Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

As I can not hear the fan spinning at all I dare to claim that the fan speed did not change with the 1.30 BIOS, on my 9550 i5-6300.

 

I had this issue until I restarted a few times, now it's humming along at 2520rpm. Might have been related to my charge level, but I haven't validated that.

 

I use tb15 (thunderbolt) to charge (always 100%). Bios 1.3 fan ~3600 (can hear noise at midnight)

Bios 1.2.25 fan ~2400
Cannot hear noise.

 

Please see pic below

https://imgur.com/a/XBkmx[/IMG]

 

Is this confirmed issue or just happening to you? I would downgrade bios to 1.2.25 ver. if it has lower temps. Any more info on this?

 

You can check yourself. I re-upgrade and downgrade many times

BIOS 1.2.29 bug with dock, BIOS 1.3.0 fixed it but PCH temp and m.2 temp's high.

 

How do i downgrade Bios please? Do i just upgrade bios but with older version?

 

Go to BIOS setup then enable downgrade BIOS.
Download BIOS link: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=3W30W
Run As Administrator.

 

@100won

Strange activity with the new BIOS. A few things I might check that tend to change or reset sometimes on the 9550, particularly with an update or crash:

Windows Power Options (look at individual detailed settings)
Dell Command-Power Manager
Your undervolt
SpeedShift EPP

Dell might have changed some power settings. Also, if you have enabled any functions in power options, it is possible Dell disabled them again with the new BIOS so you might need to reenable. To confirm that your settings are still sticking you can run the following and compare to older results:

powercfg -q

 

Windows Power Options (look at individual detailed settings) <- Default settings
Dell Command-Power Manager <- I don't install it.
Your undervolt <- -140mV (same last BIOS).
SpeedShift EPP <- enabled by throtte stop.

I try to re-upgrade sometimes but (1.3.0 BIOS) temp is higher than 1.2.25

 

Did you happen to notice any increased CPU activity with 1.3.0 in Task Manager, like audio driver or such?

 

Only temp problem.

 

It's sad the Dell Engineers have decided not to enable Speed Shift on the 9550/9560. Might I suggest everyone here head on over to the link below and voice their displeasure? Maybe they can be shamed into enabling it?

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/20007733/21019109#21019109

 

Hi,

Since a number of days I'm suffering issues with my XPS 9550 as it automatically turns on during night until battery runs out. On startup I occassionally receive a recovery message from Windows.. It feels like issues previously seen with the Intel video driver, which I updated last week as I waited some months before doing so.. I've checked but no triggers shown in Powercfg that request the notebook to turn on itself. Intel video driver version is 21.20.16.4664 although I installed the version from the Dell site dated July.

Hope you have some wise advise as always!

Cheers
André

 

Disable wake timers in power management.

 

They couldn't care less, we have tried.

 

Hi GoNz0,

Which Intel video drivers do you advise to use? Got a little bit lost on that one..

Thanx,
André

 

No idea, I have the 9560 with a different iGPU.

 

DIfferent iGPU? What do you mean? All 9560 have Intel hd graphics 620.

 

630 not 620
Sorry I saw the thread title and answered based on that. I'm using the 2nd from latest on the Intel site, on my phone so I'm not sure of the version.

And no idea why my answer to your laptop waking itself up resulted in you asking what video drivers I use

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

Dell offers to replace swelling XPS 15 9550 batteries for free, even if out-of-warranty

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...HD-InfinityEdge-Notebook-Review.156462.0.html

 

It will be interesting to see if they supply 97wh now, Might be time to kick off about my wear level as they may finally be supplying batteries that do the quoted capacity!

 

Asked this as you posted on this in the past, and issues occured after updating the vid driver.. After reverting back looks like it works alright and not waking up. Still have an issue that Windows says it didn't start well and proposes recovery. Will investigate further when I have time.

 

Back to the original question, did you disable wake timers and did it work?

 

Wake up timers disabled, didn't wake up yet Will need to see. Strangely I'm receiving a Windows Recovery screen when coming from sleep which didn't happen before I updated it.

 

If you think it's video related I would use DDU to remove both video drivers and then install the latest offerings. Also, see if you can manaully install the Intel AHCI/Raid drivers from here https://mega.nz/#!1MlVxBhL!iGiUM2DQwKU_MX2hSqpVG3IeHkRExtBd-BZEPVc7Q58
Update the "IDE ATA/ATAPI manually and point it to the inf in the extracted download.

 

New BIOS out also for the 9550...
http://www.dell.com/support/home/si/en/sibsdt1/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=DR9N6
XPS 15 9550 1.4.0 BIOS
Fixes & Enhancements
1. Fixes system defense with wireless parameter will cause ME failure
2. System stability enhancements
3. To prevent user update ME Firmware to blacklist 11.6 ME firmware
4. Correct error message in Excalibur
5. Fix Bitlocker issue on Win7 ultimate/enterprise
Release date
15 Sep 2017

Mind it appears at least the ME firmware part won't be revertible. Any volunteers willing to take a chance and report?

 

Updated to BIOS 1.4.0.
Bluetooth mouse is DOA even though it says paired/connected. It's not the mouse....

 

FWIW My bluetooth mouse (and headphones) are working fine after the bios update.

Having said that, the bluetooth settings page seemed very slow to load, but I put that down to being on a pre-release version of windows.

 

I understand BlueBorne has already been patched by M$?
https://arstechnica.com/information...s-of-devices-to-attacks-no-clicking-required/

 

Just to get back and hopefully provide some help to others.. I found that updating bios to 1.3.0 caused issues I asked help for. I rolled back both the Intel video driver update and bios update, after which my issues have been resolved. The issue I encountered: sudden freezes, auto startup while in sleep and windows 10 not starting (blue screen saying issues have been encountered). From the eventlog I found that Windows crashed while in sleep or coming back from sleep, but no crash log. I will wait with updating for a while so that this might be resolved. Btw I have not seen others complaining on this matter. Hope that I have provided some added value

 

A manual driver update for the Dell Wireless adapter has been put up:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk...-15-9550-laptop&languageCode=en&categoryId=NI

Wonder if that's connected to the Broadpwn issue that was circulating for iOS and Android?

