S-XPS 1645 Throttling Info. and Updates

Bill,

Just want to thank you for all the info and hard work you've done. It is truly refreshing that you have done this and I really appreciate the info.

 

I agree. thanks alot.

 

Aw shucks. I just pump the gas, man. Glad to help.

 

To Dell-Bill,
Let say if I order S-XPS 1645 today and ETA is a month from now, will I get 130W adapter and updated Bios (if its ready a week from now).

Or just wait until this throttling issue solve?

 

Thank you for taking the time and effort to address your customers concerns. I think it reflects very positively on the Dell corporation, and will go a long way to maintaining/promoting customer loyalty.

 

I had sent you a PM Bill but since you box is full I'll ask it here.

What exactly is happening with the fans/exhaust vents? Are the vents/fans being changed?

 

Again... is there an issue with A06 and throttlestop? Bueller? Bueller?

 

Dell could, of course, stop selling the model for now.

Dell wants to do this quietly without attracting attention from the trade press.

 

I would like to say wait and let them sort it out. Either way you will get the BIOS and adapter.

No offense but please let's try to give them some time before we start spamming the thread with redundant questions. Maybe update the front page with an FAQ that has has an answer to all the major questions so that people will be able to look there instead of asking something that has already been answered and buried somewhere in the thread.

 

Please be more specific on non-USA procedures.. Getting AC adapters to US people is great but doesn't even fix half of the problem.
Will there be a (e.g.) European Bill signing up on NBR? I doubt they'll take the initiative themselfs.

 

Why don't you test it first and see if it works for what you need it to? (some say yes some no.)
If it matters im still using A03.

 

I think everyone just needs to wait for another announcement from Bill. As he has said many times, it is a work in progress. Let's not bombard him with questions that have been asked many times already. This is a great step in the right direction, so lets give Dell time to get the ball rolling.

 

I don't have it yet I'm just trying to anticipate whether I'll need to roll back. I thought I read that throttlestop didn't work on A06, but it wasn't clear.

 

I would wait to see what version you get, and go from there.

 

The throttling scheme in A06 is more aggressive than in A03 so ThrottleStop is not as effective. It still works though.

If you are a gamer you will likely get better frame rates with A03 + TS + 130 watts but doing some testing on the games that are important to you and monitoring your performance is always best.

 

I would advise you to wait until we get the firm update from engineering on factory cut-in for the BIOS and adapter. Those two things might come at different intervals. However, if you want to go ahead and order when we have a firm date on the factory cut-in of the BIOS and get your AC adapter through me (which means you will have 2 adapters, a 90 and a 130), you can do that as well.

Your next road marker for a decision is finding out when factory cut-in takes place. I should have a firm date some time next week. I'm probably confusing you even more, you could just go ahead and order now, get your adapter from me, and update your BIOS yourself when it comes out. That's what I'd do.

 

HILARIOUS!! For real? Oh, I just spilled my coffee laughing so hard. Attacting attention is not something we're scared of at all. Why would I be here working this thread for the last 2 or 3 days if we had something to hide. Why would we be waiting for more details to post on the front page of our corporate blog (I mentioned we were going to do this earlier) if we had something to hide? I have been in direct contact with Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from ZDNet the whole time, letting him know what was up. We have zero to hide. Sure, we messed up. Sure we made some bad decisions. We are working to correct them.

Go ahead and tell any publication you want to contact me if they want a comment or interview. They know the number to our press line, and all the folks in PR and Corp Comm who staff that line have worked with me in the past when I was in Corp Comm. I nor Dell are hiding from anyone on this one. In fact, if PR were a concern instead of open, honest transparency, I think we have a pretty good turnaround story we could feed to any number of news outlets, but we're not going down that path. We're just here, talking to you about how we're going to make this right.

That is a hilariously funny comment.

 

Only thing happening right now is I brought it up already and will be chasing details on it next week to post back here.

 

I believe this is posted on the front page of this thread.

 

Some people just think everyone is out to get them, negative by default. :\

 

There's a simple solution. Stop selling the current model and publicly announce a "recall" (of sorts), and issue 130W adapters to everyone who bought a 1645. Dell knows who those people are. And Dell knows how to issue a press release, correct?

No need for ridiculous use of the PM system.

 

These machines run fine with the 90W adapter unless they are pushed hard.

