Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

Figured that good time to start an owners lounge thread, a few of us (and more soon) already receiving and using their new Dell XPS 15 Skylake 9550 model notebooks.

The other running thread is starting is becoming full of speculation of those that haven't got theirs yet or still thinking about getting it

Would be good that those that actually own the new system can post here, thoughts, ideas, and any tips.

 

I'd like to know how long the production period was for others who have actually received it. I ordered mine on the 27th and it has been in production since. They estimate it will arrive about 2 weeks after the order was placed.

Update - unit is at FedEx today
Update 2 - FedEx SUCKS! It made it to my local FedEx yesterday morning at 7AM so I called to ask if I could pick it up. They said SURE they'll call me back in a couple of hours. At 1PM I called and asked about it and they said they'll hold it for me but since it wasn't scheduled for delivery until Monday they can't give it to me until Monday!

 

Picked up my MS Signature XPS 15 9550 (i7/16/512/4K/84Wh) a little more than 24-hours ago from the Microsoft flagship store in NYC. The machine is great, with the exception of two things I'm hoping get resolved within my return period:

1. Constant iGPU crashes
2. Battery life

I'm still running pretty lean - nothing installed except for Office 2016, Firefox, Waterfox, and Citrix ICA Client. No Chrome here. I installed all of the new drivers/updates from Dell, and am actually running Insider Preview Build 10576, which is supposed to be what gets released to the public in a few days. Still getting iGPU crashes while web browsing (Edge, IE, Fire/Waterfox), and the battery life is still worrisome. I usually have brightness set to around 23% and have the volume muted.

No discernable issues with the build quality. Keyboard, bezel, and monitor look okay. I'm a Mac guy so the touchpad is 'good - but not Apple great'.

Willing to answer any questions. Thanks.

EDIT:
Actually insider preview build 10586 now, which is what will be released to the public. Everything seems a lot more 'stable' now (not that it wasn't before). I was hoping it would address the iGPU crashing. It hasn't happened as much, but I did manage to crash it last night while using IE.

 

One guy on Youtube says it has loud whine. Did you notice it?

 

Nope. No whine from the laptop or adapter.

 

Thanks. Does the unit come with an install CD with all the drivers? I plan on installing the OS from scratch and I'd like to know if I should download the 25 or so drivers 1 by 1 or if they are available from a single source

 

Mine didn't come with an install CD. I have the MS Signature edition, so I'm not sure if the Dell-direct units come with them. However, I did have a Dell-direct previous gen XPS 13 and it didn't come with any drivers, either. I had to contact them to provide me with a USB stick with Windows 8 and all of the drivers on it.

 

This owner's lounge is in the wrong subforum. Should be under the XPS sub-forum.

Maybe a mod can move it, @Charles P. Jefferies or @Ethrem ?

 

Hello,

I got my unit today. The upgrade for WIndows 10 was easy by just changing the product code.

My BIG issue which I could use some help on - it comes with a spot for a standard sata SSD and a M2 sata. I want to put an existing SSD drive in it in addition to the M2 it came with. However while it included the bracket for standard SSD, it did not include the sata cable which I imagine is very specific for that model due to length and shape. If anyone got one with the standard hybrid drive please let me know about the cable!

The 256GB M2 module is model M2-VLV256D PN mzvlv256hchp made by Samsung. Requires a micro torq bit and small phillips to get the back off.

 

Did you get the FHD model with space to add a 2.5" SATA hard drive or SSD? Are you saying there is no cable to add, just the caddie is there.

Mine model is the UHD that has the Samsung NVMe PM951, and at this stage I am wondering what software will allow backup with not in windows, like bootable media to create a backup, as seem that NVMe is new.

I would be keen on buying someones 512GB PM951 drive if they are looking to sell it to go larger or to a different model. 256GB is just a little bit to small to play with.

Some people has suggested a space bar issue, not sure what they mean exactly but my space bar is perfectly fine.

My battery has a 6% wear level on it for out of box, thought that was a bit high, instantly makes my 84Wh in to a 79Wh battery

 

Just getting around to having a play with Intel XTU, looks like some power settings can be changed, and voltage is adjustable.

Nice this doesn't seem to get to hot or does the TDP seem to be reached easily. Not overclockable but no problem sustaining max turbo at 3.1GHz

Below I have set -62.5 mV which dropped my processor under full load from 1.1 V down to 1.05 V

 

So it is not even possible to increase the speed by 200MHz like Haswell i7?

