XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

If I go with the EVO msata drive replacement, what are the options then for encryption? Will bitkeeper work? Is there a TPM to make that work? -Thanks

 

Read the post I linked in my reply to your previous question. It talks specifically about the Evo, though 99.5% of the information is applicable to any SSD that supports hardware encryption.

And yes, this system has a TPM.

 

it's a self encrypting drive that works with bitlocker and the tpm the laptop has.


just make sure you don't install intel rapid storage as it doesn't work with bitlocker.

 

Rapid Storage doesn't work with BitLocker HARDWARE encryption. It works perfectly fine with the regular BitLocker software-based option.

 

so I was upgrading the 32GB msata drive to an 256G msata drive and I F'd up re-inserting the i/o board cable (orange thing that hides the msata slot for the non-techies) and bent some pins on one side. Need a new one.

Anyone know how to get one? Tried calling dell support spare parts and they are claiming there is no stock, call back in 2 weeks. Asked for a part number and get told I can't be given a part number because there is no stock. Indian call center logic at work.

The cable itself has a number of potential part numbers, I'm guessing the QR code (TW0K036WGAFC13A86E2BA00) is the real part number?

Is there a super secret part center number in the US?

 

Looking through one of Dell's internal part lookup tools, the only thing I can find that sounds right is under the Cables and Cords category: "K036W, Board to Board FPC, 9530" -- and considering that K036W also appears on your cable, I figure it has to be right. Unfortunately this particular tool doesn't show pictures or pricing, though. Good luck.

 

Thank you. This is farther than I got with Dell support. The cable seems to connect the right side USB port and wifi card board to the motherboard, so board to board.

The written code below the QR code is TW-0K036W-GAFC1-3A8-6E2B-A00. So ignore TW for Taiwan (it does say made in Taiwan) and the first 0 because it is 0 then yea K036W is probably it.

Again thank you.

 

What's the general consensus on the best set up for an ssd upgrade in the 1TB + 32GB model? Having a look through this thread, it seems most people are going with replacing the 1TB HDD and removing the 32GB mSata drive. Is this the best option? Or would it be a good idea to get a larger (250GB) SSD to replace the existing 32GB one and keep the 1TB as storage?

Also, is it hard to track down the larger battery if I do replace the 1TB HDD with an SSD?

 

but not with SED the option vanishes on this laptop.

 

Using the term "SED" makes your claim too broad to remain true. For example, the Class 0 ATA password encryption is one way of taking advantage of SED capabilities, and it runs just fine with Rapid Storage since it's completely software-independent. I haven't tested any TCG/OPAL solutions on Win8, so I can't comment on those, but when I tested WinMagic on Win7 with an SED, it worked just fine with Rapid Storage drivers too. And of course BitLocker software encryption as I said above works fine because it doesn't use SED capabilities at all. It's only BitLocker hardware-accelerated encryption that has a problem with Rapid Storage -- and considering the major pitfalls that hardware-accelerated BitLocker entails as detailed in the post that I linked above, I wouldn't use it even if my SSD supported it.

 

ok to clear this up, Intel rapid storage doesn't play nice with windows 8.1, Bitlocker on a self encrypting Samsung EVO in my case, others mileage may vary but I found links to SED's and Bitlocker not playing nice after installing Intel RST after finding out my bitlocker options vanished.

did I forget anything else while trying to help a member out ?

 

A) Have an engineer coming out tomorrow to swap my PSU and monitor

B) My GPU seems to have stopped working, Device Manager quotes error 43, I've removed the device, reinstalled the drivers (tried dells and nvidias) yet it still shows an error. Any ideas?

 

The problem is that your posts don't differentiate between the software-based implementation of BitLocker and the version that leverages firmware support for eDrive, aka BitLocker hardware-accelerated encryption. The former will work with Intel RST and can be used on SEDs even when RST is installed because in that case, BitLocker isn't leveraging the actual SED functionality, but rather treating the SED like any typical hard drive. And in fact if you try to enable BitLocker before using Magician to enable eDrive support (and dealing with the required Secure Erase), software-based is the implementation you'll be using. The obvious way to tell which one you've got is to watch your drive encryption setup -- if BitLocker is using hardware acceleration, it will complete in a few seconds and you won't be able to choose between "Encrypt the whole drive now" and "Encrypt only the area with data" at the start, whereas with software-based encryption you'll get that option and the encryption itself will take significantly longer than a few seconds.

