L702X problem

Hi everyone. Well I've had the laptop for 7 days now I think(+/-). While I like it, there seems to be some problem with it.

For some reason sometimes when I watch video and have a game in the background and listen to a music on Wmplayer, I get these lags when I would change the website. Mostly with adobe flash content(video). But not only adobe flash content. It has happened at stuff like even when I'm opening up a browser. Or maximizing a program from the taskbar.
Sometimes it's just an open browser that can cause it. Like, I'd be watching a video for a while. And then I would open up a tab to check on my e-mail. Once I click on a new tab while the video is playing the whole computer seems to slow down. The sound goes really slow etc..
It's really annoying.. I haven't contacted dell yet. As I don't want to spend money on having a chat about that I have to re install my drivers or whatnot.

I can't figure what the problem is. I thought it had something to do with Optimus. So I disabled the nvidia driver for time being. But I still experienced these lags.. I mean the whole Computer lags. When you check the task manager you can see the CPU's at 100% usage for that time(anywhere from 1 up to 4 seconds).

Also, if the game is run on the intel hd the FPS drop enormously while the lag comes on. From about 50 up to 1-4.

And the sound is really , really annoying as you can imagine. Cause if you have some music playing in the background , for that time it sounds as if its tempo was lowered.

IT's driving me mad to be honest as I can't figure out what's causing it?

Any ideas guys?

Thanks a lot.

 

Hi, please post your specs.

 

English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
OS Windows® Recovery Media Not included
1 year of coverage included with your PC
No Accidental Damage Protection
DataSafe Online Backup 2GB - 1 year licence
Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
McAfee® SecurityCenter 15 Month Subscription
17.3"(44 cm) HD+ WLED True-Life (1600x900) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card
6144MB (1x2GB, 1x4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel SDRAM
DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write)
1TB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Dual HDD - (2x500GB)
Mobile Broadband Not Included
9-cell 90Whr Lithium Ion battery
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 (EUR)
TvTuner Not Included
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover
Also Includes
N08X7M06
XPS L702x Order - UK
English Documentation
Datasafe Local 2.3 Basic
XPS L702x Resource DVD
150W AC Adaptor
No Carrying Case
UK 250V Power Cord
Standard Service - 1 year of Collect & Return 10 day coverage included with your PC

 

Have you changed any hardware since you got it? hdd, ram etc? and have you installed any programs which alter any system settings?

 

no apart from installing drivers. But I had that problem before(lagging) which made me to install the nvidia driver update.

Edit: I mean, I haven't changed any hardware. Everything is as it was except for the stickers on keyboard and Display.

 

This is very strange. I have no idea what could be causing it if everything is stock. So the thing i would suggest to fix it, would probably be a restore from a restore point if you have any.

But if not and no one else can come up with a reason or a solution to pinpoint the issue. Then you might have to do a factory restore from the hidden partition or windows 7 reinstall as a last resort. But if that doesnt work then it must be a hardware issue and you may need something replaced by dell.

 

Judging by your signature you have the same specs as mine. More or less anyway.
When you press the turn on button do you have to do it firmly? Like, if i do it softly as with any of electronics it won't turn on. I have to press at least 3-4 times. Is it cause I'm not pressing it hard enough or sounds as if some sort of issue?

 

I believe this is how they are designed, you need to hold it for a couple of secs to turn on, i had to push it a few times once but then noticed i needed to hold it a bit. So thats not the issue.

I noticed you have 2 500gb drives, these sort of lag and freeze issues normally are hdd related so theres a possibility its a hdd error or driver error. You could do a disk check on both drives by selecting error check in the drives properties in my computer.

These Clean Installation - XPS 17 Wiki are the main drivers you need. There are a couple which could be causing a problem or need a reinstall which are 1, 2 and the hm67 chipset. If you try any of these reinstalls of drivers make a restore point first.

Im not saying any of these are causing the problem but am thinking of all possibilities. So re install at your own risk.