 

Hello,

I got the i7 with the HD screen (not uhd) 256GB M2 drive with the standard battery which leaves space for an SSD drive. I'm saying their is a small cage for the SSD that is empty but there is no cable to connect the ssd. That is why I need a part number for the SSD cable(s).

I'm pretty sure you can back up to usb using acronis.

I'm pretty sure you can put the 950 pro in this unit - there is already a youtube video on it.

No space bar issue.

 

I had the crashing iGPU crashes as well. I found this worked to resolve it (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2665946):

1. Exit all Windows based programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Search box, and then double-click regedit.exe from the results above. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. Browse to and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers
4. On the Edit menu, click New, and then select the following registry value from the drop-down menu specific to your version of Windows (32 bit, or 64 bit):
   
   For 32 bit Windows
   1. Select DWORD (32-bit) value.
   2. Type TdrDelay as the Name and click Enter.
   3. Double-click TdrDelay and add 8 for the Value data and click OK.
   
   For 64 bit Windows
   1. Select QWORD (64-bit) value.
   2. Type TdrDelay as the Name and click Enter.
   3. Double-click TdrDelay and add 8 for the Value data and clickOK.
5. Close the registry editor and then restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

 

Can you tell me what he igpu crash looks like - does the screen go black, or does it have static on the screen, or does the system hang with the display still up?

 

I didn't get a screenshot, but it happened several times while using Firefox. The browser window went black, and a message box popped up in the notification area saying "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." The taskbar remained visible. After several seconds, the browser window contents would reappear. (Actually, I'm not sure if this is the iGPU or the nVidia GPU that was the issue.)

 

Good to know - thanks.

I seem to have some issue with the screen flickering. One minute fine the next it flickers to black then back.

I've disabled the screen transition from 60 to 40 to save power.
I've disabled the power saving mode.
I've plugged in the AC
I've updated the intel driver
I've updated the NVidia driver
I've updated the bios
rebooted of course
Issue still occurs even before you sign in to the login screen.

I'm trying to find out if it is an application I've installed. I'm just installing all the apps I have on my PC and previous laptop without issue.

 

Hello,

I just reformatted my system from scratch - completely. So far no issues - flicker is gone and I got some space back in additional partitions.

Update - I usually install about 8 or so software packages at a time as I have a LOT of software required on my system. I finally tracked down the flickering by installing only 3 at a time and doing system state changes. It turns out MS Hyper V is somehow causing the flicker. I haven't gone further than that but at least if someone else discovers the flicker they'll know why.

I checked - the surface pro has the same issue so MS and Intel are aware of the skylake issue with Hyper-V

 

No overclocking, not even 200 MHz, but it doesnt matter to much, 3.1 GHz sustained is perfectly fine. Being able to undervolt allows even less draw under load. I still need to see how far it will go before becomes unstable or crashes

Good you got the HDD caddie, shame about no cable to connect a SATA drive to it. Adding a cheap SATA SSD would be perfect way to expand the storage keeping the PCIe for boot drive and fast reads.

I have tried several versions of Acronis, but none would see the PCIe drive. I am thinking the Acronis might need to be updated to detect NVMe, when or what version I am not sure?

Hope there is some way to backup the PCIe drive, then can transfer to a new PCIe drive. Where is the video for the Samsung 950 Pro to install into the XPS?

 

This guy is only doing a teeny bit of video at a time but this is the current one -

 

I think I get the space bar issues. (uuggg just had the video driver crash) the bottom corners don't register and sometime it is hard to tell if its registering. it feels likes it kind of pushed in already. there really isn't much feedback from the key.

 

Which chipset does the unit use?

Is it the HM170 or the CM236?

The reference guide from Dell mentions both types.

The Precision 5510, sister unit supposedly uses the CM236 which supports the Xeon.

My 2 cents

 

I'd like to image my drive using acronis but haven't figured a way yet. I have an external SSD sata connect via USB. I've tried to back it up but on the acronis reboot it says it can't find one of the drives - not sure which it can't find but it is my guess it is the M2 since I've backed up to SSD via usb in the past unless I need to modify the bios.

 

Chipset think is HM170, although will need to double check later.

Acronis need a NVMe driver added to see the PCIe drives which are NVMe. Either mod the bootable media ans insert driver (not sure how) or wait till Acronis to add that function support officially.

My Intel display driver crashes like crazy, which is a pain. I think was doing this before any Windows 10 update hit the machine, pretty sure Windows 10 has pulled down some Intel display drivers anyway to make matter the same is not worse. In any case the Intel display driver crashing often,

 

Thanks. If anyone gets the acronis thing figured out - PLEASE post here.