But I'm curious what these specific "BitLocker options" that vanished are. There aren't a ton of BitLocker options to begin with.

 

Managed to fix it.

Strangely by uninstalling all the nvidia stuff, it suddenly started working.

I assme you don't need the other nvidia software?

 

Since you mentioned winmagic, would winmagic securedoc standalone work with the built in encryption on this laptop? I just found a reference to winmagic, and the 841 seems to be kinda listed on their site (although no reference to the 500gb). It would be cheaper than replacing the drive and upgrading to pro to get bitlocker.

 

Just got my XPS 15 (base model with Intel graphic) and it's great.

The one problem I'm having is that I've connected my external monitor to it via HDMI and the text looks awful.

My resolution and refresh rate are correct for this system (1920x1080 and 60Hz) and are the same as they were for my old system, a Dell Latitude, on which the text looked great.

I was able to download configuration files (.cat/.icm/.inf) for the asus monitor, but I can't figure out what to do with them, and the monitor's manual doesn't cover this. I've looked through the options in the Intel HD Graphics utility, and the advanced Windows 8.1 options, but to no avail.

Any suggestions?

 

the option vanished from the right click and threw an error in the control panel if you tried to use it.

 

I haven't used SecureDoc in over a year, but unless they've improved it dramatically since then or the standalone version is completely different from the enterprise version, avoid it like the plague. It was universally reviled by both IT and our end users. Password synchronization between SecureDoc and Windows was hit or miss, sometimes it just decided not to let the user in without getting a one-time unlock code from IT, and then resolving the underlying issue took another 15 minutes and a couple of reboots. The Mac version of SecureDoc was even worse. And to add insult to injury, the unnecessarily and hopelessly complicated enterprise admin console interface looked a whole lot like Windows 3.1 -- forget about a browser interface. One of my favorite days was when we installed an update to the central admin server that WinMagic assured us would be painless; it ended up causing about 150 employee laptops to lock out when they were next rebooted until we got them the aforementioned one-time unlock codes plus 15 minutes of messing with their client -- WinMagic couldn't explain why that happened. We finally told WinMagic that we were about to dump them in favor of centrally managed BitLocker for Windows and Casper-managed FileVault for Mac. They told us to first let them send 4 of their techs on-site to work full-time for 4 days to see if they could resolve our issues before making that decision. We did, they failed, so we dumped them.

I upgraded to Pro for BitLocker and the ability to RDP into my laptop because RDP is so much smoother and lightweight than VNC, GoToMyPC, etc. No regrets at all. Prior to Win8 I used and loved TrueCrypt, but unfortunately it doesn't support GPT disks and is no longer being developed, so that's not a great option for UEFI Win8 systems. It doesn't support self-encrypting drives, either. And unfortunately the developers didn't even leave a fully functional version of the app on their site. Instead they have this cryptic message that it's "no longer secure", on the grounds that it MIGHT contain security problems that would go unfixed if discovered because they're no longer supporting it -- but to date, nobody has found any such problems even though it's open source and has passed the first phase of a crowd-funded formal audit by security researchers.

Which form of hardware encryption did you enable to cause that?

 

BitLocker Version: 2.0
Encryption Method: Hardware Encryption - 1.3.111.2.1619.0.1.2

so thats AES256-XTS

 

Is there a version of FDE you can recommend that is single install (no server/infrastructure setup) that does not involve upgrading to 8.1 pro? I was hoping winmagic might have solved it (hardware support for existing SSD and works on 8.1), but it seems it may not be a great idea.

 

Unfortunately no. Like I said, TrueCrypt was my go-to solution, but it won't work if your 8.1 installation is on a GPT rather than MBR disk, but using MBR on Win 8.1 means you give up some other OS features. The only other encryption solution I have experience with is PGP Universal, which that company I mentioned above was using before switching to SecureDoc, but that had its own problems that irked IT and end users (though after the SecureDoc train wreck we'd gladly have taken it back.) I haven't done much digging for other options, but I doubt there would be much. BitLocker used to be exclusive to Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs in the Vista and 7 days, but now that it's been brought down to the Pro level for 8.x and with Apple having FileVault available on all OS X installations, I don't see third parties thinking it worthwhile to develop alternatives, certainly not freeware. There might still be room for a GOOD solution that's cross-platform and has powerful centralized administration capabilities, but that would be an enterprise product, and if it such a solution exists, I haven't seen it.

