Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

I am running 1.6.1 BIOS and still hitting C8 package states in the 60-70% range right now with M$ Edge opened and ThrottleStop running (using mains power).

Look at the ThrottleStop thread last month or so as there are several package c-states posts that might help.

Alternatively, this might be a problem with one of the very recent driver updates which I have not yet installed.

 

By the way. I have huge ask to everybody who did make update to 1.6.1 BIOS. Could you try to install this package
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=19Y3F
and write here if you have success. For me it ends with error that platform is not supported - that means that something wrong with ME firmware and HECI device is not visible for OS (this is actually problem, and I want to know if only I’m affected or this is common issue)

 

@goodwin_c I have 1.6.1 BIOS and installed the following successfuly:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=19Y3F

That was the page Dell directed me to based on serial number (note the 04 vs 19 in the address).My file has the same name and I compared the last several SHA-256 digits with no exceptions.

Two step process via that one executable: Uninstall old. Then Install new.

 

Hi guys!

Please, i need urgent help from somebody with 9550 and 4K screen (FHD will not work)
I just did screw up my screen firmware - and now i have just black screen on my embedded screen (external works fine). I have to ask somebody to make dump of screen firmware from working 9550 machine that have 4k matrix.
Here is link for software https://drive.google.com/file/d/15dZVD8Xzm3UiWkpUVl1ZLyHUKk5ffHgO/view?usp=sharing
In archive there is step-by-step guide how to make dump, and my mail address. Pleeease, help me somebody, i need my machine working urgently (((

 

Have emailed you my man

 

Thank you! I did flash your image as it is - and now my screen is working. Bad thing - colors are little bit different now, as this firmware contains calibrated values that are specific for each matrix. But for now at least i have working screen, and i have backup of "broken" firmware - later will try to get my calibrated values from it and merge two firmwares.
Thank you a lot, you just saved my day!

 

How did this happen?

 

Because he ****ed about with it

 

hahaha. We all benefit from these experiments so go on!

 

I'm as intrigued as you!

 

I did flash "accidently" screen MCU firmware from Dell Adaptive Brightness "fix" package. But didn't manage that folder was for FHD model.
But from other hand it was interesting experience. Even more - i can tell that it's pretty easy to recover such situation. And i have even benefit - my current firmware has higher version number than before.
Also, not i know for 100% that we can easily change EDID data - it is stored in that MCU and is being flashed together with firmware. So it should be pretty easy to dump own firmware, make changes (for ex., make good matrix calibration and merge changes into original EDID) and flash it back.
Now i'm also intrigued and planning to try some experiments with calibration data changes (will try to reach Spyder5pro next week)

 

hahaha

good

Keep us posted here. . .

 

Tried the suggestion, updated drivers, behaviour is the same.

Strangely enough I can get C8 package state on AC, but only after resume from suspend.

A clean boot on AC results in package being stuck in C3.

Windows/Linux make no difference to this.

 

Is there somebody who has full SPI dump from 9550, made with hardware programmer? I have my Intel ME corrupted, and need another dump from some working machine.
If somebody can - send me to good.win.alexs at gmail

 

Has it not crossed your mind after the screen fubar to take a backup before you flash things?

 

Problem with ME happened much before. I just get a time to check the cause of all weird issues with laptop - and found that after 1.6.1 update my ME stuck in unconditional state - it is permanently in 'initializing" state, ant this causes issues like when laptop is powering on much longer/not powering off fully/sleep mode is not working properly
But i did find dump from 9550's SPI chip with A00 BIOS :-D WIll try to recover my Intel ME using that dump

 

I haven't been messing with my 9550 much lately, then the Creators Fall update caught me and I've gone checking if all is fine. Unfortunately, I see some flags set in HWinfo64 when roughly idling with the CPU at 40 degC
GT: Fuses limit
RING: Max VR Voltage, ICCmax, PL4
IA: Max Turbo limit
Turbo Attenuation (MCT)
(the latter two going on/off)
Running prime95 looks okay, the CPU goes to 3.1GHz (8 threads) around 85 degC
Any idea what's going on?

 

I was wondering if someone can please help me with frequent BSOD I've been getting. BSOD is usually preceded by slowing down/freezing of the computer for 10-15 seconds. I don't have to be doing anything in particular for it for the BSOD occur (watching videos to just idling). Looking at the reliability monitor it seems to be a result of IAStorDataSvc stopped working (followed by Windows was not shut down properly obviously).

