The DELL Studio XPS 13 horror thread

I owned Dell XPS 1330, 1530, inspiron 1420, inspiron 1525, which all had their share of problem but acceptable. Recently bought a sony vaio SR 290 with P8400, LED ant ATI 3470, OMG, not a single problem at all from the sony, stable, cool under heavy load, quiet, was eyeballing the Studio 13 and came across this threat, glad I got the sony instead.

 

The key word is 'acceptable'. That is how I feel about my M1530. But the issues with this new serries are far from acceptable.

Good call on the Sony. And your comments on the Sony are nothing like the comments we are getting here at NBR regarding the Studio XPS 13.

Just read this thread. Just read the other threads on the front page. This forum is getting bombarded with Studio 13 problems. And not the kind of problems that you can fix. The issues that people are reporting are just ridiculous.

I really feel bad for the people that get stuck with one of these bombs.

 

So, I'm guessing nobody has been able to resolve the BSOD-from-updates issue with a clean reinstall of the OS? How screwed am I if I don't return within the allowed time? I mean, I can still work on it, it just BSOD's me on startup every...5th time on average (so far because I've only turned it on like 10 times).

 

What does it actually say?

It should tell you what file/s is/are actually failing.

 

Yeah, that's a bit weird. I've never had a BSOD on mine and I've run all the updates. Win Vista Home Premium 64, fresh install.

 

I've had my 1340 lock up a few times now. I've had the same freeze-on-wake problem as others have described, although not consistently. (I'm still running the factory installation of Vista Home Premium 64-bit.)

I also had a BSOD (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) after applying the latest batch of Windows updates. Just the one, and it booted normally and finished the update afterward.

I noticed in the BIOS that the SATA controller is in AHCI mode by default. I've had some past experience that AHCI and Vista don't always play well, but when I set it to ATA mode Windows bluescreens and won't boot.

Has anybody owned any other laptops running Vista with the main hard drive in AHCI mode without similar problems?

Edit: check that; the latest round of updates causes Windows to bluescreen every time I boot. I had to roll back to a restore point. It's starting to look like a fresh install might be the best course.

 

I suggest you reinstall windows, download the drivers that apply to you from the dell website (the latest) and install them.

Mine froze twice in the first 1-2 hours of use, one while making a restore point for updates, and one right after downloading a file.. However I've reinstalled Windows, installed the latest drivers and I have no freezes, BSODs, or issues with sleep.

For the nVidia drivers google Studio Xps 13 176.86 (the 176.90 on dell's site do not work).

The freezes also occured on the AO3 bios (came on the laptop) so I downloaded the AO2 from dell's site and installed that (it says it's newer than my current version). Haven't had any problems since.

 

Is there anyone who has this laptop and doesn't have this problem?

I ordered a Studio XPS 13 just the other day before reading this horror thread and man am I bummed! I really feel for all of you who are stuck with this computer and cannot send it back. I sent an email to Dell today to cancel my order... but I'm kinda sad because I thought this laptop would be really good. The only thing I thought was wrong with it was the shiny color - why not matte? Would have been killer. There isn't another 13" out there that's like it for the same price -only the sony 13" and it costs more, plus my boss has one and I don't really like it. And sony is notorious for installing crapware... but with the audio driver stacsv.exe seems almost as bad!

The sales rep called me right up after getting my email and suggested I get another model and tried to convince me that the DPC latency issues were a driver problem and would be fixed soon. I wasn't really impressed.

Thing is I really want this laptop... but again you can't polish a turd right? Is there anyone out there who hasn't had a problem with their computer? I guess if there was they probably wouldn't be checking this forum... either that or they have the problem and they don't know about it.

FYI: This is the email I sent dell.... - thanks to all for your contribution!

Hi Neetu,

Thank you for all your help, however, I now want to cancel my order because there are just SO MANY reported problems with the Studio XPS 13 including the very well known and widely publicised DPC Latency spikes that Dell laptops are known for within the community. The Studio XPS 13 is known to suffer from the DPC latency spike problem, as well as numerous other problems such as freezing-up and an issue with the audio drivers installed (namely: stacsv.exe) which takes up 50% of the CPU - an entire core of the duel core processor - from start-up. I have also heard there are many issues with the laptop becoming very hot.

