Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

Dell issued a new "Application_0Y8N2_WN32_3.0.700.0_A00.EXE - Dell Foundation Services" Update on the 28/11 that should fix the eCert issue.

on another note my XPS 15 is heavely throttled after resuming from Sleep, the cpu only goes up to 65% and max's out at 1.6GHz.

 

Hi,
the throttling is a known Bug of the XPS 15 9550. As far as I know, all models have that Problem and tere is no fix for it.
Sorry to have no better news...
Regards,
Gerhard

PS. still selling my XPS 15 9550 i7 4k 512SSD with 2years Prosupport for € 2200 if anyone is interested (Austria) as I cannot return it.

 

I'd like to see an option in the BIOS to disable the discrete graphics for the same reason - to conserve power. I don't need the discrete graphics too often (but want it there when I do and don't mind rebooting, if necessary). Probably need a modded BIOS to expose any menu to do so. Alternatively, disabling it in Device Manager might work.

 

Re the keyboard on the 9550, anyone having a problem with keys repeating, basically stuttering? Sometimes I'll get two instances of a key. As in "this is a teest". Yes, I adjusted the repeat delay to be slower. Still happens. Sometimes, the repeat will even be delayed, as in "this is a teset"
Anyone else seeing this? Happens every few minutes for me during normal use.

 

So last night I had 2 unexpected reboots, one soon after going full screen in chrome browser, then another later after opening the lid.

I posted earlier that I have done a fresh install of windows, updated the BIOS and made the Registry Key change for the GPU. I can't have a computer that just fails randomly and I lose everything I was working on all the time. I have initiated a Return. Also, was not happy to hear about the throttling of the CPU, that's some BS.

 

It appears now my 9550 has resorted to rebooting everytime I close/reopen the lid. F this thing

 

I have this and it works. When I boot it warns me though. Seems to work fine for me though

 

I've had the same problem with it coming out of sleep. I've disabled hibernate yesterday and it hasn't rebooted on lid open/close today. Will see...

 

Havn't had much of an issue with the laptop since i got it other then forgetting to install the Samsung NVMe Controller driver and being frustrated from blue screens,
still he only issue right now is the Slow down after Sleep/On Battery.

Did any one overclock the CPU/GPU and got some good results?
and does any one know how to stop the CPU from throtteling down without disabling intel SpeedStep?
i dont mind the TurboBoost but i want it to be at 2.6GHz minimum at all time!

Thanks for anyone helping with this!

 

@Or Vanon where did you take the Samsung NVMe Controller driver from?

 

Samsung NVMe Driver Installer for 950 PRO only: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html

 

From the samsung website:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html
- scroll down to Samsung NVME Driver Installer

Here's a direct link to the download:
http://ssd.samsungsemi.com/ecomobile/ssd/update15.do?fname=/Samsung_NVMExpress_Driver_rev10.zip

i had no idea initially that the drive needs a special controller driver but it does :/

 

What drives configuration you have?

 

Indeed, that's why I was surprised and wanted to know more about the drives @Or Vanon installed

 

i bought the hybrid drive version and removed the m.2 32GB and replaced with the 950 512GB.

waiting for my 2TB EVO and im set untill i see some reviews regarding the g.skill 32GB ram upgrade compared to the Crucial one that should be out soon,
maybe corsair will have a kit as well.

 

You can't use raid in the bios or it won't recognize it.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

Ok, that's why you had to install NVMe drivers, as they are only for the 950 series.

Not sure what you mean... having 2 drives like M.2 SSD + 2.5 SSD doesn't require RAID configuration. Or you meant to say that M.2 slot doesn't work if RAID is switched to AHCI in BIOS?

 

M.2 works, but the driver will not install as it doesn't recognize the 950 pro in raid, even if you only have 1 drive. Something is blocking it and in Samsung magician tool it just shows as a generic drive. Once you switch to achi it will read the drive info correctly and install the driver.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

Ok, so basically it's recommended to use AHCI. I believe that RAID mode in BIOS simply means to use 32GB cache drive. This mode should be set to RAID only if 32GB cache drive is present, otherwise it's recommended to use AHCI mode.

