Dell XPS 15 R2 - L502x - Owners Lounge

To all the owners, may I know whether any major GPU problems with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M? I heard it from a seller my hometown who was telling me that it has some problem with the GPU in comparison to the NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M. How true is it?

 

What sort of problem?

 

I really have no idea. My guess he want to sell his predecessor Dell XPS 15 which comes with 525M Do you have any problems besides of the fan noise?

 

I have the 540M and I have no problems whatsoever.

 

I've had my XPS for about two weeks now with no major problems except the fan seems to run a lot.

My question, though, is it normal to have some vibration in the palm rest area? It does not get hot, but I've noticed that the left palm rest noticeably vibrates. It's not extreme, it's like a tactile hum. Is this normal, or something I should get checked?

 

Yeah, the GPU likes to crash a lot.

 

What steps did you take to resolve the issue? What was the actual resolution? I don't have this issue, but your experience would be helpful to others.

 

That's just the hard drive spinning and is perfectly normal.

 

I guess there is going to be no new bios to fix the ramping fan then?

 

Anybody uses a stand for this laptop? I have the 9 cell battery so if anyone could kindly recommend a stand for this lappy... I'm thinking about improving my laptop ergonomics.

EDIT: I don't hope to look for one with a cooling fan, or consumes a USB port, just a stand, that could maybe provide some natural ventilation. That'd be nice.

 

Since you have the 9-cell and it is already propped up about an inch, you probably don't really need to worry about poor ventilation. Regarding ergonomics, the best way to improve this is by using an external mouse and keyboard. I got Microsoft wireless mouse and keyboard off Amazon for $35.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/617910-xps-fan-issue-solved.html#post7994778

 

Hey, I have a tech coming soon to replace the Intel 6230 wireless card. Out of curiosity, where within the machine is this card located? Is it an easy swap from the bottom, or is he going to have to remove the display and get under the palm rest and keypad?

 

Easy swap from the button, no more that 3 minutes.

 

Jeffrey, I've had the 540M since March and have had no GPU crashes, or any GPU issues for that matter, and I haven't noticed the fan problem either.

I did replace the HDD with an OCZ Vertex 3 240GB and so did a clean Win7 install. That took my active processes down from 90 to 69.

 

Nice. Thanks. :]

 

The 6230 is underneath panel with 3 srews on the back side. It isn't going to make any difference to your wireless n shortfalls. Had mine replaced last week and couldn't tell a bit of difference in wireless performance. Wireless g works just fine but i ordred a wireless n card because i wanted to use wireless n, so i'm sending this hole laptop back for a refund.

 

This is easily the best laptop I've ever had and still the best on the market for me. I won't go any further than having the card replaced. If I have to live with G speeds, so be it. I was getting by just fine on them before. I just believe things should work properly, so I gave tech support a shot, and this is their answer.

If all 6230s are broken, though, you would think someone would notice, and they would subsequently stop being produced and manufactured...

 

My "INSERT" key broke off of the keyboard, and the hinge on the key is broken. Does anyone know of anyplace that sells individual keys for the L502x? I do not want to buy a new backlit keyboard for $40 if I do not have to.

 

I don't know that I would call kneecapping your system a 'solution'.. but this 'fix' does appear to work on my L502x.

I have an i7-2720QM in my XPS15, and restricting the CPU max to 70% or lower greatly reduces the non-stop fan ramping the system normally exhibits. If I start up even one application making constant use of the CPU or GPU such as Process Explorer or Speedfan at even 5-10% with this restriction in place, I can still see the CPU temperatures jump from 50C idle to 60C, and this kicks the fan on again in the standard ramping on-off-on-off cycle.. :/

So really, the *answer* to this problem is that the i7-QM CPUs simply run too hot for this configuration at anything greater than complete idle. Can this temperature be reduced? Maybe a thermal re-paste might help, but throttling your CPU to 70% or less of its capacity is not a permanent solution IMHO, and this seems like a fundamental flaw in hardware design on Dell's part because they should know what the TDP of Intel's components are!

I expected this system would be able to run silently most of the time unless I was playing games, or doing something CPU-intensive like A/V transcoding. The onboard Intel integrated video was supposed to aid in keeping power usage and heat down, instead of running the power-hungry GeForce GPU all the time. Browsing the web, reading emails or watching streaming video is not CPU-intensive, yet any or all of these activities will drive the system over 60C unless I throttle the CPU to barely 50% of its rated speed. This is not an acceptable solution, Dell.