At the end of the day, even if you don't care about anything else Pro offers, if your data is important enough to encrypt, it's probably worth the $95 Pro Pack upgrade cost to encrypt IMHO. And for what it's worth, the upgrade process itself is easy. You just enter the key, your system goes through two regular-length reboots (no huge software installations or anything) and then you're on Pro. I did it myself on this system.

EDIT: You do know about the Pro Pack, right? The reason I ask is that you mentioned SecureDoc standalone is cheaper, and on their website it lists at $110, which makes me wonder if you were looking at buying a full retail or OEM license for 8.1 Pro.

 

Can someone please look at my GPU-Z log and tell me if what I'm experiencing with throttling and overheating is normal? The only game I really play on this laptop is league of legends and I experience throttling constantly, dropping my fps to an unplayable 5-15 fps. It's getting really annoying. I often try to play on a flat surface and even when it is on my lap I'll put it on a flat surface as if I am on a desk.

This log was taken while on a desk playing LoL. Should I contact Dell about this? It's gotten really annoying.

 

I did see the pro pack, (in fact I think I can get it for ~$93 off amazon), but an earlier post made it seem that bitlocker wouldn't work with the 841 SSD, or at least not using the built-in encryption of the drive. I don't want to run a software encryption on every file access that slows down the machine. Is that assumption flawed?

 

The 841 does not support BitLocker's hardware-accelerated encryption. It MAY support Class 0 (ATA password style) because the retail 840 Pro does, but I have no way to confirm that. I can of course set a hard drive password on my 841, but I don't have tools to then test prior to entering the password whether it's actually encrypted or simply has a password on it like a regular hard drive.

Your assumption about the relative performance of software BitLocker vs hardware BitLocker isn't flawed, and I'm sure it would be noticeable on benchmarks, but I would argue that the performance difference is more academic than anything else in real world usage. I'm running software BitLocker on my 841 and at no point have I ever wished I had faster storage, even while running multiple VMs. Maybe if your system will be under a workload that involves significant sequential data transactions (such as recording live HD video) the story might be different, but otherwise I don't think it will affect you. A typical workload involves randomized access to storage in order to access smaller files rather than sequential access to access a few huge files, and the penalty of software encryption on an SSD is much less noticeable on the former.

 

UPDATE:

I just got my replacement (system exchange) xps15 today.
I set it up with no issues and installed all my apps, etc.

When I run the My Dell app, all is well - which is a big contrast to my original XPS15.
My original one looked like a Christmas tree of green, yellow!, blue, and RED X's on each and every day.
This new replacement is so far, behaving well.

My original one would report an "unexpected shutdown" whenever I did a normal shutdown - and then gave me a nice red X in the system events.
This new machine does not have that erratic behavior.

I was trying to figure out why my first one was so buggy versus this one.
I remember the Dell support guy telling me that he thought it was a corrupt image on my SSD.
They wanted to just send me a new SSD, but I opted to just get a whole new machine.

One thing I did notice between the two machines is that my original had a Lite-ON SSD, whereas this new replacement has the Samsung SSD.
Maybe that made the difference - who knows.

So far I have not had any Blue Screens.
The only negative I have noticed would be that the Palm Rejection does not work as well as it did on my original XPS15.
As I am typing this, the pointer is jumping all over the place - and I am at the highest setting.

To SDeP58 - you also posted here that your system would sometimes do a shutdown when it was supposed to sleep, and also that you got a lot of red X's after a shutdown.
Since this is what I experienced with my first one, can you confirm what kind of SSD yours has - is it the LiteOn or the Samsung ?
Perhaps your machine has the same issue that my original had/has.

In any event, so far so good - I am satisfied with the outcome from my exchange to a new replacement machine.

 

I decided to hunt for an adaptive brightness fix and stumbled into this thread Fix adaptive brightness (all windows 8) | Windows 8, RT Development and Hacking | XDA Forums

usable adaptive brightness confirmed

My lux was 84 and now 104 doing a quick and crude test with the lightmeter on my phone.

 

I don't think there is a consensus...or a best option....it really depends of what configuration best suits your needs & usage.

If you like the idea of a faster system drive (SSD) combined with a lot of storage space, then replacing the 32Gb with a larger mSATA SSD is the way to go. After performing a fresh Windows install on the new SSD, you reconfigure the HDD for storage, generally with a complete reformat. In this scenario, the XPS's single drive bay is still occupied, so you cannot use the larger battery.