When I check my toolbar icons I do notice that Intel RST service is not running. And I can't open the application either. I get a nice error when I try to open it: 0xA0000001: 0: Could Not Open ISI Session.

I check to see if I need to update any drivers, but it seems like it is up to date. For whatever reason, there isn't any great solutions online (although a few forum posts about it do seem to exist).

 

uninstall intel RST, reboot. If you have any devices without drivers in the device manager after then manually install the IASTOR drivers from here https://mega.nz/#!NBNywILS!QmXru22sbhmCpF-n2KNisvZHUN_TM4AZdC6MIh9x3yo Any of the listed drivers starting IaStor will work.
If that fails you can try setting the laptop to AHCI mode via the BIOS but you will have to do this keeping the laptop in safe mode or it will BSOD when you restart.

 

No crashes since I uninstalled and installed the Intel RST. I have a green check mark next to the RST and can actually open the application. I will hopefully remember to update the status so people in the future may know the solution, but if I don't, assume that the solution worked. Thanks for the help again.

 

Anyone notice that the BIOS has been rolled back to 1.5.1? They took 1.6.1 down from the site about two weeks ago. Must've been some new bug in the 1.6.1, either that or it was taken down by mistake. Was waiting for it to be re-released as 1.6.2 or something, but not yet.

 

I assume it is because of the buggy Intel micro code, which should fix the meltdown and spectre issues. Even Intel pulled their micro Codes from january 8th. Dell may wait until Intel releases a fixed version, before they Release 1.6.2

 

You should read more than one thread in this forum.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...w-may-impact-cpu-performance-up-to-30.812447/

 

If it's not one thing it's now another. Now my start menu isn't opening at all. I thought it was due to the Rapid Storage Drivers I installed, but it when I installed them the windows bar still didn't work. Nothing online seems to work. Anyone run into a similar issue before?

 

The 1.6.1 BIOS is back at Dell support. No comment on fixed or whatever.

Dell client statement not updated...
https://www.dell.com/support/articl...intel-me-txe-advisory-intel-sa-00086-?lang=en

 

I updated to 1.6.1 several weeks ago and fans ran a lot.

Rolled back to 1.5.1 but failed 2x. System showed 1.5.1 and seemed to work fine (with fans running a lot).

Just updated to 1.6.1 on new file. No issues noted.

EDIT - fans just as irritating when surfing internet (didn't run in December when surfing internet)

 

I see no reason to update at this time. There is no real threat out there, and the improvements - if at all - are totally unclear in 1.61. Geez, this might just be the often enough seen stupid error of some moron editing the download pages with outdated crap entries!

 

The re-released 1.6.1 BIOS has the same checksum as the original release. (Having previously been 'stiffed' by Dell re-releasing a BIOS/driver/patch with the same version but which was actually different, I now check this routinely.)

FWIW I've been running the original 1.6.1 BIOS since some when mid-January; I upgraded just before it was withdrawn! Decided not to downgrade and it's been very stable if a little warmer, but I think that's to be expected.

 

Are you positive? I just read news that Intel released microcode updates for several Skylake-based platforms to OEMs a few days ago, and they expect to follow up with more platforms.
https://newsroom.intel.com/news/security-issue-update-progress-continues-firmware-updates/
Notice the 9560 1.7 BIOS isn't back yet.

 

Absolutely!

Code:

