XPS 12 Owners Lounge

If you want to use it in said "presentation mode" you need to flip the whole notebook. The accelerometer seems to be in the base and not the screen. That's why it works better in tablet mode.

Alternatively you can fold your device into tablet mode , flip the screen and then deactivate auto-rotate by pressing the button on the left side. After that you can put it in presentation mode and the screen orientation will be correct.

 

I'm only speculating here, but I think that the XPS 12 "remembers" the last orientation it was in for tablet mode. You probably held it in tablet mode with the windows button at the top previously.

 

For anyone else that may run into this, I worked with Dell support, who had me reinstall video drivers and tweak some settings, which did not solve the problem. They ended up replacing the motherboard and the display panel, seems to have fixed it.

 

Quick question. I set my power plan to high performance. When I unplug my laptop it changes it every time to Power Saver. How do I keep High Performance power plan on all the time even when I unplug my laptop?

 

Thanks for the tip. You are correct, the flip seems to remember what was used last in tablet mode. I was hoping there was an accelerometer in the screen and not the "base".

 

You are correct, I have done several tests and it remembers where it was when it was last in tablet mode, or if I start to flip the screen, then tilt the whole notebook, it will go in the correct orientation. Now that I know what needs to be done, it's not an issue. Thanks for the responses!

 

Ok, this re-partitioning business is giving me a headache... I have the base Ivy Bridge XPS 12 with 128Gb SSD. I moved he recovery partition to a USB stick and removed rapid start and deleted the partition. However, I still have two small recovery partitions left, one in between the C: partition and the free 16 block, so I can't resize my C: to grow it, and I can't remove the small 350Mb Recovery partition in Disk Management. Can anyone help? Here are my current partitions:

500Mb EFI System Partition
40Mb OEM Partition
500Mb Recovery Partition
101.17Gb C:
350MB Recovery Partition
16.59Gb Unallocated

 

When the touch screen stops working, Device Manager shows the I2C HID Device with an exclamation point. Checking it, it says that windows has stopped this device because it has reported a problem. Any ideas? Thanks

 

Dell just replaced the MB and my little XPS 12 now has an i7 4650U AND HD 5000 graphics!!!

 

Graphics benchmarks stat please!

 

Looking for any advice here on this weird scenario I am in. I guess this isn't specific to the XPS12, but Dell in general.

I had someone come out a few weeks back to repair the touchscreen on my new XPS12 - however, he couldn't repair it. The part they sent him was faulty (and honestly, the touchscreen isn't the issue, it was the latching mechanism). Anyways, he ended up calling up his Dell line, got a supervisor on the phone, and they initiated a "system replacement" or maybe it was called "in system". So after a few weeks in production, I got the new laptop, and all's well in the world (lol). However, they said a return label would be included in the box to send the "faulty" unit back, however, there is no label. The support reps had been calling me pretty regularly the last few weeks to give me a status, so with the last call I mentioned I got the replacement but no return label. He mentioned something about checking my email for that. I got an email from him, but it just asked me if everything was ok with my laptop, and had nothing to do with returning the "faulty" laptop. I've since sent an email to support asking what do i do, and have not heard back either.

So I'm sitting here with two Dell XPS 12s (fully loaded 512GB versions). One is slightly imperfect (but actually works great, just something a little iffy with one of the screen latches that makes it "squeak", and the new one which seems to be working great (had a few wifi dropouts, but just updated the driver). I have no UPS label to return the other one, but also have not been charged for the new one. I've been pinging Dell repeatedly via email and on the phone about the return instructions and they always mention something about email (really thick and difficult to understand accents most of the time) - and seem to get no response that intelligently answer the question.

What should I do? Did I just get a buy one get one laptop?

 

Just upgraded my XPS 12 to 8.1 RTM and have noticed a weird problem - lots of different dialog boxes, windows, and apps look blurry. For example, CPU-Z window looks horribly blurry, but if I open a Windows Explorer window next to it, it's sharp. What gives? Has anybody else noticed it? Unless I can find a solution I'll be going back to 8.0 (thank goodness for system backup...)

 

Did you change the dpi settings?

 

What the heck? So since I can't buy one with 5000 graphics, I should buy one hope it to be defective so they repair it so I can get better hw?

 

No, and I tried with both new 8.1 settings, text as Default and text as Smaller - same as 125% I had it set at in 8.0...

 

Haven't done much yet. The windows experience shows only 5.8 on desktop graphics and 6.6 on 3d while the previous one was hitting 6.5 on both. I fired up WOW and am hitting 70-80 FPS. Was only getting about 45 on the previous MB.

The original problem is still there. I noticed that I have a LiteOn SSD; when I bought the computer I was seeing Samsung advertised as being in it. I think I just have a bad SSD but can't figure out why they replaced the MB first.....

Let me know if there is a specific Benchmark you are interested in. I did have to get the latest driver from Intel; It wasn't available on Dell yet.

 

Hey there, are you able to take a screenshot of the graphics card in device Manager, and of the processor in System area in the Control Panel?

 

Is it normal for the touchpad to not be responsive to taps near the side edges of the touchpad?

