XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

i think it's great and won't return it and get an inferior plastic product like an Inspiron or a super thick and heavy laptop like the Asus N56....my ISP only give me 20MBps max and I reach that max so it's not even an issue for me

 

Hey all,

My XPS 15 arrived in the mail today. When I'm next to the router I'm getting an average WiFi speed of 144.0 Mbps, but on the next floor of my house the rate drops to about 20.0 Mbps. Is this the same problem that everyone else seems to be experiencing? Should I contact Dell about this?

 

Yeah, that's the issue most people is having. You should contact them. I've seen that several people have called them and supposedly they gave a fix to them, nevertheless I've called a lot of times and no fix was given. Give it a try, maybe they'll give you a fix and if they do, post it here. I've told those people who claim they got a fix to share what they told them to do in order to get the issue fixed, but no answer.

 

I've been following this thread for days and posted a few questions but it seems this thread is full of questions like 'shall I buy it', 'shall I wait', 'please help me choose', etc etc questions. Real questions are submerged. And wifi is really a hot topic here, but it is not the whole world.
So I am starting off a new thread for real L521X OWNERs to share experieces or ask questions. I hope it will help owners like me to get better use of this laptop.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...sking-questions-l521x-owners.html#post8796308

 

Thanks. I'll give them a call after work tomorrow and post an update sometime in the afternoon. Other than the wireless issue I'm loving the computer so far.

 

@Bill

Great to hear a fix will be on the way, luckily wifi isn't a big deal breaker for me as I'll be cooped up in a dorm room with a router or ethernet connection.

Have you seen major increases in performance with the A06 bios over the A04? I have tried them both and really haven't seen much difference (my performance has always been fine). But I think I do see the battery life drop like some other with A06 have mentioned.

On a side just recently in my system tray my wireless connection shows up as the white computer with wire and a red "X" through it even though when I click on it it shows I'm connected to the internet. Anyone know of a way to put it back to normal?

 

Re: Wifi Issues. Had my wireless card replaced today. As expected it didn't fix anything. The technician had also never taken apart a XPS so he managed to break part of the case which he is coming back tomorrow to replace.

I later called back tech support and after talking to a manager they confirmed the problem and suggested, as Bill implied, that it likely had something to with the antenna/LCD but that "Level 3" support is still working on it. For now they are sending me a wifi USB dongle and said they should have something in roughly three weeks (Otherwise I am going to push for a return).

 

I agree, I watched the CNET review on the Inspiron 14z and everything about it screamed plastic and cheap! Did anyone else notice that Dell won't offer premium support or warranty for an Inspiron?

 

Actually, Dell does offer the equivalent of premium support and warranty for their Inspirons, however, unlike the XPS they don't "force" you to buy it but rather they parse it out for you to decide for yourself and customize... you know, the way it used to be?

 

I hope that battery life will be improved upon from A06...

I've had this issue before on other windows machines... I can't remember how I resolved it, but I found this: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...indows-7/c3ee2c3f-82e5-44c7-8f40-ee7fb7f48c83 If that doesn't help you, try googling it. ("windows 7 incorrect network icon", "windows 7 network icon x", etc.")

 

What did you say to them to get the wifi USB dongle. They already sent me a new system I am just waiting for a tech to come to swap my hardrives because I don't have time to install everything again. If the new laptop's wireless is flop then I have to go your route... 3 week scares me it maybe longer ahhh...

 

Yeah, it's quite nice. Very easy to carry, BEAUTIFUL screen, but that wireless thing is horrible. I hope they give you some kind of fix so you can post it here. Good luck.

 

If I order with 4GB RAM and want to add in 4GB myself after, does the primary RAM module come shipped on the non easily accessible side of the motherboard? So all I need to do is open the back cover and slide the extra stick in?

Otherwise I'll just order with 8GB. Cheers

 

If the cost differential is small enough I'd just get it with 8 Gb, the primary socket is available once you pop the bottom off the machine but the secondary socket requires removing the motheboard to get to and that's a hug deal.

I'm guessing that if they only put 4 Mb in they do it the easy way and use the primary socket. Note the guessing part.

