Dell XPS 15 R2 - L502x - Owners Lounge

Thanks, Don. This was the problem-- nVida was running the show. Now I see the difference. I thought the default looked good but the other profiles are better.

 

Don_vito,

If I may ask, can you please make a color profile at 5 bars of brightness similar to the OP's profile (also with 5 bars) of brightness.

Your current 90% brightness profile is a bit off. OP's profile calibrated at 5bars brightness is great at any brightness.

 

On my monitor, which I keep at under 50% usually, the Spyder3 profile looks very blue. I don't know if it's because my monitor shades things cool, but the whites look light blue. The Spyder2 profile is definitely a bit warmer than the default, but the Spyder3 is cooler.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing!
If you could kindly create a profile for a dimmed light environment it would be great.

Thank you.

 

Hi all,
New to forum, but know my way around a computer.
I've recently purchased an XPS l502x which arrived less than 2 weeks ago. I put in a brand new Intel SSD and installed Win 7 Pro x64. The very first day watching a movie on the 2nd monitor _major crash_! The screen playing the video was so corrupted you couldn't make out anything on the screen, and the sound got into a clicking loop where it was just playing the same weird noise over and over again. Powered off and back on again, seems to be working fine again until the that evening _major crash_! This time it was on just the laptop display with no external monitor connected. I called Dell and they checked the usual things like the crash logs (which showed nothing) and that my drivers were up to date (and they were). Eventually they told me to call them back when it crashes again. The 3rd time it crashed the next day I went to get my phone to take a video of the epic crash and as I was loading the camera app on my phone, the machine turned itself off. I called Dell again, and again they told me to call them back when it crashed agaid. I refused saying that I've owned many laptops and know my way round the computer and I need a working machine, and not something which crashes daily. I said either replace my laptop or I'd like a refund. Eventually the rep told me he'll request a replacement for me. A few days later I called and there was no record of any replacement and nothing in the notes saying he had offered that. I went through the whole thing again, and was told AGAIN that a replacement will be ordered. Suspicious of this, I called again the next day, and AGAIN, no replacement had been ordered. I was eventually told that a replacement is subject to approval since they don't know what's wrong with my machine, and even if it were approved, it will take 3 to 4 weeks. I told them I wanted a refund, which they agreed to, however I had to pay quite a heafty fee for 'shipping'.
Beleive it or not, I ended up ordering another XPS exactly the same specs as I one I already have, since when it doesn't crash, it's fantastic.
So I'm waiting for my new XPS to arrive, and waiting for someone from Dell to contact me about picking up my old XPS and refunding my money. And what do you know? In the last week while waiting I reinstalled Windows ... not sure why since it was a new install of Windows anyway when it crashed. But since I've done that, it's not crashed all week!
Of course I'm very unhappy with Dell's customer service, telling me they'll do something, but not actually doing it. But as to the laptop itself, when it's not crashing, it's beautiful, and with the SSD, it flies along and takes everything I throw at it. I did have a hardware issues though, which annoyed me so much. It was the touchpad didn't have a middle click. On my 2 previous Dell's when you pressed both the mouse buttons, it was a middle click. That function seems to be gone on this model. However I discovered that if I used the touchpad drivers for my old Studio 1555, everything works, including the middle click.

 

Hmmm. Did you take the SSD out and put the old mechanical HD back in? That may have been your problem. Maybe a bad SSD.
-joe-

 

Thanks for sharing! I will have my rig tomorrow and I would love to have a profile for dim light(30-40%)

 

No I haven't. If it were a bad SSD. Is there any way to test it? It's brand new and has only been used in this machine. I guess when my new XPS 15 arrives I should have an answer.

Still waiting for a refund on this one, and when I said before I was using it for over a week since the reinstall of Windows and it's been fine ... I was premature. It crashed on me last night and I managed to get a video of it since it didn't shut down this time. I would be surprised if a HD could cause this kind of crash.

YouTube - ‪Dell XPS 15 EPIC FAIL!‬‏

I showed it to a Dell technician who came to fix a completely different Dell laptop and he thinks it's a h/w fault, most likely motherboard. I just wished the customer service people at Dell can understand this

 

Looks like your video card failing. Maybe the motherboard.

