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

What do you really need (given the time lost already)

I mounted todays 48gb incremental and it shows the current drive size of 476gb so the image mounting must account for the initial backup.

You can take longer to just copy over the user folder/ docs, pics, music etc and reinstall the programs

Gamble and try to copy the entire C drive

Lesser gamble and copy over program files (+ the x86 program files), program data, AppData after installing the programs again so a good chance you get most back as they were before sh!tsville.

Or let me know what is important and not in the list.

I can get my main PC back up via a reinstall in a few hours, install all programs and relink the user folders I need, you can even copy back chrome as it was from C:\Users\gonzo\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data

 

For Macrium specific problems I would use their forums -> http://forum.macrium.com/Default.aspx

 

i have tried to copy just c: and then it won't even show up... i have no idea what's going wrong, honestly. my backups look to show the right sized partitions and everything but when i restore i just get boot errors or volumes won't show up or who knows what. i know a lot of people say reflect's a great program but so far it hasn't been a pleasant experience. i've tried so many things now... i've formatted the disk, made sure it was gpt, i've restored with the partitions in correct order, i've even created the correct partitions in diskpart and tried to restore everything to those partitions... i've clean installed windows from your iso and then tried to just copy over the c: drive and that didn't work either. i'm at a loss.

also further edit... now when i try to clean install it's giving me an error saying that it can't be installed because missing files? which makes no sense. maybe i just need to suck it up and send it to the repair depot.

 

well, i fixed the problem with windows clean installing by switching my usb drive to the left port. then i made a backup of that. then i tried once again to just restore my c: partition, but then boot problems, and then diskpart shows no c: partition at all when listing volume/partition, same once i'm back in the macrium rescue environment. i don't understand what macrium is doing where it takes the whole long process to restore and then ends up with nothing actually being restored?

also my backup of my latest clean install will restore without issues so i have no idea what's going on with my other backups. but i decided to initiate a system swap instead of a repair... maybe i should have gone for the repair since i already have the repair depot box. i also got the 10% return to my credit card for all the issues. if the next one acts up i'll probably try to push for an upgrade... or just give up on it. either way i'm not exactly happy about losing my programs/files but maybe there's some way to recover them with my backups that i haven't explored yet.

 

You should be able to mount the macrium image and pull what you need from it.

 

would i run into any issues restoring programs regarding registry?

 

I found that the left port is superior for clean install work when using a USB3 memory stick.

Incidentally, I tried W10 "restore point" on a clean install (with just the Dell drivers and no programs or personal files)...that failed. I read it was an unreliable backup but that is the easiest possible test I could throw at Micro$oft

Good to see you are seeing the light...

 

okay, well, i just tried restoring my full backup from macrium. guess what? that worked. so there's some problem with the incrementals. as far as i know, aren't the incrementals supposed to restore from the full and then adjust as required? i didn't think you would have to restore full, then each subsequent incremental or something along those lines.

 

alright, so i narrowed down my problem. or, well, not entirely but almost. so i restored my second to last incremental and that worked just fine. mounted my latest incremental and started copying over different directories. program files, program files (x86), program data and appdata from default and my username. after a restart, same issues as before. so it has to be something in i'm guessing appdata possibly?

 

Reading this thread it is disturbing to hear what kind of hoops people have to jump through to just get their XPS 15 working.

I mean, you'll never see anything like this on a macbook forum. Not that macbooks can't have the odd issue now and then - but really this thread highlights serious issues with Dell QC, design, and probably Windows 10 .

All I would like is to have a Windows ultrabook which at least somewhat mirrors the experience I have on a macbook. I work on a Windows development platform so it would be much more convenient than having to bootcamp/virtual machine on a macbook (I prefer the windows shortcuts/key layouts for SQL Server/Visual Studio etc)

 

I think you got as far as you can go with a 2nd to last restore, not bad going as it isn't a total loss. Macrium will offer little to no support for a free customer.

You can copy back files from the users directory from the most current if you need them, count your very minor loss on the rest

 

hm, well, in order of least risk to most risk, what could i possibly restore out of program files, programdata and appdata?

 

No idea tbh, probably need another forum for that?

 

well what i did was avoid restoring any of the intel related stuff from any of the folders and that actually worked. i'm back up and running. all i'm missing now are a few downloads and my last saves in mass effect 3 and fallout 4 are a little further back but other than that all is working pretty decently. thing is, i guess they're still shipping my exchange laptop. should i just tell them to cancel it or take a chance on the new one being somehow "better"?