[phil@Centos74 XPS 15 9550]$ ll XPS_9550*
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9623128 Feb 25  2016 XPS_9550_1.1.19.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9655112 Apr 12  2016 XPS_9550_1.2.0.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9563000 Jul  5  2016 XPS_9550_1.2.10.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9662216 Aug 23  2016 XPS_9550_1.2.13.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9662048 Sep  9  2016 XPS_9550_1.2.14.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9663616 Dec  1  2016 XPS_9550_1.2.16.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9678880 Dec 20  2016 XPS_9550_1.2.18.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9679384 Jan 23  2017 XPS_9550_1.2.19.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9686968 Apr  1  2017 XPS_9550_1.2.21.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9714520 May 13  2017 XPS_9550_1.2.25.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9769416 Aug  2  2017 XPS_9550_1.2.29.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9769400 Aug 29 06:10 XPS_9550_1.3.0.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9772856 Nov 12 07:03 XPS_9550_1.4.0.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user    9775176 Nov 14 20:09 XPS_9550_1.5.1.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user   10133088 Feb  9 13:39 XPS_9550_1.6.1-2.exe
-rwxr-----. 1 any  user   10133088 Dec 23 19:32 XPS_9550_1.6.1.exe
[phil@Centos74 XPS 15 9550]$ sha256sum XPS_9550*
453eabcf180451f26ef6942995a45b8b877cb52d6ea929c0564cb14aef89229b  XPS_9550_1.1.19.exe
a9732c23ded11ad3670a52005895fbc7f9d75ade9e7091245a283137135b8920  XPS_9550_1.2.0.exe
87f31773d769ef9465bdf20e3a433c7dd3bbfcf44fcdfa277a030bcb549b8a00  XPS_9550_1.2.10.exe
fd466f9e31e5059b3efdd5293a97d302d14407033bd4d5b72ad839daf91db70b  XPS_9550_1.2.13.exe
3d3258d0286cdb6f6bc428d8cc4e14cfec8fd6e093bd46cd17535588ad6a741f  XPS_9550_1.2.14.exe
0e569185c4912129d9ff446d7c54e8f74bac953bf8dd8ac650edc58b2d9c0013  XPS_9550_1.2.16.exe
87523fd9c70c3076a25f6ae0e1e695aa8c851fba8b6563cf6695e945ed2ee5a9  XPS_9550_1.2.18.exe
37aac2a6a2f195795d5a27682a04ada764ea41eb3b38874544242ce39047cd79  XPS_9550_1.2.19.exe
b46430489b52c6e98732102166d58590d042c64e3284725f953eaad8b1de103d  XPS_9550_1.2.21.exe
5070372bdca8d4d4b59119ede4e8a02477435602c08d1ac17682fad74b747fb6  XPS_9550_1.2.25.exe
871c9cc7aa5df3f3cda154407836374b6d46085a721794c27d0e047e6ba71568  XPS_9550_1.2.29.exe
ed3623fc29c21720eab0d06e8e154b75eae0364bbd032a5f82de9ba2ffd3abc2  XPS_9550_1.3.0.exe
8c14b35615325580b3c209386080bb4c7a6eaf9b44bbf1ff8960b038459d276b  XPS_9550_1.4.0.exe
a9616e4c570f1ab504097f33163f0a83fee1b88231ab8cfc98d02ff258739cec  XPS_9550_1.5.1.exe
7d5704ee720d771cbf99dea87f3cf73faa1bfb695259f5967274d0683fa49a36  XPS_9550_1.6.1-2.exe
7d5704ee720d771cbf99dea87f3cf73faa1bfb695259f5967274d0683fa49a36  XPS_9550_1.6.1.exe
[phil@Centos74 XPS 15 9550]$

Had to download the current 1.6.1 again to re-run checksums but no doubt they're the same.

 

I was also surprised that no new microcode was included but according to https://newsroom.intel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/02/microcode-update-guidance.pdf released yesterday, 0xC2 is still the advised MCU ref. for Skylake H/S.

In fact they're now saying "Lines with "***" were previously recommended to discontinue use. Subsequent testing by Intel has determined that these were unaffected by the stability issues and have been re-released without modification."

So presumably all Dell had to do was make the original 1.6.1 available again, which they've done.

 

Makes sense, in some crooked way.

 

Nope, it doesn't make any sense. Since I went back to 1.51 two weeks ago the problems that I described in a different thread did not re-appear:
------------------
In the last days I had two incidents of crash on my 9550. One after going to standby, one after wakeup from standby. This system ran totally stable and problem-free before, and the incidents really made me wonder. I now downgraded to 1.51, and am 100% sure the issues will not show up again
------------------

 

Not before, but now. The solutions found online are mostly crap, IMHO. This one was the only one I tried and it worked immediately:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...w/c47b5fca-cc6d-405e-b563-5ba0a4c82892?auth=1

 

Hi Everyone,

I was debating on whether to sell my XPS 15 (9550) and get the refresh 9560 yet after reading yes 375 pages of the 9560 owners forum I think I'll keep it for awhile now, as the 9550 just unbelievably seems like the one to have.

I don't game nor do any extensive picture or video editing so it looks to me, that unless you do, the 9550 is it, especially if you have one with a great panel, solid construction and problem free and getting a good 9560 seems now to unbelievably be like a crap-shoot.

