Dell XPS 9560 Clean install guide + custom ISO download.

What model SSD is installed, if it is Toshiba or Samsung you need to put the laptop into AHCI mode and install the SSD storage controller to match.

If you can get into safe mode using MSconfig (google it) then reboot into the BIOS and change the drive setting from RAID to AHCI then reboot into safe mode for the last time and go into MSconfig to remove the safe mode flag. Reboot back into windows.

If you can do all that before getting back to me on the drive type I can then advise on drivers.

 

I have the Samsung and I'm in AHCI mode already.

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Good start so far, have you installed the Samsung storage controller driver, latest is 2.1 but some people dropped back to 2.0 if they found it lagged the system.

 

I installed the Samsung NVMe driver from their website and it shows under storage controllers. Is that it?

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Yep, best open a new thread about it tbh.

 

I am unsure when redstone 2 will be out so I am creating an ISO for my 9560, the plus side is it should work fine with the 9550 so long as I include the wireless driver, the down side is I can no longer test it on the 9550 so I will be playing it from memory.
From what I can gather the difference is the kaby lake vs sky lake but the chipset driver when decompiled had both.
Wireless driver isn't an issue as it is just a case of adding each driver to the inf and it picks up whats needed.

Stay tuned.


FYI, little point scrapping a working 9550 install to use this as it will be built on the same base ISO

 

I just received my xps 9560 and I really like the laptop. For now I tried to debloat as much as I could by uninstalling programs and I'm just waiting to do a clean install.
I'll be waiting for your 9560 ISO !

I got the HD screen model with i7-7700 and 256gb SSD. And I am having weird issues. Like when I'm playing a game, the keyboard with become very slow (lot of lag/delay when hitting keys). It doesn't seem to happen outside of games or with a usb keyboard plugged in...is this normal ? I've read it was due to anniversary build.

 

Revised UK ISO, this is tested on the 9560 and installed all drivers.

1. Nvidia is the hotfix 378.77
2. Intel HD630 is 45.90 (Not Dell)
3. AHCI/Raid v15.2.10.1044 (Also in the boot image)

Afaik the rest are either Dell or the latest Raw driver if I couldn't get an inf from the Dell downloads.

I included Killer 1535, Dell 1830 & the Intel drivers so this should work fine on the 9550 with the other hardware being shared with the 9560, the latest video should work on the 9550 as it seems to be the same Intel & Nvidia.

I will work on the international-US ISO when I get the time, mounting and editing takes a long time!

Now as before the ISO has Windows 10 Home, Pro, Singe language (UK only) and I think education.

I hosted it on my Onedrive cloud this time as it should be faster than Mega

Follow the readme in the 1st post as it should have the info to create your usb stick, Treat yourself to a sandisk Extreme or Ultra & windows will be installed in under 10 minutes.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArTAP9qwiGB0heoXm174xyePz635-w

 

Thank you, I would like to try this iso on my 9650, but I was wondering if I need a new key to install any of those versions or can I use to key that came with my 9560 to reinstall windows ?

 

Pick the version you have when it asks, press skip when it asks for a key and it should auto activate when you get into windows. It will read the BIOS key and hardware ID. You can check this on the system page.

 

edit: wrong thread sorry

 

I'm currently running your previous .iso (Anniversary Update). Haven't updated any hardware drivers since doing the clean install. Will the latest .iso have updated drivers for my 9550 or will they all be the same and therefore no point me wiping and re-installing using new one?

 

They are as up to date as possible but hardly worth reinstalling when you can go get the latest drivers and do it the easy way.

 

Okay, will wait until redstone2 is released and then hopefully when you get a chance to create a new .iso, install that instead.

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style...128/Windows-10-Redstone-2-Update-Release-Date

Is March 2017, wishful thinking?

Thanks.

 

Hello Gonz0,

I created an account just for you. Thank you for your great work and patience with all that you've done. I followed your instructions and things have been working great (4 months in). Can't believe you are still actively replying and helping people, it's..heartwarming to say the least. Thank you very much. I, and I'm sure many out there, appreciate your help and contribution immensely.

On a side note, my i5 thermal throttles (I see it from XTU) even when the temps are ~40deg. I used throttlestop and unchecked BD PROCHOT and it works fine, with the CPU no longer being capped at 0.8GHz. Incidentally, following your instructions for a clean install gave me confidence to perform further upgrades and learn to tweak things after reading up on the respective topics. So, thank you again.

Hope you continue to find it rewarding, doing what you do, doing what you like to do. ^^

 

Hi Gonz0, thanks for the detailed instruction !

