XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

I'm quite sure they were going to offer you extended warranty, norton antivirus protect, bag, mouse and some amazing firewall

 

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm seeing. It makes games that make a lot of use of the CPU run better but the framerates are really inconsistent because the GPU throttles up and down the entire time. A04 is definitely better for running games that don't use much CPU power like Sonic Generations.

What are you doing to disable the GPU turbo? I've tried underclocking the GPU with a couple of programs I normally use for Nvidia GPUs with no luck.

 

No opinions on what I have been told? They actually went through their update emails and told my this information...

 

Well just had my Wi-fi card replaced, mainly to ensure I'm in the pool to get the permanent fix down the line. Needless to say, it didn't fix my speeds; if anything, it made them worse. The tech found the system to otherwise be sound, both in terms of configuration and build. He suggested getting a new router (I have a Linksys E2000) or contacting my internet provider (Comcast cable). These seem like poor guesses though as I consistently get 21+ Mbps from the same router and ISP in the same locations from other, older systems in my house; I also am showing full signal strength (just crappy download speeds). Dell will likely offer to replace my system, but am thinking that will also be a waste of time. Now the question is how long do I keep treading water with tech support to ensure I get the needed fix while minimizing the time suck that is their troubleshooting flowchart. If I refuse the replacement, will I jeopardize my chances of getting the real fix whenever it comes? Hmmm...

 

Changed out the memory and mSATA card on my L521x from the base i7 configuration of 32gb mSATA with 8gb memory to 256 mSATAwith 16gb memory. Replacing the mSATA was trivial. Replacing the memory was a real PITA (as mentioned by other poster). I took lots of reference pictures; you really do have to take most of the laptop apart. The good news is it really is not hard and everything is well marked to include screw removal order; it was a pleasure to work on but you need to be comfortable with what you are doing. I also got the 5 beeps... I thought the monitor connection was not seated and rechecked it. It was fine and the laptop started normally on the second attempt.

NOTES.

The plastic bottom cover is fragile to prying on the front. You are not suppose to pry there! From the back (which is sturdier) like you are suppose too. Really wish that cover was aluminum but it is sturdy enough.

It seems Dell does not put a screw in every place that a screw can go. Follow the Dell tear down guide EXACTLY. I don't know what will happen if you place a screw someplace it is not suppose to go....could impact the integrity of the machine by not correctly anchoring a strength point in the design. I did not want to find out and put every screw in it's place. If it did not have a screw, it did not get a screw.

Be sure to route the cables correctly. I noticed that some of the cables could get crushed if you don't route them properly, especially when you screw in the battery.

If you change the mSATA from Intel to AHCI, you will need to reinstall the operating system. Just a heads up; the BIOS warns you that this will be the case. Turns out it is right! I think this is only the case if you install the operating system on the mSATA drive. Interestingly enough, it allows you to install an operating system in Intel mode.

Now if I can get the WIFI problem fixed, this might be a halfway decent laptop. Still considering sending it back. It will only get less expensive and the WIFI really sets my productivity back. Can't seems to get a signal if more than one interior wall is in the way. My L502x (which never really grew on me and almost swore me off of Dell forever) could go halfway down the street and still get a usable signal.

 

The hardest part of my tear-down was finding a T5 Torx driver. Dang that thing is teensy.

 

I have Core i5 3210M model w/ GT 630 and 750Gb 7200rpm drive. Mine has the WiFi problem as well

 

Hi Bill!! I don't mean to bug you ( again---Sorry!), but I'm just putting this here so you don't miss it... I still don't know what to do!!

 

joshuajag: good luck getting Bill to read *every* post - that's a tough call.

I also seem to recall him saying some pages ago that the meeting he has weekly that is most informative to him on this subject (my words, not his) is on Tuesday, so I wouldn't expect any update wrt:WiFi after that. Maybe Tues afternoon, or later.

