S-XPS 1645 AC Power Throttle Issue Investigation

Maybe so.

However, someone used a kill-a-watt meter and said it shot up to 95W and immediately the system scaled down.

That shows it is trying to draw more power than it has.

 

Complaints to the BBB should suffice, this definatelty has to be resolved.

However, I can definitely understand Dell's reluctance to give out 130W adapters. Its unknown to the consumer if the extra wattage will create new problems over time, so they will find it hard to give out something that's a potential liability. I mean the 90 W seems to be insufficient, but at the same time there may be a reason why they chose to ship with the 90W.

All I know is that this has been an embarrassing incident for Dell, and it has exposed some pretty vital flaws in their testing.

 

Yeah, I don't think using the 130W is actually fixing anything without the proper BIOS support to take advantage of the extra power.

Dell has a habit running into these types of problems from time to time. Hopefully they do the right thing and get it straightened out.

 

Is there a difference between PA-4E JU102 and JU012? I bought a JU012 and just realized that everyone here got the JU102. The specs are the same: 130W, 19.5V, 6.7A...

 

The M15x has been confirmed to have the same throttling problem albeit not as severe. When the CPU cores are pushed to 100% with furmark running concurrently, the GPU throttles and continues to cycle until the CPU load drops. I've documented this in the AW forum and supposedly dell is aware of the issue. If there is not a resolution to these problems by Dell soon, a class action law suit should be considered as sleey0 suggested earlier.

 

It would be an easy lawsuit, really.

Any half-brain attorney could get it done.

 

And they wouldn't let me cancel my order when I tried twice today after finding out about this issue. I wish I had held out a little longer before committing to the purchase. I didn't really need a new laptop right now.

I guess I got some time to see how things play out, and refuse my shipment if I need to. I know they have a 21 day return policy, but is there a re-stocking fee with that?

 

Dell has the easiest return policy ever.

I have returned probabaly 20 systems over the last 4 years with no questions asked.

So don't refuse it and just play with it first and decide if you want to send it back (that's what I am doing at least )

 

Sorry to keep asking, but anyone have any idea?

 

Out of curiosity, what law would you sue under? I don't recall Dell actually guaranteeing a laptop which does not throttle...

 

Lemon law. The systems do not properly function. Throttling is a defect, not a feature.

 

Oooh, there's a law about that? I like! Let's do it!

...we should probably give them a couple weeks. I say until the new year. Thoughts?

 

except for the fact that their terms specifically state that you give up the right to participate in any class action and that you agree to binding arbitration in any claims against them. Before you could even get a lawsuit going, you would have to convince a judge that those terms are invalid for some reason.

 

mine throttles as well while gaming i have found. that is while using a 130 watt pa13 adapter. so apparently it doesn't help.
sad to find so many issues with this thing just out of the box... bad screen, random no starts and stuttering in games, what a pile.

 

That, I know, is not legal. No party can force you to waive your protections under law. It's like parking garages that say they're not liable for any damage or theft that occurs in their building -- they say it all they like, but it's routinely tossed out in court. They say it to discourage people from suing them.

 

ha i knew it but its not surprising that it has a little throttling. after all it has alot of the same specs as the 1645. a noted difference is the RGBLED which takes in 5 watts more power as specified by dell. it has a higher power GPU but overall i would say that the m15x having 150w power is ridiculous compared to a 820qm, rgb led config of 1645 with only 90w of power. i want to work for dell cuz thier tech seem to be drunk 24/7.

 

How do you people find out your machines throttle and by how much? Is there a utility benchmarking program you use?

 

Guys, quick question,is the situation as bad with the wled screen ? Or is the performance slightly better?

 

@the-oneil

i7 Turbo.....comes with RealTemp.

@all

Why do you people still want 130W adapters? The problem is STILL there with the 130W, confirmed by EVERYONE who has a 130W adapter. Did I miss someone?! Please, please, please, tell me their username so I can grill them why theirs is working and none of ours are working.

 

-[Deleted]-

 

Right, but, no offense, this is called the AC Power Throttle Issue Investigation.

The throttling still occurs with the 130W.

