Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

My old MacBook Pro required a good battery to run properly.

When the battery health fell significantly, a battery replace indicator came up on the screen and the computer throttled significantly. If I recall correctly, the battery supplemented the AC adapter for high wattage situations; when a good battery was not available, higher performance was locked out. I remember some quirky performance then also.

Could you see any battery health stats via BIOS or AIDA64, etc?

FYI - a GonZ0 thread has a free AIDA64 (edit - beta 30 day trial) linked below - it is really useful...

https://forums.aida64.com/topic/3344-dell-xps-9550-wrong-sensor-info/?hl=9550

 

Yeah I am hoping it's just a funky battery causing issues (the coil whine is what really bothers me). Nothing seems to be able to see the battery even though it can run off of it, lol. I've gone into bios, tried AIDA64 and hwmon...

Really weird because I took a test yesterday morning and shut it down and didn't touch it until night. My only thought is that I did leave it in my truck for a couple of hours and it was ~70 degrees outside, but the inside of the truck wasn't too hot due to partial cloud coverage.

 

So dell just informed me that the battery is on backorder for another 10 days. Good thing I just finished up my first year of med school and I have a few weeks off.

 

Does anyone know a USB Type C adapter to USB 3.1 and Ethernet adapter that actually works? I've been trying for 3 months and this Anker branded one doesn't work at all.

 

i have no hardware issues the issue everyone has is the sound software

i do still have that problem because i never chaged the og sound software but if i did i wouldnt have any problems. I have no heat throttling

 

over in the razer forum they have 2 tests now that show that the xps 15 9550 works with the razer core out of the box. it has some configuration issue and isnt as fast as the razer laptop setup but it works definitely

waiting on a test with a xps 15 and a 1070

 

I gave up on the Type C/Thunderbolt port...too many problems. I use the USB 3 port right next to it with an Anker adapter that provides 3 USB 3 ports and a gigabit Ethernet port. It works perfectly.

 

I purchased a similar looking adapter branded ' Newnow' from Amazon, with three USB 3.0 ports and a 1Gb/s ethernet port. Though it worked, it kept on randomly disconnecting. So it was not very usable in practice. I replaced it with a Belkin USB-C to Ethernet adapter, which works flawlessly. Of course, it does not offer any USB-ports. For me, that's ok as I only need a wired ethernet connection.

 

"Similar looking" is clearly not the same. I have always had good results with Anker adapters. I have my keyboard, integrated display webcam, and my Ethernet plugged into the adapter and have never had a problem. Of course YMMV!

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

I'm going to try to uninstall and reinstall the drivers for the dozenth time because I seriously cannot get mine to work.

 

Anyone want to sell me an XPS 15 I7/touch? (or m5510)

 

Hi,

I was playing a game (Just Cause 3) on my XPS (i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 4K) for the first time and the max temperature of the CPU was 100°C. Max temperature of GPU was 80°C.
Are these temperature normal?
Image of temperatures: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7BjX-hgsfS4bjNiUGhwZHAweDQ/view?usp=sharing

 

You hit the thermal limit and at 100°C it would automatically throttle back.

 

deleted

 

Can this limit be set to say 95°C?

 

It is done via the chip, you would be better looking at the thread here http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rature-observations-undervolt-repaste.785963/ and considering a repaste and checking the dodgy VRAM pad makes good contact, all is explained in that thread.

 

PM me...

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Definitely not. I would highly recommend a repaste.

Grizzly Kyronaut
-or-
GELid Exteme

...are great traditional pastes.

Note: When I had repasted one of my XPS, there was a plastic cap left on over the GPU. No wonder it was reaching high temps! They stamp the paste on the CPU/GPU from the factory and it's apparently in a plastic cap that holds the paste in, that's suppose to be removed, but wasn't. Insane isn't it? The factory repaste is absolutely rubbish...a repaste is mandatory

Also, doing a repaste is a piece of cake on the XPS. My healthy grand mother can do it in 15 minutes tops. I can do it in >5 minutes, just in case anyone whines about it being difficult. Lol it's not.



Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Black screen of death. Help!

Last night I installed a new Samsung 850EVO m.2 drive, clean installed windows and manually installed the drivers (except nVidia driver) with lots of reboots as required. Everything worked fine. (I did a "practice" clean reinstall on the original Dell 30GB m.2 drive from Dell last week with no issues - use same Rufus USB ISO and same exact drivers except excluded Intel RST in newest install). Everything ran great last night.