 

Am I the only one who thinks the bright status light at the front of the laptop can be annoying? When im lying in bed watching a movie or whatever, this light is really really bright. Expecially with the brightness turned down a bit.
I didnt really keep up with the forum in the last week, but there is still no fix for the wifi? It takes much longer then i thought it would.

 

not yet.

it's apparently a multi-faceted hardware-based problem. I'd expect they have a good grasp on it at this point, probably. Making a fix for units not-yet built is one issue, making a viable field-fix could be whole separate engineering problem. I'm sure their engineers know the range of quality of the field techs they use just as well as we do, after all.

Given the info on how to do the field fix, I'd MUCH rather do it myself. Doing my own component level maintenance and building PC's since '92 sort of makes me think I have more practice than most field techs.

 

If you are referring to the battery charging light, there are not many complains as far as I know. Cover it with a tape if annoying you.
In regard with the WiFi issue, it seems that Dell is aware and working to fix it.
I had expected the Dell tech to come over to get the LCD, wiFi card, Optical drive replaced , but I got a call that is not available some parts, so I have to wait.

Dell gave me 1 year Pro Support, maybe all laptops come with 1Yr ProSupport Next Business Day On-Site Service, I do not know, I did not ask them!
Dell support from India passed me to Dell UK, they said that is premium support....the difference is nothing.

 

You are right in this view. I was prepared with the laptop based removed and screwdriver ready for Tech guy to come over, but the call has been postponed due to some issues I have already mentioned in my previews post. I am afraid of their poor knowledge in this field, do not break it again.
I ordered TYCO Laptop Wireless Mini PCI PCI-E Internal Antenna from eBay, two of them, to connect n-6300 with three antennas, if I can get right place for them inside the unit.
I will cancel or not use the original one. I notice how poor quality are the cables of the built once!

 

Put tape over a 1500 eu laptop? LOL. Yeah no thanks. Best would be if it was possible to dim it by software. But im not keeping the laptop anyway, it will be picked up next week. Im hoping to pick up a v2 version of this laptop. Lose the gorilla glass, put in an IPS panel, and make the wifi work please Dell.

 

Well I ordered my computer this morning, should be here on Thursday or Friday. Let's see if I am one of the lucky ones without a WiFi or screen issue.

 

I agree dell should fix the WiFi but I don't think you would see them change the screen unless there was a major issue with it across the board. Dell's entire marketing tactic behind this computer was having a solid, well-built laptop with a sleek design that was hard to break. The Gorilla glass is part of that unbreakable package.

 

...or a few drops of glass paint, you can choose the colour suits to you. I will do myself. I will change dark green.

I do not know when the v2 will be available, and if Dell will pack it with IPS panel, this will close the price gap to MacPro with retina display.

 

Cheers mate. It's $200 extra for an extra 4GB ram so I'm still deciding. It's especially hard when I can get a 2x8GB Crucial kit for $100.

But then I would have to take the whole thing apart...

On another note; Dell has removed the 'Customer Review' section off the XPS 15 page!!

Damage control I guess...

 

I got one of the stock 8gb machines and upgraded it myself to 16gb the same (the 8gb went to upgrade a different machine in the house that had 4gb).

It was a PITA, but take it slow and easy (and get a torx t5 ahead of time), don't force anything, and follow the instructions and it was really not a big deal.

If you do that yourself, when you put it back together don't freak when it does the black-screen-5-beep on 1st boot, just shut it down again, and restart again, and all is well. Probably caused by the BIOS losing state, at a guess.

Note that part of the work requires disconnecting the cmos battery, so you'll want to verify settings in the BIOS before booting windows - I think the clock and the service tag is the only stuff that may need fixing though, bios defaults (A04) were fine otherwise.

I'm guessing that's more like site maintenance than anything nefarious. Their web site is, to me, horridly slow and klunky. I'd imagine the maintainers have a hard time with it.

 

I doubt that, since gorilla glass itself is pretty expensive. (and heavy) I would chose an IPS + lighter panel over a TN + gorilla glass any day of the week...


About the glass paint, I didnt know there even was sth like that. Should i have kept it, i would have looked into it for sure

 

Are there some owners with the pixel grid issue? The display thread is almost dead...
Today it's tuesday, maybe we can hope for an update from Bill today or tomorrow

 

Thanks, I'll probably go down the same route as you.