 

News about the CPU throttling issue after connecting the power plug, BIOS update around mid December :

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19660225/20850314#20850314

 

YAY!

 

Some news related to the Intel graphics flickering/crashing... I'm not seeing a new driver on Dell's site yet, but if you go into the device manager, go into the Intel HD Graphics 530 display adapter and "Update Driver...", it automatically finds a new driver(or it did for me). Driver Version: 20.19.15.4312.
So far it's at least an improvement for me. I have not tried adding back in Hyper-V yet to see if that issue is resolved, but aside from that graphics stability seems better if not completely fixed.

 

I have no issues with hyper-v and I installed it this weekend. Still a few crashes in firefox, but hoping those are fixed now as something was corrupt with my original clean install or drivers/programs added.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

Seems Windows defender is pickup the cert issue now as a virus

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/f/3522/t/19662444

 

I have a question.

So I have the 1TB HDD + 32GB SSD configuration.

I swapped the 1TB HDD with a 240GB SSD and did a clean UEFI installation of Windows 10.

However, what do I do with the 32GB SSD? I don't see it anywhere in Windows (including Computer Management -> Storage).

I tried to change from RAID ON to AHCI in the BIOS, but Windows never booted if I selected that.

I didn't install any Dell things. Just the clean installation of Windows and Windows Updates.

System seems to be working fine aside from crashing upon sleep wakeup (in case anyone has a fix for that).

 

256GB original SSD. Switched from RAID to AHCI, but now getting BSODs.

For those with original SSD who have switched to AHCI, what NVME driver are you using? Mine shows in Device Manager under "Storage controllers" as "Standard NVM Express Controller", Microsoft, 6/21/2006, 10.0.10586.0, stornvme.sys, which seems awfully old.

 

Anyone feeling that the response time of the 4K screen is long?

 

For everyone that has the 4K touchscreen, was it worth it? I ended up ordering the FHD because I thought I didn't need the touchscreen and I got a good Black Friday deal from Dell Small Business (4k option isn't available for business models anymore) but I played around with the 4k model at Best Buy and thought it was pretty cool. But is it worth the ~$400 extra?

 

Has anyone had any issues with trying to boot the laptop in AHCI? I used to have the 512GB 4K version (bought from MS) that didn't have any problem with that (incidentally, I could ONLY boot off of USB when I set to AHCI in BIOS on that machine). I then returned that and ended up picking up the 1TB 4K version from Best Buy, but I can't boot into Windows if I change RAID => AHCI. It will ONLY BOOT in RAID, and if I try to change to AHCI, then I get an error after POST basically saying that there's no recognizable drive installed.

 

I simultaneously did safe boot and changed BIOS to AHCI. Apparently the safe boot allows it to find a compatible driver.

On a side note, been messing with the Samsung driver, even though not using the 950. At first it wouldn't find the drive on a reboot - haven't had it happen in a while now, though. Seems occasionally the drive wouldn't get the shutdown or whatever command on a reboot (fresh boot has always been fine).

 

Thanks Techgee! That did the trick!

On my own side note... have you noticed any meaningful difference after updating the nvme/950 drivers? I just came across another post in this thread about the 950 drivers. I ran the .exe but not surprisingly, my system wouldn't allow those drivers to run since technically the ssd is not the 950. I was about to manually update the drivers instead but wanted to tackle that AHCI/RAID problem first.

 

Still testing 950 drivers... I was able to run the install .exe fine - might be because it found the Samsung PM951 and I was in AHCI mode or I ran it from an Administrator account and with Run as administrator.

BTW, once you got AHCI working, what Storage controller showed up in Device Manager? Are you seeing the 2006 Microsoft NVME controller or something else?

 

Yup--the former. "Standard NVME Controller" and "MS Storage Spaces Controller", both signed by Microsoft June 2006 (10.0.10586).