 

I have noticed here lately that the left side of my laptop is getting really hot. All I am doing is IE / Skype. I installed SpeedFan and here is what the picture shows (I have had this installed before now).... Is this normal?


View attachment 82052

 

hi guys quick question tomorrow im getting the laptop and it has the 128GB msata option along with the 1TG spinner so of couerse i want to instal the OS in the msata. from what i heard the laptops comes with the OS in the spinner and theres no DVD with the OS coming along with the laptop only the recovery partition... so whay can i do.. from where can i get the dvd in order to do a clean windows install? any suggestions? cheers

 

I'll tell you what I did after I installed my SSD. First I used Easus Partition Master to resize and copy the OS partition to the SSD. Then I removed the OS partition from the HDD and created a new blank NTFS partition. I then popped in the Windows 7 DVD (you can download an image from Microsoft if you don't have one) and ran the automated fix boot.

It told me that it had found a windows install on the SSD and mapped it into the boot manager. This both retains the restore partition on the HDD and allows you to boot to the msata. There are other things you can do if you don't want to do that.

 

umm, all you have to do is use Dell DataSafe Local Backup which comes with every machine....it will create an entire image of your hard drive on a 8gb flash drive. Remove HD, boot up with usb drive and it will install the Factory OS on to the mSATA (by default the OS gets put on the HD so remove it to force it to install on mSATA) Shutdown and put in the regular drive and you are good to go. Takes less than 30 minutes and even retains the MS Office Starter

no need to format or create partitions or use 3rd party software to create images. The simplest and fastest solution, you don't even have to enter the Windows Key this way

 

Mine got hot on the left side as well. Its really too warm for comfort but I returned it as faulty due to the screen grid issues.

I have ordered another one to see if its any better. If not then I'm officially done with Dell and will have to go over to HP or Samsung.

 

Can this be done with on models with the 32gb ssd and 750gb spinner?Does it void warranty? Any performance increase/decrease?

 

all XPS models come with that software to create an entire recovery OS usb drive. No it doesn't. There is no performance decrease as it returns your box to factory settings.

 

Thanks. now for the money question. Is the 32gb drive large enough to do this?

 

In theory yes. I forget what the allocation for Windows 7 is but I was able to install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on it.

 

In Theory? Your killing me! In theory my wifi should be great but its not....lol jk Anyone Try this?

 

Same results with mine:
Next to laptop: 1.55 Mbps download
Moving about 1 m away: 3.59 Mbps download
Ethernet connected: 6.05 Mbps (my max rate from ISP).

Tried each scenario a few times (cover up and down) and the results seem to indicate that it's easy to interfere with the antenna in mine, too.

Dell (Canada) support also concluded the same (though via different troubleshooting process) and are going to send me a new wireless card and an LCD. Althought I read on this forum that the antenna isn't part of the LCD and that the wifi card isn't the issue, that's the action plan I'm on right now.

The latest update is that the LCD is backordered so Dell has offerred to replace the XPS. Here's my dilemma: should I

1. wait for the card/LCD parts (at least 10 days - and hope replacing these parts is consistent with the fix in the works),
2. wait for a new L521X (at least 15 days - and hope the fix is manufactured in), or
3. wait for the fix to be confirmed and generally made available.

@Bill - for the first two options I'm doing a lot of hoping. Would you suggest I wait for the fix you're talking about?

 

U know I'm wondering all the people is saying ohh my wifi speed is just 3mb or 2mb or what ever.... but I'm thinking.. is no one trying do this testing with wifi with local network speeds... cuz in this way the true wifi speed can be tested over ur local network and remove ur provider out of the equation ....

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

So glad you asked.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/680190-xps-15-l521x-wifi-test-results.html

There's local network based testing results for you.

Here is a summary of results from the post:

 

Tried, quiet a few people tried much more advanced tests, and results are the same on 90% (if not 100%) of the machines, so I'm not sure who has the "lucky" XPS 15 here. There were a couple people who were saying that they have a great WiFi signal and speed, those were testing right next to their router or were having abysmal ISP service speed and the difference between their normal speed of 1.5 Mbps and 1.2 Mbps what they had on their XPS was not that much different from any other PC in their network.

