XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

You can call Dell or still use the website from there page to Request the backup disk of Windows 7 Re-Installation DVD. I have always got them directly from Dell. I erased everything from my hard drives while I was in AHCI Mode then switched back to the Intel Tech Mode and used CTRL+I to fix the RAID then installed Windows and all of its drivers from the Dell Website. Pretty sure its a driver issue since Windows 8 does not crash.

I did find a Microsoft Hotfix that addressed this issue, hope it got fixed!

HotFix Link - Stop error in Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2: "0x00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA"

Dell Backup Media - Dell - Support

 

Does anyone know what 1TB drive is supplied with L521x? Is it WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB ?

 

You can download OEM Windows ISO's from Dell here:
Dell Community

 

Thank you all.

I wonder when Bill is bringing the next update...

 

You may just be in the same situation as I am, small house + powerful access point = acceptable performance.

I've flashed mine back to the A04 BIOS. 1.2Ghz + Max GPU is much better than constantly fluctuating GPU clocks. The vast majority of games (especially any xbox ports) work fine with the CPU at 1.2Ghz. If I had bought this system as a gaming machine I would have sent it back, but it's so good at my primary usage that I can't bring myself to. I'm not ruling out replacing the fan, making vents in the casing and re-pasting it myself. But that's the sort of thing you do as a last resort.

 

Hopefully soon. The Wi-Fi is driving me crazy

 

Wow... This is really funny...

Everyone goes bashing at how bad the CPU throttles, going as far as saying the XPS is worthless with BIOS A04... Then Dell release BIOS A06, throttling fixed, people saying it's much better...

And what now? Going back to A04 because CPU throttling is desired in the end, to lower the thermal impact on the GPU for some games where CPU is not really useful...

Quite a funny story, don't you think ?

 

BIOS A06 has replaced CPU throttling with GPU throttling, I guess it's not funny while you are gaming GPU drops until to 130MHz.

 

No it's not funny, we just want the computers to work as advertised. Dell releasing a "fix" that's much worse than the original problem is completely unacceptable. It's like going to the doctor with a broken toe which she then fixes and then breaks your leg.

Computers are expected to comply with their specifications, these sorts of issues are not acceptable, especially on "premium" priced products.

 

Damn, it's like Dell just started making computers.
I mean, not to rant or anything, but years of experience have led to... this?

 

Sadly I have to agree with both of these. I was all set on getting this, but if it can't perform as stated then it really isn't fit for purpose. Quite disappointed as my M1530 gave me a good few years of trouble free service!

 

Well, I do not know if the battery life has been reduced (I did not test the battery so much), but I have the A06 BIOS and I have for sure at least 4H autonomy doing internet browsing (Youtube, etc) using Wifi with the screen brightness at 50%.
Far from the announced 8H, but more or less what I had with the A04 BIOS.
To be confirmed...

 

I will start off by saying I am leaving for college soon and needed this laptop to work before I left if any of you care, because Dell reps sure as hell didn't. I have been following this thread for a while now and joined the forum just to post my experience. I got the dell xps l521x about a month ago and had the wifi issue out of the box. (never had throttling issues). After many chat sessions with dell telling me to update my drivers I got fed up and told them to send me a replacement wifi adapter. The parts went on back order for an extended amount of time and would not be here in time for when I leave for school in 3 days from now. So after running in circles with more dell reps they sent me a new one which I got today

As you can all imagine the replacement system has the same exact problem. So now im on the phone with another dell rep trying to arrange a return of both the systems or something, but the wonderful all-knowing rep is trying to convince me that the problem does not exist. I told him that if it helps there are multiple forum threads with hundreds of pages discussing the wifi issues, but he told me that out of the many calls that dell receives each day regarding the dell xps series not report has been about wifi issues. Total BS!! Im glad to know dell would rather sweep the wifi issues under the carpet than actually help its customers out.

I just got a call while posting this from a dell rep telling me he wants to remote access the system to update the drivers and change the adapter setting. I honestly think Dell thinks we are complete idiots. Thanks Dell never buying from you again.

 

This has been fun and all - but I've desided to return my XPS 15, and shipped it back to Dell yesterday.
I did not have to deal with annoyance of dealing with Tech or Dell support at all - all I did is filed a return through the Dell.com account and wrote an email when they contacted me. In that email I gave a bfief explanation why I'd like to return it and supported it with a few links to this and 2 more forums and noted that sending a tech or replacing any parts is useless.

Dell sent me all paid UPS return shipping labels for the laptop and all additional items and upgrade software I've ordered with it. No questions asked, no hassle.

