**The Official Studio XPS 1645 Intel Core i7 "Owners Lounge"

Hi Arjun,

I am also from India, and I have receieved my laptop yesterday.

I was also shocked to see that the leather finish was absent. I guess they are offering it only in SXPS 1640 in India.

And yes my system has also frozen once. If you find any cure then please share it with us.

Cheers!!

 

All of a sudden my machine cannot play any video in a browser at all. If I go to youtube, hulu, nytimes, etc and try to play video, as soon as it starts to try to load the video, the browser stops responding. I've tried Firefox and IE (not 64 bit version). I am using Win 7 Pro 64. This was not an issue the first few days I had the laptop.

I had upgraded the video driver to the latest version of the ATI Catalyst driver (v 9.11) and the A03 bios, everything was fine for a few days. This just started happening.

That's my experience so far. I will speak with Dell to see if they can fix. Anyone else have a similar issue?

 

Video in a browser? Sounds like a Flash issue. Can ya play any vids via WMP or any other player you have?

 

I tried your solution but had no luck. I was watching the 2012 HD trailer on youtube after I changed the settings and my machine froze and locked up. I got the black screen, nothing was responding so I had to do a hard reset.
Thanks anyway.

 

So do other people's hard drive lights blink every few second even when not performing any tasks? (windows 7)

Thanks.

 

The only other thing that I also did was reformat my Hard Drive and did not put back any of Dells software or other programs that they gave me, I use my own.

I also stuck with the Dell Drivers from there website.

With that said no lock-ups or freezes at all.

 

@Tenax

Yup...Windows (and any open programs; check hidden ones in the taskbar) are always doing random stuff. If it is likes serious seeking (constant light for more than 5 seconds) and you aren't doing anything, yeah, it's a problem.

If you want to reduce that, turn off unnecessary services. Indexing is usually a big one, but I prefer fast searches.

I haven't had any random freezes, but my computer did shut down out of the blue twice. Has this problem occurred with people with fresh installs of 7 and people with 7 from Dell? I ask because I did a fresh install and have never had a freezing problem.

~Ibrahim~

 

sad to hear so many people have been having freezing issues

for what its worth i've had mine for a few weeks now, and not had any issues at all. did a clean reinstall of win 07 and using the mobility modder to use the latest catalyst drivers.

play quite a few games on it, watched videos and sopcast for a while, and nothing is wrong

shame that dell dont sell these with everything properly installed

 

What are your system stats?

 

Thanks Ibrahim,
Its Making me always look to see if it stops, hahah!
oh well i dont want to lose the fast search, as long as other people have the same blinking light going on, all is good.

EDIT: NO freezing going on for me.

 

Haha, yeah, I know what you mean. Right, indexing is what makes Google so damn fast, why shouldn't I have that on my computer, too?!

You can/should tweak it, though. You can tell it which folders you want to index and which to ignore; I have some extra folders where I store stuff and want that indexed. Control Panel, Indexing Options.

 

I have done a fresh install with Windows 7 from dell and I have had no freezing and and no shutdowns.

 

anyone have any links for the ati drivers (non dell), or any other drivers. going to format soon.

 

So has anyone who did a fresh install experienced the freezing issue?

 

I haven't seen anyone speak up on this as of yet... but is this a screwy problem with my setup or is it like this for everyone's iTunes using the multimedia keys?

Thanks!

 

I have done fresh re-install on my 1645, I don't experience any freezing with any activity including videos, hulu, etc. I'm not a itune user so I can't comment on that.

 

You need a file called mmkeys.dll, just google search it. Place it in “C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunes Plug-ins”

You'll have to go to Control Panel/Folders and let yourself view hidden folders and files to access it.

 

That worked amazingly!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Rep+++

 

Hi everyone,
I did a clean install tonight. What software do I need to install to get the eject button for the optical drive to work?
Anyone please?

*Update: Machine just froze up watching a video on southparkstudios.com.
Clean install did not help.

 

Install the Dell Quickset utility, it's on the driver downloads page.