While it may be that the placement of the antenna or a combination of poorly shielded antenna with routing and placement of it is the cause - I still believe that majority of the new XPS 15 and XPS 14 are affected.
Not too many consumers are aware of how to test it or read the forums, or travel with their laptop farther away from their router than 10 ft. But more and more people complain about it. And given that it's a fresh model - people are still trying hard to work it out with Dell tech support and are not as vocal as people here.

In my case - I have a fully loaded XPS 15 with all the bells and whistles you can get (including 512 GB SSD, 16 GB Ram etc.), and I find it unacceptable to buy some 150 Mbps USB adapter just to patch the major "O-O-OPS!" by Dell QA and Engineering team.

If it makes you feel better here is my WiFi account with easily reproducible results.
= ISP - Comcast (Download 20mbps/ Upload 4Mbps)
= Router - Dual Band N spec router D-Link DGL-4500 (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz )
= NAS - D-Link with 2x2TB 7200K drives. Average read 98 -100 MB/s
= 4 Notebooks - Dell E6400, Acer TimelineX, Dell Latitude D830, Lenovo T420s
= 2 Tablets - Asus TF700N, Samsung Galaxy 2 and 4 Android ICS phones
= 2 Servers, 4 Routers, 1 H/W Firewall, 10 other Home Entertainment devices that use WiFi and LAN - not relevant, but shows that I'm not a novice with networks.


XPS 15 L521X Results *************:
1. Distance 5 ft (1.5 m) to the router - direct view of the router, no walls
- Speedtest.net test = D 12 -14 Mbps / U 4.6 Mbps
- File transfer from NAS (home network), 4 GB video file = 2.7MB/s transfer rate

2. Distance 5 ft (1.5 m) to the router - turned away from the router, my body between the PC and the router
- Speedtest.net test = D 9 -10 Mbps / U 4.6 Mbps
- File transfer from NAS, 4 GB video file = 1.3MB/s transfer rate

3. Distance 15 ft (5 m) to the router - turned away from the router, my body + 2 walls between the PC and the router
- Speedtest.net test = D 4 - 5 Mbps / U 4.6 Mbps
- File transfer from NAS, 4 GB video file = 0.85 MB/s transfer rate, yes that was ~ 900 Kb/s

4. Distance 35 ft. 3 walls + 1 floor up
- no signal or very weak and constantly dropping the signal

5. Anywhere in the house connected to 1 GB wired LAN
- Speedtest.net 25-27 Mbps (ISP limit)
- File transfer from NAS, 4 GB video file = 75-85 MB/s transfer rate (NAS Hard Drive read speed limit)


ALL other listed above laptops (except for XPS) Results *********:

1. Wired or wireless, main floor distance 5-35 ft, 0-2 walls
- Speedtest.net always > 20 Mbps
- File transfer from NAS, 4 GB video file >= 30-100 MB/s
2. Upper floor where my XPS did not see my WiFi network, all other devices averaged
- Speedtest.net = 12-16 Mbps
- File transfer = 17 - 40 MB/s

Compare this my friends!

I took my new XPS on a business trip recently, and all I can say that if I would keep this PC with the current WiFi disaster - I'd loose a ton of clients (IT consultant) due to inability to communicate or simply work because of the WiFi reception or lack there of.

One more thing ... - Someone here said that the MacBook Pro WiFi works just fine, despite having the same or similar to XPS antenna and aluminum body design - yes, but the antenna array is routed to the back of the screen and where the plastic fruit logo is (read "plastic" one more time), and that make a huge difference along with some additional shielding of the antenna array.

 

You are holding it wrong...

maybe Dell will com up with something like this:




I think we all agree the wifi problem is serious, else we would have seen a fix from Dell much sooner.

