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

If this discussion is any guide then the NVMe driver could well be the problem. Exactly which SSD do you have (Device Manager will give the model number)? The link to the Toshiba driver is in that thread I linked while the Samsung driver is discussed here.

John

 

Hi John,
Thanks for the prompt response!

I have the NVMe SM951 NVMe SAMSU 256GB SSD.
So far I have installed the Samsung NVMe Controller driver version 2.0.0.1607. I installed it this morning after reading this forum topic and so far I've not had another BSOD!
I've not been using my Dell WD15 Dock to try and eliminate that as a cause. I'm going to continue to run without the Dock for the remainder of the day, and if I get no BSOD I will then try the Dock as well.

If I then still don't get any BSOD's, it would appear the Samsung driver is the fix!

 

In case you haven't found it, the SM951 driver has its own thread.

Also, are your 5510 BIOS, Thunderbolt firmware and related drivers all up to date (put the service tag into the Dell support site to get the list)? BIOS 1.2.16 released a few days ago says "Fix Dell Thunderbolt Dock issue" while the other updates during the past few months are mainly bug-fixes.

John

 

Hi John,

Once again, thank you for your prompt reply. I'll take a look at that dedicated thread for the SM951 now... hopefully it supports Win10 64bit.
I think I'm a BIOS version behind, so I'll give that update a go and see if that helps too.

Thanks for all your help and support on this. I've only just discovered this forum and so far it's been a great help, so thank you for that!!

 

Also the 5510 has its own thread although it's basically the same as the XPS15 9550 (whch is why, as a Precision 5510 owner) I keep an eye on what's happening here.

John

 

Hi,

Got a brand new XPS 15 w/ 16GB ram, 512GB SSD and it has been an absolute nightmare. BSOD at least twice a day, losing loads of work etc. Dell technicians are pretty much useless, all they could come up with was to do a factory image restore after trying to blame it on some graphics software I was using (Vectorworks). On my third call to technical support, one of them actually had the nerve to tell me that all computers get BSODs sometimes and that it's nothing to worry about
Anyway, I'm really quite close to giving up and sending it back, but I thought I'd try installing the SSD driver first. I have the nvme thnsn5512gpuk nv set on RAID. I've read back through the thread but I'm still unsure which driver to install

 

I had the same when i first got my XPS. Atleast one blue screen a day. Dell reps had no idea, clean install of win 10 and using Dell image didn't help at all.
If you haven't already done this try this before giving up on it:
-Use AHCI mode and uninstall Intel RST drivers.
-Use Samsung nvme drivers.

I haven't had a BSOD in 6 months.

EDIT: Just noticed you have a toshiba drive and not a samsung. Try toshiba drivers (if they have one), maybe it'll work better.

Try their OCZ series drivers as mentiond here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ftware-problems.784691/page-142#post-10351838

 

I agree with the above... After installing the Samsung NVME drivers, my BSOD's disappeared.

 

I just realized he has a toshiba drive. I didn't know Dell used those in XPS aswell. I can't find a driver anywhere for it online.

 

you linked to the Toshiba driver in your previous post (assume it was a ninja edit)
Toshiba own the OCZ name and use it in the retail channel.

A vital step has been missed by telling you to go to AHCI, you need to google "how to go from raid to AHCI windows 10" or it will BSOD when you make the change unless the laptops set to boot in safe mode

 

Yea upon googling i found the link in your post so i just put it there for him and i just assumed he'll know how to boot after switching to AHCI lol
I was very fed up with blue screens when i got my XPS. These steps helped.

 

Thanks for your replies

I am actually pretty clueless, so please excuse my stupid questions but I don't want to make things worse for myself lol. Do I install the new drivers before or after switching to AHCI? Can I uninstall the old driver from device manager?

edit: It's also been having these random outbursts of what sounds like a radio programme? Obviously, I didn't have anything on or anything connected to it so it scared the **** out of me. I am now nearly positive it's possessed by demons lol.
I've been reading about Dell releasing a kaby lake version of the xps 15 early next year, do you think these issues we've been facing will be fixed in the new one?

 

The AHCI thing isn't well known and people trip up on it

 

You can't install the drivers until you are in AHCI mode, don't worry it will use microsoft drivers until you add the new ones.

As for Kabylake I doubt if anything will change bar a new CPU.

 

Thank you! I'm now in AHCI mode and have installed the OCZ driver, but the utility doesn't seem to be able to detect it. Is this normal?

 

take a screenshot of the device manager with the storage controller expanded.

 

https://1drv.ms/i/s!ApQYlgROFFPvhAkwZnKsYTcPIZVp

 

The toshiba NVMe driver is not installed. It lists it as a standard NVMe driver meaning it is on the default one.
What does it show under disk drives?

 

https://1drv.ms/i/s!ApQYlgROFFPvhArw4UMHutSteh9r

I installed the ocznvme-1.2.126.843_whck driver you linked to previously. In the meantime I got a BSOD with the error code driver_irql_not_less_or_equal. What am I doing wrong?

 

I am not sure what went wrong but try unzipping all the files from the driver download to a folder and right click the setup.exe and run as administrator. If that fails open device manager, click right click the "standard nvme express controller and update driver software, then browse my computer option, then "let me pick from a list" then have disk, then navigate to the X64 folder where you extracted the drivers and click on ocznvme.inf

It should then show XG3 in the box, click next and so long as it doesn't give a wrong hardware warning continue to install the driver.