Alternatively, if you really don't need/want the storage space of the 1Tb HDD, then you have a couple different options:

1. You could simply replace that unit with a 2.5" SSD of whatever size you need. In this case, you remove the 32Gb cache drive (the original SSD), and again, because the drive bay is occupied, you cannot use the larger battery.
2. You remove both the 1Tb HDD and the 32Gb SSD, and install a larger mSATA SSD as your only drive. This is the configuration that allows you to also swap out for the larger battery (since the drive bay is unoccupied), but you do lose the option of a 2nd drive if you do that. (Personally, I can't see the rational with this one......by the time you buy a new SSD and a new battery, you're probably paying at least as much as if you just bought that model to begin with.)

 

I think I'm going to go with this option. Is a clean install necessary? I'm going to go with the Samsung Evo 840, I've read here that they have a good cloning tool which I thought I could use to avoid a fresh install.

 

Hello all,

Has anyone ran into the issue where every now and then when booting their XPS 15 up, the computer seems to boot/login normally but all their wi-fi network passwords are forgotten and need to be re-entered? My XPS15 is great but this happens every now and then--when this happens sometimes I try to restart the computer but this often fails and I have to do a hard restart. I tried looking at Event viewer and googling for fixes but can't seem to find anything . . .

Thanks,
N123

 

I wonder if this could be an error in Windows 8.1. My girlfriend owns a cheaper Asus ultrabook, it's a win 8.1 installation with exactly the same problem as you're describing. Perhaps there's a solution for it, I haven't tried fixing/googling it yet.

 

Curious if the AT&T Beam (a.k.a. Netgear 340U) LTE USB modem recognition issue was ever resolved? Drivers/firmware are up-to-date. Absolutely no response after plugging the modem into my XPS15. The modem works great on my Windows 7 desktop. Hopefully someone else has overcome this issue!

 

This what i need to use to get my 340u to work: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FJ...165_QL70&qid=1414370555&sr=8-4#ref=mp_s_a_1_4

 

Hi,

I am sorry but I just cannot visit this Great Forum every day like many can and do.

In regards to your question, it has a SAMSUNG SSD PM851 mSATA 512GB.

I hope that Helps!

Best Regards,
SD

 

Really appreciate your quick reply guho. Will give it a try. Too bad it appears the modem can't be used without a hub!

 

Macrium Reflect Free is a good free cloning solution and should allow you to resize the necessary partitions to fit the new disk appropriately while also retaining the ancillary partitions if you want to keep all of them. The only ones you can safely leave behind are the tiny OEM diag partition and the Dell Image Recovery partition; the others (Windows Recovery, EFI System, and Microsoft Reserved) are mandatory.

However, there are some things to do before you perform the clone if you insist on going that route. First, you'll need to disable Intel Smart Response (Rapid Storage application > Acceleration). Then install the mSATA SSD, go into the BIOS, and switch the SATA mode from Smart Response to AHCI. Finally, because you're moving from magnetic storage to an SSD, I strongly recommend running "sysprep /generalize /oobe /quit" from an elevated Command Prompt immediately before cloning. Windows sets itself up differently when it's on an SSD compared to a spinning drive, and I don't know if it will reconfigure itself if it's just cloned to an SSD from a spinning disk without a sysprep. Doing a sysprep will force you to step through the out-of-box Windows setup again when you next boot that drive, which includes creating a new user account, but your old one will be intact, so you can just switch to that one and delete the new one you had to create during the setup phase. Note that you should NOT link that temp account to a Microsoft account. To avoid that, click "Create a Microsoft account" and then "Don't use one." Devious placement of the option to skip using a Microsoft account, eh?

 

As jphughan just described, it is possible to use cloning software to move a Windows installation. And the better programs do supposedly account for the fact that Windows installs differently on SSDs and HDDs.

But as his description also illustrates, it's a PITA to do that. And frankly, I wouldn't trust that approach as much as a new installation where Window self-optimizes all pertinent settings for the hardware it finds.

Now, if you actually want the whole Dell installation, one idea worth looking into is installing from the Dell recovery partition, which is located on the 1Tb HDD. I always prefer a very clean, lean Windows install, so I never considered this when installing my SSD. But if the Dell recovery program allows you to choose your target location, as others I've used do, it seems you should be able to install your new mSATA drive (be sure to change to AHCI mode in the BIOS), then do a recovery install of the original Windows installation to the new drive. Obviously, this doesn't move your personal files, which you probably want on the HDD anyway, but it does give you the original configuration with all the Dell bloatware. (Sorry, but that's what it is.... )

 

to go with the above comment, I would grab an ISO from mydigitallife forums and start fresh, no dell bloatware!