What if dell comes up with a fix by making the bottom of the screen lid from plastic. or maybe they give you a external antenna. Do you guys still think its a premium laptop?

As a Sales Support Manager from a very big american company I would advise you if your laptop does not function propperly return it if you can.
When dell fixes the issue and the fix is acceptabe you can buy it again with no risk involved.

If you have bought a expensive car, but due some issue it would not go faster than 60 mile/h would you keep the car?

 

I don't know how easy it would be to do this, but considering the base of the XPS isn't metal, has anyone tried re-routing the wifi antennas around the base and seeing how things perform?

I suspect getting the antennas out of the lid would be the tough (impossible?) part. To test it'd probably just be easier to tuck the current antenna leads out of the way and route in new ones.

Sure, it's not a "vertical" antenna when the machine is in use, but there would be no aluminum chassis in the way.

addendum: I wonder if there's a 'patch' antenna end behind the Dell badge on the lid? That need not be metal, would serve the same 'transparency' function as the Apple on the MBP.

 

I fear that this is where the problem is going in one sense or another. Dell have been aware of this problem in quite a while so if there was a simple solution it would have been found long before now. More than likely, any viable solution will involve the re-modelling of the computer architecture whether it be the antenna location in relation to other parts or the removal of part of the aluminium shell. I fear this solution is far down the line.

I know Bill will ensure me that this is not true and his colleagues in engineering are very close to a solution but coming from someone who works in Dell's Marketing department it's your job to tell people what they want to hear and keep any bad publicity away from Dell. Don't get me wrong though, your input here has been great however.

Unfortunately I didn't come across this forum until after I got my xps 15 and I'm currently at the "tech coming to replace wireless card" part but ultimately I know as much as I love the rest of this laptop and want to keep it, I will have to return it. More than likely replace it with its fatter brother the Inspiron 15r se.

Maybe Dell should have a look at this: How to Make a Wireless Antenna: 5 steps - wikiHow

 

hi all... I brought I7 3612+ 8 GB and GT640.. When i play music or video.. the music or video s getting dragged for couple of seconds.. Video is normal 720P video.. VLC application used HIGH PERFORMANCE NVIDA... Does any one have this problem..

Thanks for the reply.

 

To be honest Im very doubtful its the antenna placement otherwise all the xps15's would suffer the exact same problem. Its not like they place the antenna in different places for different peoples order. If the aluminium body was causing the problem then it would affect every xps15 shipped which we know it does not.

 

Despite hearing this mentioned before, I believe they do all have the problem. However some people do not notice, either because they are close to their router or have a slow connection to start with.

There seems to be no pattern based on config, nor have I heard of anyone's problem being solved by swapping a part or entire machine.

 

Right, but what else could be cause of "affected" units?
I am at 7M away from router, it took 3 minutes to have a speed test done which is 0.70 Mbps , 3M away is 20Mbps.
I might take the laptop apart solder two wires on N-6200 card ( do not damage the original one), or to get a proper antenna from eBay, 1m in length, find the best place to get the wires out through the chassis, put it on top on the LCD....
I think I will have better WiFi compared with Dell!

 

Let us know how that works out for you.

 

I may try to run my antenna outside the case. Not sure if it's the same or not but I have an antenna from my dv7 that the mobo cooked so I may try that. I'll have to do some research on both antennas to see if I could even use it. Unless you guys know if it's even worth trying

 

It was either in this thread or the wifi L521x thread but when the tech opended up the laptop they laid the wifi antennas outside of the case and all worked well.

 

It was the WiFi test thread - absolutely correct, it worked perfectly with antenna out of the case.

 

So do apple get around it with their plastic apple logo as someone mentioned earlier? That means a possible Dell workaround would be manufacturing a new lid? That's more than a few weeks away!

 

Farly, hold that panic for later when Dell announces the real deal. Don't base on speculation. Waste of energy.


Sent from my brain using neurons fueled by glucose

 

[QUOTE=c0derbear;8783299]Farly, hold that panic for later when Dell announces the real deal. Don't base on speculation. Waste of energy.