This morning I pushed the power button "On" and the 15" screen was 100% dead (no BIOS window, no round Dell logo, nothing).

2nd monitor via HDMI worked fine so I installed the nVidia driver, reinstalled the Intel graphics driver and that did not solve the dead 15" screen. Tried the extended Dell diagnostics (from dell.com that require you to download some of their software). Looked online and tried a few "tricks." No luck so tried a "restore." Bad move.

Now stuck without a 15" screen or functioning HDMI port.

*Held FN + hit power button
===> caps lock light blinks 3+3+2+1
===> I think this dell code is for no LCD connection

* I still have the original m.2 drive with the Windows 10 install from Dell, but am on holiday for a few days without tools

* Using latest BIOS 1.2.00, UEFI, secure boot on, legacy off, AHCI

Any tips?
_________________

FYI - Some things I tried included:

>Tried a bunch of random keycodes which did not revive the 15" screen or the HDMI monitor
*Hold D + hit power button
*repeadly hit f2+power button
*repeadly hit f8+power button
*repeadly hit f12+power button
*CTRL+window key+B
*Windows Key + P then down arrow once and enter
* etc....

>Laptop is not completely dead, just useless now:
* The keyboard lights up and I can cycle light intensity with the F10 key
* CapsLock light works
* Power button light works properly
* Square white light under track pad works
* Fans seem to work

*Hold windows key+hit enter
==> enables windows narrator voice (announces letter keys and some modes I can't really follow)

*Windows Key + P (try several times)*alt+shift+prtscr
===> loud dos-type beep from laptop speakers

*Plugging in logitec bluetooth mouse
===> computer voice recognizes mouse clicks

Thanks for any tips!!

 

Obvious one is you have been messing around inside the laptop and now it has come up with an LCD fault within 24 hours. Try reseating the LCD connection.

 

Thanks again GoNz0 - appreciate your experience. I think your idea makes all the sense in the world. I didn't move the laptop from my desk so subconsciously dismissed a cable working its way loose. Just need to find a T-5 screwdriver on the beach to test your suggestion!

I also assumed (wrongly) that the LCD cable would be quite firmly placed given that screwed in metal top-plate. But seeing the connector type (and fact I took the fan out for photo purposes), I can see how the LCD cable might have worked its way loose.

There is a good quality video for removing/replacing the LCD cable, removing the LCD panel here:

http://blog.parts-people.com/2016/0...cd-display-assembly-removal-and-installation/

 

Can someone confirm, that number 1 til 4 are not visible on the 4k screen of the xps 15?

 

Been smoking something?

 

Oh boy, totally forgot to post the link.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php
It's a black shades test for monitors. For me it's number 1 to 4, which are just as black as the background. Would like to hear that it's not just my 4k screen.

Thanks in Advance

 

Quite normal on this panel.

 

I have had occasional Bluetooth issues and was thinking of swapping the original Broadcom wifi/bt card for the Intel 8260. Since it only has 2 antenna connections how have those of you that have already made the swap connected the existing wires? White to 1, black to 2, and then what do you do with the grey?

 

Nothing until someone makes a compatible three antenna card.

 

I realize that, but what do you physically do with the wire that you aren't going to use is my question.

 

Tape over the connector and tape it somewhere safe....

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

Hi guys. Can anyone point me in the right direction regarding how to fix the laptop not sitting flush on a flat surface. When my screen is open, the bottom right corner lifts off the table and when it is closed, the top left corner lifts off slightly. I heard about a way to apply force/twist but I can't seem to find it and i want to do it right. Thanks.

 

no real way to do it, hang it off a table with the lid open and the laptop off then push down the corner that is raised holding the opposite side, apply more pressure until you get it right.

 

Hey everyone,

I have had the following issue: Apparently, wake-on usb seems to kill the motherboard. I enabled it in the BIOS (latest BIOS), woke the laptop up from sleep and suddenly I only saw pixels. Dell replaced the motherboard. I re-enabled wake-on usb, woke the laptop up from sleep, the laptop crashed and I could not enter the UEFI Bios anymore. Dell replaced the motherboard. Today, I again enabled wake-on usb, and I get the exact same error as before (laptop crashes, cannot enter UEFI Bios anymore). Did anyone encounter the same problem? Since the motherboard died three times in a row after wake-on usb, I am very certain that the cause is wake-on usb. I tried my usb devices on another laptop and they succesfully manage to wake up the other laptop without damaging it. I can only recommend everyone not to enable wake-on usb.

 

I have a USB keyboard. I have wake-on USB enabled. I wake the system up using the keyboard multiple times every day without problem.

