Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

Anyone having trouble with the Win 10 Anniversary update? Trying to figure out if it is my 9550 or just another general 9550 issue.

 

Whats your problem(s)?

Fine here so far. I did a clean install as I had a few issues with the fast ring updates coming thick and fast during the run up to the 2nd.

 

Guys, pretty desperately after some help here.

I have a rather severe issue with black colours looking very 'damaged' on my screen, if it's entirely black it's fine, but when some detail comes in, it looks an absolute mess. I have seen it mentioned here before and I've spent about 20 minutes trawling the thread and I didn't see any certain answers on how to fix it.

If I uninstall Dell's 'Premier Color' software, then it fixes the blacks problem, however the downside is that the screen becomes horrifically over-saturated, particularly in reds and oranges.

I have been in touch with Dell support, and they are trying to send a technican out to replace the screen, however it feels massively overkill for something that is currently being partly-resolved by uninstalling software.

Any help is HUGELY appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

calibrate the monitor with a hardware tool, a screen swap will do nothing as the blacks are crushed on this panel.

 

Anyone got any updated info on when we can receive this updated BIOS? I heard the fix for the flickering was going to drop mid-July... Which of course it didnt. There are some updated Thunderbolt 3 drivers I'm desperate to try for my TB15 dock, but they wont install without the latest (screen flickering) BIOS update..... Argh!

 

you can install the bios, update the TB3, then downgrade.

 

Yeah, I did that with the last 'urgent' TB3 fixes. I still have problems though. I figured that it they put that requirement in there, there must have been a good reason for it. I'm just guessing though. Do you run a TB15? Does yours work? I can get external video, and battery charge. The network adapter and the USB ports don't work (most times, sometimes after a full shutdown I get lucky for a little while then they stop working again). Shame. Cool dock if it was reliable.

 

It worked with my razer core, but I didn't have a TB15

 

Yeah, I'll give it a try. It's occurred to me I don't have much to lose in terms of functionality

 

Thanks GoNz. Must be some software I installed that Microsoft couldn't account for. Oh, well...

 

Does the event viewer throw anything up?
I know some AV products weren't updated in time and caused problems.

 

Hey guys, been horribly interested in an xps since it came out. Due to some expected slowness at work, I am no longer employed there and had to turn in my precision 7710. Just got a new job quickly and picked up my xps 15. I'll use it for work but I'm also a photo and video editor. I got the i7 16gb 1tb 4k BB version. So far setup went well and quick, no defects that I can see. I've been following this thread pretty religiously since the start and am very knowledgeable in tech.

Questions though, USB c charging. It was mentioned a while back, about 100 pages back. And dock wise it won't charge, but some say battery doesn't loose power (unless running laptop all out). And dell offers companion which is essentially a battery pack.
So my question, I'm getting a battery delivered today with USB c, and picked up an apple USB c cable lastnight when I picked up the laptop.

Does anyone know if this will work? It's the Anker 23000 battery if that helps.

I have a wedding out of state this weekend I'm working video for so I won't be able to test this out until monday.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

Hi, I have owned 9550's with both types of screen. Initially the uhd and now the fhd. Both appear to give me what feels like motion sickness. Dizzy and headache. Really unwell. Anyone else suffered from this? Am upset as I really want to keep it and not sure of alternatives. Had this issue years ago with a pwm monitor so guess it's that. Perhaps it is worse then notebookcheck make out as happens at all brightness levels. I stare at bright ips panels for hours on end with no problem usually.

 

Acutally, its weird that the event viewer doesn't show a thing about the aborted install. After the first failure, I uninstalled my Avast Free AntiVirus and reinstated the default Windows Defender. Then I downloaded the .exe and tried it that way. The first time the install failed and began to rollback, it got the typical Windows 10 'something has gone wrong' and the screen showed an error code along with a Q-Code, but I was unable to catch it our pause the process to write it down or take a picture of the Q-Code. The second time I tried with the .exe file, I didn't even get an error screen, it just suddenly showed the screen that said it was rolling back to the previous installation.

I was hoping to do a clean install when I finally upgraded to a 1 TB 950 Pro or that hot new Hitachi drive when the retail came out, but now I don't know. I suppose I can wait until they come out with a revised version of the update as I have read there already is a firestorm over all the issues people are having.

