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

The OEM key is stored in the BIOS.

 

Good to know

 

i have the WLED screen, 4GB RAM, i7 720, DVD RW, and the 500GB sata drive.

cheap(?) and cheerful me.

 

Mine arrived on Sat. but I can't open it until 12/25! :|

 

I just received my 1645 on Friday. I was gentle on it over the weekend.

I came into work on monday to start to load all the software. I was unzipping and ISO, installing another program, while streaming audio. All the sudden the kernel dropped out and the HDD appeared dead. A diagnostics test confirmed.

I find it hard to believe the HDD died within 72 hours :-(. Dell is sending a new one out, but still find it hard to comprehend such a failure so soon.

 

Crap happens, especially with harddrives. I bought a new computer a while ago that came with a dieing harddrive. Had it replaced immediately and all was well.

 

Ha! I am in the same boat (i.e., can't open until Christmas), except mine is not due to ship until this Friday.

 

I don't have DataSafe Local, only DataSafe online.

I checked that link, 2by4, but it only lists Windows 7 backup. Did I miss the DataSafe link?

~Ibrahim~

 

Actually if you really want to be technical, the bios has what is called an SLIC table which tells windows that it's an OEM machine. Windows then at that point had to be equipped with an xrm-ms certificate and a universal key for that particular OEM for that particular SKU which then tells the OS to lock to the SLIC table and self activate.

 

Ok. This laptop has way to many problems. its like a bad mother trying to get rid of her druggie kid. ME. First was the colour calibration which was wierd. then it was the heating problem then dell made better cooling for the 820qm model then expanded. Adding 9cell to provide lift for heat disapation. The worst webcam ever. look if you cant put a ipod nano 3MP 31FPS tiny itty bitty camera in then dont even bother. because this stupid camera cant even detect the difference between me and my friend... hes black btw and im soo not even close to that colour. But hiding all along was the Throttling, yet to be resolved, tucked away cleanly by dell until people made a thread bout it. Then more problems arise, speaker quality issues, sometimes quiet sometimes notish but sometimes there is no sound!! then is the screen but it has always been like this, dust gets under it, stupid dust bunnies. Then its the keyboard. Oh the keyboard... transfurs to much data so when the BIOs are altered so that there is no throttling the keyboard messes things up somehow. Personally i use firefox... the trackpad is so messed up in firefox i cant scroll without a external mouse. like i click then click and drag then it sticks... why on earth would i want that to stick there.. this laptop is a fingerprint magnet. like i would put vinyl on the wristpad and top but not over the glowing keys. How do u get a multimedia remote for this laptop for canada anyways? this laptop doesnt have bluetooth... wow. Still it sits 50 digreees C when idle which is hot. i wish they would make this laptop practical for the purchase i mean i cant even charge this laptop if i want to watch youtube. when the charger is warm it just dies then i have to unplug it from the wall socket then put it back in for it to work for 3 seconds. repeat this until the battery if fully charged =) hurray best 13 hours of my life.

 

But who wants to be?

 

Is it just me, or isn't the Intel 5300 driver missing from the Dell driver page?
Not that much of a biggie cuz Intel's site has it but think it's weird that the WiFi driver isn't listed on Dell's site.

 

I had the same problem when using Firefox. Try this - while in Firefox, hit the F7 key and turn on Caret Browsing.

It works for me.

 

Well, I've rebooted numerous times now and F8 does nothing. F2 gets to the BIOS, and F12 is the Boot Options menu with a diagnostic option but no "repair computer" option.

No Dell DataSafe Local installed on my machine.

 

I spent about 30 minutes chatting online with tech support, and they state the laptop should have been configured with the Dell DataSafe Local. They are sending me a set of Recovery Discs. I wanted to be able to download the DataSafe Local software, but they wouldn't allow me. Not sure why. Oh well, as long as I can restore if needed, I guess that is fine.

 

I think you have to keep tapping F8 for it to work

 

No go. Tried many times.

 

Now that I put it into a slightly more acceptable format...

Didn't you check when you placed the order whether your unit came with bluetooth? I'm sure even in Canada the bluetooth module is standard, if not you could always just order a module off of eBay and place it in yourself? Sure not the best resolution to that problem but at least it can accomodate bluetooth.

For the heat issue, have you tried replacing the thermal paste and buying a cooling unit? Once again not the best resolution but these things will increase the life of your unit, allowing it to rest on your lap as well so why wouldn't you wanna try and do those? Theres a great threat about cooling pads in the accessories forum.

Nothing to say about the other issues although I'm sure someone else may.

 

Quick question for anyone with a Studio XPS 1645. I got mine on Dec 1 and noticed that if I look at the laptop at an angle and there is a glare on the palmrest, you can see several "dents" in the plastic on the palmrest scattered about. I am guessing this might be from the manufaturing of the laptop? Also, there is a VERY faint etching of a circle that can be seen to the left of the plamrest in certain lighting (maybe the sub?).

Anyone else see these things or is mine defective?

Thanks...

 

That is FANTASTIC! Works great, thanks a ton! :-D I had no idea this was a common iTunes issue with multimedia keyboards... it worked great with my last PC.

 

How to reach the recovery options (and other random stuff).

Turn it on.
Hit F12. You will be greeted by the "boot menu" which has some choices.
Select hard drive and hit enter.
IMMEDIATELY hit F8 a few times after that.

First option: "Repair Your Computer"

And even doing the steps above gives you NO options whatsoever?

~Ibrahim~

 

Thanks. Dells documentation doesn't get you there.

 

No problemo.

And I just found some HORRIBLE news, too, while researching this.

If you do a clean install, it obviously wipes your boot loader (tells the computer which hard drive/partition to boot off of, etc.). And when it kills the boot loader, the computer doesn't believe there is a recovery partition actually installed, so you can never actually "recover" your system to its factory state image, which is on that partition. Obviously, it's browsable, but if Windows shats itself, you can't restore from that partition.

