Studio XPS 1645: random crash problem

The sound must mean something...it detects that something is wrong or..or it loads something ...SOMEONE must know? (someone from dell?)

 

Update: I just had the same problem (from the youtube video) WITHOUT external screen connected!!!

Just disabled the soundcard, and it stopped crashing!!
I then re-enabled the card and it crashed!!

 

At this point, I'd be interested in all of the audio related software that is listed in your Programs and Features control panel (where you can uninstall programs). I'm not sure what my original setup was, but the only two audio related items that I have left there are the IDT Audio control panel and something called the Advanced Audio FX Engine (this is on my XPS 1645). As I mentioned, I used to have the SB X-Fi MB software listed there. My lockups stopped once I uninstalled that software.

 

As mentioned before I only had IDT audio in my programs/features..i did a clean install of windows 7.
I uninstalled IDT and let it install the windows HD audio driver instead. My sound now works and it hasnt crashed yet.

However only 1 jack works now

 

exactly the same here.
no problems now but only 1 jack is working.

 

I uninstalled the Creative drivers and software last week and I stopped having freezes. So far so good.

 

Sound sucks without the IDT drivers though...stereo problems too.. please I need a fix

edit: nvm, the 3.5mm of my headset is screwed..sounds Ok now. Anyway re-installed the latest IDT from dell and trying again..

 

plz ignore this post

 

I think that this problem has nothing to do with the sound card. It's all about the ati driver and flash. I have some of those and it happens only on flash videos(youtube.com example) when watched in full screen, not all the time anyway. After crash I get the this error message from windows "the video driver crash and windows recover it" however the only way to get back is to do a hard reset.

I will try to install some modded ati drives to see is the problem fixable by video driver.

Btw, from where i can download Creative SB X-Fi MB, the IDT software suck balls badly!
http://ftp.us.dell.com/audio/

 

No, i installed 2 different ati drivers.
Also, the problem goes away when i disable my soundcard drivers. It then instantly returns when I turn it back on.
I can test it immediately by launching this game.

 

That's a separate issue. I had both issues. Playing flash full screen was solved by updating to the latest beta version of flash (I also updated my bios to A03, not sure if that was related).

Then, separately, about two months later, I solved my hard lockup problem by uninstalling the SB X-Fi MB software. The hard lockups would occur immediately after notification sounds played, so definitely audio related.

 

Are any of those getting hardlocks with midi sound using one of the recording effects? (acoustic echo etc).

I just turned on the echo effect while in-game and it insta-crashed with the midi sound

 

For me, just about any notification sound could cause a hard lockup. TweetDeck, User Access Control, new email sound, the explorer navigation sound, recycle bin, etc. And it was fairly random. I could have TweetDeck notifying once per minute for hours before the problem occurred. And it was always immediately after the sound finished playing.

I was able to play music and videos without a problem, so I don't know what notification sounds have in common.

 

I haven't had any problems for 3 days since i've disabled the echo effects etc..! /crosses fingers

 

Cool. Please report back after a week or two. More information is always helpful.

 

hi
i were about to order the xps 16 with the i7 and 4 giga ddr3, but now i read this post and another post:
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19303822.aspx
about crashes and unsolved problems with the laptop,
and i need your advice.
at this moment its seems to have any solution to the crashs?
what "dell" say about this issue?
should i buy the xps? or maybe i should buy other laptop without thise problems?
the xps crash only with the i7 proccesor? what about the i5?

 

I can only comment on the model I have, the Studio XPS 1645 (with the i7). Other than the throttling issue (which Dell is dealing with, see the throttling thread), I have been able to work through all of the various issues with this model. It was frustrating to deal with (because I experienced about five separate serious problems), but in the end it seems I finally have a stable PC. But I would highly recommend waiting just a bit while Dell fixes the throttling problem, which they are apparently in the process of doing.

Spend a little time reading the 1645 threads first before buying.

 

when you sey " the Studio XPS 1645 (with the i7)" you mean to thise laptop?
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/note...9&~oid=us~en~29~laptop-studio-xps-16-anav-2~~

when dell sell the xps now, they send it with a 90w transformator or 130w?

 

Yes, that is the laptop (I'm not sure if Dell's page shows the model number).

According to the Dell employees posting in the throttling thread, the 130W adapter will be switched in at some point, but they don't know when. It doesn't matter so much, though, since they say you won't have to return the 90W adapter to get the 130W one. I suggest reading the updated first post in the throttling thread.

