not sure which update solved this issue), at the moment I don't have any issues with my 9550!!! (I know, its hard to believe )

I will be brave to say, that the beta testing phase for this Dell laptop is finally over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

well not today few days ago...

on what BIOS are you running ? 1.19 or 1,15 ? Black Screen Death ?

 

1.19, no BSOD...

 

My fans go whir-whir, whir-whir while charging and on chrome. Is this normal? I put my phone on top of the keyboard for this so it's close. 1-2 feet away i can't hear them. Ran bios diagnostics and it doesn't say anything is wrong. http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=oglvmo>&s=9#.Vv8Ea6QrJPZ

 

fek me it sounds like a steam train. no not normal, it should be constant.

 

Well... ran diagnostics again. Says the processor fan isn't responding. Can i buy the fan myself? I don't want to send it in to the depot...