 

No one is going to figure it out, Acronis does not work and nothing you try will work. The only way it will work is with winPE recovery so you can load the windows drivers, even Acronis says this.

 

Thanks! I am unfamiliar with WinPE. If you have a link to the process acronis mentions using WinPE I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Lots of people posting about video crashes and screen flickering. I've had zero flashing/crashes (for real) on my 9550 i7/16GB/1TB/960M/4k. Here's what I did.
Purchased from Best Buy. Packaging indicated machine shipped to BB on Nov. 2, IIRC. Unboxed, confirmed working.
Downloaded Win 10 Pro x64 using the Windows Media Creation tool. Presumably, this would work as well for Win 10 Home.
Either get the f6 RAID drivers from Dell and put that on the USB (after or switch to ACHI in the bios and don't bother with the drivers. (this shouldn't make a difference for the video anyway). If you don't install the f6 drivers ("Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver" from Dell's download page) or switch to ACHI in bios, you won't see any drives when you boot to the USB to install windows.
In the windows installer, delete every partition and install into a new blank partition. Once windows is up, install all of the windows updates. Updating will force a reboot. Once rebooted, check for updates again. Keep rebooting as required then checking for updates until there are none.
I did NOT install ANY of the 4 dell "Applications". No Dell Digital Delivery Application, no Dell Foundation Services, no Dell Help & Support Application, no Dell Update Application.
I did install the Dell iGPU driver "Intel HD Graphics 530/P530 Driver" called "Video_Driver_C2Y38_WN32_20.19.15.4300_A02.EXE".
I did install the nVidia driver FROM NVIDIA directly. Did not use the Dell driver. That leaves me running nVidia driver 358.91. Dell can't possibly keep up with the pace of nVidia updating the drivers.
After that, I installed all of the other Dell drivers, etc (except for those four). Did not downgrade the bios. (This machine shipped with 1.00.05, and the Dell site is offering only 1.00.03.)
Running the default BIOS settings, no registry edits, no special setting anywhere.
I didn't run the out-of-the-box factory OS install for more than an hour and didn't notice any flickering or driver crashes in that time. Because of that, I can't say that my approach actually fixed any existing flickering, just that there is no flickering.
Hope this helps someone.

 

You are close to doing what I did. You will get flickering if you install Win HyperV - this is an established issue with the skylake video and Hyper-V currently.

 

You all need to be aware of this CPU clock speed problem in the 9550. Personally confirmed the problem.

XPS 15 9550, CPU Speed capped after switching from battery to AC power

See http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19660225

"I have a brand new XPS 15 9550 and I noticed that when you connect AC power after being on battery power, the CPU frequency gets capped at 1.69 GHz as opposed to the usual 3.5 GHz. The only way to fix this is to then reboot or sleep/resume the system. What is the best way to report this BIOS bug to Dell? There has to be some way to get Dell to fix the issue in a BIOS update.

I have found several other users also complaining of this same issue:

forum.notebookreview.com/.../help-needed-from-new-xps-owners-report-serious-bios-bug-to-dell.783715

I really hope Dell fixes this issue since it is unacceptable for Dell to sell such an expensive and premium machine with a glaring firmware bug that turns your i7 performance into a Pentium level of performance."

 

Hello,

I've made some progress thanks to the post above about using a Windows PE disc. I have the Acronis Win PE thumb drive ready. I have the drivers for the intel to get to the M.2 on a folder on the PE drive - not sure how to load them so acronis sees my M.2. I'll post back if I make more progress.

 

Nice work with Acronis, once you sort it, please other know how to create a PE version that works. Just what to do and where to get driver for NVMe, so all works.

 

I love this laptop and am definitely keeping it, however it has a few things that annoy me. The Return key on UK models is extremely thin (the bottom part is thinner than the normal keys and difficult to hit...) and the trackpad lags a bit when first using it (it takes a bit of movement before it picks up, not sure if that's adjustable). I think I can get used to the shallow, slightly small keyboard keys. I have a VAIO SA13 and I think the keyboard on that is better (it even has larger up/down arrow keys), however I seem to be typing on this without many mistakes.

Does anybody else experience the trackpad lag issue?

 

I've almost got acronis working!!!