I do like the new XPS 15, but the famed WiFi ordeal is too much for me at this time as paying $2600 for a premium PC that should deliver a PREMIUM PC that works. Off to look for something else, like Lenovo, MBP, HP or Sony. Unless Dell fix this issue soon or at least admit it publicly with a clear plan of action on how they want to fix it, I won't be buying their product soon - not for myself, nor for my 250 user company.

 

for me Assassin Creed II and Prince of persia (2008) are unplayable with the CPU at 1.2ghz, to much control latency. I mean "seconds".

I prefer using the A06, and when gaming I disable CPU boost and downclock the GPU using nvidiainspector. At least I get consistent performance, no risk of throttling of CPU heavy applications, and I know the notebook will not explode in my hand.

I hope new nVidia drivers will make the throttling more smart (like throttling at around 600Mhz instead of throttle between 709 and 135...). With a bit better tuning, using the XPS15 can be a good experience, just don't expect it will be able to keep the 640m and the CPU on load at nominal values.

You can set the CPU clock at 1.2ghz without the need of flashing the A04, using a simple windows power setting profile.

Still, the bios at A04 has the GPU throttling threshold at 95 °C instead of the 80 °C of the A06. So you have more headroom for the GPU. But, the heat induced by the GPU on the CPU, can bring the CPU over 99 °C, and even to shut-down. (with the CPU already throttled at 1.2 Ghz)

Also with the A04 bios the XPS15 can throttle to 1.2ghz even outside games.

It isn't funny at all: the XPS15 would have needed a better cooling system, for at least 10 watt more. And whatever BIOS A04 tries to do, it does it bad.

If the 95 °C for the GPU is the right temperature (a04), why did the beta bios set it at around 70 °C, and the A06 stretched it to 80 °C as it was a concession to us? are XPS15s with A04 bios set to explode?

 

To be honest, if the laptop can't play games without any throttling (at all) then something is wrong with the design of it. It's simply not fit for purpose if the cooling can't handle the system at full power.

I'd argue that you should be able to run furmark and Prime95 at the same time without *any* throttling, but that's just out of the question here.

 

The reason they reduced the GPU temperature limit in the A06 bios is that it causes the GPU to throttle before the CPU. I'm going to try nvidiainspector and see how high I can get my CPU while maintaining 600ish GPU clocks.

If the CPU and GPU won't run at nominal (non-boosted) values Dell is literally ripping us off.

 

Tech guy called today and replaced my wireless card and lcd display and surprisingly there was no change. Calling tomorrow to replace my motherboard for some reason but I plan to return this laptop. Maybe when Dell get an abundance of returns they might open their eyes.


Again I told that this is an issue with the vast majority if not all of these models but I was told 0.05% of people have reported problems when I spoke to them on the phone. Maybe a few 1 star reviews on their website might catch attention too...

I got a strange call this afternoon from 02044000 claiming to be Dell and asking for remote access to my system regarding my technical support issue. He had my name and all but was too demanding about getting access to my system and wouldn't give me information on what he wanted to do apart from "fix my issues". Rogue tech support guy me thinks.

 

I should have specified that I was being sarcastic there...

Of course it's not funny, at least not in a good way....

 

So, they changed LCD & wireless card and no difference? They want to replace the same parts to my laptop too, but first they want me to get a new router.
It is unbelievable the way Dell deal with technical issues, instead of accepting the fault, they try to minimize it reducing it to a few "users" encounter WiFi problems.
They told me the same thing!

 

Not true, W7 DVD is always supplied if you buy custom made system where someone can put a CD into the box.
If you buy standard system the box is already done and there is no way to add or change anything what's in the box.

That is a standard W7, not Dell's W7 and you have to activate the system by the phone which is annoying.

 

Don't get a new router you more than likely don't need it. I swear all those tech support guys have a list in front of them with "Network Problems" on it which goes something like "Update drivers, Router's fault, wireless card/antenna fault, any other random computer part fault, not Dell's fault, replace laptop with exact same one with wifi probs, hope customer stops complaining!

It made absolutely no difference as other people have also reported before. I don't know why I even believed it might work for me. Tell Dell you got a new router if you need to, it might get you to the next stage on "the list"

 

I've been following the issues here, and have finally registered so I can post in this thread. Is anyone aware that the 15z -- which the XPS 15 is the replacement for -- also had wifi issues? I am really not comfortable purchasing this system if it's predecessor had the same issue that Dell never fully addressed. Here are a couple links that have me concerned (beginning roughly a year ago):

'Very nice laptop, but BIG problem with wireless card.' - Dell XPS 15z user review and rating - CNET Reviews
New Dell XPS 15z (L511z) Wireless Card Issues - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community
XPS 15z Laptop Details | Dell

Not sure if the cause of this wifi issue was unrelated, but can anyone tell me that Dell ultimately came up with an appropriate fix for the 15z?