Because none of these issues have been resolved and because has dell support has not provided anyone in the world wide community with any help for any of these matters, and do not seem very willing to either, I feel the only sensible thing to do is cancel this order.

If you are you able to provide me written assurance that the Studio XPS 13 I have ordered has non of the above and below stated problems – signed and mailed by someone very senior at Dell and provides a written promise of a full refund and reimbursement for any interest accumulated as a result of the finance agreement for the entire 3 year warranty period ONLY THEN will not cancel this purchase.

Please let me know what you can do.

Thanks and kind regards,
Julian

Please see the following:

Details of DPC latency spikes on the Studio XPS 13: http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19260011.aspx

Details DPC latency spikes on a number of Dell laptops which is clear evidence this is a well known and unresolved issue:
http://en.community.dell.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx?q=xps+studio+13+dpc+latency

Review of the laptop that details how the audio drivers were found to hog 50% of the CPU at start-up:
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/notebooks/dell/studio_xps_13/276789

Review of Studio XPS 13 from user who had so many problems they had to return it: http://www.binaryturf.com/dell-studio-xps-13-review/

The Dell Studio XPS 13 horror thread detailing DPC latency spikes, audio driver issues causing 50% of the CPU to be used up from boot up with no programs running, computer freezes and issues waking from sleep mode:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=348918&page=8

Quotes:
"- Stacsv.exe service (responsible for automatically detect where you plug the earphones) goes to 50 % of CPU all the time after startup ( it chokes one of the 2 cores) and there's a lot of people having the same issue with this Audio card, just search the inet, I disabled the service and this seems to fix it for the moment...

- if you close the cover of the XPS, when reopened, the earphones, no longer works...you need to reinstall the IDT drivers in order to make them work again or....I temporarily fix it by installing an older driver version (6.10.0.6047,A08 just look for the R196492.exe file in Dell repository), but this sounds no good to me, anyway...

General problem

Freeze !!! Freeze !!! Freeze !!! Freeze !!! Freeze !!! Freeze !!! Freeze !!!

Today it freezed up at least 10 times, in random situations....just after booting, or scrolling an IE page, or just running VmWare.

The notebook got completely stuck, so the only chance is to forcely shut it down.

Last but not least....if you go to http://www.thesycon.de/eng/free_download.shtml
download and run the free, tiny utility to measure the DPC Latency, I had the pleasure to see that my brand new XPS is flawed with latency problems, unlike is older and slower Inspiron 6000" - Biko65

"Biko65, save yourself some aggravation, and return that thing if you are still in the time frame. The freezing problems alone are pretty much all that I would need to return it before another day go's by." - slowdown117

"I've had my 1340 lock up a few times now. I've had the same freeze-on-wake problem as others have described..."

"Man, if more people come up with these problems, I might cancel or return. That's ridiculous that Dell would ship such a problem-ridden laptop." theguac

"The problem I have tends to arise when I put the laptop into Vista's sleep mode. It hangs after it sits in sleep more for about 30 minutes. Basically, the XPS media control touch buttons do their little dance show, then the laptop hangs and doesn't respond. I have to do a reset with the power button."

"Yeah I had mine freeze, but only once. It freezes every time I use the eSATA port though." - Nition

"wow id return it if i were you." - tianxia

"yes Biko65 ,,, i was having many many freezing situation before for like every 10 mints or so ,,, after i reformat the whole hard drive and repartition it and make fresh windows install , the problem still there but a bit better now it freezes up once every 3 - 4 hours, its nor periodically issue its just frequents as 4 or 5 times a day which is for me still frustrating." - aeasaeas

"I'm Martin from the Netherlands and I received my 1340 last week.
When starting to use it freezed almost immediately...
The freezing happened frequently since then.
When my screen is going to sleep...I can't activate it anymore with my keypad/keyboard. In both cases I can only use the powerbutton to stop the laptop..and start it again..