 

Let it arrive, test it out, figure out what ones best and keep that one
should it have a Toshiba drive and you have a samsung then the Toshiba would be my pick, panel dead pixel free, even colour & so on.

Can't you mount the last image and grab the saves from my documents?

 

i do have my last saves, but my last backup was like 5-6 hours before my computer crashed so i lost the progress since then, haha.

 

So I just got back from my honeymoon in Mexico (a grand time) to see that dell shipped my laptop back after the second repair attempt. Thankfully they decided not to bother fixing any of my complaints, they did however send me the other half of my AC power adapter, so that's a bonus. Wasted another 35 minutes with dell "premium" technical support who insists on sending someone out to my house to dork up the laptop even more. I denied their request and had them send my case to the "customer care team" (hopefully they are the resolution team) to see if they will send me a new laptop (I also requested a warranty extension since my laptop has been broken for a month now). Now I have to wait until Monday to hear back from them. What a waste of time, thankfully this all happened while I'm on summer break or I would be seriously upset.

 

Ouch. I called Dell support the other week about my spacebar being broken.

I dialed the XPS support line.

"What's the problem?"

"My laptop's keyboard is broken. the spare bar doesn't detect properly."

"Ok... what is the serial # of your keyboard?"

"I just told you my serial # and service #."

"No no, that was for your laptop. I mean for the keyboard."

"... I am talking about the keyboard in my laptop."

"Ohhhh. Send us a picture of it please along with a description of your problem."

*take picture of keyboard and explain the space bar doesn't press properly*

"Sir I have seen the picture, everything looks fine."

FML.

 

Hah sounds about right. I had to send them pictures of the broken parts and missing screws too. I worked on a lot of laptops over the past 10 years, no way would I have let that go out like that.

 

hahaha, all these stories are too much. honestly if i didn't get such a good deal on this laptop (which required me calling about 15 times in 3 hours to finally find an xps 15 in stock) i'd probably return it right away. but i'm not gonna be able to get anything approaching an i7-6700hq/8gb ddr4 ram/gtx 960m/256gb nvme ssd for $820. well, and i got $80 for all my problems which i can spend towards either throwing another hard drive in here or another 8gb of ram or buying some thermal pads and repasting, yada yada. and maybe my exhange system will be better than this one. the toshiba ssd sounds like a more reliable choice as of now.

 

Several updated drivers listed for my 9550, including:

-Intel HD Graphics Video_Driver_FK4F6_WN32_20.19.15.4454_A06.EXE (URGENT 6-29-2016)

-USB USB_Utility_ASMedia_A00_WIN_H43H3_ZPE.exe (Recommended 6-30-2016)

My system finally works fine and getting that HD graphics driver on my clean install was painful...I'll let someone else beta test these...

 

Several updated drivers listed for my 9550, including:

-Intel HD Graphics Video_Driver_FK4F6_WN32_20.19.15.4454_A06.EXE (URGENT 6-29-2016)

-USB USB_Utility_ASMedia_A00_WIN_H43H3_ZPE.exe (Recommended 6-30-2016)

My system finally works fine and getting that HD graphics driver on my clean install was painful...I'll let someone else beta test these...

 

As for the warranty they will back down eventually and sort it once it is working, it takes some serious moaning to get done but mine was extended by 6 months on the original system as it was 4 6 week build times. They managed to fek that up when I was upgraded to a 9550 and reset it but I was ready for that and threw a bunch of screenshots at them.

I needed a morning laugh!

Intel video update is very good so far, better then the current beta from Intel as the flickering issue is nearly fixed, it still has the odd one but the latest beta is awful.

 

i just got a new bsod. video scheduler internal error while i was playing mass effect 3. i did update the intel hd driver to the latest one on the intel page. not sure how that would affect a game though when it's using the nvidia gpu. might try installing the latest dell update just to see what happens.

 

The Intel drivers are used to pipe all gpu data through, so they do affect it.

 

The new Beta isn't suitable for this laptop, use the new Dell one for now.

 

Little update to my situation - dell called me back and said there was no way they could extend my warranty. I told them that because they used a 1/12th of my warranty at my expense they owe me something, they forwarded me to the "global escalation center" because they would be the only ones that could help. We will see...

 

I am proof they can do this due to you not having a useable laptop, my argument was they kept replacing the system and the date I got a working one was the day my warranty started. They did back down but it took the usual refund threats. I will PM you the case.

 

so i received my package from dell today and guess what those idiots did? they sent me the previous generation xps 15! what morons.

 

How can they **** it up that much, refuse the initial tech, ask to go through to resolutions and kick off.