 

I will not get one, although Dell said that will pay for it, only if the router will solve the WiFi issue, but I do not think that it will.
I try to keep it, the reason is that I got it as XPS 16 replacement and a few quid more, but I would not pay €1700 for it, no way.
Yes, you are right, they have a list in front of them with WiFi issue and the "standard" troubleshooting steps to fix it.
They went to Device M, disabled the Bluetooth and did a few more things, all of them in vain, no help at all.

 

So when is Bill going to update us it's already midweek? I am guessing Dell is waiting until 21 December, 2012 to see if the world ends or not and if it doesn't then we may see a fix to the wifi issue...

 

They should pay you when buying the router doesn't fix the issue at all, that would make a lot more sense. It's their proposed 'solution', so if it doesn't work, they should pay for your expenses.

 

If you like to do some testing, remember it is a matter of power, not frequency, it depends on the load of the CPU and GPU, so you may see different behavior between multi-threaded or single threaded games.

By using Hwinfo64 you can see the power absorption of the CPU... and even the one the entire system, just check the battery discharging rate. Just set the brightness of the monitor to the minimum.

Use real applications/game don't use furmark to do tests... actually furmark is not a worst case because it doesn't use the GDDR5 at all.

 

Someone suggested that installing Windows 8 is a fix. That would be very surprising, but did someone else try to do it ?

 

Modern CPU and GPU (Kepler) are designed to throttle, at least from their turbo/boost frequency. It is a matter of "how much" (the non-boosted frequencies usually should be guaranteed), "how" (for the GPU, would be better to stay a 645Mhz than reaching quickly 80 °C full boosted and then throttling between maximum boost and minimum), and ambient temperature.

As I said, furmark is a joke, I got 7-8 watt more for the GPU using a random nVidia demo (Adrianne).

 

Not sure if any of you have checked the Dell.com reviews lately, but Dell has added the critical reviews many (including myself) were thinking had been censured/ ignored/ swept under a virtual rug. The most recent one to call out Dell for the Wi-fi issue (which I should note wasn't authored by me) got this response, which seems a step in the right direction in terms of admitting the issue and signaling an ongoing effort to fix it:

"Dell is aware of customer feedback regarding wireless performance on the L521x. We appreciate the information customers have provided us so far, and have been using that information along with our own methods to determine the scope of the problem and potential root causes. Please feel free to continue to let us know about specific feedback regarding wireless performance. We have no updates to share at this time, but when we do, we will update this thread and others we find on the topic. Thank you for your patience."

 

I remember someone reporting this too but I agree with what Muffin Man said earlier that everybody probably has the problem some just don't realise or care.

This was on page 56

 

After presumably a week of not being for sale, the XPS 15 is again for sale on the Belgian Dell Website.

Let's hope that means they've found a cure!

 

Ok, thanks. It is what I have expected...

That does not mean anything. The XPS 15 has been sold in and out for weeks on the EU websites. Probably nothing to do with a fix but just a supplying problem...
Following this thread is probably the best way to know when the fix comes out...

... if there is actually a fix. Bill is very kind to keep us informed, but just remember that officially Dell does not admit this problem.
This problem is known for weeks, and there is still no official reaction. All the experiences about the support centre posted here show it clearly.
Dell asking to buy a new router because their laptop does not work... I still cannot get over it !!! That would not even be possible in France: the router is always furnished by the Internet Service Provider, and they do not change their hardware if there is no proved problem!

 

Yes, on A06 I experienced battery life dropping to around 2 1/2 hours when used for light surfing etc with 40% brightness. You can find my post detailing my experience a few pages back.

Long story short the laptop seemed to pumping out a load of heat, the fan was running at about 70% all the time even on a reboot with nothing running (CPU showing 10% load). Spoke with Dell tech in Scotland and nothing we tried fixed it until I reverted to A04, which immediately returned battery life to around 5-6 hours.

Brandon.

 

Filed for my return today... Sad to see it go. I had so much love for this beautifully (on the outside) designed Windows computer. But, I simply can not justify to myself having a Cadillac with a bad engine. The way this computer can't handle heat on the inside just shows that they were only thinking about the outside when they designed it. Hopefully the next model gets it straight cause I don't think this model can ever use its full potential. We shouldn't have to put limits on or GPUs or CPUs to make them run the best they can. Heat is going to always limit this machine. The Wifi sucks (period) and with a fix taking this long to come it means that Dell may not really know if they can fix it in the shell that everyone already has. You may just end up with a bandaid that kind of fixes the problem and I wasn't going to take the chance on this. If I haven't got a different computer and come back here and find out I was wrong about everything, then I guess I will just have to feel stupid. But I would rather be stupid instead of stuck with a 1900 dollar laptop that is outperformed by 1000 dollar laptops.