 

I'm curious if the people with heat/fan problems are using the 6 cell or 9 cell battery. I'm using 6 cell, but I have an i5-2410m. The 9 cell lifts the laptop back up higher, probably allowing more airflow.

Another thought maybe has something to do with this?

"With the Release 280 drivers, NVIDIA GPU clock speeds will increase more quickly in response to increased graphics demands. Conversely, with lower graphics use the GPU clock speed slows down more quickly, conserving as much power as possible."

"You may notice the fluctuation in clock speeds while engaging in various tasks on the PC. This is to be expected, and indicates that the GPU performance mode is adjusting as needed and that the GPU is operating at the optimal performance level at all times. It does not hurt the life of the GPU. If you wish to force the GPU into maximum performance mode, open the NVIDIA Control Panel, click 3D Settings‐>Manage 3D Settings then set the Power Management mode setting to Prefer maximum performance.

 

It was mentioned in previous posts that disabling any CPU-monitoring gadgets and software eliminates the problem with the on-off-on-off cycling of the fan. As far as the fan kicking in when I am just browsing the Web, I really don't care when about this when the laptop is plugged in, but when it is running on battery, I change the performance mode from "High Performance" to "Power "Saver." Then it throttles the CPU and uses passive cooling, and so the fan does not turn on unless I am doing something CPU-intensive like playing a game.

 

Dell refuses to help. "This is not a gaming laptop" "It's normal for your laptop to crash."

I'm having success underclocking my 540m to 600Mhz Core and 800 Mhz ram though.

 

Does anyone use a remote with this laptop..like a Dell travel remote...which is absolutely compatible with this model...??
I am looking for one...and if someone does know about it or (even better) someone is using it..please do post the link along with your answer...
Thanks anyways...

 

Ah, I see. Thanks! Do let me know if it works for you! I was starting to wonder why on earth Dell even bothered to replace a perfectly good VGA port with something neater looking but absolutely useless. Cheers.

 

Hey guys,

the task manager says that I'm using 2 out of 4GB of RAM. Could this be a reason for the occasional stutter i get from my laptop (especially during music playback)?

 

@Tim93
Try to uninstall McAffee, it solve my stuttering problem, but don't uninstall it if you want to use it!

 

I use Norton Internet Security. It is one of the PCWorld's top rated security suites and it does not use much RAM or CPU power.

 

Does anybody know where I can buy a backlit keyboard and a top panel replacement? My panel is cracked and I'd like to replace it. I checked the Dell site for replacements but they don't have any of those listed.

 

hi xps 15 owners - could any of you do me a favour and check the dpc latency on your machines using this:

DPC Latency Checker

its standalone non-installing software, very quick and easy to use. just download and run.

i am looking at this laptop for (amongst other things) music production. low dpc latency is very important for this...

thanks!

 

and also... those of you with the i5 model - how's noise/fan levels when browsing, and when watching a movie? i've read about some of the fan noise issues with this machine - wonder if it might be mostly i7 configurations?

and lastly - dell outlet! yeay or ney?? got some good deals going on there!

gary.

 

DPC latency with FireFox and Notepad++ open:


DPC latency with FireFox, Notepad++, and Photoshop CS5 open:

 

sgraffite - thanks very much for doing that. hmm... thems some worrying figures with regards to music production on the xps 15. i presume your system is set up fairly normally, eg speedstep on and that kind of thing?

anybody else can give it a shot?

 

I did a wipe when I got the laptop and installed Windows 7 Ultimate, and installed the drivers directly from Dell's site. So no bloatware or anything is on the computer. I didn't change anything that would affect speedstep, and it is able to turbo and underclock when necessary.

It seems like there are a ton of variables as to what can affect the DPC. I have a second hard drive instead of an optical drive and when I heard it spin up I noticed a spike on the DPC graph. Also when Photoshop is open it raises the latency across the board, maybe due to the graphics drivers somehow? I didn't try to narrow down which device(s) are responsible for the majority of the latency like suggested on the DPC latency utility site.

 

Hey, I don't know if you're still around, but did you ever try having something other than the 6230 installed? Like the 1030?

The guy replaced my card today which did nothing, as you expected. I might go for a different card, or I might just leave it be.