Last wednesday I had a 3 hour checkup with a very friendly (probably) Indian guy and he also update the bios (to A03 version). Since then..the freezing frequence became lower...but it still freezes once and a while..the sleep Issue is still existing.

I'm also thinking about returning this laptop." - Martin Jansen

"I have the same problem my friend." - rejox

"Martin - I would return that thing while you are still in the grace period. If you wait, Dell will make sure that you are stuck with it. New machines are NOT supposed to behave that way. I am predicting the worst fiasco of Dell's history with this new series." - slowdown117

 

To be fair though, many of your quotes are from people who don't even have an XPS 13. Your first quote can be fixed just by reinstalling the audio driver. The eSATA problem has been fixed, see here. Most of the time the freezing is fixed by formatting and reinstalling. Most people aren't getting BSODs.

Latency is not fixed and the outlook isn't too good, we're looking at it here.

 

Thanks for your reply. It's true - many of my quotes are from people who don't have an xps 13. To be fair I really shouldn't have included them. Thanks for picking that up. At the time I didn't know there were fixes for these problems, and I'm very happy to hear that there are. I'm thinking of not cancelling my order now actually. Let's hope the latency issue gets resolved.

 

I think I may have posted in the wrong place to begin with as despite a detailed (I think) post I got no responses. So here goes:

Is there anyone here who has similar experiences or can offer any advice?

Thanks & Regards.

 

1. Get a replacement PSU asap, might be something wrong on the grounding, the voltage or whatever, which could damage your ic's in the computer as well (worst case)

2. Reinstalled graphics drivers? If not, remove the ones you have, instead of just installing new ones over the old ones. Try the old ones as well.

3. Get a replacement screen, no point to settle with a broken screen on a new laptop.

Have you tried reinstalling the OS as well? If not that seems to help with most of the S-XPS issues. If nothing works, claim dead/broken on arriaval and demand a new comp.

 

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply

 

Grr,

I have a Studio XPS 13, and I would be extremely wary of replacing the screen. I replaced mine because of a small scratch on the screen's plastic surface, and ended up going through 2 bad replacement monitors. The first replacement had backlight problems (along with a few specks of dust in it), and the second had one of the power/standby light rings broken. All 3 of these screens had a slightly rough/frayed top edge. On top of this, replacing the screen requires taking apart the ENTIRE computer, including the palmrest/keyboard and the antenna wires, power wires, display wires, etc. If going this route, pray to god your service tech treats your computer the way you would. My service tech scratched it up nicely, leading to even more replacement parts (which had THEIR own problems). I'm also hearing strange noises coming from my computer that I never heard before.

I have finally gotten Dell to replace my entire laptop. Please, save yourself the time and trouble, and ignore the specks of dust or whatever it may be.

Also, I can vouch a clean install of Vista of this computer; it really does fix BSODs and random freezes.

 

Hi all,

Just bought a new sxps 13 despite knowing the problems with the first run of the machines. It really is one of the most powerful 13in on the market, and thats exactly what I wanted.

To my question: anyone know if there are any changes to the second run/third run of these laptops? Mine is in production now, and was hoping to hear that Dell wisened up and worked out the kinks in the later runs.

 

no clue.. ive been wondering the same thing.. reminds me of the 1st run of blackberry bolds.. they had issues, ive got one from the 3rd run bc i broke my OG one and its way better then the 1st run.

 

So both hinges are supposed to light up at the same time?
Beacuse atm only my left one is illumated when the compputer is on.

 

both of my hinges are on right now..so yes

 

Nice, so my xps techguy i spoke to tricked me, according to him its just the left one that should be on

 

haha those sneaky sneaks!

 

Hi, and thanks for the reply. The engineer came out today and indeed my fears were realised as I have now read you have confirmed the same. The top of the screen on this one is also frayed but at least now I know it wasn't just my laptop... The engineer took good care and was a nice man so no harm done. I have also managed to trade 3 specks of dirt (which look like dead pixels) for 1 speck.

I shall proceed with the vista reinstall when I have the time *sigh* It may have to be the weekend. Since my last post I have tried installing every new driver from Dell's website to no avail, still stuck in Save Power mode.

