XPS 15 (Haswell) Owner's Lounge

not really.. :/ is this normal? should I call dell? helpppp

 

Did you actually try disabling Rapid Start? What about checking out the XPS 15 Wiki, where there's an article in the Common Complaints section discussing this exact issue as well as ways to solve it?

You also said that this happened when you close the lid. Did you check your Power Options to ensure that closing the lid is actually set to put the system to sleep?

 

Good news everyone! I just got my XPS 15 and I don't have the coil while as far as I can tell. Sorry don't mean to rub it in and I really do feel bad for those of you that do have it.

 

You don't mean to rub it in while rubbing it in? Congrats on winning the Dell QC lottery! Rare find.

 

Hi how do I clean install windows 8.1 with UEFI (ie don't need to enter cd-key)? It always asks for cd-key

 

First, UEFI has absolutely nothing to do with the CD key. They're two completely separate concepts. But the reason you're getting prompted is that the ISO you used to build your install media won't install the edition of Windows that your embedded key is intended for. Most XPS 15s will have a Windows 8.1 Core key, but if you bought it through the business store, it will have an 8.1 Pro key embedded. But not every Windows 8.1 ISO can install both editions. MSDN ISOs can, but the ones downloaded from Microsoft's retail download portal won't. And even if you enter a Windows 8.1 generic install key for the version you want to install, you'll see an error that the media can't install the version of Windows that that key is intended for.

This has all been covered earlier in this thread and is therefore also written up in the XPS 15 Wiki, fyi -- both how to make sure you install Windows in UEFI mode and the warning about using the correct ISO if you want to use the embedded key.

 

Chipset:
http://www.dell.com/support/my-supp...ode=xps-15-9530&languageCode=EN&categoryId=CS

Intel Management Engine Interface:
http://www.dell.com/support/my-supp...ode=xps-15-9530&languageCode=EN&categoryId=CS

NFC Driver:
http://www.dell.com/support/my-supp...ode=xps-15-9530&languageCode=EN&categoryId=NI
Go over these installation files and try using the nfc again.

After installing these, reboot and then go to PC settings -> Network -> Airplane Mode and ensure nfc is switched on.

If that still doesn't do it, then try sending files from phone to phone. If that doesn't work then check in settings and make sure Android Beam (or similar) is turned on aswell as the nfc itself. That works then its definitely the computer. Maybe try some other device with the computer.

 

Was me:

Windows button > Control Panel > Tablet PC Settings > Other tab > Left Handed

Can someone put that on the wiki pls?

 

seems more like an aberration...though the demo unit i tested at a store also didnt have the coil whine ..i planted my ear near the charging area on the keyboard...but sadly they dont have stock for 512 GB SSD.

does dell have a 30 day refund policy or something so i can buy a unit without feeling anxious?

 

Nice!, welcome to the no coil whine club . do you have the low/mid or high tier?

 

I just placed an order on the XPS 15, I'm not sure if I have made the right choice.
At the moment I'm debating between XPS 15 or Sager NP 8268-S, I opted for the Dell, mostly due to portability.
But seeing as how many people have had issues with it, I might be returning it just as quickly.

 

Remember, you're mostly seeing the people with issues.

Happy campers don't general search out a forum.

 

Just as confirmation for that, I got one off of an ebay dell outlet seller and have been extremely happy with it. Factory sealed box from dell, 1 yr warranty, no issues (well 1 small one, but nothing big that I wouldn't expect from any laptop), perfect superficially, no whine, very fast/powerful, highest spec'd all for 1600!

 

Hey, are people able to share their wifi internet connection? I'm trying to create a hotspot on my machine and the "sharing" tab is completely gone from my wifi connection. On windows 8.1.

Am I doing something wrong here or is there something amiss with my machine?

 

I have it in Network Connections when I right-click my Wi-Fi adapter and select Properties. Try updating your drivers, or delete the adapter from Device Manager and let it get added back? It might also not show when you've only got one network connection actually active.

Otherwise try Googling "Windows Network Connection Sharing tab missing"?

 

is it possible to install a 2nd UEFI windows 8 clean install onto a partition while preserving everything else so i can experiment?

i am not sure if a clean install will keep the dell software i bought - namely office, adobe acrobat, adobe lightroom.

also i have spent a lot of time configuring my set up, i just want to see how a clean install feels like. any ideas if i can install into a separate partition without losing anything?

 

First off, let me say that I honestly wouldn't bother -- and I say that even though I always do clean installs. This system ships with very little bloatware, so it would be much easier to just uninstall what you don't need and you'll be very close to the feel of a clean install anyway. But if you're determined to try this, if you shrink your existing OS partition enough to create space for a new partition, you'll be able to clean install Windows 8.1 onto that new partition. You'll then have multiple boot options when you start your system and you can choose which one you want to boot into. And your existing Windows installation won't be affected in any way by the clean install partition. Just make sure that if you do this you create your installation USB drive in a way that supports UEFI booting.

If you do decide to go with the clean install, it definitely won't retain all of the software you bought (you'll just have basic Windows), but if you bought through Dell I think they have some website where you can go to redownload all of that software and access your product keys. Or maybe it's an application called Dell Digital Delivery or something.