 

Since I changed these settings, the problem has not occured again. I am optimistic that these settings solved the problem! Thank you

 

it's ridiculous honestly, and since it's now the weekend i won't be able to resolve anything until monday. i'm hoping i can finagle an upgrade out of this snafu but seems like it's 50/50 on that front. i wouldn't mind getting bumped up to the uhd screen or a bigger ssd...

 

i installed win7 and pretty much everything is running it seems, but i cannot find a working wifi driver.
there are 2 that are under win 8.1, but they refuse to install.
i would like install them anyway. is somebody here on win8 and can confirm they are running?
is there a way to extract them from the .exe to install them manually?
or somebody with an idea how to get this wifi running on win7?
cheers

 

Best to go to the windows 7 thread. It is on the forum section but probably a few pages back.

 

thanks, everything works fine now in win7.
the only major bummer ist the fans are working when charging, doesnt matter which charge option.
simple cannot believe this flaw.

any hint or solution on that matter?

 

Been discussed plenty. It is no flaw it is by design. Something obviously needs cooling so the fans kick in until the bulk charge is complete (90% ish)

 

so thats a design flaw. never ever have i seen this behavior in my life with any notebook.

also my fans are not stopping, when the charging is finished!

 

Then check activity to see what's keeping the temps up, I assume you're on the latest bios?
Personally i see why as minimal air over the battery still keep its heat down making it last longer than no air movement at all. Even if it is just moving air over the inlet it will keep the chassis cooler.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

its in idle, 1min after i disconnect the cable, the fans go silent for at least 20min.
as soon as i plug in, the fans dont stop. and not even in the lowest level.

thats a reason to return this notebook, if there is no solution.
thats simply insane for the 1500 bucks i paid..

 

Phone Dell, that's not right.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

My fans kept going until I downloaded and installed Dell Command | Power Manager. Set it to quiet and it's not nearly as obnoxious.

They still run while charging. Given how fast the bigger battery charges while it's off, I'm okay with the trade off. Never had an 80wh+ battery charge this fast in one of my machines.

 

so more hilarity... so while i was at work, they tried calling me like 3 times... guess they gave up and sent an email. in the email they started off by saying sorry for the mixup and they would be sending me my new system with an upgraded screen, ram and hard drive, so reading that made me pretty happy... until i scrolled down and saw that the system they spec'd out to send me was the xps 15 9530... needless to say i quickly fired an email back saying that i hope they didn't already ship it and they need to for sure offer me the same upgrades but on the 9550 as they almost twice sent me the wrong system back, so fingers crossed.

 

Mods - These posts need to be moved to the comic section!

 

so, just got off the phone with them. essentially the email with the upgraded specs system or whatever was for the initial wrong replacement system they sent me. so they weren't trying to send a second bogus machine but still pretty dumb overall. i tried to argue on the phone that i should be offered the same upgraded specs for the 9550 they send back to me but the technician kept fighting with me over it but finally connected me to her supervisor. he said they couldn't offer me the upgraded specs but they'd send me a new system to replace the one i originally bought, which was a dell outlet model. so i guess that's a tiny win? would have preferred the ram/hd/screen upgrades but oh well.

 

Just ask for the upgraded specs later this week when they screw up again.

Furthermore, I quite like Dell's effort to downgrade you due to warranty issues. . .

 

yeah, haha. i will.

i mean, in the end i guess i'll be getting a brand new i7-6700hq/8gb ram/256gb ssd/fhd model which goes for $1499.99 for $740 when you include the $80 refund i got for all my issues. that's not a bad deal as long as i can get the new one to work without blue screening and requiring me to restore backups every other day... which happened yesterday, by the way. playing mass effect 3, bsod with a video scheduler error then when it restarted couldn't boot up anymore...

 

Hello!
After installing the new intel 530 video driver, I get the following error each time I boot the system (looking windows system log):
Faulting application name: IntelCpHDCPSvc.exe, version: 1.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x572a4b65
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.10586.306
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000002fe34

Other than that, everything seems to be working fine.

This is same issue on the dell support site: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19984510


Somebody is watching similar errors after upgrade driver?

 

Thanks for beta testing that.

Seriously, did you consider rolling back the driver (device manager>display adapters>Intel HD Graphics 530>properties>driver)?

 

If you are referring to the DELL 20.19.15.4454 driver, no they are working perfectly and no entry in the log files.

 

No. I don't want rolling back the driver because everything seems to be working fine. Just I noticed these messages in the log

By the way, on the DELL-site there are new versions of BIOS (01.02.10) and Thunderbolt firmware and controller driver.
Somebody has already installed these updates?