~Ibrahim~

 

I hear you

I was just providing one reason that people might still desire the adapter. As for whether a new adapter will be provided by Dell in the event that they actually fix this issue, we can't be sure... but the heat is good enough reason for me, regardless of what Dell does. That is, unless someone can prove that a higher wattage adapter can damage components!

Having said that, you're right that there's no point in people rushing into grabbing new adapters if their only concern is throttling.

 

Spoken like a true non-lawyer. It would not be an easy lawsuit, particularly if brought as a class action. Either, way, far from easy. Tons of expert involvement to prove the basic allegations and to justify class treatment. I am a lawyer, and when I hear things like that from someone who has no clue, it makes ticks me off just a bit. Stick to what you know.

 

Anyone ?

 

That's true....I almost want to spring for one so I can move my laptop across the room with its adapter without playing hot potato, lol.

 

Okay, once again, please stop with the legal advice if you are not lawyers. Yes, you can give up your right to litigate in a regular court in favor of arbitration. Those clauses are frequently upheld. You can waive TONS of protections via contract, such as venue of litigation, choice of law, types of damages permitted, type of adjudication permitted, etc.

Stick to computers guys.

 

False advertising, breaking the warranty/contract illegally.

 

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that actually changes depending on state, that is, which rights you're permitted to waive. may be easier for us Canadians to bring a suit, as it's harder for us to waive basic rights.

oh, btw, people are just voicing their opinions, do you think that we are going to go out and file suit on our own without checking first? you may be a lawyer buddy, we get it, good for you. but you don't need to correct every statement regarding to law. a lot of people here are just venting.

don't you have cases you should be working on? or are you mentioning a case to yourself every once in a while, and you're billing this time to a client?

 

Yeah, I am not an attorney, but I know crap when I see/smell it.

I have used the legal system many times before and most Judges could care less about forum and arbitration clauses.

AS long as the case is presented well and has the evidence to back it up, it would be an easy win. Plus Dell would most likely offer fixes and/or compensation before it even gets that far.

In fact, Dell just got hammered in NYS over their warranty issues, which is similar in nature.

Sorry to hear you are an attorney and still think it would be difficult (and if the half-brain comment applies to you or it offended you, I apologize).

 

Im an mechanical engineer, if i tried to intervene every time i hear someone think how this part should have been designed. Or this is crap for this reason. When it was obvious it was designed this way for a purpose that they dont realize. I think i would have a heart attack by the age of 25.

just let it go, you cant bar people from talking about or making statements because its not in their field. We all have preconcieved notions and its how we learn.

besides none of us are computer engineers here i dont think, but we still know enough to research into and realize theres problems with this laptop.

 

Are you a professional plaintiff or something? Nice general statement about judges throwing out arbitration clauses. We have enforced them repeatedly.

 

it still seems like they dished this laptop out in a hurry. i man first with the colour calibration you had to do manually but someone claimed it was better in a02 bios. then its the heat so they standardize 9 cells and now its the throttling. i mean its a good laptop if you dont mind talking to dell every few days.

 

Now that was a funny post! hahah

And no, I am not a pro plaintiff (I'd love to be one, though). Judges are human and when a case is presented to them they will look out for the little guys. Most of these big corps use the laughable click-wrap contracts and judges know that people do not always read 10 pages of fine print. Also, those contracts aren't legal anyway - they are just companies trying to make you think they are.

Just my experience thus far with judges in PA. Maybe if you are in some draconian state then they are different???

 

Now, back on topic - has anyone heard any news or updates from Dell regarding the BIOS?

That is what I am most interested in since those updates can come pretty quick.

 

I received an email from them, they are unable to replicate the problem and asked me
"
We just need the following information for which you will not be required to send your PC to our service center .Please reply to this information as early as you can to help us to serve you better.



1. Application that are causing performance lag ?

1) Crysis game

2) Any other application ?

2. Current BIOS Version.

3. Clear photograph of the A/C Adapter with the serial number and barcode ."

@daraj
It is out of our hands, we are unable to solve the problem. Only Dell engineers can at this time.

 

@altsang-You have a wled screen right? The specs of the laptop i ordered are pretty similar to yours..Is the performance drop in your laptop similar to those laptops with RGBLED screens and the 820QM processors ?

 

Thats what I was afraid of... waiting for Dell to fix it. What a nightmare...

