Dell XPS 15 - Slight Earth/Vibration on the metal surface

I bought this Dell xps 15 laptop a month ago, right from the first day, whenever I connect the laptop with ac power, I can feel some sort of earth or very very light vibration when I slide my fingers over the lid, around trackpad and all of the aluminum that it is made of.

One thing that I noticed is that if I put a finger over the metal surface and try to feel the vibration/earth with other hand, it juts disappears right away. Although, it doesn't happen when I put some plastic object over the surface instead of finger. So, I guess when the earth starts flowing through my one hand it stops going into the metal surface.

Please help me if its really critical issue and if I need to send it to the warranty because they guy is asking for a week for checkup which doesn't make any sense to me.

It never happens when the laptop is on battery power.

Any solution/fixes will be much appreciated.

 

I have the same problem with my XPS17. Someone suggested it was just that the power supply was not earthed. I am using mine in Peru so may make sense and will be getting a seperate 4 way extension lead that is surge protected and hopefully that will sort it out. The only other possibility is that there is no protective casing inside where the lead goes in the back of the computer but I doubt it as these are standard parts. Try an extension lead and see what happens.

 

Yeah! I juts read it on another forum too. It's because of not using the earth provided on the charger shoe. What I am using right now is another additional shoe which basically converts the basic three prong shoe to two prong shoe so that I can plug it into my socket. So, obviously the earth provided is being compromised.

But one thing that I just remember during typing this reply to you is that today when I went to the warranty guy, he plugged the shoe into a three prong female receiver the earth was still there..now how would you explain that? May be that third hole was just for show and wasn't connected to an actual earth.

 

Do you live in San Francisco?

 

NO. I am in Pakistan. We have 220Volts supply.

 

Hey man! can you suggest some nice surge protector? any particular brand? I do know about belkin though.

 

I had the same problem with my XPS 15 before I returned it (for a full refund ). I live in the USA.

 

HEY! did you talk to the tech support guy properly? what did he tell you? Is it non-repairable? I haven't bought the surge protector yet, never had the time to but ll get one soon. I do hope problem ll be solved.

Please tell me the tech details about this problem?

 

The issue happens due to lack of or bad earthing for the ground. In the home I live in (usa) we have a couple of circuits that seem to have bad earthing even though they test ok. I tried it in one outlet and it was causing the issue. Another outlet in the same room has not had the issue at all.

As it stands I still get a separate minor vibration but that is more of a mechanical one rather than an electrical one.

P.S. - I should mention that other brands have been affected by this including Apple.

 

Thanks for your reply man!

I should mention that its true for me as well, as in my drawing room its much less sometimes very hard to feel and the same is true for one socket in my room.

let me know if the BELKIN surge protector can work WITHOUT having your home properly earthed!? because mine is not earthed. Do search online.

I read it on cnet forums that the house needs to be grounded for it to work. or else is using an extension with a fuse ok for this purpose of surge protection?

 

I'm not sure. As I understand it excess electrical flow takes the path of least resistance and that is through the aluminum casing and your body when the grounding is poor or it is missing entirely. It is possible a UPS unit might work to alleviate it though since it can try to take that excess and put it in the batteries.

 

ok. I got this high fi extension last night to protect my adaper from surge. It has a fuse in it. My cousin has tested it wid surges it works fine. But it dint resolve the earth issue. Another thimg tht iwould like to mention here is that I just bought a new adapter because my old one got fried because of an electric surge now this new one as claimed by the guy is original. Build quality is classy. But it only has two prongs on its plug unlike the original one which had three prongs one for earth. Also its an old model as it does not have any light on the cable to indicate the current. Should I return it?

 

It could just be the hard drive spinning.

I get the same vibration, even when i slide my fingers across the area you've mentioned. The combination of the grip and friction causes my fingers to bounce rapidly. My laptop vibrates even when it's running on battery. I've also ran my fingers across the trackpad area with the power off and my fingers vibrates due to the friction. You could feel the hard drive spin down when you power off your laptop. See if that's the case.

I thought it was electrical at first, but came to the conclusion that it's the hard drive.

 

Two prong adaptors are generally unearthed. Would help if you posted a product # / brand.

On the earthing front, you indicate that an electric surge already decimated a previous adaptor: if it was a spike (rather than surge) that did it, chances are there was some damage; but without the proper tools, it is almost impossible to check. Even your local computer store won't have these tools (certainly the top end ones past multimeters).

However, as tak1234 said, if I place my hands face down on either side of my touchpad, and press very lightly, I can sense the vibration of my HDs. To test this "properly", the more pressure exerted will give more vibration feedback. If this is your concern, then don't be - or upgrade to a SSD to avoid it (and you might still get this due to fans).[note: please earth / de-static yourself whenever doing anything with the internals of your machine, and keep it earthed as well].



**Urk! Edited here - parts of your laptop are already magnetised; on the XPS 701, the front speakers, for example. Actually, I'll just remove this reference as poking metal objects around a laptop has potential to get messy, esp. if they're magnetised.

 

So what you are basically saying is that I should stopped worrying about it and learn to live with it right? but Its very difficult for me to believe that its because of the hard drive.