So assuming you find Dell's interest in getting us a new bios + adapters to be credible (I do), then I would make my decision based on my ability to get a deal. If it's regular price right now, maybe wait a week and see how things come with the new bios. If it goes on sale for $200 off or whatever then I'd grab it right away.

edit: Actually one other thing to consider is the (possibly) imminent release of a new and improved 1645 with a 5000 series graphics card (suggested by the notes in the A06 bios release). On the off chance it has USB3 also I would probably wait for that for a few weeks at least.

 

I think the plan is to do both things. The PM system is to give priority to NBR members before some form of general recall is done.

There are a few guys on here who already got 130W adapters through the PM system. Thats actually the gesture that convinced me that Dell is serious about solving the issue this time.

 

I think the current PM system in place is a courtesy to NBR members to get our exchanges first.

Why don't we let them firm up a true fix with a replacement policy in place before they start a massive public global announcement for any kind of adapter exchange system. A fix for most technology things don't happen over night. If it's rushed then it might cause more problem than it fixes which in the end would be even worse PR for Dell. Just give them the time to do it right, so we can all be happy with our systems. I know some of us have waited longer than others, but at least something is being done about it instead of us being completely ignored. It's definitely been frustrating, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

As people we make mistakes and companies are no different. Except when a company makes a mistake, it can affect a lot more people. Just ask Toyota. Instead of putting a spin on it, Dell has come on here and owned up to it with a plan on rectifying the situation. Let's just hope they can follow through on it. Sure they could have done so sooner, but with large companies it's often times a struggle to do things quickly as there can be several levels of management to get through with lots of red tape to finally get something rolling.

 

Does more RAM increase the throttle effect? I mean 6 compared to 4, 8 compared to 6, etc.

 

Blah, removed.

 

correct me if im wrong... but i'm pretty sure increasing the ram wont increase the throttle effect...

 

Yeah I really hope that this doesn't happen in the near future, I wouldn't want to feel my 2 month old laptop is already obsolete so soon even though it essentially is the moment you receive it.

 

The gfx upgrade I can live with, but I was gonna hold out for an Arrandale laptop until Intel suddenly announced they weren't going to build USB 3 into any of their chipsets until 2011. Then I bought the XPS 1645 (which I love) and then suddenly HP started putting USB 3 in their Elite series laptops.

The thing about USB 3 is that it supposedly makes your existing USB2 peripherals work quite a bit faster than they currently do. So there would be real value to having it even without any official USB 3 peripherals on the market.

Oh well, thems the breaks...

 

Bill, They sent me my replacement laptop, but they didn't send any way for me to send the other one back. I sent you a PM, but it sounds like it might take you a few weeks to find it, jk.

But I was just wondering if they are going to get back to me on that, are they going to send me something to ship that back with ?

 

I've had a system replaced in the past, and after some time a UPS guy just showed up to pick up the old system.

 

If I get to it, I will email you a return airbill, but the process will work itself out when the returns department contacts you with a "you need to return your system email," that you can reply to with a "you never included a return airbill" email.

 

How long after getting your replacment? I'd need something that indicates Dell sent him. A recipt or something.

I don't like the idea of just handing over my laptop to some random UPS guy.

 

lol ok, I was thinking, If Dell wants to give me a flawed laptop for free, I'm fine with that lol.

 

He had some paperwork with him, and I did get a receipt.

That would work too This probably depends on the region you're in.

 

I replied to your PM, Mitchell.

 

Bill--

First of all thanks for all of your help. I'm sure/I hope everybody appreciates that you are going through all these posts and are dedicating yourself to fix this problem.

I'm sorry if you are not the person to ask this, but oh well.
I recently ordered my 1645; it isn't scheduled to ship for another week and I was wondering if it was possible to have them just put it on hold until the problems are fixed. I'm not the MOST tech savvy and I would rather just wait and not have to install a new BIOS myself (I know... I'm lazy). I figure I would rather wait until there is a cut in date for the manufacturing (which I know might be a while off...) for the BIOS/new adapter.

Also, anybody on the forum, how hard is it to install a new BIOS?

 

All you need to do is download a file from dell website and run the executable, just like when you install iTunes or Firefox, just run the program and the rest is done for you, all you might have to do is agree to something or confirm, also make sure you don't shut the computer off, it will warn you about that though, so ya... it's pretty simple

 

I believe it takes a couple clicks to download, and a double-click to install (note: I might me missing a few clicks here and there)... It's quite easy to do actually. I just think there are a few prerequisites, like making sure your battery and adapter are plugged in, but I'm sure you can handle it with finesse Swolk...lol

Wezley_91 beat me to it, pardon the double-post

 

Bill, I held off ordering one of these because of throttling. If order one within the next month, I assume it will be with a 90W adapter?