 

Chipping in, I had rolled back from BIOS 1.3 to the previous version and also removed the Killer 1535 for 1830 (going to hackkintosh at some point) .... system became so much more stable after these 2 changes but had one particular freezing issue which I think with the help of this board, I have isolated down to the intel driver - credit to Gonzo and Schmoo2k.

 

I ran a diagnostic test for my xps 15 and it said that it failed a smart short self test and the targeted read test. First I removed my drive D and left the drive C where my OS is. Everything went well, it did not detect anything wrong. When I put the D drive back on, the error again came up.

Do I have to replace my drive D since the pc has been detecting errors on it? Since the OS in on drive C, will it still be dangerous if I leave the D there?

Thanks again

 

If you've been getting smart errors on a hard drive, the drive is probably doomed. You should be able to use it, but the disk may suddenly become unusable. You may start losing data and if the drive crashes hard, you may lose all data on the drive. I've had both happen once smart errors started accumulating.

You should be able to hook it up to another pc temporarily and verify the errors.

Regardless, I"m not sure you would want to use a hard drive that is accumulating errors. You are almost guaranteed to lose some, if not all, data at some point.

 

It's either the drive or the cable but you can google "hdd smart software" and find lots of windows software that will check it.

 

1. If Not already done, make a Backup of all Important Data on a external Drive.

2. Get a New Drive and restore your Data back.

3. Dont waste to much time in S.M.A.R.T Error Investigation. Life is to Short. Nowadays New drives are cheap and easy to replace

4. get back to normal

 

Undervolted my i5-6300HQ by -0.150 but battery is still shot after nearly two years. Get around 3 hours on Power Saver mode.

Looking for the new Dell 11.4V 97Wh Battery 6GTPY, anyone with links as to where I can get one?

 

I have bought twice from this shop http://stores.ebay.de/bill981101?ssPageName=STRK:null:MESST&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2653 on ebay.

Shipment from China, fast communication, price was OK.

 

Thank you Cram501, Gonzo and Sumsum... I decided to replace it, didn't want to risk losing my files...


Thanks again

 

Actually, undervolting helped my ailing battery. Increased battery life a little bit, especially on "power saver". Sitting at -0.180 right now.

Recommended for everyone that needs more battery life not power.

 

By undervolting you may actually get both, because when CPU runs cooler it also doesn't throttle as much under heavy load.

 

they don't, not in NZ anyway. They replaced with the original 84Wh.

 

Whats the wear level (use a windows program, not the BIOS to check)
And in the diagnostics when you get to the splash screen does it say how many charge cycles it had?

Only reason I ask is Dell are bad for using recycled parts.

 

According to HWMonitor the battery in my two year old XPS 15 9550 is:

Designed Capacity: 83995 mWh
Full Charge Capacity: 43058 mWh
Wear Level 49 %

 

Guys, I might have an issue with my XPS 9550 4K, i7, 512GB SSD, 960 GTX, it is roughly 15 months old.
In iddle, my CPU is always running above 3GHz, temperature is around 55 - 60 °C, you can also hear fans, CPU usage 4%.
Newest BIOS and drivers... I can't run any newer games. Laptop has been used mainly on desk, so I doubt overheating issue due dust or something.

Thanks for any help!
This is BIOS diagnostics

 

Unless you have an expensive airfliter right next to your laptop your fans and radiators inevitably have signficant dust build up. That could be a contributing cause for heat but not running flat out above 3ghz all the time.

When you mean idle do you mean with all programs closed and laptop is in a room that is roughly 20*C?

How long has your system been running hot? It could be updating or scanning files which can take up to a few days.

Do you have the latest BIOS and drivers? There are still a few bugs but Dell has got them quite sorted out now.

Why don't you try "balanced" in "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options". That should encourage your CPU to reduce clocks.

You could also try ThrottleStop (use the SpeedShift function - details are in another thread here)/

 

Has anyone tried 1.40 yet? I'm holding on 1.29.

 

pressing:
Thank you for your advice. However I have already mentioned, that I have the newest drivers and BIOS.
You have described idle perfectly.
Partly it was issue with OneDrive still looking for something - fixed by deleting some files.
Switching to "balanced" helped - this was my bad, I had my laptop on "best performance" since the previous issue I had with my XPS15 (CPU stuck on 0,8 GHz)
CPU clock is fine now, however I am not happy with temperatures: 40 - 45 °C.
I am gonna get my laptop cleaned and apply new thermal paste as well.

 

In "Dell Command-Power Manager" under the "thermal management" tab you can select "cool"

Also, undervolting SkyLake with ThrottleStop or Intel XTU can provide you with similar benefits to repasting. You get roughly double the thermal benefit from both undervolting and repasting.

Setting SpeedShift in ThrottleStop can help. Setting SST to around 78 will allow lowest and highest clocks to be accessed (you will need to verify on your particular CPU). SST=255 is max energy saving in theory but is very laggy and for technical reasons might not run cooler than SST=78 but you need to test that for your processor and usage scenarios.

If you read the ThrottleStop threads, you will see that getting the C-States into deep sleep (say C7 over say 98% of the time during idle) can optimize performance and thermals so good speed and cool running are not mutually exclusive. That would require a bit of Windows tweaking for background optimization.

Finally, I think you should be trying to optimize thermals for your typical usage scenarios rather than thermals at idle.