I'll report back once I've fresh installed Vista

 

Glad to see the replacement worked out okay.

 

Hey peeps,

I totally forgot to reply after my fresh install!

Anyway, here goes. Before the fresh install I decided to download the entire set of drivers and apps from the Dell support site. I then proceeded to delete each partition, format and clean installed Vista.

I could go through each option but in summary it works like it should have on day 1 bar for a single remaining problem. Note: I finally figured out what caused the block to the SLI mode changing - USB-VGA driver for a usb docking station. Despite the vga port not being utilised the accompanying driver with the dock software caused this. The fix was to download a separate ethernet-usb driver to allow me to use the rest of the dock functionality

The remaining issue is the DPC latency spikes. It really is a disappointment. Has anyone yet discovered a fix for this? Disabling the wireless does create a small average drop but the high and regular spikes remain. Pops and dropouts when listening to classical music is very aggravating!!!

Anyone?

 

There's no fix, but here's the main thread on it.

At this point it's probably a chipset or BIOS issue - not something you can just turn off, but possibly something Dell can fix if they feel like it.

 

IS IT TRUE, that the immense heat released at the back which is then being redirected by the lid would cause decolouration of the surface of the screen??

Here's a pic I found from a review that described the problem.


Does that happen to you guys who own the laptop? If this is the case, this is an extremely big design flaw and I would totally change my mind about buying this problematic laptop. Imagine it turns black after a year of use... Now that's horror.


Thanks anyway, Dell.

 

If it turns color after a year=new laptop=sweet...

Like an automated exchange program, like leasing a car, but with no future payment books...

 

Exactly as I see it.. Thats what 3 years of warranty are for

 

ive got NO problems here lol, you guys must have some busted builds

 

Ya, thats not discoloration. The samsung LEDs is darker near the bottom, but mine is not nearly as bad. It surprises me how ignorant some notebook "reviewers" are *cough* cnet

 

Once thing that may be in common with all these machines having the DPC Latency issue is TSST DVD±RW drives.

Would anyone be willing to try and either disable or physically remove the drive (I know it will be tougher because it is slot load but it can be done with some patience) and test with DPC tool to see if it resolves the issue.

These drives have been a problem for a few folks and issues have been resolved by swapping them out with other makes. If this is it this notebook could be a really awesome package capable of just about anything besides heavy gaming.

 

I didn't cancel my order after all and got the computer. reinstalled the OS straight away.. and I gotta say this computer is sweeeet! I love it and have no problems with it.... other than.... A - the DPC latency spike issue which is crap - and B - I have a problem with running a 64bit guest OS under both VMware and M$ Virtual PC - I've enabled VT in the bios but still having no joy. VMware reports that my cpu does support VT but it's not enabled - even when it is in the bios. I'm still working on it and looking for a solution so I dont know if it's a flaw in the bios or if there is a fix and I haven't found it yet. would love to hear from anyone who is running 64bit guest OS on theirs.

And about the heat issue... the last laptop I bought was an IBM A31p when it first came out in 2003 - top of the line back then 1.8gig P4 with 2gig ram - and it was a very nice laptop. in fact it still is - still runs just fine. And... it runs JUST AS HOT! Always has... so I hardly know the difference. The IBM lasted me 4 years - i've been using a company laptop more recently - the IBM is just gathering dust - but whatever, it was good... the dell is good... and the IBM still works fine even though it ran just as hot for years - so I think the studio xps 13 will do me down the the ground for the next few years. Thanks dell... please fix the DPC latency issue though! Should that get fixed and I find a fix for the VT issue - this is the best little laptop about! other than the sony which costs a BOMB! I couldn't believe when i calculated the cost of almost the same spec as the dell on the sony... holy dodo. what a waste of money.

 

I am running fedora and I enabled VT in BIOS and VirtualBox reports i have VT and enables it when I run my guest XP OS. I dont have a 64 bit guest to try it though.

 

Just got done reading through your thread. Bought the Dell Studio XPS 13 (1340) from Best Buy in Chicago last week.

The first one I brought home had three system hang/lock-ups during Vista setup. I returned it to Best Buy in the morning and they handed me a replacement (took 10 minutes, which was nice).