 

chat with dell Dell XPS Premium Support

23:39:30 System
You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
23:39:30 System
Connected with Vandana_185005
23:39:30 Vandana_185005
Thank you for contacting Dell XPS Premium Support. My name is Vandana and my rep ID number is 185005. How may I help you today?
23:39:37 or
hi
23:39:55 Vandana_185005
Hi
23:40:02 or
im gonna pest you what i wrote to the other dell support
23:40:05 or
23:32:30 or
i want to buy the xps 16 laptop with the i7 proccesor
23:32:46 or
but i read about some problems with the laptop
23:32:55 or
unsolved problems
23:33:41 G_198092
Okay
23:33:45 or
i read about a lot of crash and freeze problem
23:33:49 or
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19303822.aspx
23:33:57 or
post from dell.com forum
23:34:04 or
read it please
23:34:29 or
i want to know if there is a solution for thise probleme
23:35:04 or
and if the xps 16 comes with 90w transformator or 130w?
23:41:00 Vandana_185005
I will be glad to check on that for you.
23:42:13 or
o.k and please show your superviser this 2 post and even send to my email a detaild answer
23:42:22 or
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193
23:42:23 Vandana_185005
The problem is only with studio XPS 1645 systems
23:42:46 Vandana_185005
I have the answers for you here
23:43:05 Vandana_185005
Current the adopter shiped is only 90W
23:43:31 Vandana_185005
This problem is observed only in a few system and our engineer team is working on this.
23:43:58 or
and thise is the 1645 system?
23:43:59 or
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193
23:43:59 Vandana_185005
Currently we are expecting a latest BIOS by end of this month which is expected to take care of the freezing issues.
23:44:24 or
wrong link
23:44:36 or
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=laptop-studio-xps-16
23:46:14 Vandana_185005
Am checking the above links .. give me 2 minutes here
23:46:34 or
o.k
23:46:37 or
ty
23:47:15 Vandana_185005
I would request you to kindly wait until the end of the month for an updated BIOS release ..
23:47:30 Vandana_185005
Unfortunately we would not be able to advice further here ..
23:48:35 or
you think by the end of the month the bios update will solve the problems?
23:49:55 Vandana_185005
We are expecting it to fix but at this point in time unable to promise on the same ..
23:50:14 or
and you will send the laptop with 130w transformator? becouse according to thise link, the 90w doing some problems.
23:50:16 or
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193
23:50:16 Vandana_185005
Kindly wait until end of the month .. am sure our engineers will come up with the solution
23:50:50 Vandana_185005
As mentioned currently systems are shipped only with 90 W
23:52:58 Vandana_185005
Please wait for our engineers to come up with the solution..

 

the crashing and the throttling happent also to the laptops with the i5 processor? if not, maybe i will buy xps with the i5

 

I have also been experiencing a random crash (freeze / total lock up) three to four times per week while on the internet. My lock up still shows the internet page (no blue or black screen) but there is no mouse control (can't even exit the page with Alt+F4). The mouse pointer can still be moved around but no click control or functionality. I usually have my audio turned off so I can't identify if the incident is related to what would have been an audio sound / effect. I will continue to figure out what is causing the issue and will follow comments from others on this thread. I also uninstalled Flash Player 10 and installed Flash Player 10.1 Beta 2. I have updated the bios to A7 and also updated my chip set.

 

With my hard lockups, the mouse cursor could never be moved. And they always occurred immediately after a notification sound played. So yours might be a bit different. You could experiment by trying a different browser.

(As I've mentioned in this thread, uninstalling the SB X-Fi MB software fixed my hard lockup problem).

 

Thanks for directing me to this thread. The last thing I did was install Flash Player 10.1 Beta 2. It will take me much longer but I want to work through one variable at a time (too many variables and I will not know which one caused what) so I will go for a few days and see if the Flash Player helped. If I get another freeze I will take the next step. Mean while I will watch to see what others are doing about the issue.

 

Hi, do anyone's lock ups involve the screen turning all a solid color with verticle stripes, and then powering down after about 20-30 seconds?

 

I see that you have Windows 7 ultimate. As a new owner of the Dell XPS Studio 16 1645, Dell has asked me to upgrade from Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate, which was not available when I made my purchase. They said that based upon my software, that I would get better performance. $370 to go to Windows 7 Ultimate.

Dell has also told me I should purchase software support, that my on site support is only for hardware. I asked why this option wasn't listed on their site at the time of purchase, and told him that Dell had always had a warranty that covered both. Rather deceptive. The rep said that it would be on the site later. He said that a one year software warranty would be $270 for one year.

Is everyone with this problem being asked to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate? Doesn't sound like I am getting any deal on it. Is everyone being told to purchase a software warranty because this system is so advanced and so complex, that one really needs the software warranty?

This is a lot of money to spend after the sale. Are people buying upgraded software and buying a software warranty, or are they going after suckers?