I was not able to get my USB drive displayed on the boot menu (after F12) even after setting the Secure Boot and Legacy Mode as per the steps.
Had to manually add the device to boot menu via BIOS Setup and define the efi file for the device:



Then I was able to successfully boot and install Windows 10 PRO US using your image.

Still got hit with Critical Process Died on a fresh installation afterwards though

Already on AHCI mode. Any pointers?

 

Yes, install your SSD driver if possible.

And you never mentioned if you reset the BIOS as that normally sorts the missing USB stick?

 

Edit:
Installing SSD driver didn't solve the Critical Process Died error. I didn't reset the BIOS so maybe that's why I couldn't see the USB as a boot option.

So for my second attempt, I reset the BIOS to factory setting, set AHCI mode, and got the USB drive listed for booting. Reinstalled Windows, upgraded SSD firmware via Dell buy putting my service tag (mine is a Toshiba), and forced XG3 driver using your post here and resolved every EventID 10016 error I've found in Event Viewer using some guide on the internet.
So far so good.

Thanks again for the guide !

 

Hello,

I just replaced my 32gb ssd with a samsung Evo 850 and re installed windows 10 using this guide

Everything worked except I can't see my HDD

It doesn't even shows up in the device manager

I did put the Bios back to RAID after the install

I downloaded IntelRST software and it does detect the drive but says it's Offline due to metadata

If I put it in AHCI the software says the drive is incompatible

I have tried several boot options but can't make the drive visible

Do you guys have any suggestion so I can use that drive again without losing my data?

Can I clear the RAID metadata without losing all my HDD data???

 

As is was just a cache volume clicking clear metadata shouldn't clear the data BUT at the end of the day you should have it backed up anyway just in case.

 

Yup it worked just like that !

Thanks a lot for your incredible work !

 

Big thanks for the Guide GoNz0 helped greatly with getting my xps 9550 back up and running from a heap of Blue Screens and restarts that randomly started to happen (prob driver updates I did)... Have had the odd BSOD since I got my machine under 1 year ago but lived with it up until I did some updates recently and it started to do them each day multiple times and when I needed to do work... lol saving Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Photoshop files religiously every 30 seconds - 1 minute or so is annoying!!!

Changed to AHCI for my Toshiba 1tb ssd before I started the clean install by going into safe mode and loaded the OCZ utility and drivers like you said in another post
Did the clean install using the ISO you supplied and had to do the same as anon678 a few posts above and manually add the USB option to the bios to load the OS (even though I followed your guide using Rufus) but have not had a BSOD for the last 3 days so far where as before the SSD driver change and Clean install using your ISO I would have had at least 10-20 by now

Now should I just leave the system alone now it seems stable lol or should I assume its safe to update different drivers from dell again?

 

If it isn't broken

 

Ironing out the creases for the RS2 update, so far so good. I have dropped education and single language, no one needs those right?

Home and Pro covers the majority?


Grrr windows is downloading intel HD 4574, the buggy one and putting that over the latest intel. FFS

Got to see if using roll back will stop it putting it back again. *edit, it seems to have worked, pain in the arse but only takes a few minutes to get back to the new driver.

 

RS2 Creators edition is uploading, this is the version that will be released to the public on the 11th of April but it is on the Microsoft servers and based on the following ESD's converted to ISO's then the drivers added.

15063.0.170317-1834.rs2_release_clientcombinedsl_ret_x64fre_en-us_64317f9f897ab3cab7e45cbcafd139d30396c81f.esd
15063.0.170317-1834.rs2_release_clientcombinedsl_ret_x64fre_en-gb_c2783a896453d48382801dabf8d9440c24a5bb8b.esd

As always expect a few updates on the 11th to iron out any bugs that MS find.

My sig has the link to the onedrive shared folder with them.
Basically it has as of today 30/3/17 the latest Dell drivers installed with the following 3 non Dell additions,
Raid/AHCI storage drivers v15.2.10.1044WHQL
Nvidia 378.92
Intel HD 4627
Now windows update in it's infinite wisdom will update the intel HD to the Dell ones and you have to let it do it, once your screen starts to mess up and you look in the device manager you can roll back the Intel driver and when windows asks tell it the driver performs better, it should leave it alone after that with 4627, at least it did on my test install.

As before it will ask during install what version you want, it contains Home, Pro, single language & Education all x64
It should see all NVMe and SSD drives without issue due to the 15 series Intel storage drivers.
Set the BIOS to AHCI for best results unless you are using a cache drive.

Delete all partitions and follow the guide on page 1 (I will copy and paste this into the 1st post)

Post install.
Not much to say bar the Intel HD driver fubar, roll back and all is good, if you install the driver it will "update" again to the older Dell driver so roll back only.