I myself have the i7 6700HQ 4K 16GB 512 with the Toshiba X3 SSD, which it was just luck getting, and all in all I'm very happy with and if yes it wasn't for the carbon fiber palm-rest, which I just unfortunately do not care for, I would be ecstatic. I did modify it so I can now easily clean it and use it like I want.

I have now been trying to extend the warranty on my unit, as it expires this August, yet Dell has changed the once easy format on doing it online and now you must do it over the phone and it's like bargaining for a computer as well.

At any rate see below for the current deals I was quoted and mind you, I am in the US.

Stay Healthy & Happy,
SDeP58

 

The 3 year extension is more than the laptop is worth!

I purchased a 9560 but returned it as performance was similar to that of my 9550, for my uses. The 9560 does have a better GPU but needs more work to get thermals sorted. . .

 

Thanks a bunch. Yeah I thought the exact same thing and I was actually thinking on getting the premium support basic for 2 years @ $287.30 with the 15% discount so this way if I do decide to sell it in a year or so I can give the buyer a warranty with it as well, which I always like to do, and I believe it will also increase it's resale value as well.

Yeah I read your posts in 9560 forum, which you certainly & graciously helped out a lot of needed members both new and long-term yet I was unaware that you ultimately ended up returning yours.

 

I'm getting $150 one year, $200 two years, $300 three years for basic support (no software support but still NBD support) + accidental damage for my 9560. You should definitely haggle.

 

Thanks a bunch for graciously letting know this because now I most definitely will.

 

Hi everyone,

Has anyone noticed anything, directly after purchase, of darker and lighter areas on the (FHD) screen (see picture, hope it is visible), that (hopefully) magically disappeared?

I have had three units that were supposed to be 'returned in brand new state' but all have these spots/areas. This is especially visible when looking at a solid colour and in particular in the center of the screen as horizontal darker and lighter beams/cuboids (sorry, English is not my native language). It can also be spotted at other places, although much less noticeably. I really want this laptop (sexy with support for Windows 7, awesome!), but this is a shame of course, even more with the screen being one of the selling points of this laptop. One could hope for it to disappear, but I wouldn't expect it at all, since after searching quite a bit I could not find related complaints. In any case the way it looks makes me think of actual damage of the LCD or the screen cover by pressure or whatever; as it is not visible on a lit, black screen it can't be IPS glow or backlight bleeding. What do you guys think?

 

Hi everyone,

I got a black screen in my 9550(FHD) when I executed the "Firmware update utility for DBC Disabled & Enabled". There was a executable call it "QHDFW_DBC.exe" so I think I've installed the firmware for the QHD screen, after install the firmware I reboot and I got black screen. The laptop works with an external monitor so I had a look to the folder again and there was another folder with the 9550 FHD firmware. I tried to install it but I always got a write error message.


Does anyone know how can I fix it?? I'm desperate!!!!

Cheers.

 

Is this related: https://www.dell.com/community/Gene...Disabled-Enabled-disabled/m-p/5123544#M919525

 

Hi Schmook2K,
I already read that, but I'm trying to save the screen if it's possible, I hope is not dead just for the firmware...

Thanks anyway!

 

I thought about trying that at one point- glad I didn't.

You might expand your search to look at what people did to "overclock" their panels. A few of those guys will understand the screen firmware better than we do and might have bumped into something that could help you. Just ask.

Also there are some threads on the XPS 13 which are different screens but maybe similar implementation. For example, this Linux XPS 13 forum might have some ideas:

https://github.com/advancingu/XPS13Linux/issues/2#issuecomment-151708470

 

I'm sure someone farked up the screen in an unrelated incident but as he was already messing about with code he managed to get out of it, go post this in the 9560 thread and see if he can be found!

 

@panabuntu - if you can't recover your screen, you can ask here for a replacement as I know at least one guy parting out laptops. . .

 

Also if by any chance it is under warranty, play dumb, at least then you will be Dells level as they can't check

It just didn't work one day m8, honest

 

Hi,
The warranty expired a year ago, so no chance to do that.
Thanks anyway

 

Thanks everyone for the help.
I'm posting everywhere trying to get some light in this case

Anyway I'm feeling very disappointed wit Dell. In my case I downloaded the software from dell support page introducing my service tag and they gave me software/firmware of other screens and laptops, it's very likely that this kind of problems can happen. And in other hand, why did the software allow me to install the wrong firmware in my screen?? is that difficult check the actual firmware and verify if is compatible??

 

Were you ever able to find this? I'm also looking for it.