Thanks for any help. I am new to this mess, as my new computer is only a couple weeks old, and I just started getting mouse freezes, keyboard keys that don't work, and my first heated up processor followed by a system crash.

Thanks!

 

There's no way in heck that an upgrade to a higher version of Windows 7 is relevant here. Please look through the last two or three pages of this thread for ideas about how to handle your lockup problems. I have Windows 7 Home Premium and I experienced a number of different issues. But with the help of people here, I've been able to work through all of them.

Now if you do have keyboard keys not working, that could possibly be a hardware problem that you can't fix yourself.

But, no, an operating system upgrade is not necessary.

 

Upgrading to win 7 ultimate won't do a thing. It's just the consumer version of enterprise. You would probably never use any of the feature it includes. My lockups came from the audio driver. So I uninstalled, made sure everything was clean and reinstalled. Haven't had the issue since.

 

I just realized that I may have left out some relevant information. The Dell representative said that he looked at my programs and thought that my performance would be better if I used virtualization for my 32 bit programs. I just looked in the 32 bit program folder, and couldn't find any programs that I installed, but I did find Microsoft Office, which I purchased from Dell pre-installed. I think they may have sold me a 32 bit version. The synaptics software is in there, and I am currently getting an error message that my synaptics driver needs to be reinstalled. I see no program that I would switch to 32 bit to use, except for MS Office. Perhaps some of the mouse type problems that are being reported here might have to do with it being a 32 bit application?

There are obviously some very savy persons on this forum, and I am curious as to your opinion of virtualization (which is only available in Ultimate), and my getting a version of MS Office that goes in the 32 bit folder. It is appearing as if they want to sell me the Ultimate version so I can virtualize and use the wrong MS Office program that they installed. These are new issues to me. bit this is starting to smell.

Thanks for your input. Sorry that I forgot to mention that the purpose of Ultimate was to virtualize. Perhaps the reps are just getting a bonus for selling a new operating system and one year of software support for $600, when I have the very most expensive support option of three years of on-site service. Am I being taken, and told a bunch of bull?

Thanks again.

Richard

 

None of the crashes/freezes people have experienced here are related to the version of Windows. We've updated Flash, the BIOS, removed buggy software, drivers, etc., to solve our issues. I really wouldn't consider upgrading Windows at this point. You could always do that later if you felt you needed to. But first try to work through any issues with the operating system you have.

 

Still haven't had any crashes (2 weeks later now) after turning off the effects.. Laptop is very stable now

 

Office is only 32bit right now. Office 2010 will offer a 64bit version but it doesn't really offer much, larger spreadsheets and better security. I actually downgraded my office 2010 install to 32bit to have better compatibility with other applications that integrate with office.

Virtualization is used when you have old apps that don't work with vista or win7. It integrates pretty well but it is essentially another OS you have to maintain.

 

Just an update. I was having random freezes while browsing the internet after upgrading to A07. The mouse cursor would freeze and I wouldn't be able to do anything with keyboard, so I'd have to hit the power button to turn the machine off and then start it. I uninstalled the SB X-Fi MB software and so far no crashes.

 

That's great. Let us know if you don't have any crashes for a week or so (the freezes can be fairly random). I've gone more than a month without issues (after two months of freezes), so I know my problem is solved.

 

I have not had a lock up for three days. Although I have introduced too many variables to be sure what is really helping to resolve the issue.

1) unchecked two effects in Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB (CMSS-3D and Crystallizer).
2) Installed Flash Player 10.1 Beta 2 but subsequently auto installed an update from Adobe for Flash Player (expect it set back to 10.0.xxxxxx).
3) Installed 130w power adapter.

I hope to keep running in a stable mode without any more lock ups (I will post again if I get a lock up). After a week w/o any lock ups I will reset the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB back to default settings (check in the boxes for CMSS-3D and Crystallizer). If no lock ups after that then through process of elimination I think it would point to the 90w power adapter as the culprit.

Thanks to everybody for the help and information.

 

I thought this might be of interest to the group. I have only had one crash, but I have had six keys on the keyboard quit working, and the touchpad is losing it's ability to click. When I discussed these issues with Dell, and inquired again as to why they wanted me to install Windows Ultimate, I listened and responded, "so the reinstall isn't so much because virtualization is beneficial, but it is the reinstall that helps my computer? He responded Yes. I said is it to replace the Dell drivers and use Windows drivers, and he said Yes.

So, all of this talk about replacing drivers sounds right on. It may also be a good idea to do a reinstall, as some have done. I think recommending Ultimate was just a round-about way of saying we have some crap in our system we sold you, and we recommend a reinstall to fix the problems. Selling me on an upgrade is not as likely to get a negative response as if they tell you about the problems they are having.