The new one has been *great*--for a week. Then I've started getting system hangs! About once a day. No rhyme or reason. Had to fix errors via chkdsk (which wouldn't run on reboot until I dealt with a corrupted chkdsk Vista file... this apparently is a vista problem though--found plenty of general help via Google)

Am looking to diagnose the system hangs, so I landed here.

I don't want to have to return this laptop: I like its specs and its design!

Am about to update my BIOS to A04. Has this helped anybody?

Other tips on diagnosing the system hangs are appreciated. Did not do a clean install of Vista (but would hate to: I just spent 5 days installing my life back on this thing)

 

clearly your reading skills are lacking.. all the hangups and bsods will be resolved by formatting and doing a clean install of vista.

 

olks...I went ahead despite the fact that everyone has had so many issues.

I went to Best Buy last night and picked up the XPS 1340

My main purpose is to use this laptop with Reason 4 and Sonar 8 paired to a M-Audio profire 610 interface. This laptop was just to good of a deal for me to pass up. I am fairly experienced with computers and have built a few whitebooks from ASUS and Intel in the past including the more recent Santa Rosa platforms.

I brought the book home and first thing first...loaded the latest A04 BIOS.

Then I loaded up a fresh copy of 32-bit Vista business (this is our Volume liscence) and and loaded all the most recent drivers available from Dell.

Loaded up Reason and Sonar 8 and then went to testing. DPC latency is exactly the same as other reported 4 green then 1 red bar.

I removed everything I could from the notebook besides RAM and CPU as well as disabling everything I could while being able to boot in the BIOS which had no effect on DPC.

I also purchased a DYNEX firewire 400/800 s port express card which installs fine but still does not let me record without pops and clicks. I was hoping this little card would yield better results but it did not.

I am about to try and install XP SP3 to see if that will get me anywhere but I'm afraid this is something Dell must address...and given that their notebooks have had a history of these issue being fixed 90% of the time by the end-user community I'm not too hopeful. The Nvidia MCP79 chipset doesnt help either since it so new.

This book is nice and fast but ti does run HOT! even with the latest BIOS and while doing minimal tasks. I'm not sure if I feel like having to undervolt this to to the temps of the Lenovo U330 or Sony SR and Z series...rant

I have 2 options at this point.

1. Return and buy a more expensive Sony VAIO

2. Try and find a USB based device like the E-MU 0404 or something that people have stated works despite the latency issu

 

For those of you who has the 9500GE graphics card option, does the XPS run hot on idle? This is because it should switch from the 9400 to the 9200 to safe power and should also use less energy (less heat released).

When you guys mean "very hot", is it possible to put it on your lap while doing stuff like web surfing? I need opinions from people who own the 9500 and the 9400, just to see the difference.

 

yeah it doen't run too hot when you're just browsing the net... i've got mine on my lap now and it's warm for sure, not as cool as my toshiba, but I had an IBM which ran just as hot as this and really its fine. it's only the left side where the air vent that gets hot and i just push that bit off my lap when its really hot.

Still hoping someone out there has got a 64bit guest OS running under VMware or Virtual PC and would like to tell me how I might be able to get it working... please anyone? Would be hugely appreciated.

 

This laptop's exhaust is like a blowdryer on low speed high setting...you cannot touch it without needing to pull away if you are doing any gaming, audio work anything besides browsing.

This laptop is hotter that 80% of the laptops out there that I have shopped in the past 3 months. I usually load up Prime95 at the store to test.

I am not trying to dog this book but people need to know this is much hotter that most laptops you would want on your lap...if you are wearing shorts and the vent touches your skin it almost burns it is so hot.

Browsing isn't too bad for a short period but the fact that the intake is on the bottom means you block that when it is on your lap making it warm up rather quickly.

And whomever had the P4 laptop (these have a much higher power draw and should be hotter...this laptop is generations ahead and should not be producing the same kind of heat and old P4 would is crazy(which were joked about the community as being toasters)


Besides the heat everything rocks...but yeah don't fool yourself this laptop is hotter than most.