 

if dell fixes this i will make 100 accounts and rep them so it is +1 and new and liked. =P.

btw... if the lappy i ordered on nov 20th doesnt come with the new mobo and power supply i still get the means to send it in. which means who wants to cancel their order? just send em back if they dont work properly.

 

My Laptop got delayed until Jan 2010 hopefully it will arrive headache free. and by headache free i mean no headache and not headache included

 

I handle matters all over the country, and sometimes in Canada. To forestall the flame war, no, I do not think that it is a big deal. It just so happens that my firm has six offices and 330 lawyers, so it makes sense to our bigger clients to send us wherever something pops up instead of finding lawyers in every state.

My point is that arbitration clauses are not "routinely" thrown out. Rather, obtaining a ruling that such a clause is unenforceable is the exception to the rule. The law in most states is that you are deemed to have read any contract you sign (or, with an electronic contact, acknowledge through some action like pressing the "accept" button). I should have just let this go like the other guy said. Since this is not your gig, I understand that you have some preconceptions that you might think are correct, however general and inaccurate.

 

I was asked these similar questions last week and after going back and forth a couple of times emailing, I was issued the 130W adapter (I just received it today from Fed-ex). The funny thing is that I told them that they do not have to send it until we see if the Bios update will fix the issue and the sent it anyway.
I was dealing with the department Called the Product Group which I was told that is the group that does the testing.

My question is should I continue to use the 90W or the 130W as there seems to be some controversy in using the 130W adapter and seems to be different answers coming from Dell.

FYI,
1. Dell p/n # = JU012
2. It also has the blue light on the tip for those that asked.

 

y did u get delayed?

 

She gave the stupidest reason " Its a very popular laptop" unbelievable.
Calling again....

 

Under normal conditions it seems fine. As i do not see throttling under cpu load alone unlike some others with higher end systems. I do notice in games such as tf2 and l4d2 that it seems to be at the edge, where its being half throttled almost. Tf2 i can disable multicore rending and have improved performance due to lack of throttling, where is l4d2 is more intensive and i see no change.

Throttling still exist but its harder to achieve vs other systems, but under high gpu + cpu loads its throttled just like everyone elses. Currently at the moment im not exactly hampered by these issues. As frame rates which could be better/smoother isnt as severe as other systems it seems, and is playable. But we all know that will change as things go more multi-core and are more intensive in the future.

I should probably test and see, but i have noticed running simulations in cad and adams. there seems to be some throttling going on as performance seemed to vary. But have yet to test that.

Ive seen this configuration try to pull up to 130w+ through the wall outlet before being throttled at the very extreme cases. but no matter what i do etc everything seems to normalize to 90w ish.

Dell has been calling me back a lot recently, asking for different settings etc. And i apparently might be called by the research team investigating this issues sometime to get more information. I do believe they are looking into the matter, and the guy even mentioned sending replacements laptops out when issue is fixed. But its all speculation until they look into and find a fix. Until then we really just need to chill and give them a shot at fixing the issues before getting furious. Its okay to be dissapointed and angry, but the internet mob mentality going on here i dont think is too productive.

 

Just an update on the M17x power supply Dell P/N 330-4128. The bios won't recognize it so if refuses to charge the battery. Scores on 3dMark are worse than on the 90w. I am shipping mine back for a refund.

 

My LED LCD was replaced today by Dell engineer, very fast service, took 25 to replace the screen. I didn't ask him to replace SSD as something on my main board was making the noise - not the hard drive (something related to the memory)
Anyway I've got new RGB LCD and mainboard replacement arranged.

Still got the Power Throttle Issue when playing games.

 

for those laptops born when the 1645 was issued the only problem is heat and throttle and mice. the laptops born after they added a heatsink the problems are throttle and mice. it seems they resolved issues overtime. by mice i mean dusty bunnies crawling under the edge to edge display and having a picnic in the middle while u work/game. ill just sillicon rubber the screen shut but the thing is the last big problem on dells to do list is: THIS THREAD

 

just to confirm, the Dell 130W adapter, Dell p/n JU012 has a glowing blue tip?

 

Yes it does have a Blue Light, the Blue light Ring is just a little thinner.