1. Download the media add in from the rescue link in Acronis (there is a link in 2016 under tools, rescue media builder, winpe)
   
2. Change the extension from .3 to exe of the downloadable
   
   
3. Run the executable to install
   
   
4. Go back to tools, rescue media builder
   
   
5. Select your usb drive
   
   
6. After it creates the USB drive, copy your device driver windows to the usb drive
7. Make sure the AC power is plugged in on your laptop.
8. Do a FULL power down - hold power for 10 seconds to power off
9. Power up with the USB thumb drive inserted and press F12
10. Select to boot from the thumb drive
11. At a command prompt, type drvload.exe inf_path
    where inf_path is the path to a device driver on the thumb drive (e.g. c:\f6flpy-x64). You can specify multiple paths by separating each inf_path entry with a comma (you can get these from dell or intel - might as well just load the ones from dell support xps 15 download page - make sure to load the x64 drivers.
    
    
12. Now you go to clone disk wizard in WinPE and image!!!!!

I ran it a second time and it worked fine - no promises about the safety of your data but it did work for me.

 

I'm looking at your

Hello,

I'm running the current firmware and the latest CPU-z and I get the core speed at about 3000-3200 Mhz on AC however as you say unplug it go to battery and then back again and it doesn't improve.

 

Ordered the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB to replace the Samsung PM951 256GB that was shipped as standard with my XPS 9550, mostly due to the 256GB being on the small size and no option to upgrade at time of purchase.

Sure hoping that I can backup with Acronis using the PE method as above.

More so hoping the Samsung 950 Pro doesn't have performance or compatibility issues with XPS 15, otherwise would be much of an upgrade but a huge hole in pocket?

Also concerned about using to much power on battery, overheating, and throttling.

 

I just completed an upgrade on my Dell XPS 15 9550 from the PM951 512GB SSD to an Samsung 950 Pro 512GB. Here is what I did:

1. Downloaded Dell Backup and Recovery Basic
2. Plugged in an external USB drive
3. Launched Dell Backup and Recovery. It detected I was running Windows 10 which prompted it to download an update for the software from Dell. Once that was completed, I rebooted, launched the Dell software again and created "Recovery Media" that said it would restore my system to its factory state.
4. Powered off the computer, replaced the drive, powered back on and pressed F12
5. Selected my USB Drive from the list (it was the only thing in the list)
6. Dell Backup and Recovery detected I had installed a new drive and it began the restore.
7. Took about 5 minutes. I rebooted, and Windows 10 started on the first try.
8. Much to my surprise, the system is not in its factory state -- actually all my data is still here! It's exactly how it was before I replaced the drive!

So this is the way to do it. The software is free, all your data will be saved, and you'll have all the proper recovery partitions! There was no need to load any Nvme drivers or anything like that.

 

Have a FHD/i5 version coming. I really do hope the cpu speed cap is fixed soon.

 

Ok one issue with the 950 Pro. I'm getting 1900 on the read, but only 35 on the write using AS SSD. Strange. Maybe I need to update the RST drivers?

 

Regarding Dell bloatware: is any of it worth keeping? So far, I have not removed anything, as none of the included bloatware has been especially obnoxious. i would like to remove as much as possible, though, but I don't want to delete anything that is actually useful. Suggestions?

 

Ok so I uninstalled the Intel RST drivers and ran AS SSD again. Now my 950 Pro 512GB sequential speeds are 2007.35 MB/s read and 470.88 MB/s write. With the PM951 I was getting something like 680 read and 135 write. So it's an improvement! But, the write is supposed to be a lot faster isnt it?

edit: Testing speed with Samsung Magician software it says 2302 read and 1779 write!

One odd thing, when I download and try and install the 950 Pro NVme driver from Samsungs website, it says the drive is not detected and it wont let me install the driver. So for now, I'm using the build in Windows 10 driver.

 

Glad you are checking that - I never thought to do that. I have the dell supplied latest drivers.

Using the current dell drivers and a copy of ATTO with the default settings - force write unchecked overlapped I/o queue depth 4 I get about 315MB/sec write and 1500 Write. People should only check their stats if they've done a full shut down and reboot with power connected as it may be impacted by the power/cpu issue.

Using Samsung Magician I'm getting seq read 1102 and write 370

Using Updated drivers from Intel - I got 1122 and 385

 

Those a pretty crappy write speed, is there any point moving to the Samsung 950 Pro, that drive is meant to be able to do 2400 read a 1600 write, look like no where near it. What the point if going to gobble up power and not perform?

 

I can only speak for myself, but I'm getting 4x faster reads and 12x faster writes then I was with the PM951, so I'd call that a win.