 

Hey guys,
What is a good setting for min/max for the CPU in advanced power settings? Why would the min cpu state be 5%? why not 0%?
Just curious as to what you guys are using for:
dell: min/max
High performance: min/max

 

I did a fresh format and install (shipped in December with Vista, I have a copy of Win7 Pro.) No freezing issues or anything. I have the iphone sync problem with itunes. Apple is aware of it and a tech asked me to give him a bunch of diagnostic information. The tech I talked to at Dell was not aware of it but I sent him a bunch of links to inform him.

That's my only issue. I'm fine with it as I transferred all my Itunes stuff to my work computer and will sync there until a fix comes out.

 

I'd like to replace the thermal paste on the CPU. Is access to the CPU as easy as removing the three screws located right next to the memory? (or is that heatsink for the GPU?)

Thanks!

( Pic)

 

It seems like that most (not all) of us that have performed a clean install/reformatted their hard drives are not receiving any freezing.

However if you do a Clean Install I would suggest that you do not reinstall the Dell software/McAfee and try you computer for a day or two and see if the freezing still happens.

Also make sure that you update your drivers and Bios as well and after the clean install change the power settings to never or set them for a much longer time as it seems to have an issue when using Flash and watching movies/TV programs, it fixed it for me and I am also able to duplicate the issue by changing the settings back to the default settings.

I have to say that I have owned 5 prior Dell computers and each time I have done a Reformat I found that the computer ran much better with no issues.

Also make sure that you update Java or make sure that it is update 17 and not 14 ( not saying that this will fix your issue it will make it safer)

Tried to give you the info on what I have done. You have to remember that this is a new processor with IE 8 and Windows 7 which is all kind of new and some of the apps you might be using are causing issues, even Dells software as well as I am sure that Dell has not tested there software 100%

 

You have to slide the air vent with the foot peg above the fan (to the left) if i recall correctly there should be some screws under that so you can remove the southbridge??

To slide the plastic piece slide it to the left, towards where the battery was and then upwards away from the laptop.

And yes, three screws is the GPU... I think.

Has anyone who did the reformat prior to receiving issues said anything? I'm going over the last few pages and I'm only seeing people who did the clean install after receiving issues saying that they're still experiencing issues or doing the clean install right after they received the system.

 

rgb led panel is more different then rgb led panel on the m6400-m6500 ??

how many nit + or - ??

 

I put on some of the Dell software (like the one needed to use the softkeys above the keyboard) but not McAfee. Hate that AV. I just put on Microsoft Security Essentials instead.

 

Ditto. Dell DataSafe Online is useful, too, me thinks.

~Ibrahim~

 

I forgot about that. I use dropbox with 3 gigs for free. How is Dell's solution?

 

I can say that I have basically reformatted my computer the day after I received it 1 month ago and I have no issues (not a Gamer). I also did not state everybody who has reformatted but there is certainly been a fair amount of people that did reformat and not had any problems, so to a certain point it has help people, just not everybody and then again I am not able to confirm what these people installed back onto there computer after they reformatted.

I hope that it does help you and others.

 

I actually should only have 2GB, but Dell never deactivated my 5GB account from my XPS 1640. Of course, they'll finally get around to doing that when my computer crashes right before finals week.

It works well. It's automated, backs up decently fast (first upload took well over 20 minutes, though), and getting the files isn't overly hard, though it takes some time getting used to the way Dell does it.

~Ibrahim~

 

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3540&p=4

(PICS FROM 1640)
http://www.anandtech.com/GalleryImage.aspx?id=6200

http://www.anandtech.com/GalleryImage.aspx?id=6203

At that point you can remove the 2 screws from the fan, unplug the fan, remove the fan, loosen the 3 screws on the processor, 4 on the video card, and 1 on the system board, and remove the heat sync assembly.

Even though the pics are from the 1640, it’s the exact same chasse, just different heat sync configuration.

 

I thought it might be a flash issue, but other flash apps (non-video) worked fine. I have the latest version of flash installed.