The Sony Vaio's with the same processor setup and a 9300 Nvidia card is about 10-30 degrees cooler than this book.

 

I purchased and recieved my Studio XPS 13 last week and I have to disagree about it's temperatures. I've owned several laptops in my day and this is not even close to the heat output of some of the laptops on the market today. By comparison, several of my family members own the new VAIO Z-Series and that thing heats up like an oven. During my last visit home, my mother had purchased a laptop cooler to put under her Z-series because it was getting too hot.

By comparison, my SXPS13 is warm to the touch for most tasks (ie browsing, word processing, photoshopping) for hours, but obviously runs a little hot when gaming.

I honestly do not know what the above poster is referring to, I feel like I own a completely different laptop model than him. It's possible that I have the newer batch of the SXPS which don't suffer from any of the problems described in this thread.

Overall, I am very.. very impressed with this laptop. Coming from a sturdy thinkpad I used for several years, this thing provides the same form factor in some style. I've turned a lot of heads bringing this thing out during my travels on planes and trains. Plus, the 9cell battery lasts ~7-8 hours for me if my settings are right.

 

I am completely agree with misplacedaj. When gaming my SXPS13 reached 76 degree C. and graphic is about 84. Browsing and others is around 30-46 and graphic is 55-68. I am using this laptop without udervolting so i am going to try it when i have time.

 

I would like to know what Dell is doing about the issue with just 2.3 GB of main memory available to Vista 32-Bit.

I would expect them to ship
. Vista 64-Bit as a free upgrade
. or if they prefer Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition 32-Bit, which also allows to use the entire 4GB due to PAE

Is that the case?

I'm very well aware about the restrictions of Vista 32-Bit regarding 4GB support: The graphics card is only sharing some minor part of the main memory and due to the way the WDDM driver model is designed it does that in a rather sophisticated and smart way. The big reduction of usable memory comes from the fact that the hybrid SLI graphics solution occupies precious adress space.

However the difference is: A 32-Bit system with 3 - 3.5GB main memory usable roughly equals a 64-Bit system with the entire 4GB available from a user experience perspective. This is due to the fact of the higher foot print of the 64-Bit OS. The lost usable memory did not matter up to know.

With just 2.3GB memory usable that is different: People are trying to launch VM machines here, which is almost impossible with 2.3 GB in practise. Yes 700MB - 1GB more usable do make such a big difference here.

I'm also very well aware that there exist two ways of using the lost 2.3 - 4GB adress space:
a) a commercial RamDisk for US$ 49.95, which would be better spent in Vista 64-BIt
b) a bloody hack
Both have the disadvantage of being very impractical for notebooks: It comes down to not being able to use hibernate anymore. Since everything you might want to put in the RamDisk (pagefile, temp files), will be lost after resume.

So what does Dell do about that? I'm very convinced that this slipped unrecognized into the product design: If you just add components, you not necessarily are aware of these consequences. In may eyes giving away 64-Bit Vista for free is the only acceptable resolution.

Has anybody information about that?

The online shop now lists both versions having the same price:


Do those that chose the 32-bit version in the first place get a free 64-bit upgrade? I can't prove, but I think when the studio xps 13" has been introduced the 64-bit version was not available - at least it was not the default.

EDIT: I'm not even an SXPS 13" user (but a XPS 13" one). Still I'd like to know to help others with this issue.

 

Just call Dell support and they send u 64-bit install media, with 64-bit windows i have 3837 MB of 4 gb available.

 

It was not default, but 64 bit has been a free option for at least since early Feb when I started eyeing these. Ultimately, I think the responsibility lies with consumers needing to be informed about what they are getting, and why. I chose 64 bit because I knew what it was and why I needed it.

Pretty sure that it is not fair to Dell to expect them to give away 64 bit OS discs just because people did not know that they should order 64 bit to take full advantage of the memory. Also, when they started offering only 4 G on the EPP site, the 32 bit option went away.

64 bit discs are $10 from Dell, and I think that that is a fair price to teach the lesson of becoming a more informed consumer. IMO...