Sent from my brain using neurons fueled by glucose[/QUOTE]

Explain "later", after your return period is expired?

Better to make sure there is no need to panic later, just buy again later...

 

Has anyone experimented to see whether the content of what's being displayed on the screen (or its resolution) affects wireless speed? Seems unlikely, but it's easy to test (if you have an L521X, which I don't...yet).

 

Resolution or what's being displayed has not made any difference for me. It's really odd though. If I disable the wireless adapter and turn it back my signal is strong for about 10 seconds then drops to nothing.

 

That is of course your choice.

Dell_Bill has stated that current owners will have a fix made available to them, return period or no since it is a problem Dell shipped it with and has owned up to that.

If this means in three months that they send me a new machine, and I swap the drives across, I'm okay with that.

But I don't rely up on the Wifi for work related issues, as some do, and the rest of the package is just so ridiculously better than my 7 yr old Lattitude that it's not worth retrograding, to me.

 

Not really panic, just being realistic that a solution is probably quite far down the line. Can guarantee you Dell won't announce anything once they get a fix. Don't be fooled by clever marketing. Anyone who contacts technical support will get it fixed but they certainly won't go out of their way to find people who bought xps 15.

Hooked up mine to my tv in "Projector Only" mode. Tested the speed with lid open and closed (laptop screen off in both cases) and neither made a difference. Still the same slow speed/intermittent connection.

 

agreed. I'm definitely not very optimistic about us business behavior, particularly for a business that runs on high volume low margins.

 

Hi guys,

Not too sure how relevant this is but I'm in Australia and just got a L521X about a week ago. I got the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 Wifi card in mine and am yet to notice any wireless performance issues whatsoever? After browsing this thread a bit I was a tad worried about mine before I received it as I use my Wifi at home fairly often. But I got it home, installed Win8, connected it up and I am absolutely good to. I transferred large amounts of data over Wifi without any issues.

I haven't really read deep into the thread so I may be missing some important factors here or maybe I am one of these aforementioned lucky ones?

Willing to open it up and check stuff out for you guys to see if there is any difference between the AU model vs the rest of the world's.


Cheers.

 

I'm in Australia too, but have held off buying so far until there is a fix.

It tends to get dramatically worse at range ... a few rooms away, with a wall or two in between. Try turning the laptop at different angles etc.

Do you have another wireless device you can compare with? Preferably with a LAN-speed transfer as some people have reported no problem when it's just their internet speed it woeful anyway (not saying yours is, but we are in Australia after all!)

There's been at least one Australian poster who had the problem, and I think he ended up returning it as it was so bad. So I don't think it's that unfortunately.

I'm fairly convinced that the reason some people aren't affected is environmental not due to a difference with their laptop. By that I mean something is different about the the location or the way they are using the laptop.

 

OK so today I tried and antenna outside of the case and had the same issue. The antenna wasn't from an xps15 though it was from a hp dv7. I'm going to say it didn't mater because my signal and mbps looked exactly the same no matter what antenna i was on. Again im a complete noob but trying to come up with something because this is driving me crazy. Maybe the antenna being from a dv7 gave me the same results because its the wrong antenna? I don't know but had to try it

 

Has anyone re-installed Windows and got the BSOD from the Video Card 0x00000050 nvlddmkm.sys issue? It is driving me crazy, I think it is a driver issue but I can not get this sorted out for some reason. The Dell Driver causes this and the BETA Driver from the Nvidia Website makes the card disappear from the Device Manager and re-install itself without BSOD. grrr

 

How did you reinstall Windows? Did you use the supplied W7 DVD?

 

I was informed by the Dell Tech Service that W7 DVD's are no longer supplied, only Driver DVD's.
is this true or not?

 

What supplied W7 DVD?

True. For many years now.

 

has anyone who installed A06 noticed that battery life seems to have substantially reduced?