Has anyone found a better notebook? When I first received it, I was wowed by the speed (i7 820, 8gb ram, 256 SSD). I am tempted to return it, but I got a great price (after being on the phone for two hours), and I know what the potential is. I just hope the heat did not cause serious heat damage across the center of my keyboard, where the keys have stopped working.

Richard

 

Seems that there hasn't been a message here since Feb 17? Has dell resovled the problem?

We are having random crashes in our 4 week old dell 1645 with I7 so we called Dell today. We upgraded our bios to A08 and video drivers. The rep said these were the only reasons it could be freezing up the mouse and requiring reboots periodically.

Has anyyone done this already. Do it work to solve the problem? We have fairly simple needs - no complicated games.

 

Like others, I was experiencing periodic freezes when I first received my laptop, probably twice a day. After uninstalling the Creative SB X-Fi MB software the problem seems to have gone away - not a single freeze since then.

 

Put me down as another person who had freezing issues that stopped when I uninstalled the X-Fi software.

 

I purchased a Dell Studio XPS 16 1645, and expressed in this forum that I would never buy another Dell, as 21 days from invoice date, when the Return Policy is not readily available, is unacceptable.

I wish to retract my statement, as Dell took the laptop back (primarily due to next day service being 10 days), but Dell did take the laptop back, and issued a full refund.

Once I made contact with level 2 support, Dell was very responsive, and I was impressed that I did not feel victimized by deductions.

Sometimes things are very frustrating, but in the end, Dell handled this very well. Sometimes one must publicly eat their words.

BTW, the Dell Studio XPS 16 1645 is one of the finest computers I have ever had the pleasure of using. Unfortunately, it is not meant to be used for 12 hours per day. The lid tends to block the exhaust vent when opened, so be careful how far you open your notebook. Hopefully, Dell will solve the heating issue, and have a killer computer. Extremely fast, good looking, it has a super cool feel to it from the back lit keyboard, face recognition, etc. It was with much regret that I had to return it.

Richard

 

Hello everybody - we bought a new Studio XPS 1645 and had the freezes right from the start. We immediately upgraded the BIOS to A7. During our first month, Dell sent a new (130 Watt) power supply, sent technicians over to replace the heat sink and the fan, then came to change the MOBO. But it still froze. I read every posting in this thread and saw one item that we did - that is to delete the software "Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB". It's been three days now and not a freeze. We will obviously keep using the machine and I will repost if another freeze pops up. This software is known to have problems w/ Win7-64. Why doesn't Dell know?

 

i have a random bluescreen too. usually when im watching a video through webbrowser like that uses flash or something. blue screen says something about atikmg.exe (dont rememeber it correctly). So its def a driver problem.

 

It might be some compatibility issue, as I remember that it needed to be installed with some Vista compatibility setting for the software to work (otherwise the control panel gave an error).

 

Thanks, Zenoru. If I can find the source file to reload the Creative program (in compatibility mode), I'll give it a whirl.
OBTW - still no freezes.

 

I was having this problem as badly as anyone - freezing up to six times per day. I updated to A08 when it became available but it didn't fix the problem. A new ATI graphics driver (8.692.1.0) became available on the Dell site around four weeks ago - I loaded it around three weeks ago and, despite leaving the laptop on 24 hours/day since then, I haven't had one freeze. I haven't done anything else (no disabling of Creative software, no reload of Windows, etc.)

This worked for me - hope it works for you. To me it looks like ATI (AMD) finally got it together and released a graphics driver that actually works!

Cheers, CG2

 

Have been advised by Dell to
1. Upgrade to A08 (was supplied with it)
2. Use a 130W power adapter they supplied (didn't help)
3. Uninstall Creative Sound Blaster (Good so far)
In between 2 and 3 I upgraded ATI graphics driver to 8.692.1.0 but had another freeze

 

getting freezes randomly now. everything just locks up.

 

I haven't seen this on my 1645 at all. I did a fresh install of Win7 when the laptop arrived.

 

I did too. It just did it again watching a video full screen. maybe its a flash program problem.

 

Same here with random freezes, the screen turns a solid color with verticle stripes and usually must be forcefully powered off or it will shutdown on its' own after a few seconds... never had Creative Sound Blaster / whatever installed, does it with 8.692.x, CATALYST upto 10.4, doesn't matter at all - I have a suspicion that it has something to do with USB and/or input devices, because if I don't use the computer very much I can obtain 20 day uptimes without a reboot, and then when I start using it again the freezes return.. I think I notice it happen most when I'm using the scroll wheel on my mouse in a web browser but really I'm not sure it matters.