 

I have a huge slew of issues wiith my XPS 13.
Random BSOD's, which i think after my own troubleshooting is the ram.
Will run Memtest on it later to be sure.
Also have a random problem wiith the CPU going to 100% for no obvious reason. Not even task manager is explaining it.
Am going to clean reinstall again with Ultimate 64Bit instead of 32Bit to see if that helps.
Or maybe i'll throw on 7 and then all my problems can be explained wiith the OS

 

this may needs it's own thread and I'll post also on the DPC latency spike thread - but it effects every SXPS1340 owner and could be the solution to the DPC latency issues - we hope! The latest version of the Phoenix BIOS on the dell website is A04. I went to the Phoenix website to check if there was a more up to date version directly from the manufacturer and sadly they only offer a piece of software that scans your computer and tells you if you need a bios update - and to get the update you need to pay $29. Anyway I ran the software and indeed it does say the bios for the computer is not the most up-to-date Phoenix BIOS available for the computer....? Could it be that if I installed the updated bios they offer that could solve the issues of DPC latency spikes & the issue with virtualisation technology not being enabled? I thougth I'd put it to the forums before I paid the £29. What do you guys think? - here's the link to the bios software: http://biosagentplus.com/?ref=29&PHPSESSID=osqkq8o6ud10p7ijjiaau6t857

And yes I hear you cry... biosagentplus.com??? that's not the official phoenix.com website - however if you go to www.phoenix.com and then click on the main page 'bios update' that's the page you are taken to - they are the official bios update and support centre for phoenix.

 

they will just take your money and then once you actually try and update it will not work. You need a BIOS from DELL not phoenix...they do not program BIOS for these laptops only the manufacturer. What they do is provide the manufacturer with a means to an end.

 

Dell has left a bad taste in my mouth (2nd time buyer, first purchase was a XPS 420, I love my Dell Desktop, can't say that about my first laptop purchase from Dell). I first attempted to purchase the XPS Studio 13 on 1/12, and waited a whole month (due to an accessory holding up the order, & no one couldn't tell me that @ Dell as to why the order took so long) before they shipped it out on 2/24. Then when I get the laptop, the lid didn't close flush, one side of the lid had a centimeter gap, while the other side laid flush. On top of that, the battery had to be given extreme force to take it out. So I called Dell & they issued a replacement, once I received the 1st replacement laptop, the lcd screen has hundreds of dead pixels!.. Where is the quality control on these laptops! Seems like Dell doesn't believe in making a superior product, just one with subpar build quality. After receiving the two defective laptop, Dell sent out the 2nd replacement, this time the laptop seemed ok at first, until I attempted to use the slot loading disc drive. It wouldn't feed in any disc I attempted to put in it and mad a grinding noise when it tried. So once again I'm back on the phone w/ Dell's helpless support people. After being transferred around 7 time to the wrong department (India gets a "F" in support, I'm sure many of you feel the same way!).. I finally had to call the sales team, and finally had the issue escalated to the "Escalation Team". They called back within 24 hours, and really didn't offer much choice but to return the laptop for a full refund, including accessories that I purchased that lapsed past the 21 day return policy. I really like the laptop and all of the features it had. Compared to other brands, Dell has the most features for your dollar. Too bad they can't build a superior product! So I'm a returning the laptop, I guess I will wait a month or so to buy this laptop again. Hopefully by then the quality assurance improves!!..

 

First off I just want to say I feel the pain of everyone out there with this computer. I myself bought mine from bestbuy with the 'black tie protection' which does nothing for anybody. My biggest issuese besides the occasional freezing was the lag spikes. After hours of research (many of those on this website, notebookreview FTW!) I figured out many ways to test my connection. Anyways enough on history. OK so for the solution.