 

Hi macmacmac,

Around 2007 when laptops began deploying LED backlights en masse, some people complained about dizziness with certain laptops. If I recall correctly, 1% or 2% of the population had issues with the flickering of the LED. I think solutions were to use the screen at full brightness (to reduce flickering), try a "plastic" screen filter, change the laptop to one with a screen that flickers at a different rate.

I would guess there is more recent and accurate research but this is a start:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/flicker_free_database.htm

 

Hello everyone,

Just got to finish my clean install of windows 10 yesterday, everything is running fine, except that I can't shut down/go to sleep my pc anymore.
I have been fidgeting with the power settings to see if I could solve the issue, but it hasn't changed anything...
Any clue on what is going on ?

Nevermind, it seems I have found the problem, I had installed f.lux, uninstalling it seems to do the trick. But why is this program blocking the PC from shutting down ?

PS : I hesitated between posting here or in the clean install thread since it is obviously linked to it.

 

Anyone here go from a macbook pro retina 15 to a 9550 and regret it? I've gone twice to my local BB and can't decide if I'm ready to go back to Windows again after using MacBooks for 8 years. My last laptop was a Dell Inspiron 17 circa 2006. Really love the gorgeous screen, but wary due to the lesser battery life and issues that I'm reading about in these forums.

 

Can anyone let me know if the new xps13930 definitely doesn't have pwm? I'm not taking notebook check as gospel anymore. I may try it instead of 15.

 

wrong thread.

 

As far as I know unrecognised USB C chargers are limited to 60w, which is a slow charge and not enough to actually charge you in a positive direction if you are using your laptop more than lightly.

I get the full 130w from my TB15. But there is a couple of times it hasn't been recognised properly and it throttles back to 60w. Despite a whole host of frequent issues with my TB15, that one has been a rarity.

I realise that doesn't answer your question but it may be useful background.

 

That's awesome and thanks for your reply. I'm really interested in learning and letting others know about this laptop and all laptops regarding USB c. It's a great new technology but all laptops have their own limitations with it.

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To answer my question, or to provide info for everyone.

I got the Anker USB c battery pack. On this specific pack, it charges from USB c, where some packs charge from micro USB but have a USB c. I note this as it might be why I got the results I did.

But anyways. With the laptop on or off or in sleep, USB c to USB c cable, from Anker battery pack to USB c port on dell xps, ONLY charges the battery pack. It doesn't charge the laptop at all.

But, USB a (on battery pack) to USB c (on dell xps), while the dell is powered off only, does very extremely slowly, charge the laptop.

Which speed is limited by the 2.4 amps on the USB a port on battery pack. Which is why I was trying to USB c to USB c.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

You can plug it in whilst in BIOS and check charger information. It should tell you the charge rate in there.

 

Can someone post what versions of thunderbolt drivers and bios are currently agreed upon as stable?

Looking around, it appears BIOS 1.2.0 is more stable than 1.2.1. That said, what thunderbolt/usb-c drivers and firmware should be paired with BIOS 1.2.0. Is it fine if I just update to the latest firmware and driver?

 

1.2.0 was bad for thunderbolt. Stick with 1.1.19

 

This is touch screen cable which you should only have in 4k models. 1080 don't have this bruh.

 

I have somewhat specific question regarding Ram. I noticed that Dell XPS 9550 Stock Ram (16GB variant is this observation) Has the following information:

650V or 540V and SEO 11 for the first and SEO 10 for the latter of these two options. What is the difference here if any in terms of performance, temperatures, etc. Has anyone checked their stock RAM in their Dell XPS 9550? The 650V (SEO 11) is Dell Certified upgrade part while the SEO 10 (lower voltage) came installed already.

Any cents ya'll want to send this way will be most welcomed. Thanks in advance. I will be keeping the SEO 10 just because this may be latency related? but simply because it has less Voltage (which I hope means less heat output) and because it doesn't have that ugly "Dell Certified" sticker slapped on it.

Both of these kits are from Sky ...something. Not that it matters.

 

.

 

I've never bothered checking the ram as have no issues with the ram and Sky Hynix is one of the largest ram manufacturers in the world with good track record.


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Not to discount your statement, but is there anyone else who also feels this way?

 

My TB15 sucks on both those firmware releases.