 

yes there are loads of variables. speedstep is a major one. the norm when setting a laptop for music production is to turn all speedstep type stuff off, and leave the cpu at max frequency all the time. i guess only way i'm gonna know is to get one and try it...

 

I got my laptop from dell outlet the i5 model, and I couldn't tell it wasn't brand new.That is just my experience though. The laptop fans do go up from time to time. I can't tell when they will turn on though, sometimes it goes through long periods of complete silence when all I'm doing is web browsing and other times it turns on when I'm doing the same thing.

I haven't watched too many movies on it, but I'm pretty sure the speakers can drown it out when the fan turns on, they are great speakers.

Except for my wireless card having latency problems, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

 

I have the 1000 card and it works fine.

 

I replaced my 1000 card with the 6200, as the 1000s upload max is 1/2 of the download, mildly annoying to me and might affect performance for some when signal quality degrades with range.

 

It's possible that I'll do the opposite because I can't get N speeds with the 6230. It's also possible that I won't because G speeds are just fine.

I'm assuming the 1000/6200 are the same as 1030/6230 but without BT. I actually wonder if it is the "30" cards that are problematic because of the BT. In that case, that's just too bad. I needs me some Bluetooth 3.0.

 

This issue doesn't have any relation to 'CPU-monitoring', it's purely overall USAGE. Any program making steady use of the CPU is triggering this, because it's based on temperature. Apparently the thermal profile of the -QM CPUs is enough to trigger the fans during basically ANY usage.

Just look at a CPU graph in something like Sysinternals Process Explorer- most applications only generate momentary spikes of CPU usage interspersed with long periods of complete idle. But anything that's generating even 10% CPU usage on a constant basis is enough to drive the CPU temperature up to the point where the fan engages. IMHO that's ridiculous. Either the XPS15 should only engage the fans at a higher CPU temperature, and/or it should have better passive cooling, or it should never have been offered with the CPUs Dell does, because as-is what's the point of even having a passive mode if any CPU activity at all engages the fan? Why not just start the fan automatically at boot and leave it on all the time? But of course we can't even do that!

I DO use Power Saver or Balanced Performance, all the time unless explicitly playing a game. And even on battery, the behavior is the same- I've been forced to reduce maximum processor state to 60% to try and prevent the CPU fan from engaging.

For buch3r- I have a 9-cell battery, so there are no airflow issues. I also have a Targus X-stand (acquired on a previous trip to HK) that is a simple and cheap solution for ANY laptop to get better ergonomics and cooling.

My fundamental complaint here with the heat issue is that the margin between productive performance and crippled white elephant is apparently razor-thin on this model. There is no happy middle ground where you can get decent performance and battery life without the fan constantly coming on. So DELL needs to fix this with a firmware/BIOS update that allows the CPU to run hotter before the fan engages, or allows manual control of the fans to leave them permanently on or permanently off. Of course they won't do this because they are cowards who will complain of the liability issues from owners who will cook their laptops.. while ignoring angry power users who aren't getting good or reliable performance out of the high-end machines they paid for. No matter what Dell reps may now claim when it's convenient to them, a quad-core PC with a GeForce GPU is a gaming-capable laptop.

 

I must be lucky then as I am able to play borderlands for 4 hours at a time without any issues.

 

I have replaced screen on mine hp 8540p with B156HW01 V7 (AUO17ED).
Can somebody send me monitor driver on PM.
thanks

 

Here's my latency graphs. System is totally stock as in my sig.

Firefox running



Firefox, photoshop cs5, CPUID running

 

thanks mikeybc - that looks better for my purposes.

 

I updated to the latest Nvidia driver from Nvidia's site, and it reduced the latency that was showing up when I had Photoshop open. Still not as smooth as mikey's though.

 

I ran the DPC latency checker on my 2630 Quadcore with 8 GB Ram (with Photoshop CS5 open, Firefox and notepad), graph is the same as Mikey's.

 

thanks for doing that guys. i've just ordered one from dell outlet uk - there was a very good deal on there.

the variances in latency are usually system configurations, what services are running etc, and speedstep type settings in the bois. when i get the machine i'll strip it and rebuild it (software), and adjust the bios and see what i can get. looks like it'll be ok...

 

Did you make sure it had the 1920x1080 display?

 

no because i'd like the matte v4 screen rather than the gloss v7, so will order one along with the necessary cable and install it myself.