I TRIED EVERYTHING you can think of. This is what solved my issues. Update the Bluetooth driver. There are two on dells website so becareful. Download the 1/10/2009 version 6.1.0.4402, A06. Its about 70MB so it will take a few minutes to download and install. Install it and restart your notebook. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE 1/21/09 driver, as it will force you to do a windows update, which in turn will cause a Blue screen of DEATH next time you restart and you will have to do a system restore to an earlier date, so to save you some time I add this warning. I personally also disabled trend micro which helps on my speed a little bit. On a personal note I leave bluetooth on, because I believe disabling it produces my 'lag'

There you have it folks. AFTER about 24 hrs of whole research and countless hours with dells USELESS and BestBuys USELESS tech "support" The issue is resolved. On another note, DO NOT BUY the BestBuy 'black tie protection' it is useless. Why you say? They will not help at all you have to ship out your system FOUR (4) times before they can replace it with the same or comparable system. What is a comparable system you say since all dell studio 13's are lemons you might ask? There isnt one! They will give you a USED Display model, most likely a bulkier, slower HP, according to Black Tie Customer Support. DO NOT CALL DELL! The whole XPS 'premium' support is garbage, they do not know what they are talking about. They will make you buy a new router and call your ISP when its their computer parts (atheros 1515 wireless card) that is garbage. God I can rant forever, but Ill leave that for another thread. Next a few notes for non-believers.

I did run DPCLAT test which still shows a lag spike every about 5th second or so, but I believe this is a program issue compatability with vista. All you gotta do is a simple 'ping' command test which will show your connection time from your pc to your router. For those who need more instructions let me know.

FOR GAMERS. I play WoW and Warcraft 3 online, so I felt that lag pain. No longer! My lag is below 30ms response on wireless!!! now thats good, better than my desktop pc on a direct connect. To prove it here is my before fix tracert and after:

TRACERT BEFORE FIX:
1 593 ms 748 ms 88 ms home
2 1365 ms 14 ms 174 ms bras2-l0.sndgca.sbcglobal.net [151.164.184.144]
3 12 ms 13 ms 12 ms dist2-vlan50.sndg02.pbi.net [63.200.206.131]
4 30 ms 11 ms 14 ms 151.164.94.4
5 16 ms 17 ms 16 ms 151.164.171.222
6 69 ms 17 ms 285 ms gar6.la2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.79.109]
7 102 ms 210 ms 42 ms 12-122-254-66.attens.net [12.122.254.66]
8 43 ms 18 ms 17 ms mdf001c7613r0004-gig-12-1.lax1.attens.net [12.129.193.246]
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.

As you can see LAG off the charts causing over 3000ms or over 3 seconds response time from WoW server.

AFTER FIX TRACERT:
1 2 ms 2 ms 1 ms home
2 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms bras2-l0.sndgca.sbcglobal.net [151.164.184.144]
3 13 ms 11 ms 11 ms dist2-vlan50.sndg02.pbi.net [63.200.206.131]
4 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 151.164.94.4
5 14 ms 15 ms 15 ms ex2-p9-1.eqlaca.sbcglobal.net [151.164.38.162]
6 16 ms 17 ms 15 ms gar6.la2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.79.109]
7 18 ms 16 ms 17 ms 12-122-254-66.attens.net [12.122.254.66]
8 18 ms 18 ms 16 ms mdf001c7613r0004-gig-12-1.lax1.attens.net [12.129.193.246]
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.

AS YOU CAN SEE 1 Billion percent better results. So there you have it. If you are still having issues with this, I did a few other minor adjustments to my pc that maybe helped. For Now I will not touch anymore of my settings on a risk of reproducing the LAG.

It sucks I fixed it yesterday right after ordering a brand new Intel Pro/Wireless 5300 AGN from CHINA!!! Oh well, I might still install and compare results. Questions? Just reply to this thread.

Cheers.

 

DPC Latency and network latency are two DIFFERENT things my friend.

They are not related in any way and Vista is not the cause. There are tons of machines running Vista that can pass the DPC test.

Nobody likes misinformation

 

Like it says under my name I am by no means a comp. expert, but I just gave my long 2cents on what solved it for me, so I apologize if I did not use the correct "terminology" in my LONG post. By the way I still have not had any issues anymore with my wireless card. NO DROPS TILL DATE. Let me know if anyone has tried my advice. If it works pass it on, if it does not keep working on it, as stated before I did do other minor adjustments to my pc that might have affected the wireless card. Either way I have not had any crash issues or drop issues anymore and am fully enjoying my smokin hot notebook.

~Cheers