I included an additional drivers folder with Video, Wireless (Killer, Dell1830 & Intel), audio and premier colour just in case anything plays up.
If you want the nvidia icon in the taskbar and nvidia experience you will need to run the nvidia installer (in additional drivers folder)
Premier colour will need installing if you want it.

 

Hi there, the link in the signature just links back to the first post... Where do we get the ISO from? Cheers!

 

I was half asleep this morning when I did that!
1st post has the link at the top and it is here > https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArTAP9qwiGB0heoXm174xyePz635-w

 

Excellent thanks! My 9550 died 5 days out of warranty but Dell thankfully still replaced the motherboard for me. Ever since then it is continuously BSOD'ing... Not fun! I'll give your guide a go now!

 

The only way I can see my USB drive to boot off is to select legacy boot mode. Using UEFI with secure boot on or off and also with AHCI operation selected I cannot get it to see the USB. Tried loading BIOS defaults to no avail. Would there be an issue using legacy as it seems to be installing fine using this method?

 

Did you 100% copy the rufus installer? often it is in NTFS if it fails to see it.
You can install in legacy if you want.

 

Yep I'm using a 64GB USB and it had large fat32 selected. It ran through the windows install mostly but it's been stuck at a black screen with only the mouse (able to move it) for 20 mins.. I'll try redoing the iso using Rufus.

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Yeah it shouldn't do that, I can't test on a 9550 though.

 

Ohhhh I just re ran Rufus and after changing the settings, when you then select the iso it changes the file system back to NTFS and all other settings back to default. I'm tired haha. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Not sure why, I have a 64gb and I compressed the install.wim to install.esd to bring it under 4gb so it is secure boot (fat32) compliant.
The US one is almost the same size as the UK so I hoped it would work. I guess I should test it on the laptop that is going back Monday!

 

So, intel HD 4590 is recommended for now as any before cause lag and any after totally crap out with Hyper V and cause a lot more screen flicker/blanking that 4590.

Install it, then windows will decide it knows better within 48 hours and put the Dell driver back on then you need to roll back to stick with 4590 or windows will mess it up again.

 

Thanks for doing this gonzo. Getting my 9560 today and glad to have a clean w10 install waiting for it! Going to take out the stock 512 drive and do a clean install on a 960 pro I ordered.


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Small update, I tried to play games yesterday and got 15-20FPS in BF1 and GTA5, fixed by using the DDU utility to wipe Nvidia and Intel video drivers then installing the latest nvidia and 4590 Intel, I then disabled Intel video updates via group policy.

 

Was just about to ask if you were planning to create and share a new .iso based on the Creators Update but read back a bunch of posts and see that being the kind and efficient person that you are, it's already been done.

Huge thanks GoNz0.

 

Thanks, just a reminder that the intel video drivers are best being cleaned with DDU and installing again with the 4590 version (you can do nvidia at the same time and the latest nvidia are on the ISO in the additional drivers folder) then test performance with something like heaven benchmark. This could have been due to be installing over the top with the older driver then getting in a fight with windows update putting the older Dell ones on. DDU disables windows installing drivers until you tell it otherwise.
Only other issue I have had is the audio stopping working randomly, noticed after a few sleep/hibernation cycles but I can't sat that is the cause and it may of course be isolated to just my install (not necessarily the ISO) but last night I uninstalled/reinstalled audio to see if that helps.

When I get the time I will update the ISO with the intel drivers.

 

New nvidia driver out that mentions the creators update.

 

Oh, no !
Í hoped that this could have been THE solution, but ...
I can not get this Utility. The upper link does not work. The link to download SSDUtility_2.2x is down :-(

Can someone get me another hint where to get this tool from, please ? (or FTP)

 

Is this the correct intel driver to download?

15.45.14.4590


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Sorry I don't have it any more.

 

Well got everything up and running. Just a quick question is it advisable to install support assist? I liked having it there to check warranty status and system diagnostics. Can I just download it from Dell drivers page?

Guess I'm waiting for windows to mess up the Intel driver so I can install the 4590 version haha.

Also, thanks for the tutorial and iso @gonzo. It honestly could not have gone any easier. You are to be commended for your efforts.

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You can install support assist if you want. As for the drivers I found the DDU utility best, clean out the video and install the one you want as it disables driver updates for you.

 

Seem to have encountered a problem. Installed Samsung magician and I updated the firmware and now when I reload magician it says drive not recognized and not genuine.

How can I rollback Windows Ssd driver? Thank you.

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are you in raid mode and not achi?

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No I'm in ahci. Changed it in bios right before I did the clean install.

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So I just downloaded and installed the nvme driver from Samsung and all is back to normal now. Thanks for trying to help!

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Gonzo, i know someone with an xps 9530 who is looking to do a fresh install. Dont suppose your iso can be used for this?