Disk clone breaks the built in recovery partition anyway so you have a useless partition with the dell backup that cannot be read by windows.

 

My experience with the Haswell XPS 15 is pleasant enough.
However, I had some issues already.

1. I bought a 'top specs' refurbished version from the Dell outlet. It was a bargain.
2. Received the item, had some strange issues with BSODS as some folks mentioned earlier.
3. Noticed there's a keyboard backlit light bleed the laptop hinge. (the the biggest issue so far). Decided i can live with it as until something serious would happen.
4. all of a sudden 'ESC' key fall off. Called to Dell Service , the told me that they don't do RMA just for one key which just poped off (for some reason plastic holder got broke).
5. and couple days after that my laptop won't turn on. Samsung mSATA was completely dead. Even BIOS showed that theres no HDD detected.
6. Contacted Service center, they swapped Samsung mSATA to LiteOn one . all is good now. Although Keyboard isn't fixed. Btw, somehow managed to push the 'Esc' key into place. it's holding pretty well. However, I might call RMA again to change the whole keyboard.

Apart from that I'm waiting for Win 10 to sort the hiDPI thing so we could use the full potential of that awesome screen.

P.S. for those who still experience jumpy cursor I used the latest (at the very top) official DELL driver , just for a different laptop. See link: Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad driver free download for windows - POSITIVO - POSITIVO MOBILE (1.04.00_POS- SKU:1234567890)

 

I'm intrigued by your problems because I got mine back in September, and don't have those BSODS problems, never have. Maybe its an issue with the newer renditions?

I type a lot, being an internet based, game playing, media consuming document producing student haven't had any issues with the keyboard at all, no loosened keys; maybe you got unlucky there?

As for the SSD thing, I bought 2 Sandisk Ultras, one for me and one for my friend, at the same time last year and just last week, my friends one completely and irreversibly crashed and died. No errors, all systems had been healthy prior and yet one day it simply would not boot up. My SSD is still running fine, although I am somewhat on tenterhooks...
I've heard also in the last few weeks it has been discovered that an Pro model of the Samsung Evo family has a problem wherein trying to retrieve files older than 8 weeks results in read speeds of just a few mb/s. My point is that it would appear the SSD beast still has some issues in reliability across manufacturers, and again, perhaps you were unlucky enough to get a dud =/


Sorry for not being more helpful! It does seem to me that you've been a bit unfortunate in some things though. Having said that, having owned mine for nearly 2 months, it has been nearly entirely problem free (DPI scaling still ruffles my feathers slightly) but certainly no problems with hardware, design or durability yet.

So as far as the future goes, hopefully more positive things for you!

 

Hi guys. Sorry that I might ask something that had been asked before on this thread (i am not sure how to focus the Forum search feature on a single thread - if someone can show me how, that would be great). <---- woops.. never mind, i found the way to search just this thread (sorry, have not logged into this forum for quite some time already.. )

My question is the following:

1. How can I see on Windows 8.1 the mSata drive? on Device Management, I could not see a drive with 32GB in size. And it seemed like my OS is installed on the 1TB drive.

2. How can I confirm on Windows (without opening the laptop's underside) that I did have the the mSata drive , and if I indeed have it, how can I make sure that Windows is actually installed on that drive? (only 1 drive (922GB in size) appears on My Computer/This PC)

Thank you.

 

You should be able to go to Computer Management > Disk Management. In there you should see a separate 32GB drive. Your OS and everything else is always installed on the 1TB drive; the 32GB module only functions as an Intel Smart Response cache and an Intel Rapid Start partition. This is covered in more detail on the XPS 15 Wiki, including details for how to make better use of it (especially if you have 16GB of RAM, in which case Rapid Start won't even work for you).

The other place to check would be the BIOS, accessed by pressing F2 during boot. You should be able to see any mSATA device listed there on the Main page.

 

Is this the Wiki you mentioned? http://xps-15.wikia.com/wiki/XPS_15_Wiki

Well, i checked Disk Management (i wrongly said Device Management). I did see one 7GB and 8GB drive though (well, i thought all the extra drive should at least be closer to 30GB).

http://i.imgur.com/nMSGlqH.png



I will reboot my laptop after this and see if i can see it in my BIOS (doing something right now and cannot reboot it).