 

Does anyone know when Dell plans to refresh the XPS 15? I've been considering getting one but am on the fence about the 960m, a 970 would be better.

 

It will be a while yet.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

It will not get anything with a higher TDP than a 960m. So that means no 9-series GPU. Possibly a 1060 a year down the line.

 

Seems to be a new XPS every 2- 2.5 years.

 

I seem to remember that they came out with the L502x pretty quickly after the L501x. Maybe with all of these continuing issues they will speed up their release cycle again.

 

Compared to the 9530 this came out rather unscathed bug wise!

 

My only issue (for me it's a big one though) is intermittent crappy audio cause by whatever is spiking the DPC Latency randomly. Over the past 3 months, reinstalled clean 10 times, loaded all versions of every driver and disabled/configured just about every setting on this damn thing from bios settings to power management to device settings. Even sent it back to Dell twice, returning with a different motherboard the first time, and no changes what so ever the second time. Because people that work for DELL are to damn ignorant to listen or they just plain don't care.

I just can't take one more call to the 7/11 of tech support. They are absolutely useless. I am going to start replacing hardware myself to resolve the issue. I've already ordered a Intel Wireless adapter to replace the Broadcom one so I can lose the ****ty driver that comes with it.

If you had to replace hardware to resolve a DPC latency issue that you can't pinpoint, which order would you go on this laptop?

I'm thinking:
1st. - Replace Broadcom WiFi
2nd - Replace Realtec Sound adapter
3rd - Replace the SSD from a PM951 to a Evo 850
4th - Memory?

Any other suggestions?

 

Pascal Nividia GPUs will be coming out soon! Hella stoked. Goanna Fap, Fap, Fap, till I collapse.

 

Killing the Realtek audio drivers and using with the windows audio drivers resulted in pretty good sound quality out of the headphone jack. Not quite as good as the headphone jack on my old macbook pro (which was superb for a laptop), but certainly quite good.

These are Windows 10 tweaks for low latency-audio

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

More low latency in PDF guide

https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

This is a post from someone who EQd their 9550

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/4a45sf/how_to_fix_the_sound_on_the_dell_xps_15_9550/

You might swing over to www.computeraudiophile.com for some ideas on the forums related to computer audio.

I have not looked @ latency yet...need to get my LCD working first : )

 

The cheap black screw holding the cover to the LCD connection stripped badly on first try (to be clear the Phillips head is stripped). This is a junk screw of very soft metal.

I tried all kinds of methods (rubber band method, pliers on outside, etc.) to get this screw out but it is not budging. I worked in a ski shop so have good experience pulling larger stripped screws but at this scale and with the underlying connectors, the rules are different.

I see a few hardcore methods that might work:

- just drill out the head
- left hand drill bit (normal drill bit by hand did not work)
- use a Dremel tool to try to carve a valley into screw-head and remove with flat-head screwdriver (it is incredibly to control Dremel at this scale and dangerously easy to cut into connectors)
- screw extractor (Not sure this will work on such a small screw)
- epoxy something to the screw (I think it is too small for epoxy to bite and apply precisely on such a small head without bleeding and effectively epoxying the screw into place)

Any tips???

 

Buy a proper screwdriver set, without wanting to jinx myself I have never stripped a screw since buying Wera screwdrivers.

When I attack laptops with a dremel I put a cloth over (cotton) make a small hold over the bit I am attacking and a ****load of blu tac to catch the filings, just dremel the head off or use a cutting disk to try and put a line in for a flatblade.

The screws are not crap, they have to be softer than the aluminum/CF chassis, a sacrificial part.

 

Hello All,

I have just bought the Dell XPS15 9550 (i7-6700HQ / 512Gb NVMe / 16Gb RAM / UHD) from Hong Kong (I live and work in China - originally from the UK).

Had to buy a new laptop after the mainboard on my Samsung Chronos Series 7 died after 3.5 years.

After a week of work and updating everything to latest drivers etc.. (using the Dell Update App) I have 2 of the issues previously mentioned in various posts:

1. Mouse (Logitech MX Anywhere 2) struggles when using built in Bluetooth and Wifi at the same time, especially when the Wifi is under heavy load. This is not unusual for me as I had exactly the same problem with my Samsung Chronos - so to be honest I've settled with using the unifying USB receiver. It does still bug me though that it does not work properly...

2. Screen brightness defaults to minimum when XPS wakes from sleep - I have found a few mentions of this in the forums but unless I am crap at searching I haven't found any solutions. Does anyone know a fix for this?