I'm still researching it now, something about making the partition active in Disk Management...

 

This is why I wanted a set of recovery discs from the recovery partition. I got Dell support to agree to send me a set.

 

Boo! I eagerly look forward to what you discover. That is bad news.

On a side note, I stole your sig.

On another side note, 1.333 GHz = 1364.992MHz

 

Hey SXPS .. this is what i did .. has helped me as of now . havent seen any freezing after changing these settings .. hopefully it should work for you too ...

Try the below steps, it fixed it for me.

For all the people that what videos/movies/southpark episodes online and have issues with freezing/black screen after 5 minutes or so just go to your control panel>>power options>>now click on change plan settings: (Change below settings to never)

Dim the display = Never
Turn off the display = Never
Put the computer to sleep = Never

or set it for like a much longer time as if you are watching something and one of the above plans goes into effect you will get the frozen screen/black back ground. If you change the setting to never it does not happen at least this it what I found to fix that issue for now until the driver issue is fixed.

 

Guys I have just restarted my computer and started to tap the F8 key and it does get you to Repair Your computer, so if you are not able to access it that way either you are doing it wrong or something is not correct with your computers as it works just fine for me.

FYI, Also by tapping the F8 key at start up gets me to access safe-mode as well. If using the F8 key does not work at this point I would have to assume that something is not correct with the computer as There are several options while using the F8 key and the first option is Repair Your Computer.

Yep, I had discovered this the other day and reported it to dell to inform there customers. Although it seems to work for some and not others (not sure why).

 

i just got this laptop today because my auntie got it for herself but found it to be too heavy for her; so she traded my tx2500z for this bad boy

9800m gt sli sweet!

EDIT
wrong place!!! i meant the 1730, i thought i was on that forum

 

I feel like you may be a bit confused.. The 1645 has an ATI Mobility Radeon 4670 GPU.

 

lol I was just gonna say the same thing. I was thinking to myself, wait, what?

 

Couple quick questions:
1. I want to get a couple extra AC adaptors so I can have one at work, one at home and one in my bag. Do I have to get Dell's or can I get a 3rd party?

2. What's the best way to clean this mofo?

 

1. Get Dell's, bu not from Dell.
2. Why?

 

Probably because it's a fingerprint magnet

I've actually been neurotic in my efforts to keep finger prints, smudges and dust off of my system. I've been using a micro-fiber cloth (and a rubber dust blower air pump from one of my co-workers) for this purpose. At some point, I'm sure I'll have to actually open up the system to remove dust from the fan, etc, but that's a few months off.

 

As far as the adapter goes here is the exact 130W that they have shipped out for like 35.00 cheaper on the link below.

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=5658

 

I bought an extra one off eBay for $32 shipped vs. $69.99+shipping+tax from Dell.

Dell rep told me the part number for the 90W adapter was RM809. I ordered mine off eBay before I received my laptop. I don't see the RM809 part number on my adapter that came with my laptop, so the RM809 may be a 90W adapter for another model. The pictures on the eBay website were obviously a different form factor than the super slim adapter that came with my laptop.

 

-[Deleted]-

 

Ooooooh, he said mofo. I read mobo and was taken off guard. lol, gotcha. The system actually has dust filters on the intakes, so you might not have to do that for a long while.

 

I bought a PA-4E from Triangle Laptops directly off their website for $20.95 plus 8 bucks in shipping. Definitely a good deal and it works great.

 

Has anyone tested how many external monitors can be supported simultaneously by XPS 1645?

 

And what about undervolting?

 

2 with the laptop screen turned off.

 

I have had 4 connected .. no issues

 

NK290....

I received my XPS 1645 machine several days ago and promptly rejected it for exactly this reason. Two dents to the right hand side of the touch pad. Only caught it when looking at them from an angle and noticed the distortion from the reflection. I did not go any further and look for other scratches or issues. Dell did not push back too hard which suggests they had seen this issue before. For this kind of money, Dell should ensure the machine is clean and cosmetically perfect. New machine arrives tomorrow. Will provide an update once I have had a chance to check out the replacement.


Hillie

 

Bummer, I just found out the facial recognition software only works with IE FF is coming "soon" according to the tech, but it is up to Dell to release it.

 

That is unrealistic. Margins on computers are so low, it is not financially feasible for a manufacturer to physically examine each unit it ships. If they did so, they would have to charge more and then customers would complain and sales would drop.

 

Another question. Can this bad boy bitstream the latest dolby and DTS stuff if I hook it up to my HDMI receiver and use the latest PowerDVD? (which can decode it)

 

I guess they lost money on my sale then, huh? Got a 2800 dollar laptop for about 1500. Too bad their margins are so low.

 

I am having trouble with the bluetooth and it's connection.

It disconnected my bluetoothkeyboard four times while using it until I gave it up. Is there any known driver problems? Dells latest seems to be installed already.

 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone who HASN'T done a fresh install is NOT experiencing the freezing issue? I was just planning to unninstall some of the bloatware and go with it.

I ordered my 1645 on Sunday, estimated wait time is 30 days (hopefully sooner)

 

Yeah, I think it can a do a passthrough. Those are the same thing, right?

@2by4

Haha, no, you're perfectly correct. If you can't see that menu with the steps I posted a while back, something is probably seriously wrong. But, did you actually try accessing "Repair your Computer"? There is a system image restore, but try using it. It won't find any images because it can't see the D: partition. And besides, anyone who has NOT done a clean install:

I believe on the F8 menu options, there should be something called "Restore to Dell Factory Image" which is obviously not on your screens any more. Can someone confirm?

~Ibrahim~