 

I have 2 major issue, one program that I really need does not work (despite every other person on windows 8 having no issues), and my laptop doesn't sleep properly after a few days without rebooting.

I want to see if a clean install fixes these issues. if yes then I'm clean installing, if no, I just delete the clean install.

definitely won't break the bootloader?

 

I come from a 2.0 kg 14" ThinkPad. I read diffent specs but can someone please tell my what the real weight of the XPS 15 is?

 

2.0kg ... ...

 

Thanks. I am considering buying it. As a happy across home/work pcs and android smartphone Chrome user I am interested in hearing if the Chrome scaling issue has been solved?

 

It is 2 kg. After my old inspiron 1520 it feels like a paper sheet

 

Not for Linux. But I've become again a happy Firefox user, after a few years using Chrome.

I am only missing the automatic translation.

 

Thanks. How about Windows 8.1?

 

I took out the harddrive and msata, and put in an ssd. My laptop is now 1984 grams. (what a nice number). I think with an msata ssd in the 60wh model you can get to the 1,9kg.

 

If you shared more details about the application you're having an issue with and the exact issue, maybe people could help troubleshoot that. But no, installing Windows on a second partition won't break anything as long as the second instance is an equal or newer version of Windows compared to what's already there. Windows detects existing installations and adjusts bootloaders as necessary when you install it. Where you WILL have a problem though is that if the clean install works and you want to go delete the original OS partition, you won't be able to extend your new partition backward to fill the space freed up by the original. You'll either need to use third-party partitioning tools or perform a new clean install to reclaim that space.

 

I hated 8.0 the first two times I used it, but I'm on 8.1 now and totally happy -- especially now that Windows 8.1 Update 1 has been released on MSDN (everyone else gets it via Windows Update on April 8). There are a couple things that aggravate me, but there are a lot more things I enjoy as improvements, and honestly for the most part it's not that different from Win7. Once you enable logging on straight to Desktop, accept that the Start screen is just an improved version of Pinned Start Menu items, and realize that the All Apps interface is just like the old Start Menu, you're set. Metro is a brand new interface to learn, but it got easier to use in 8.1 (and even easier in 8.1 Update 1), but on the other hand if you never want to use it, you don't have to.

Here's a list from a post of mine in the M3800 thread of some of the stuff I like about 8.1 over 7 (some are only available in 8.1 Pro):

- BitLocker and BitLocker To Go (including support for drives with built-in hardware encryption)
- Full UEFI support (without needing Legacy Option ROMs/Compatibility Support Module enabled)
- UASP support
- SMB 3.0 support
- Multi-display RDP host
- Better scaling support (even for FHD owners in case they get 4K external displays)
- Support for the new version of DirectAccess (if your corporation deploys Server 2012 on the backend)
- Fast Boot support (without proprietary third-party implementations)
- Per-display taskbar support (again, without third-party applications)
- Hyper-V
- Significantly better Task Manager
- More efficient memory management
- Better battery life when comparing the same benchmarks on the same hardware
- Free upgrade to Windows 8.2 when it's released with whatever features make it into that release

 

And what is wrong with third party tools? I always use GParted for my partitioning needs. No limitations about moving partitions, extending on the left, etc. (depending on the operation, boot repair might be required afterwards)

 

I just wanted to share; when I first got my laptop there was dust under(inside) the screen. They sent a repair guy the next day, now a couple months later I have these beautiful issues:




And there's dust under the screen again, I can not understand this

 

Nothing at all. I'm mostly just mentioning it so he's aware that will be required (and that a solution does exist), but then again if he doesn't want to deal with the additional hassle and/or isn't comfortable using tools like that (especially since as you say they can repair boot repairs later, and I think someone mentioned the image recovery partition is no longer usable), that would be useful information to have upfront as well when deciding how he wants to proceed.

 

Just got my Dell from repair. Replaced almost every part. Fixed: nothing. Coil whine still there (charging it up right now, but already can hear it). Defective screen replaced with an even more defective screen (4 bad pixels, "hair" under glass, among others). Don't honestly know what to do anymore.

 

I finally got my top-tier model last week and I'm completely loving it. Just last night though, I had one problem. In my room, the wifi wasn't working. It would keep going in and out and even when it came back on, it wasn't loading Web pages properly. My tablet wifi works perfectly fine and so does my Roku device. Also, when I took the laptop to the other side of the buildjng, the wifi worked perfectly fine. I even updated to version 17 but that didn't help.

Any ideas guys?

 

Try disabling the 11n protocol. Works like a charm like that with one of my routers, it was totally unusable otherwise. With other routers I have no issue at all with 11n, so it may be the router's fault.

 

How do I do that?

 

Update your router firmware? That's fixed issues for some people. And if you haven't already, depending on your router model and technical proficiency, try an open firmware like DD-WRT or Tomato? They're actively maintained whereas most router vendors stop updating firmware meaningfully or at all not long after product launch, so if you have an old router there may not be any recent firmware updates available from the vendor.

 

This would limit you to 802.11g, wouldn't it? But the option is in Device Manager under the Advanced tab for your Wi-Fi adapter.