Just out of curiosity...when you were taking it apart, was it all mostly screwed down?
I hate dealing with adhesives and such that never get re stuck properly when rebuilding compared to untouched factory fresh.

That's probably my only hesitation.

 

There's a little bit of mylar covering a couple things up towards the hinge, but other than that everything is screwed/modular and no problem.

Treat the little ribbon cable connectors daintily - they're had to break but one of them is wide enough that the little plastic lever that locks the cable in place (from the keyboard I think) is easy to push out of it's tiny socket ends - I did. Snapped right back in though, and is no problem.

Like I said, slow and easy, force nothing.

 

Cheers mate, you've been a great help.

Rep'd!

I'm just waiting now for confirmation from Bill that the manufacturing has adjusted so I can order a reworked edition.

 

There is a video card driver update that was released on August 15th. Log into your dell account and check drivers and downloads. Kindly post here if it resolves your problem (I don't have the video problem)

 

It will take couple of weeks before you can buy "re-worked" L521x. They are still looking into the issue "to track all the possibilities".

 

I don't own the laptop yet, it's one of the few things still keeping me back from purchasing (with throttling and of course wifi). I've heard about this issue some time ago but I haven't seen news for a while: I can't figure out if there were only some defective units for which a substitution solved the issue, or if it is actually a non-issue and one has to be very picky to see that effect.

 

For 99% of the users, it seems A06 (BIOS) has fixed the throttling issues and I've only heard of a few screen issues, so I think all that's left on the bucket list for dell is the WiFi. Even that doesn't affect all users, but it does effect a lot. I could be wrong, but I think it is safe to buy now if waiting for a fix isn't an issue for you. Who knows, you could get lucky too

 

I already have a wifi usb dongle fir the meanwhile, but I prefer to have it perfect out of the box

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

No, throttling issue remains (during of heavy workload). Generally speaking A06 has fixed CPU throttling and now throttles GPU. And guestion is - which is your preference, CPU or GPU. A06 or A04 BIOS...

 

Pardon my rudeness, but can you actually assure me that the gpu does not get periodically downclocked to maintain full cpu processing power? Because that is what I've read in a lot of user experiences.
Next to that, there seems to be a huge battery life drop that accompanies the A06 bios.

 

Hey all,

Just got off a 2 hour call with Dell XPS support.

Basically, I think might've resolved the issue, but I'm not sure to which degree.

After we "resolved" the issue my internet speed went from 14.0-25.0Mbps to 45-85Mbps. Although, this changed when I rotated my laptop; it would get the same poor performance when the back of the screen (with the Dell logo) was facing the direction of the router, and the better speed when the right side (with the disc drive) was facing that direction.

In order to up the speed we maxed out the power settings, disabled the power saving feature that the wireless card has, and also changed the Transmit Power to Highest (which is under the advanced options in the card properties).

It made it better, and honestly I don't know if this is how well it should be functioning. It's running at roughly the same speed as my old Inspiron, maybe slightly better, so is this acceptable? I guess I'll wait and give it a try at university tomorrow and see how well it works in a more substantial building.

Hopefully this helps someone.

 

SOunds like you're in for excess battery drain now! The system wasn't designed, developed, or released to the market with these settings and we shouldn't have to make these types of compromises to get the rated speeds of the hardware.

 

You also need to take into account how far away you are from router. It's mostly a distance matter than actual speed. I have mine at 1m away from router and it works fine, but if I move 5-6m away it I get the issues, and also I've changed some of the options you mentioned.

Try going a bit further and check if the speeds and signal strengths oscilate a lot or if they are stable.

 

Nobody fels difficult to tap and drag windows with touchpad? Or tap on the scroll brick to scroll IE pages? I have to tap very quickly between two taps to be able to drab the window or the scroll brick.

 

You can adjust that all in the from the Dell Touchpad icon in the system tray.

 

I'm still having the problem, unfortunately. I've been talking with Dell Support for a couple weeks, and they're going to replace the entire system instead of sending me a new screen (since the screens have apparently been backordered).