Also I am in the UK and noticed the last bios release notes mentioned " support for new GPU" I guess this is the new ATI DX11 chips. Could you find out when they are due please?

 

O nice thanks I just went to the dell website to check it out it looks super easy/basic.
thanks

guess I should try to get my post count up then...

Thanks again Bill...

 

I apologize, but I could not resist and had to share this, i clicked on the alienware deals banner. Alienware Studio XPS 16?!?!?

 

HTML:

Hello Everyone. Dell-Bill here has been working pretty hard lately in trying to sort things out for us 1645 owners (Thanks Bill) .
Ive been a quiet observer for the most part, and i have followed closely this thread, but i feel as though i cant sit still and not say something. So here it is....

1)This thread is about the 1645 Throttling Issue, so we shouldnt have to see posts about things that arent related to this issue. Simply a suggestion to keep the already convoluted thread a little simpler to follow. Lets not have 200 post about * hypothetical,possible future purchases of 1645's and if they will have the fix in a month, or two or six*. He has already addressed it and has said to stay tune for an official announcement. Use the search function or start a new thread.

2)Give Dell-Bill a break, he is giving us prompt updates as to the situation, and as he said earlier he will let us know when to proceed. He has been kind enough to let us know what is going on, and what to expect in the coming days, which is a hell of a lot more information that we wouldnt have known if he didnt come post it. So lets retract our attack claws, as Bill is our friend, not our enemy. He is trying to help.

Now dont get me wrong, I am as anxious as you all are to get the fix ASAP. However, annoying the hell out of him not only makes his job alot harder than it already is, but it wont resolve a thing as it wont make the fix be released any sooner. So i kindly suggest we back off a little, stop asking questions not relating to the issue at hand, and be a little more patient, as we all have been for the past 3 months.

*cough*..........now on to business once more.

 

I don't think they can "hold" the orders. They can cancel it or it can go into production but once its in the production queue it's going to be built and shipped out.

Don't worry about installing a BIOS update. They're pretty simple these days. You'll just download it and run the update, follow the prompts, and you're good to go.

Which reminds me, one thing we'll need to do is find out the URL of the download and post it up for you guys once it is line.

Do you guys (and girls, not meaning to be sexist here. ) think that maybe a short tutorial on downloading from our D&D site, and how to run the installer package would be useful for your NBR members?

I'm thinking of doing one for the Dell Forums when it goes live and I can either copy it here or link back to what I do. I know we have a wide variety of tech savvy members on DCF.

 

Sounds like a good idea. You need to contact "atlstang"
as he is the one who can post it on the front page along with the link. Im just guessing though, probably should ask atlstang about it.

 

A quick question: have existing 1645 orders been delayed because of the imminent adapter cut-in?

I placed my order at the start of January. The EDD was Feb 4th, but it was still "In Production." When I phoned to check, they said the order was pushed to Feb 26th because a part was on backorder. When I asked what part was holding it up, they wouldn't tell me. I'm getting extremely frustrated waiting this long.

Just wondering if the delay is due to the adapter, or issue itself. Thanks!

 

I think it sounds kinda scary for people that haven't done one before. So a video showing how simple it is wouldn't hurt.

I remember the BIOS update I did on my first laptop, I was running about 10 apps, I expected the application to ask for an blank CD or something. Bam it was doing the upgrade right there with all that stuff running. I was thinking, this is a quick way to brick a system. But it finished without a hitch.

I just wish that it would give you more of a chance to do something after you double click the exe. I certainly wasn't expecting it to flash while running in windows.

 

I don't think so, Sounds like we will be the first to know. I'm guessing we will have the problem fixed before they switch up the build process. I would imagen that would take some time to do.

I think they should start shipping with the 130watt however, despite the BIOS. The BIOS is software that can easily be DLed and installed. Whether that's what they are doing or not is anyones guess.

 

Thanks for that. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I like to play every now and then. I just want my system to run as advertised.

 

Yeah the BIOS updates for this particular laptop are a breeze, compared to my desktop (updating that BIOS makes me often wonder if the thing will ever come back on). Actually I've never had a system with so easy of BIOS updates.