 

Yea, I was going to buy it and test my luck for the Wifi and hold out for a fix... but Bill hasn't said what their time frame is yet... (Ex: 1 week minimum, 1 month maximum?).

 

I love this laptop enough to hold out for a fix, however i wonder if those putting up with the wifi will be compensated somehow? Bill any remarks on this? Its kind a of serious problem to go without some sort of appology

 

I really want this laptop but the wifi is just making me not get it.

 

Ok so I spoke to dell about the wireless issue again today. They are sending me out a new wireless card and its not the same card that some of the other posts in this thread talked about as the replacement. They are sending me a Dell 1703 and claim it will fix the issue. He did say that they have had a flood of calls about the wireless issue and were sending out another Intel card but the xps continued to have the issue. So he said the Dell card is now what they are shipping out but this card does not have the WiDi like the other cards and asked if that was an issue or not. I don't use the widi and really don't know what it is so I don't mind losing it if the problem will be resolved. Ill report back when I get the card installed

 

This has been tried before. It won't fix the problem. The problem is related to the Antenna, not the card.

 

I don't believe it is the antenna. I tried an antenna outside the case the other day and same exact issue. All the reading I have done seems like everyone who had the cards replaced had another Intel card installed. maybe its something with Intels drivers or Intels cards that just don't work with something in these pc's. Anyone know if someone else has had Dell install this card on their XPS?

 

A while back Bill sent out some Atheros cards to a number of people to try. It didn't fix the problem for anyone.

Someone else tried with the antenna out of the case and it did fix the problem.

So who knows, really!

 

It is the antenna, me and Bill were talking about it a few pages back.

 

I've had this laptop now for about 3 weeks. I've upgraded the BIOS to A06 and the longest battery life I get is almost 2 hours. When I was still on A04 I had the same battery life. While I have installed a number of programs that could potentially consume some battery life by running in the background, I was getting approximately the same uptime out of the box.

I have the 128GB mSATA / 1TB HDD version. For those of you that are getting significantly longer battery life than I am, is there anything you've done to get it?

 

As I mentioned before the senior/advanced tech support checked their "official emails" on the matter and I was told is that the real issue is that the USB 3.0 and firmware(of mother board?) is interfering with the wireless. I don't know lol I shall see if the replacement laptop actually works lol!!!!

 

I have the i7 with 8 gb ram, 500 Gb SSD, Blu ray, and Intel centrino card config from Dell Latin America, I can confirm the wifi issue as well. Not really sure about the throttling (just updated the bios to A06)
I really like this laptop and its design but the lousy wifi speeds makes me want to return it if there's not a fix soon.
To Bill: will this upcoming fix be available to the latin american customers as well?

Enviado desde mi GT-I9100 usando Tapatalk 2

 

Very scathing comments on the Dell throttling issue from Anandtech in another product review here: AnandTech - Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C Review

Hopefully this kind of review pressure will also out the wifi problem and encourage an official statement from Dell.

 

I'm very glad Anandtech choose to check if laptops can sustain the nominal CPU/GPU values.

This is extremely important and useful for us, because we must know that the specification we pay for are those we get, and it was the main reason I started doing "noise" here about the XPS15 throttling .

Moreover, I think the obvious issues of XPS15 have revealed an industry-wide practice for Ivy-Kepler notebook and Kepler (driver?) immaturity. And these are the main reasons I still have the XPS15 in my hands.

The Samsung serie 7 keeps the GPU at over 90 °C. If DELL put the GPU threshold at the same temperature, I think we would not experience too much throttling while gaming. Anyway, I kinda like the threshold at 80 °C, the XPS15 stay nicely warm but not hot.

What I don't like, it is way the GPU throttles (from max to min instead of looking for a stable, comfortable position)

 

There are some new updates of some drivers.

APP_Quickset / 8/15/2012 / v.10.15.005, A01
http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00705898M/3/APP_Quickset_W74_X08_A01_Setup-3V1FT_ZPE.exe

Touchpad_Synaptics / 8/15/2012 / v.15.3.45.93, A02
http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00705895M/3/Touchpad_Synaptics_W74_X22_A02_Setup-71M63_ZPE.exe

Intel Rapid Start Technology 8/15/2012 / v.1.0.0.1031, A01
http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00717709M/3/iRST_Intel_W74_X04_A01_Setup-VF9CD_ZPE.exe


It seems that Dell is working on it

 

@codred2

Can u possibly explain which Intel drivers are needed for L521x? There are couple of different technologies:

Intel Smart Connect Technology
Intel Management Engine (ME)
Intel Rapid Storage Technology
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise (RSTe)
Intel Rapid Start Technology

Which of them we need?