 

That's always up to date. I'm at college right now. So, that's not the issue. All my other devices work fine.

 

Not really sure how you being at college is relevant unless you're saying you're using your college's Wifi infrastructure, but then I question how you know their Wifi infrastructure's firmware is always up to date. If you're using your own router at college, the fact that your other devices work fine doesn't necessarily rule out your router as a potential cause. There have been router incompatibilities with specific Wifi client chipsets in the past, so this could be a case like that. Also see the suggestion I mentioned above about DD-WRT or Tomato if you're feeling adventurous and you have a supported router.

It would also help if you could provide more information, like what router you have, what firmware you're on, whether you're using 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, whether you're using 20 MHz or 40 MHz channels, etc.

 

Well, I'm using my college's wifi. I asked the people who work in IT and they said the firmware is always up to date. The weird part is, it works on the other side of the buildjng but just not in my room. It was working totally fine for like five days.

 

Just saw Intel recently released v17 of the wifi drivers - maybe try that?
Latest Drivers - XPS 15 Wiki

 

Regarding the coil whine - it's actually astounding that with 2 motherboard replacements, each one only made matters worse. Now the typical constant whine is not so much audible as the "stuttering" sound that accompanies every activity (e.g. website loading). I think it's the RAM. It's really loud, like an old hard drive. All in all, an advice to all - think twice before having your MB replaced - it might only worsen the situation. Now I don't feel as though I have an SSD drive at all. And I'm moving abroad in 2 weeks so I no longer have time for servicing. This thing stays....

 

I have this and more sounds since the beginning. They even don't want to replace anything related to the sound in Germany.

 

Probably rightly so, as it doesn't seem replacements bring any improvement. I did notice that the effect varies greatly from MB to MB. It's always there - but with a slight vaiation. I assume it's because different components/parts are affected by the cheap electronics used. In Poland they are clueless. They just replace at blind and return the product as "repaired".

 

I've tried that too. This is literally only a problem in my room and no where else. I've tried a few other locations inside my building and around campus. It's really strange.

 

Maybe your laptop is the only one of the devices you have that supports the 5 GHz band (or is the only one choosing it in your room). If your college's Wifi broadcasts the same SSID on both 2.4 and 5 GHz (not an uncommon setup), then your system might be trying to use 5 GHz, which generally allows higher throughput with the tradeoff of less range and ability to pass through walls. If there's something about the area around your room that creates a problem for 5 GHz but not 2.4, that could be your answer. If you download a WiFi site scanning app like InSSIDer you'll be able to see if your college's Wifi is broadcasting on both bands, as well as what band you're connected to. You can also go into Device Manager and the Advanced tab of your Wi-Fi card and set the Preferred Band to 2.4 GHz. Unfortunately there isn't a way to specify that you only want to prefer 2.4 GHz for that specific Wi-Fi SSID.

 

I downloaded the software. Got this result:


Seems like it is only the 2.4Ghz band.
Thoughts?

Edit: Another problem I have is that the mute, decrease volume and increase volume buttons have been reversed. Whenever I press F1 now, it brings me to the help menu instead of muting the laptop. I have to press fn + F1 to mute now. Anyway to reverse this back?

 

Press FN+ESC. This will reverse the function of the "function" keys.

 

Well there goes that theory. Sorry man, all out of ideas at least for the time being.

The previous post was right about Fn+Esc determining how your F keys behave. This can also be configured in Windows Mobility Center (if Quickset is installed) and the BIOS. I personally like keeping the F keys as F keys because if you learn keyboard shortcuts you can be immensely more productive. For example, F2 is rename, which works on Windows files and folders as well as Excel cells (and lots of other places). Then there's Alt+F4 and the even more useful but less known Ctrl+F4. And of course F5 is refresh in browsers.

There's a great introductory list here: Microsoft Windows shortcut keys. If you can train yourself to use these, you'll be amazed how much time you save not having to move your hands over to a mouse/touchpad and then move the cursor to something you want to click. Instead you can just type the keyboard shortcut and it happens. My friends are constantly amazed at how fast I can work on a PC and the fact that I almost never touch the mouse. Few of them realize (until I tell them) that I can work that quickly BECAUSE I minimize use of the mouse.

Another godsend: Alt-D highlights the Address bar in Web browsers. And on Firefox, hitting Tab after that would highlight the Google search box. If you live in a browser like I do, that one comes in handy constantly. Then Ctrl+T of course opens a new tab, and Ctrl+F4 would close it. Ctrl+Tab cycles forward through tabs and Ctrl+Shift+Tab would cycle backwards. Ok, I'll stop now.

 

Does anyone do any android development? The usb ports are going crazy with my phone disconnecting and reconnecting all the time and messing up adb. I know the usb thing has been talked about but I haven't found any fixes yet :/

 

Oh wow. This is damn helpful. Thanks a ton.
The Wi-Fi is really getting on my nerves because it is working almost flawlessly. Just not in my room and not in one or two other areas of the campus. Everything else on this laptop is great so far.

Anyone else here have any ideas on the Wi-Fi issue?