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

still no stock or eta from Dell on part k036w, the yellow/orange board to board cable that runs across the msata drive. can't believe their flagship notebook that has been out for months doesn't have this simple part readily available.

 

--- I just KNEW I forgot something !! ---

I should have checked the Hardware ID of the display panel from my (original) top-tier-XPS-15, before sending it back to Dell.

The reason is that I noticed a difference between the display quality between the two.

Original: Very Good viewing angle quality
Replacement: Average viewing angle quality

On my replacement XPS, the panel is a SHP13F8.
I have already read the notebookcheck review where they state that the off-angle viewing quality is not the greatest.
Review Dell XPS 15 (9530, Late 2013) Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

On my original XPS, the panel was a ???? (I should have checked this out before sending it back to Dell !!)
I DID notice that its viewing angles image quality was excellent - (a noticeable difference from the panel I have now).
I also read the notebookcheck review that mentions that a (different) panel - made by LG for these machines - had much better viewing angle quality.
Review Dell Precision M3800 Workstation - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

I am now wondering if my original XPS had the LG display panel or not - (it is too late now, since I sent it back to Dell 2 days ago).
This would explain the noticeable difference in viewing angle quality between the two machines - I am fortunate enough to have had them side-by-side to compare to see the difference.

In any event, my new replacement, with the SHP13F8 display panel is still good - but not great unless you are in the centered-viewing sweet spot.

Does anyone else have a different hardware ID for their display panel - and can comment on the quality of the image at various viewing angles ?

 

Yes, that's the right Wiki.

Just to clarify, the mSATA disk appears as a separate disk; those "drives" you're talking about are just different partitions on the same physical disk, not physically separate devices. However, that 8GB disk labeled "Disk 1" is your mSATA cache. The reason it only appears as 8GB I believe is because the remaining capacity is used for Smart Response caching, and storage used for that purpose is masked off from the OS by the SATA controller (when the BIOS has it set for Smart Response mode rather than AHCI), and the remaining 8GB you can see is the Rapid Start partition that may or may not be usable based on how much system memory you have.

If you want to look into potentially optimizing that cache module better for your priorities, check out this page from the Wiki that I wrote: http://xps-15.wikia.com/wiki/Allocate_the_full_mSATA_cache_capacity_to_Smart_Response.

Technically you COULD switch the BIOS to AHCI mode to expose the 32GB module as a fully independent disk (make sure to disable Intel Smart Response acceleration in Windows first!), but you'd have to reinstall Windows to that module, and frankly I don't really recommend it. That would make for a rather small C: drive, and you'd lose the acceleration benefit currently afforded to the rest of your storage.

 

I have a M3800 and it has the SHP13F8 panel. Like you observed, the viewing angles aren't the best when off center, but still much better than your typical TN panel. I'd be interested to know if Dell was sourcing another manufacturer for the QHD+ screens with better viewing angles.

 

Hey guys I woke up my XPS 15 this morning, just to find that the trackpad doesn't respond at all. It works fine with touchscreen and the mouse, but fr whatever reason the trackpad doesnt move the mouse, I cant click, I can't zoom, etc. I looked for a 'disable touchpad' button I might have hit but I can't find any. Any solutions?

 

Hi,

I Think with your Unbelievable BAD Luck with DELL that you should try another Manufacturer, as I have the Exact same SHP13F8 display panel as you, which is made by Sharp, and I do a majority of photo work and I could not ask for any better viewing angles as I get. :thumbsup:

Best Regards,
SD

 

Hi IceManKent

I am in an identical position so maybe I can assist.

I am receiving a replacement XPS 15 after my current one (only 3 weeks old) is suffering from noticeable coil whine, screen colour issues where the whites change shades multiple times (even after adjusting screen/colour settings as per the XPS 15 Wiki) and a substantial lag between pressing the power button and the machine actually turning on.

Could you please advise how you check the hardware ID of the screen? Fortunately, I still have my current unit and the new replacement is arriving tomorrow. If it helps, I'll then report this information here. Also if you need any other information from this faulty unit for comparison purposes, please let me know before this unit goes back!

Cheers,

R

 

Go to Control Panel – then to System – then to Device Manager – then scroll to the title Monitors – click the left drop down arrow – right click Generic PnP Monitor and choose Properties – choose Details Tab and under Property drop down box choose Hardware Ids. In the Value box you will see MONITOR\and the make and model.

Best Regards,
SD