 

hello every one,
i ran the 3dmark06 soft and got these results
Result

is this result fine for my machine.. and one thing more today is my first day of using me xps machine what should i do to check it .. thanx

my dell specs
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
15.6 HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
1024MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT525M
500GB2 SATA hard drive (7200RPM)

 

i ran 3dmark06 test too and something attract my attention first one use my
Intel HD Graphics 3000 Mobile card and get 8068 Result
in my next test i change to gt 540m graphic card and score is lower then my intel card 8032 points
Result
so what the hell is going on is our gt 540m card is really that bad?if someone may explain that i will be happy
and in new games for example duke nukem forever whats your max temperature with cpuid program?

 

Probably both tests were run on the 540m.

 

maybe same card but it write in links first one;

Graphics CardIntel HD Graphics 3000 Mobile
VendorDell Computer Corporation
# of cards1
SLI / CrossFire Off
Memory71 MB
Core clock0 MHz
Memory clock0 MHz
Driver nameIntel(R) HD Graphics Family
Driver version8.15.10.2342
Driver status Not FM Approved

second one ;

Graphics Card
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
VendorDell Computer Corporation
# of cards1
SLI / CrossFire Off
Memory0 MB
Core clock0 MHz
Memory clock0 MHz
Driver nameNVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
Driver version8.17.12.6830
Driver status Not FM Approved

anyway i like my notebook ^^

 

Can someone tell me how far the lid will open? I've had issues with my HP Envy on my lap because the opening angle is restricted. TIA.

 

About 125-130 degrees, I'd say. Plenty wide enough for me.

 

Does anyone know if the clear film on the keyboard is supposed to peel off? I think it probably does but at the same time it seems quite well stuck so I'm not 100% sure???

 

Peel that sucker off, the film is just there from the factory.

 

Heheh, reminds me of my sister-in-law, who bought a new cooker hood for in the kitchen but gave it away to my wife soon after because she didn't like the blueish color of it - the color of the protective foil put on the brushed steel of the device. I removed it before putting it up in our kitchen.

 

Recieved mine today, no visible defects or common problems peoples had so far. Reinstalling windows right now, everything is sweet except it's a little too big to be portable.

 

LOL!!!!

slowroll

 

Thanks. My HP is 117 degrees. no problem on a desk, but a pain when surfing from the couch.

 

Hi guys, I just reinstalled windows and updated all drivers, everything seems fine now but HoN(hero of newerth) refuse to work, always gives me a "k2 exception" crash message, any idea what might be the cause? I suspect it might have something to do with optimus, but I ran 3dmark vantage fine, help please

Also, how do I know if the subwoofer is working? I don't really feel any pop when musics are played and it doesn't show up on the realtek audio thing.

 

If you press firmly on the right side below the speaker holes, does your move in and out, or flex at all? I didnt check before removing the cover to change the HDD, and now I notice that mine does. Curious if some how I didnt get it clipped on right or something.

The left side is strong, and doesnt bow in at all.

 

Mine does not, both side stays firm when pressed.

I was ready to take mine apart, read the manual several times and had everything ready, but got stuck at the very beginning due to a stupid stiff screw ;< Why wouldn't they just use the higher quality silver ones >.<

 

My brother ordered a refurb l520x and the wireless signal (Centrino Wireless-N 1030) is pretty bad. It doesn't get a signal in my room, which is like on the opposite side of the house from the router. My dv5t (wifi link 5100 agn) has 4 bars. Not sure if its because its a weak wireless card or if its a defective one. Any clues?

 

Either defective or poorly contact with the card.

 

You can take off the bottom cover and check to see that the antennas are connected securely to the card.

 

I discovered that the settings for these cards in Windows are not always automatically correct. Check in the properties screen of the adapter under the advanced tab if the card uses the right frequencies, or just set it to auto. One of my notebooks with an intel Wifi card had some frequencies disabled, which impaired the card seriously.