Thanks!

 

How do you use the windows audio drivers rather than realtek? It always installs the realtek ones.

 

If I recall correctly, I just killed the Realtek audio drivers via control panel/remove programs. There was something else I needed to delete but can't recall what it was.

EDIT ==> Windows automatically reinstalled Realtek audio drivers a few days later. I just went to device manager for the audio drivers and clicked roll back and that locked in the windows high definition audio device.

The microsoft driver that came installed for me was
10.0.10585.0 dated 10/29/2015

 

That was it - thanks so much GoNz0!

Actually, it took 2 tries reseating the LCD connection. Second time, I blew some air into the male & female section and inserted / removed the cable a few times.

Before tackling the stripped screw, I applied tape, newspaper and blue tac to prevent stuff from getting into the laptop. Also vacuumed carefully when completed.

I read that the black screw covering the the silver LCD connection cover is a M2 x 2mm Wafer and apparently requires a JIS bit (which is less pointy) vs standard Phillips (although I'm not sure so use caution). I used a standard Phillips bit and the black screw head stripped first try. Tried larger straight bit, pliers around the outside diameter, but nothing worked.

http://blog.parts-people.com/2016/0...cd-display-assembly-removal-and-installation/

Given there was blue loc-tite on all the case and battery screws, I assumed a lot of loc-tite was holding that screw in and/or the threads were stripped. I have removed loc-tite in other applications using either chemicals (N/A for laptop) or heat. So I found a neat method to remove tiny stripped screws using a soldering iron, rosin solider, a hand vacuum solider remover, and a resistor (actually I used a long piece of grounding wire from a prior project (which is similar to the leg of a resistor) to act as a bit of a heat sink to not overheat the delicate electronics):



This method could soften the loc-tite, work some heat expansion magic, and provide a mechanical weld allowing one to take a pair of pliers grabbing on the blob of solider/resistor wire. Took a few tries (first clockwise to try to break the seal) but worked in 10 minutes!

The mechanical weld was surprisingly strong. I did some prep work however: scraping a rough valley for adhesion, stripping a lot of the black paint, cleaning the screw with alcohol and rosin.

I didn't see any blue loc-tite on the offending screw but the black paint at the bottom of the threads was stripped. Either the loc-tite "disappeared" or the screw was stripped @ assembly. I suspect both as it was really tough to remove. And reinsertion of the screw was not smooth.

As a bonus, apparently the same dimension screw was used on the 1/2 sized 32GB SSD that I removed from my system, so I don't need to hunt a new screw.

My iFixit laptop screwdriver set looks like it is quite good quality and the finish is good. However, a few bits chipped and bent with very little use and little effort. Lifetime warranty apparently. They are not junk but may be best avoided or used in emergency. The Wera sets are not much more money...

I live next to a micro-fasteners distributor so can usually get small screws as the sales team is quite nice. For those who need replacement screws, here is one source. Replacement screws are expensive!:

http://www.laptopscrews.com/

For removing screws, GonZ0 and others suggested cutting a slot into the screwhead for a flathead screwdriver. My hands are not steady enough at that scale. The Dremel cutting discs are probably too thick, so industrial ones might be a better choice. Dremel seems to have moved from a hobbyist tool to a home-repair tool:

http://www.artcotools.com/horico-diamond-discs-and-pins/?sort=price

Other screw extractor tools I bumped into but I'm not sure they are particularly effective for ultra small screws (especially for people who have never used them); reviews range from great to terrible:

http://www.laptopscrews.com/Extractors.htm
EAZYPOWER 82683 Damaged-Screw-Remover-No.0
Moody Tools 58-0670-Extractor Reversible

Bonus - I bumped into a very cool $25 Japanese stripped screw removal tool; but these pliers only work if they can access the outside of the screwhead which was the case with the offending screw (the tool is a new dinosaur called the "neji-saurus")

http://www.engineer.jp/en/products/pz57e.htm

This concept makes sense. The fasteners are essentially near torque-to-yield for factory purposes.

But once the loc-tite hardens, I think the concept fails with tiny screws because the loc-tite makes removal so much more difficult with tiny screws, increasing the probability of stripping the screwhead on removal. This is not a problem with larger bolts, say in the auto industry.

 

glad you got it done, that blue loctite has a really low break but still high for a screw that size. the JCIS 0 bit is a modified PH00 spec so I guess it is just a bit shorter on the depth. I hadn't come across that before so thanks a bloody lot, more tools to buy