EDIT when i reinstalled win 7 on my ssd i used this driver guide and it worked (works) perfectly.

 

Nah it's very unlikely HDD issue. I even left the PC at night to do that HDD check on their diagnostics tool. Although once there was an issue about windows losing my profile. But I read it was something to do with an Update not completely installing or something like that.

The lags are more of an FPS drop if that makes any sense. You know like in a game you would be at 100 for example and if it would suddenly drop to about 10 you would feel the whole game really laggy. That's what happens with the laptop. I was watching bbc.co.uk f1 the other day and every time I press new tab on chrome the whole sound and video would go slow. Like pitch would be lowered as well as the tempo of the video.. I mean, It can't be adobe issue cause why is the whole system lagging. If it'd be just the video but it's everything.. I mean even the music I have on wmplayer would go slower.

Have you ever tested your system? I mean like, try to open two games one with intel hd graphics the other with nvidia... your laptop goes really hot as well. I mean, I don't really do that often. But what I found out was that once CPU usage is at 100% for some reason the intel HD performace is starting to drop. I wonder if it's due to fact that they are built into one possibly? at least I've read something like that... clearly i don't do that very often (intel and nvida) but clearly your CPU usage is going to get at 100% at some point.. That's where it starts to mess around. I dunno, as you suggested I'm reinstalling windows 7. I wanted to do it anyway cause Dell's safestorage or whatever it was, was crashing the whole time... strange thing was I couldn't uninstall it properly.

But anyway,
I'll see what happens with a fresh install... and thanks for the link.

 

From bad to worse... I just tried installing both Home Premium 64x and Professional x64(has been installed on m1730 successfully) neither of them installs... when Windows is fixing/repairing problem the whole program crashes and shows the error log ... It stopped at expanding files on Windows installation ... whatever the issue is, it might be bigger one that I thought.. oh well topping-up my o2 credit and giving a call to dell tomorrow morning...

What option does one have? Anyone knows?
Edit: I mean like can you change you system?

 

Oh thats not good, did you try a clean install? This could be a bios issue but not likely. Your best bet would be to call dell, they will first try and replace something im guessing the motherboard but if that fails they WILL offer you a replacement so dont worry about that. But if windows doesnt install then its more than a software issue. Good luck with your call.

 

Sounds like a drive issue to me if Windows Installation crashes. Or a bad mobo. Either way, Dell will handle it.

 

First off, I would like to thank you for replies.

I didn't call Dell. As I managed to start up the computer by doing the Dell's DataSafe restore. So I've got windows back on the PC. It looks as if it is running...

Guys do you know any good memory testing software? Also the CPU. Windows didn't find any errors, nor did Dell's tools(memory that is)...

But how come I can't install fresh windows then? Doesn't that sound suspicious?

I will perform clean install, like with the driver order and everything if It will be possible as the PC is doing all the first turning on thing...

When you did receive your dell(those that did), didn't the way it was packed tell you that it isn't brand new? I mean there's one sticker at the box ... apart from that you can't tell if it's brand new or not.

Anyway, I'm gonna perform testing stuff and if the problem will come up again I will definitely have to call Dell(I mean why waste money to just get told to do what you can do yourself..) and tell them that there is some problem with the PC that none of the diagnostic tools can discover but you can see under usage... which really does sound weird issue..

Anyways back to checking it...

I've noticed that it give out the brand new plastic smell under usage, will it ever go away? I mean, I don't mind the smell, but it does give you impression that it's overheating a bit too much?

Anyways, thanks again.

 

Here's a recording of what happens(recorded sound on my mobile);
Ignore the picture.
‪dell xps17 bug‬‏ - YouTube

 

Wow thats strange. I would call dell tbh as this issue seems like hardware to me.
If a system is refurbished it should have a green sticker on the bottom. And dont worry about the smell its not overheating.

 

Hey,

i have similar problem. Did you manage to find a solution?

thanks.

 

No, I'm afraid I sent it back for a refund.