 

I would hazard anybody who uses the Thunderbolt port daily

 

For those who need to drive two external monitors via Thunderbolt but don't need or can't wait for a normal working dock:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com...01ANR4CYE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I recently bought this T3 -> dual DP adapter, no problems so far, plug and play, no problems with reboot or sleep.

XPS 15 9550, 1.2.0 bios, two 27' monitors:

asus pg279q, 1440p@144Hz (DP->DP)
dell u2715h, 1440p@60Hz (mDP -> DP)

 

Is there any news when a new Bios which fixes the bug of the 1.1.21 Bios for the 4K models will be available?
(screen flickering)

 

My model: i5-6300HQ, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M, 4K touch.

Experienced occasional black screens. After the latest big Windows 10 update, only the top left corner of the screen would be visible at the Windows login screen, the rest, 3/4, would be black. Uninstalled all Nvidia drivers and software, but the problem persists. On bios 1.1.19.

Any suggestions would be great! Thank you.

 

I had a similar problems and was fixed by upgrading the Intel hd 530 driver.


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Anyone experience signal drops using the HDMI output? Tried two different cables, two different monitors, upgraded drivers/bios. USB-C to displayport is fine.

 

What driver versions and where from?

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

Is the bigger battery worth it or should i just save it for down the line and make sure I have the hard drive enclosure I'd probably want more?

 

I have experienced a recurring problem after upgrading to Windows 10 Anniversary Update (i7, 1TB SSD, 4K UHD.). If I try to sleep the laptop by closing the lid with the power cord detached, when I re-open the lid, the power button is lit and then after a few seconds, Windows re-boots with unexpected shutdown. This is a completely reproducible problem. I reverted to Version 1511 and the problem disappeared, so going to keep it that way for now. Any other users seen a similar issue and does anyone know what the cause might be?

 

Do a clean install.

 

Intel 15.40.25.4463 from Intel (also tried Dell's latest)
Nvidia 368.81

 

Will do; will hold off a couple of weeks but will use your instructions for clean AU install. Thanks.

 

Best way after a major update as it basically threw the update (being a new operating system) on top of yours. You can always partition part of the drive and move the content of the user folder to save time after the reinstall.

WhoCrashed by replenish software may throw up the culprit (it's free)

 

Is it just me or are the switches on the keyboard complete ****?

W key was getting squishy presses so I took off the cap. But no matter how I re-position the switch and cap, it doesn't fit on normally.

Took off the Q one to see if I was doing it wrong, nope.

Gotta wait for someone from Dell to come over and fix it. Just hoping that it's ok since this laptop is technically from the USA and hasn't transferred to Canada yet.

 

Well normally you can blast under the keycaps with compressed air to sort out issues but removing a cap and replacing it without damage takes skill, the sort that comes with removing and replacing a lot of keys. You either broke a clip (the normal when a hamfisted never done this before person decides to tackle the task) or need to line it up better making sure the frame it sits on is in the right position then it should snap back into place.

If dell are coming to see you then the warranty isn't an issue and is probably a global one.

FYI Dell will have to fully dismantle the laptop to replace the keyboard unless you get an engineer like me who will check what you did and pull parts off the new keyboard to reduce the risk of damaging during the rebuild.

 

It's premium on-site warranty. Will have to wait a few hours and see what Dell says when their support opens up.

I'll probably just explain the situation to the technician when he comes and hopefully he can just replace a few keys instead of tearing the whole thing apart.

Yeah, I probably did break something, no doubt about it, but I'm more or less frustrated at the quality of the switches. I've taken keys off of Clevos and other laptops in the past, and never had an issue sticking a key back on.

 

GoNz, there's a home for sale on my block. Could you move in?

 

Depends if it has a good school and you're buying it for me

 

Hi everyone, I took delivery of a 9550 (32Gb, 4k) 2 weeks ago. Did all the usual updates - only problem was the flickering screen, which I see is due to be fixed in a later BIOS update.

Then 2 days ago, I got the win10 anniversary update. Since then, the 2 times I've turned it on from cold, it's sat at the dell logo & never loaded windows. Both times I've been able to fix it by going into the BIOS, not changing anything, but saving & restarting. Then it boots fine. I found some older posts from people with these kinds of problems, but I wasn't sure whether those issues were still present in the latest BIOS (1.2.10), which I've got, or if I had some other issue. It seems odd that it only happened after the anniversary update, but it would be equally strange for the anniversary update to affect a cold boot but not a reboot.

Any ideas?