I decided to do a system restore to see if that can bring video back. I did one, and once I did a new problem came up - my entire screen would go blank right after the windows logo appeared (when starting up). I couldn't see anything. I assumed Windows could not load the video drivers, so I booted up in safe mode to try and confirm. The screen worked fine in safe mode. I figured I would leave it alone and call Dell in the morning.

Well, this morning I start up the computer and the screen is back and video can now be played. I have no idea what happened - maybe it was the system restore, maybe it was booting it in safe mode once.

I haven't installed anything out of the ordinary on the machine: norton internet security 2010, google talk, updated drivers, itunes, etc. I haven't even gotten to my video editing tools yet. So again, not sure what the problem was but seems to be working again now.

 

I got my laptop with Home Premium. I have a copy of Ultimate I got from a friend who works at Microsoft. If I format and do a clean install with Ultimate, am I going to run into problems with Dell for support? Will they require the original software be installed if I call support for a hardware issue? The restore is saved as a partition on the harddrive, taking almost 15GB of my 128GB drive, which I would like to get that space back. Is there a way to build a restore disc from this partition before it gets formatted?

 

I always reformat any dell computer and never had any issues with that, the only thing is that they made me reinstall was the remote software so that they can check on the hardware issue for confirmation, unless something has changed recently you may want to check with Dell just to confirm.

 

I used to have the random freezing issue, but ever since I did a fresh install, no freezing has occurred.

 

I chatted online with Dell support, and they said it is fine to load another version of the Operating System without affecting warranty.

They state a set of recovery discs can be made of the recovery partition using Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0. I am not at home, so was wondering if somebody could check to see if this program is loaded on the machine. I know the online backup is loaded, but not sure about this program.

Also, last night I was looking into how to restore the computer from the recovery partition, and it states to enter the Advanced Boot Menu by hitting F12 and then choosing "Repair Computer". There is no option for this when hitting F12. I see on Dells website, they also mention F8, but I never tried that. Does anybody know how to access the recovery partition to restore?

 

There is a way to restore it...I'll check in an hour, but pretty sure it's F8/F12.

I didn't get Dell DataSafe Local. Anyone get it? Mind sharing a link?

~Ibrahim~

 

The Dell rep said the DataSafe Local had to be ordered with the machine. I don't remember seeing it on my machine, and I just checked online and I don't see where you can add it. I see the different options for the Online backup, but nothing for the Local backup software.

 

F8 = The Repair Computer Option.

This option will allow you to restore your computer back to the factory set-up, just like when you first received the computer.

 

Thanks.

What about the DataSafe Local being installed? Do you have that?

 

Also here is a link from Dell:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=362066

I have to double check on DataSafe as I reformatted and did not put the Dell software back on the computer.

 

Well I finally get to post here as an owner of this new beast. One quick question. I am going to do a clean install tonight and was wondering if it is safe to delete the 39MB "OEM Partition" that is on the drive.

 

I did and everything has been working fine!

 

Thanks for that answer as I have reformatted so many of my computers and always left it alone, thanks again.

 

Well, keep in mind that my definition of "working fine" could differ from yours. It's possible that the data on that OEM partition is used by Dell for any number of things... and that removing the partition could negatively affect you.

One possible use of the partition is storing OEM specific information that identifies your system to Dell and/or retains your OEM key for Windows 7. That said, I'm not sure what the actual use of the partition is and I installed a non-OEM version of Windows 7 Ultimate. Plus I haven't reinstalled any of the Dell software and have no plans to use remote assistance.

TL;DR: Your mileage may vary.

 

I believe this is where the software for the Dell Hardware Diagnostics is kept. If you delete this partition, you won't be able to do the diag that is listed when you hit F12 at the BIOS boot screen.

All depends if you think this option is important.

 

I guess I just met my mirror as I do the exact same thing, I also do not reinstall any of the dell software as well and use my own programs.

 

You are correct. I just verified. F12 completes Pre-boot System Assessment (a variety of hardware tests) and then, when complete, notes that the partition is missing and suggests a reboot.

No big deal for me

 

Ah ok cool, then I'll keep it, was just wondering what it was for.