 

https://1drv.ms/i/s!ApQYlgROFFPvhAzJ1FHz5o59DZwg

Wrong hardware apparently

 

It is at your own risk if you proceed and force the XG3, me personally I would but I have a system backup. The part number starts the same but this may be a newer version of the Toshiba drives and not yet wrote into the toshiba driver, if it goes wrong you should be able to boot into safe mode.
If you have a USB drive that can take a backup I would install Macrium reflect free and take a system image along with letting macrium create a recovery drive to get out of a worst case scenario.

I would also raise a ticket with Toshiba who are fast to reply and ask if the drive part number is a XG3 and if you can install the driver. They will tell you it is the manufacturers fault but back down when you ask again

 

Thanks so much for your help, I will contact Toshiba and see what they say It's been so incredibly frustrating to have this many issues with a product just out of the box, I will probably end up sending it back. Just out of curiosity, did you manage to stabilize yours or have you returned it?

 

Very stable with the toshiba drivers, same with the samsung drive people are reporting the problem fixed. I would still force the driver, it is a very good machine once you tweak it.

 

I had updated to the last bios and now my WiFi card (killer 1535) doesn't work anymore. I tried to downgrade to bios 1.2.14 but persists. Now I'm with bios 1.1.19 and it is working good.

Anybody here faced this same issue?

Enviado de meu SM-G930F usando Tapatalk

 

I have the exact same setup as you, and I forced the XG3 driver like Gonzo said and it works fine.The SSD utility from Toshiba recognizes my THNSN5512GPUK NVMe drive now and I got better performances see image urls below

Performance with standard NVMe Windows driver: https://postimg.org/image/g4h64k4s7/
Performance with XG3 toshiba driver: https://postimg.org/image/rzdmn66db/
Screenshot: SSD Utility: https://postimg.org/image/gft1jt7nh/

 

Cool, thanks so much for the info. Did this fix your BSOD issue? (assuming you had one)

 

Oh no man, I didn't have the BSOD issue. But I didn't install the drivers through the setup.exe like you did.
btw it should look like this now in the device manager: https://postimg.org/image/n8glog90t/7fddf8d7/

 

I had been getting BSODs before switching to AHCI (it's why I did). I've forced mine as well now, I'm hoping it fixes the issue

 

It's the 4k that tends to count as well so nice result.

Fingers crossed!!

 

Aaand got two BSODs in 5 minutes. I was actually hopeful lol. However, now it seems to write a dump file and restart on its own, which it didn't do before (it used to freeze at 0% and I would have to do a hard reboot). Progress I guess?

 

I think you should do a clean install with AHCI enabled. I did so.
Can you run bluescreenviewer and paste a screenshot here of the report?

 

I'm still trying to install the latest drivers with the new bios and the bug persists

 

download "who crashed" from replenish software to see what the crash dump says and report back, yes it is progress!

 

Who crashed seems to hate Dell as much as I do right now, it said it won't run on any Dell system except on Sundays hahah. So I took a screenshot of bluescreenviewer

https://1drv.ms/i/s!ApQYlgROFFPvhBo_LnzY9W4m_BjA

edit: got another one, seems to be the same driver

 

wow, write speeds on my drive are half those.
Samsung 951, only around ~500 Seq and ~400 4k.

 

Some people online have had luck by repairing the windows installation for this error. You can try that before you do a fresh installation.
My XPS came with a Win 10 Home on a USB stick so if you've got one of those you can boot via USB and see if there's any repair windows options (I've never had to repair windows 10 so i'm not sure where exactly this option would be).

 

At the start of the installation process in the left hand corner there is a 'repair this computer' option which you would click on if you are experiencing problems and do not wish to do a complete re-install of Windows OS.

 

Hey @mike_nbr
would you mind adding the Thunderbolt 3 issue http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/xps-15-9550-not-negotiating-tb3.799141/
to the list? I currently have a ticket open with Dell for a solution and would report back with their answer.

 

Agreed, but I would look to do a fresh install after that if it doesn't work as it looks like windows has become corrupted due to all the crashing it has done.
Sometines yu have to draw a line under a problem and start again knowing what you know now.

 

My screen had started to wobble over the past few weeks, it got quite bad today so I had to strip the screen off and remove the antenna cover to tighten the left side up as they were very loose. Easy fix and an excuse to blow the dust bunnies out.

 

Jap. Same happend to me some months ago. Relatively easy to fix. You have to be careful with the hinge, though. You need a lot of force to move it...

 

Did you use Threadlock on the hinge screws?

Does this mean if one wants to remove screws and use Threadlock, he should keep screen at 90 degrees before removing the screws?

 

the screws had come loose but I got to it before they had backed off a lot. Hinge issue was expected and not a problem to move

Couldn't be arsed to go find it in the garage due to having a sick 2 year old floating around, also I don't have a weak enough one to use, mines for industrial applications

Probably but my loose screws were screen side so a bit more involved to get to them and one hinge has to be moved during to get the antenna cover off.

 

Hey guys, i week ago i decide to reemplace my HDD with SSD because i want a silent notebook. The problem is that when i power up the notebook after the dell logo when the windows's loading a noise comes up from the laptop and right after windows log on it stops. So today i noticed that the noise comes from the speakers! i dont this this is normal, anyone with this problem?

 

Update the audio drivers?

 

I just did..still the same. I don't think it's driver related because it starts just when the dell logo shows and then it stops when the welcome windows shows. What else could be?

 

Dunno, a new one on me. Try updating the BIOS as it looks like it may be related.

 

Did that too...i was on 1.2.0 and two days ago i updated to 1.2.18 but still the same. Maybe i should call Dell and ask them.

 

That's what you're paying for.

Sent from my SM-G920F