 

Sigh... I'm trying the 950 driver because I was getting random BSODs with the MS 2006 driver. So far with 950 driver issue is drive not found on reboot - seeing if that problem stays away now. Could also try the Intel NVMe driver - or back to Intel RST and RAID.

 

For 950 NVME driver I did not need to manually install once in AHCI mode (from default MS NVME driver) - just ran the .exe.

Appears 950 driver does not randomly BSOD (unlike default MS driver), but often drive is not recognized on a reboot (regular boot is fine).

Trying the Intel NVME driver just now - it installs (at least starting from the default MS NVME 2006 drivers) and boots. Required a manual install. Need to do more testing...

(Again, this is all with the original Samsung PM951.)

 

Hello all - I picked this laptop up ("Microsoft edition"/4K touch - i.e. no dell bloatware) a few days ago and am generally quite pleased with it, although there have been a couple of what I hope are just software issues:

• While I like the touchpad / trackpad ("for a windows laptop"), it's very slow with the 4K screen. I have the speed of the cursor at max, and it takes ~5 swipes to traverse the screen - I would prefer it closer to 2. Is this a synaptics pad? Where can I get a better driver, or should I not bother?
• The "PDI send to panel" software that displays a blue drag target for windows is interesting with the 4K screen, since it allows quicker docking in interesting layouts, however it is occassionally in the way. Who makes this software? Is there a quick way to enable/disable it?
• I've noticed that plugging and unplugging headphones leads to a loss of audio. I can occasionally get it back by going into the Dell audio panel and clicking around, but it's flaky. I have other motherboards with Realtek audio and no similar issue - any suggestions? Which driver should I install?
• Since I have a 512GB Samsung NVMe drive, should I use intel's drivers? I used them with my intel 750 on my W10 desktop and they made a marked improvement there, but I'm not sure if you can use intel drivers with the Samsung drive.. (i.e. are they really chipset drivers [intel] or drivers for the drive [samsung])?

By way of impression, the 4K screen with Windows 10 is phenomenal. I was quite hesitant given the price differential, but it's great for creative types. The calibration is good out of the box and can be improved further, and the combination of extra pixels and ability to test touch interfaces on the go is really nice. It's not quite as productive as a dual monitor desktop setup, but you can get a lot done on-screen on the go, in a relatively light form factor.

 

For the Dell Cert security issue (like the infamous Lenovo Silverfish). I believe the application in question is Dell Foundation Services.

Therefore to correct the issue, the user just needs to download the latest package from Dell dated 28th Novemebr 2015

Can be found here http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/xps-15-9550-laptop/drivers

Under Drivers, expand the Applications tab, and download and run Dell Foundation Services with version number being Version 3.0.700.0,A00 which was is Release date 28 Nov 2015

Would anyone agree that this is the correct package to install and fix the cert security issue, without manually removing software/certs, also maintaining stock software while keeping it up to date with a simply download and replace ideology?

 

Follow this thread...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...hpad-ptp-driver-with-synaptics-driver.783990/

 

The 3.0.700.0 Dell Foundation Services update removed the eDellRoot certificate for me. I didn't need to run Dell's removal tool or manually remove it (not sure if I had the DSDTestProvider cert or if it removed it).

You can double-check that the cert's are gone by going through the manual removal process steps Dell has provided at http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN300321

 

So, with the original PM951 (256GB) Samsung in AHCI I've tried all the NVME controller drivers I could find - Microsoft default, Intel's and Samsung's.

Unfortunately, it's "pick your poison" time.

RAID:

The default RAID (Intel RST drivers) setup has a very bad (half performance) battery/sleep/back to A/C performance issue. (Additionally, I suspect Intel RST may have caused occasional BSODs I was seeing when on RAID, but it might be other older drivers which I've updated since.)

On to AHCI:

Microsoft's 2006 NVME controller is horrible - random BSOD's (by random I mean I don't think I've seen the same error twice) and has the worse battery/sleep/back to A/C performance bugs of all the AHCI drivers. Nix it.