 

It's not the HDD in my case its the earthing. Simple to tell unplug the lead and run on battery, do you still feel the vibrations/static? If you feel it when running off the battery then it may be the HDD. If you only feel it when connected to mains then know its the earthing.

 

Well... check that your power saving options aren't turning your system's optimus on, and therefore switching off internal fans before being sure of that. But what I've described is 100% vibration, there's no static element to it.

I'm also confused - as if your laptop is earthed [i.e. AC adaptor is plugged in] it shouldn't gain an electrostatic charge; this should only happen if unplugged.

Do one thing for me: try washing your hands & drying with a non-fluffy towel before use, does this have any impact? (There's a reason for this, trust me)

 

Plugged my laptop into a socket that doesn't have grounding and the result is that there IS a vibration on the lid when the laptop is off.

I found an old thread discussing about this.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...5-laptop-electric-connection-no-earthing.html

 

Interesting read: I'm from the UK, so it is actually illegal to supply an electronic device without earthing... forgot this wasn't the case elsewhere! However, the 701x doesn't have this earthing issue - can I ask how old your machine is? (e.g. it might develop over time)

The vibration is def. the HDs / Fans, and inescapable. But, for the record, the HDDs do produce a current effect

The non-earthing - well, I accept that it exists (!), and won't do any harm until there's a power surge. Something like this is a cheap solution.

p.s.

I did see one possible solution - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antistatic_wrist_strap. Use one + a static pad when mobile, it should solve the issue (if not your fashion sense).

 

Hey man! same is the case is with me, I ONLY feel vibration when plugged in! never when on battery! NEVER. I have got a nice extension cord that earthed but now I have the replacement charger that's a prong adapter, so the extension is pretty much useless except for the power surge thing...

What do you think that if I get a three prong charger and put it in the extension cord that i just mentioned will it resolve the issue?

 

Also, does the earth have any effect on the notebook itself? I mean the motherboard n all? Because you need to read this!

Notebook Tingle Revisited - Direct2Dell - Direct2Dell - Dell Community

 

A quotation from that commentary thread, my comments are in red - although god knows where the original poster is or when this was posted:


I have an XPS 1530, which was purchased in the UK so it has the 3 pin power adapter everybody seems to think will fix the tingle (electric shock) issues.It does resolve the issue when the socket you are plugging your laptop into is earthed but when you are using a socket which isn't earthed the tingle problem returns.Thus you should use a bar adaptor with its own earth to provide this!

My laptop is fine when being used in the UK but when I use it in France the tingle sensation returns. Most of the sockets in our french house do not have an earth connector so I guess I will have to live with the fact my laptop gives me a small electric shock everytime I use it.Or you could do what I suggest

Perhaps the solution is to connect an earth wire to the case and hang it out the window.Then it wouldn't be earthed if it was just hanging out the window!


Which is basically what I'm telling you to do with an antishock bracelet & static earthing pad - if you took this a tiny step further, you could simply earth your laptop instead of yourself


I'm not suggesting this isn't a serious(ish) issue, but I've never experienced it [basically - I won't use a laptop without AC earthing, period] - my suggestions will solve the issue though.

 

hey man!

another problem that you need to solve for me.

I got this replacement adapter from local retailer, it has the same rating of 90w with 19.5 volts and 4.62A printed on its sticker. its model is DF266.

I looked for this model online and I found out that its a discontinued model. may be i am wrong.

but while charging my xps 15 it gets extremely hot, I mean if you put youru hand close nough you can feel the heat coming out of it. Its not like my laptop is under a lot of stress most of the times, usually i am running firefox etc..thats it.

what i read online is that it could be because of the load of charging the laptop, as its an old model so i guess my laptop is proving to be heavy for it..? should i get it replaced?

The original one that came with the laptop got fried up because of power surge, it had a VOLEX cable, it saved my lappy from a 300 volts surge. its details are as follows,

PA 3E family
model: EA90PE1-00
dell p/n KD8HY


replacement adapter: (currently in use)

PA 10 Faimly
dell p/n DF266
model: PA-1900-01D3


PLEASE resolve this issue man! why is it getting so hot? or may be i never noticed the old one..its charging fine though..right in time. its winter season yet and i dont know what is going to happen in summers if it continued like this..

 

sorry i forgot to post the link,
DELL Refurbished: 90-Watt AC Adapter Assembly : Laptop Accessories: Webcams, Keyboards, Mouse & More | Dell

 

I have a Dell XPS 15 L502, experiencing the same problem from day one I got this laptop a month ago.
Dell support has replaced the power cord and mother board atleast twice but I still have this problem. The more the Laptop is ON, the vibration is high. The second time I complained to DELL, the Supervisor/Auditor and the Engineer visited, after investigation they found this issue is due to HD. The vibration was very mild when the HD was removed. Still not sure what is the exact problem.

 

Re: vibrations in dell xps 15 - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

 

It's happening to my computer whether it's plugged in or not. The thing is, it hasn't always happened, I've just noticed it recently.
Is this dangerous to me or the computer in any way?