 

I got my XPS with only one partition, and i want another one, so any idea how to split?

 

EASEUS.Partition.Master

 

Ok, lemme try.

Thanks!

 

I wonder if you can tell us what the correct settings are. Mine, for instance, has 802.11n channel width for band 2.4 set to 20 mhz only. I wonder if I should set it to automatic, or if there's any disadvantage. Ad Hoc Qos mode is disabled and so is fat channel intolerant, whatever those are. Roaming Aggressiveness is set to medium.

Thanks for any advice, in advance.

 

Where exactly do you check the settings?

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that the "Dell" settings under the power properties are set to make the wireless card drop to a power saving mode when on the battery. Heck, when I got mine I couldn't get more than like 3 or 4 Mbs. I should get 15 to 20 Mbs. Go to Control Panel->Power Options. You'll see "Balanced", "Performance" and others (including the "Dell" one). Just select the "Change Plan Settings" on the right. Then select "change advanced power settings". Now select the "+" next to "Wireless Adapter Settings". Next select the "+" next to "Power Saving Mode". Change that to "Maximum Performance". There are a lot of things in these advanced settings you can change to give yourself more battery life (or a lot less battery life). Best bet is to create your own, new profile and mess around with it till you understand what you're doing. You can not hurt your laptop doing this. Have fun!
-joe-

 

It really depends on your wifi access point / router. Mine supports both the 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels, and the 20 and 40 Mhz width. I recommend setting it to auto if you don't know, like so:



As for the Ad hoc (Qos) and Fat channel intolerant settings, best leave these disabled.

I also second joeaux's note on the power-saving, that may also have a significant effect.

 

Great help - thanks

 

Thanks for the info on the wireless settings folks. I've been trying to connect to my dual channel router @ 300Mbps for a while now.

When I change the channel width to Auto my connection speed drops to 18Mbps in my room, when I set it back to 20MHz only, my connection speed goes up to 78Mbps, doesn't make sense!

Looks like I'll have to stick to single channel 130Mbps N for now to get the best wireless signal!

 

Does anyone have a manual for replacing the cdrom drive in the xps-15? I have the one for replacing the hard drive but I'm not sure which screws need removed for the Removal /Replacement of the cd drive

 

Documentation

I took the link from the first page of this thread by the way.

 

Yeah I tried that link but all the links under it are dead..I'm in USA not sure if thats whats wrong or not

 

Try this: L502x Service Manual

 

Yeah. If you ever need anything for just about any Dell/Alienware machine go over to their website and check. They are really good about having the latest drivers, manuals and other goodies for just about every machine they've made. Even the very old stuff will have the last drivers they put out for the hardware prior to ending ongoing support.
-joe-

 

How to enter in bios on my XPS? I tried with "Delete", but nothing happend.

 

F2 it should say it at the bottom right when the Dell screen comes on

 

But i can say you that, that you cannot anything big in the bios settings though. Only some functions that can be disabled, e.g VT-D Trusted computing, Turbo, boot priority, thats mainly it :/ No overclocking^^

MFG Jubeltrubel

 

So I just got my new XPS15 w/ 9 cell and it came with a 130 W adapter... very bulky. Can I get a 2nd 90 W adapter for travel or does it require the 130 W one? Elsewhere I think I read that the 90 W will work just fine but will charge the battery more slowly.

On another note I have the problem I saw elsewhere where 'hibernate' doesn't stick... the laptop resumes right away. I'm pretty sure it's either wake-from-lan or maybe even the USB mouse I have plugged in, as it hasn't done that when on battery & wireless with no mouse.

 

Concidering this machine, with the screen upgrade, I7 and GT 540 card. Can i expect to run Battlefield 3 and Skyrim? or it that that the famous snowballs chance in hell in getting decent frames on it?

How does current games as Fallout New Vegas run?

 

Yeah, it will run them, don't worry.

 

Most likely it's the powersaving settings for the network port. Disable the option to allow the device to wake the machine, and you're done. Most likely that is.

 

sorry for the noobie question ... how does the scroller works on this machines touch pad... its not working as it use to work on my previous laptops..