EDIT: this seems to be more of an issue on the right side of the touchpad. perhaps mine's defective.

EDIT2: it's not even consistent. I've found that the most reliable way to replicate it is to begin by tapping repeatedly on the palmrest to the right of the touchpad, and then to slowly move the tapping towards the center. I expose a surprising amount of unresponsive-to-touch touchpad this way.

 

Unfortunately mine is the same way. There is a "dead" column on left and right side (and it's not even right on the edge, it's a good 1/4" in inside the edge) that normally works to enable the swipe from left or swipe from right gesture. Even when those gestures are disabled, it still makes the pointer less responsive in that area.

The funny part is that if you uninstall all the drivers, the trackpad tracks very uniformly over the entire area. I guess it's still rocket science to some companies... I just like the rest of the computer so much that I decided to ignore the trackpad issues, but it doesn't change the fact that it sucks.

 

Pity. Until I discovered this issue, I really did like this trackpad and all the Dell gestures and was wondering why so many people were complaining about it.

EDIT: I am a bit skeptical though. I do notice the touchpad being less receptive of tapping near the edges, but this seems to be noticeably more of a problem on the right side of the trackpad than on the left. Or am I simply lucky that Synaptics made the left side of this trackpad adequately?

 

Ah, mine is the Ivy Bridge model, so no Synaptics for me Wish I was that lucky...

 

Here is what Device Manager Shows:

 

Update on my little touchpad problem: I've uninstalled and reinstalled the Synaptics driver and the problem seems to have improved, but not completely gone away.

Is it possible for me to uninstall and reinstall the Dell Touchpad drivers?

 

Well that one screenshot tells us 3 things:

1. There is a motherboard for the XPS 12 with the HD5000 graphics card embedded in it. Since the graphics card is embedded in the processor and cannot be changed. Therefore there is a motherboard out there for XPS 12 with the HD5000 on it.

2. This probably means that the HD5000 will be released for the XPS 12 in the near future

3. Notwithstanding the above, you should not have the motherboard replaced again unless you really need to, as you may get the HD4400 card again.

 

Update on the little trackpad issue I was having before: disabling Palm Rejection seems to have fixed it.

If you're experiencing an unusually un-sensitive trackpad edge, try disabling Palm Rejection.

 

I agree with your assessment! The reason why the MB was replaced was that the SSD would quit working; I'm still having the same problem.

Interesting observation; When the technician removed the old motherboard, there was thermal transfer goop on the main processor AND the video portion on the chip. When he applied the new heat transfer goop to the new motherboard, it was a pre-packaged slab that only covers the main processor; nothing went on the video portion.

 

They have been offering HD5000 for quite some time here:
New XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook and Tablet PC Details | Dell Canada

 

Is there a way to simulate middle click by 3-finger tapping? I know the Synaptics drivers themselves have support for it, but I'm afraid the Dell Touchpad drivers are removing some of the features. I have looked in the registry and tried changing the default Synaptics settings to no avail, and the Dell-specific keys don't seem to include 3 finger tap or 3 finger click.

Installing the generic Synaptics drivers don't work, likely since the touchpad is connected via I2C. With only the Synaptics drivers installed, the touchpad itself is identified as a Synaptics PS/2 Touchpad, but the actual HID is just using the generic windows HID driver, making the Synaptics programmes unable to run.

Thanks

 

When I first received the XPS 12, I loaded all of the drivers and software that the My Dell site had for it. That may have been a mistake. I restored to factory setup and have not had any problems with the touch screen since. I did have to install the 8/28/13 Intel Wireless driver to fix an issue with a bluetooth mouse.

 

For some weird reason, Dell have ceased offering anything but the i7/8/256 model on their New Zealand website.

Someone shed some light on this?

EDIT: ignore the attached image. It was meant to be a response to the user above asking for a three-finger middle click, when I thought he was asking for a three-finger right click. I don't know how to delete attached images.

 

Hi I am having problems with my memory running out with my xps 12. My memory shows very high usage and non paged memory is sitting at 3.5 gb. Does anyone else have high memory usage?

 

Another XPS 12 owner on this forum suspects that it may be a memory leakage caused by the touchpad drivers.

 

Hey Rattfylla,

TwoFingerScroll could do that for you

 

I too am getting frequent high memory usage warnings (from Norton). I'm just ignoring them, but I am wondering why this might occur; I don't think I am doing anything unusual.

I've also done all of the wireless driver updates, yet it is STILL taking the laptop about 20-30 seconds to reconnect to the internet post-sleep mode. Are others still having this issue?

 

Hey dudes, just a few questions. Anyone have any issues with the fan dying? Mine recently stopped working.

Secondly, is image retention an issue on the display? Mine has it pretty bad.

This sorta sucks, I'm starting school in three weeks...

 

Well, Dell changed out the SSD; it was not formatted, but they were nice enough to send me a DVD with a system image. Only it wasn't a system image, it was just Win8. They recognized that I can't boot from DVD, so they overnighted a system image on a bootable thumbdrive. But that wasn't a system image either. Long story short, the new SSD is not having the same problem as the other one. I've got almost all the drivers loaded up, only one unrecognized device. System is running a LOT better than what I had before. I'm a happy camper!