The guy above needs to remove the Intel RST drivers. Just use the built in Windows 10 drivers, the speeds are A LOT better. The Dell supplied Intel drivers dont work properly with this drive, and I cant get the Samsung drivers to install. Here there are if anyone else wants to try and see if lets them install them: http://ssd.samsungsemi.com/ecomobile/ssd/update15.do?fname=/Samsung_NVMExpress_Driver_rev10.zip

 

Here are my Crystal Mark scores with the 950 Pro using stock Windows 10 drivers (Intel RST uninstalled). Whats interesting, if I unplug the A/C and plug it back in, the scores drop in half. It's not till
i reboot that the scores go back to normal. So that CPU bug needs to be fixed, big time!

 

Hi guys,

I've had mine delivered the other day:

i7, 16GB, 4k Touch and 1TB spindle... which I proceeded to rip out immediately and threw in an existing Samsung 840 SSD I had lying around.
then clean install of Win10 10240, grabbed the drivers off windows update for everything (and it found everything as well )

However, I've got some issues:

1) the audio has what can only be described as a permanent echo on it, its not the speakers as it happens when I put headphones in as well - anyone else seen this?
2) hibernate doesn't work - at all. I've got a 100% failure to resume at this point with it requiring a hard 4sec power button hold to power off and reboot from scratch.
3) Intel video drivers crashing

So - installed the Dell Audio drivers from their website, but audio echo remains.

anyone else having audio echo and/or hibernate issues?

Cheers

M.

 

Could you please oh please post the part number from the sata cable you used to attach the ssd? That part isn't in any system so people who didn't buy one with a spindle can't put in an additional drive.

Thanks!

 

Whoa, that is incredible! That is the rated speed. So happy now that I have ordered the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB. I am in New Zealand basically I see that the Australia and New Zealand website typically have the same product spec. I got the same model XPS as you did, with the 4K panel limited to the PM951 256GB PCIe SSD, was only around for a few days then sold out.

My Samsung 950 Pro 512GB is shipping today

Sounds like the CPU speed drop is causing the entire unit to drop into a low performance mode or something. Yea hope fixed soon.

Thanks for your video on youtube for the install of the Samsung 950 Pro. Would be a good idea to post the link here for others to watch, I am sure they will appreciate it.

Like you I think I will do the clean install method by making a recovery USB, then bring back to factory defaults to make sure trouble free as possible.

Good to know the Windows 10 standard drivers are enough, make it easy. Does the Intel RST slow the drive down or something, or you just removed it as now really required?

 

Seconded. I want to expand the storage and I need that hard drive cable and interposer to do so.

Reference, from Dell's service manual:

 

Cross posted:
My previous laptop was a dell xps L702x, with FHD screen.

Got the i7/512GB/4k model from Microsoft store (online), and have been using it for the last 4 days.

The laptop build quality is excellent. No issues with screen color/keyboard... etc.. .All good.

However, two things that have got me concerned:

1. The touch-pad - I know this is the next generation precision-touch touch pad and all that, but still compared to my 4 year old Dell L702x (XPS 17), it sucks.

Its either too sensitive (at times) or not responding at times for taps (ie., if i select the option to have a short delay before taps - to prevent accidental taps). Even the two finger scroll works inconsistently. I tried both the metro and traditional control panel settings, but no help.

In contrast, the touchpad on my older laptop was just great. with accurate taps/clicks consistently with no accidental clicks, with 1 finger scroll (at the edge of the touchpad)

Are there any drivers for this which can make it better ? The Microsoft build does not have any third party drivers for the touchpad. I checked the dell site and they don't list any.

I am trying very hard to like it and get used to it, but the more I use it, more annoyed i get!


2. the 4K display : again, this one -- is no fault of dell. The problem is, scaling. I opted for the 4K display to future proof.. the idea was to run it at lower resolution (FHD resolution).. however, when i do that, the scaling is pathetic. the text is not crisp. Tried runing clearType config etc.., but it looks pathetic.

The other option was to run it at 4k resolution and use windows scaling (200 or 250%), which is the default stetting.. this works well, but many of the apps are JUST not ready yet..., even the native windows media player control/UI don't scale - so is VLC or Classic Media Player ..etc.. The same is true with Adobe Flash objects (eg: video players) within browsers like Firefox/chrome. ............... also, many of apps used by my office (eg: Lync 2013) don't scale well in 4k.

Any thoughts on how to handle this ?

Combine the scaling issue with touchpad inconsistency (very small target area to click), it ends up being super annoying.

The above two are deal breakers for me. I will give it a few more days -- may be i will grow to get used to the touchpad thing.., .. but if not, i will have to return.