On the other hand, no BSODs with Samsung's or Intel's NVME drivers. However, with both, most of the time on a controlled reboot the shutdown hangs for too long and the BIOS can't find the drive when it tries to reboot. (A fresh boot from power off always succeeds.) Both these drivers have the least performance drop with the battery/sleep/back to A/C performance bug, with Samsung being the best. (On a side note, I haven't tested TRIM.)

So, stay with RAID and battery/sleep/back to A/C performance drop or go with AHCI Samsung NVME driver and live with reboot issue?...

 

Is anyone with the Samsung NVMe 950 PRO getting frequent "drive not found" on reboot?

 

i have the ssd up and running for the past week and havnt had a single issue with the drivers,

 

No issues, running for 1 week

Sent from my Venue 8 7840 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks everyone.

Sounds like the PM951 might need a firmware update from Samsung/Dell for an often missing shutdown command or something during a reboot - resulting in BIOS reporting essentially "drive not found". Or, a Dell BIOS update is needed.

 

Went to re-run a performance test and got spurious, non-matching results.

Seems Microsoft Windows 10 cumulative update 1511 introduced a "System and compressed memory" bug where after a few days it continually uses 17% or more CPU.

Is anyone else seeing this and/or have a workaround? I can't run reliable performance tests anymore with this...

This has been reported on other systems. For example:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-process/bd6f172d-0c6e-4c1d-a112-c48efc9e8363

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...high-cpu/421c32bd-e65b-4339-9473-db775e50096a

https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/3t19ko/why_is_system_and_compressed_memory_using_so_much/

EDIT: I've concluded based on my experience and this, that it's related to version 14.5.2.1088 of Intel Rapid Storage Technology (aka RST RAID) currently on Dell's Support site. I've not had this issue with the latest version (14.6.0.1029) on Intel's site available here.

 

Anyone noticing a very long shutdown process? It shutdown and exits windows very quickly. I am however stuck with a black screen with no activity for at least 30 seconds maybe a minute. So if I click on reboot it exits windows very quickly but then waits about a minute before it even gets to the post screen for the reboot.

 

I have the Dell Premier Color tool using between 15% and 40% of the system memory. Has anyone else encountered this?

I've disabled it, and haven't noticed a significant difference in the display. Is this something that is recommended to keep on the system?

 

I disabled Dell Premier Color from starting, seems that sometime it changes the color profile 5-10 minutes after I boot up, which plays weird with my eyes.

 

Yes, I've definitely had this happen on my XPS 15 (the BestBuy version). Shuts down to black screen and then hangs. Last time, it didn't seem like it was coming out, so I forced a reboot w/the power button. Rare, but does happen.

 

I have had my i7-FHD-8GB-256GB mSata for almost six weeks and am following this forum closely as this is the firs time that I can't get anywhere with Dell. I last bought a XPS 15 L501x and was treated alright getting a replacement L502x after my original machine failed in its second year. Here is what is happening:

1. I need the HDD Interposer as well and have also been given the run around by Dell. I initially ordered what I thought was the part but what I received was something else. Dell took it back but now is stonewalling me. I'm thinking about filing a consumer fraud complaint with the FTC while I am waiting since I presume that at some point in time the HDD Interposer will be available from OEM refurbishers, etc.

2. Space bar is funky; sometimes it skips sometimes doesn't space.

3. I'm getting about four to five hours on the small battery leaving the brightness on high, but not pushing the machine too hard, like gaming.

4. I too occasionally get long shutdown times.

5. No coil whine or anything.

6. I bought memory to upgrade and want to put my old 1 TB Samsung 840 EVO in as a data drive as it should not add too much to the power drain, but of course I need the Interposer. I don't want to open the machine until then, so I hope the HDD cage is in there as someone here has already said.

7. The Dell OEM 802.11ac card seems to be working pretty well.

8. The FHD has great color, but I notice that text in my file manager and in some of the dialog boxes is not quite sharp, a bit soft looking even after running the Cleartype setup. Text in my browser, Microsoft Word, etc. seems fine.

9. Can't wait for some a selection of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 flash drives and external HDD enclosures to become generally available at REASONABLE prices.