 

Hi there,

Are you able to take a screenshot of your Task Manager where it lists the Non Paged Pool like this:
http://i.imgur.com/Xr60cEp.jpg

 

Why would you want a middle click on a laptop?

 

Yes, I just did--see image below. Does that tell you anything? I wasn't getting a high memory usage warning when I did this, but the fan was running. I only have Chrome and a gmail app open right now.

 

Thanks for the screenshot. It tells a lot. You have a non paged memory leak which is one of the worst memory leaks you can have on your Laptop. A paged pool memory leak is usually working memory, IE: if you open a game it will use a significant amount of memory but once that game is closed, the memory should come back to normal. With a non-paged memory leak it will not come back to normal UNTIL you reboot.

You have 3.8GB of non paged memory leak which will keep growing. If you check it later I bet it will be around 4-8GB. That is almost using all your memory. Once you reboot it will go down to 273MB and keep growing again. I also have a Samsung ATIV 700T tablet, and the non-paged pool memory does not go over 273MB even after a whole weeks usage without rebooting. That is what it should be. It should not go over 500MB's at all. Yet the XPS 12 seems to keep growing till the memory runs out.

This is caused by the Synaptics Touchpad Driver (SynTP.sys or some other driver file) leaking memory. The funny thing is it only happens when you use the touchpad, if you do not touch the touchpad it will not go up at all or very slowly.

I have contacted Dell-TerryB who posts here. They are investigating the issue. I am sure you are as frustrated as I am, because what this means is the system will not perform at its peak with a significant chunk of memory being eaten up by the Synaptics Touchpad driver. What is the point of having 8GB of memory if half of it is being chewed up by the Synaptics Touchpad driver? I have never had this problem with the Cypress Touchpad Driver on my old XPS 12 (Ivy Bridge).

Interesting, some users with another brand of laptop is also having the SAME problem with the Synaptics Touchpad Driver:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/razer/731374-memory-leak-synaptics-driver.html

 

Exactly the same issue. Just received my brand new XPS 12 and within 6 hours having the same memory leak issue (99% usage)... Based on Google, it seems to be quite a common occurrence...

Ben

 

Am experiencing exactly the same issue. Just bought a brand new XPS 12 and the non-paged pool memory goes from 280mb to 7.5gb in 6 hours approximately. Honestly, it's quite annoying as the PC gradually slows down as it's being used!

Is it worth raising these sorts of problems with Dell or is it more a wait-and-see?

Ben

 

My new replacement XPS12 is also doing this.

 

I have the exact same problem. Why isn't Dell doing anything about it? This is really disgraceful. Cant use the laptop for longer than half a day without rebooting. Happens when I only use Microsoft Word only and some light browsing. Not enjoying this laptop at all.

 

I have just performed a fresh install on a new SSD of Win8 and finally got all the drivers and programs I want loaded. I do not see a memory leak like this on mine; it has not been rebooted in the last 24 hours and the non-paged pool is sitting at 400 MB.

 

Have you been using the laptop during that time. It seems to only increase non-paged pool usage when the trackpad is being used?

Ben

 

I have re-installed a fresh copy of Windows 8 and even Windows 8.1 but the problem is still there for me. The problem is we have to install the same synaptics touchpad driver, so any operating system will see the same problem. If we had different touchpad drivers to choose from, then we could have found some type of solution. But we are stuck with the only synaptics touchpad driver on Dell's website.

If you uninstall the synaptics touchpad driver and use the default Microsoft driver, the problem goes away. But using the mouse without the synaptics touchpad driver is even more annoying than the initial problem with the palm rejection not working and the cursor going haywire while you type. So I am not really sure what to do anymore.

 

I see the leak now. I disabled the gestures functionality and that seems to have slowed it down, but the memory leak is still there. I have posted on Dell's Facebook site; maybe if we message bomb their Facebook site, we'll get some activity going in this area!

 

I had image retention issues pretty bad and Dell replaced the screen. The new one is slowly deteriorating for me also so I'm not sure if there is some other hardware issue that is influencing the screen. It certainly appears to get worse over time. When I get a chance to contact Dell again I hope they have a better solution.

Are there people here who DO NOT have this issue? Is it isolated to a few XPS 12's or is it widespread? I find it is most obvious with the grey metro theme when I switch from the desktop to the metro interface (start menu). The wifi/ volume/ battery icons and taskbar across the bottom of the screen are obviously being 'burnt in'. The effect is temporary but quite prominent.

 

I have had my XPS12 now for 10 months. Whilst I noticed the mild "burn in" in the early days, I have noticed it more in recent weeks. Originally I would say that the background retained the previous screen image very faintly for about 10-20 seconds before it faded completely - and it was faint enough to be hardly noticeable. Now the background retention is retained for much longer - probably over a minute - and it seems more noticeable.

Perhaps I am noticing it more because of reading this thread, but regardless, I would say that it is getting worse for me. At this stage I don't find it annoying enough to go back to Dell, but I am monitoring it. If it continues to get worse then I will start a warranty claim with Dell.