They said this would take about 10-15 days, though, so I figured it might be faster to just return the XPS 15 I have now and re-order it. I received the new order today, but it still has the screen issue! Dell Support is still going to replace the system in 10-15 days, though, so hopefully that will fix it for good.

I'm hoping the added time for replacement through support (as opposed to the speedy order time for new orders) means it will be from a new batch that's unaffected by this issue. I guess only time will tell. (Crossing my fingers!) It's too bad; other than the screen and wifi issues, this seems like a really great laptop!

 

Exactly. The contact center data does not include folks who are unaware of the issue. There are also a lot of folks who researched the issue, saw threads like this, and realized it was pointless to call tech support about it.
I won't even venture to guess how many out of a 100 unit sample actually have the issue.

Interesting. I'm now curious about your review. No matter what it said or the rating, it should have been posted...as long as it doesn't run afoul of the terms. Mind PM'ing me your screen name you used for the review, so I can look it up on the backend and ask why it wasn't posted?
I never said "all" reviews get posted, but there's absolutely no way we'd refuse to post a review only for being critical of Dell. There are enough scathing reviews on the site to support that claim.

If you are not getting nasty grams to return either part, just keep them both. If they are hounding you to return one, I'd send back the Dell branded one so I could get WiDi support when the fix is in.

Bingo.

Actually, I'd be super interested to hear what happens after the screen swap. Reason: the antenna is part of the hinge-up LCD replacement kit.

I'll expand on this in a separate post so no one misses it.

I wonder if you realize just how on target this is.

The speculation thread will be off the chain prior to the MLK (Dell-speak for v2) launch. We're a ways away, so don't get too excite yet.

Bingo.

 

Announcement:

There is still no ETA from engineering on a field fix. The factory issues seem to be working toward conclusion. This DOES NOT MEAN there won't be a field fix, just that we have no ETA.

The following applies to US and Canadian customers only. For regions outside North America, you will need to contact support in your region and point them to this post. They are not bound to follow my lead, but it may help them decide to do the right thing. If you get significant push back from your regional support, Lorna can try, but not guarantee, to get them to see the light.

For those who have the WiFi issue and want to return the product, please reach out to Dell-LornaM via PM. She can waive the restocking fee for anyone wanting to return due to WiFi and lack of news on a field fix.

For those with the WiFi issue and do not want to return the product, please reach out to Dell-LornaM via PM. She can send you one of these USB WiFi adapters at no cost if you are willing to accept it as a workaround while you wait. If you take the adapter, and we don't have a fix within 90 days, she can waive the restocking fee if you want to take us up on a return. If you let it go past 90 days, waiving a restocking fee becomes difficult.

Also, if you prefer a different USB adapter than the one I chose (my criteria was simply the most expensive), please send Lorna a link to the one you prefer on the first PM. She can try to work it out.

Also, make sure to put your name, service tag, shipping address, email and daytime contact number in the first PM to avoid going back and forth with Lorna. She needs that information to verify and set up a dispatch order.

General tip:
Get your problem documented. If you are in the US or Canada, you can get your issue on record by traditional contact means like chat support or phone support, or you can simply find a thread on topic on the Dell forums, tweet about it to @DellCares, or send a private message on our Facebook page (Facebook.com/Dell). Get your case number and request a confirmation email if you go the traditional route.

 

Please let us know if it solves your issue!

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

Bill, what about us that just ordered a new unit? I am waiting for mine to ship which should have been today but doesn't look like it per your system. Should I get a USB WIFI or is mine been fixed you think? Let me know.

 

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll give Dell-LornaM a PM and hopefully the USB antenna works better than the WIFI at this point.

Thanks for all the work you're doing around here. It's comforting to know that there's someone other than tech support we can reach out to.

About the PM: does anybody know how many posts you need in order to send a PM?

I'm a bit of a rookie at this.

 

I've only read in one or two posts about the battery life being drained. And yes it can make the GPU throttle, so it turns into a toss up. Hopefully Dell will find a way to balance this out. For me, its not as important because the most graphic intensive game I play is Battlefield 2... old skool xD

 

Bill is there a good way to test for the wifi issue ? The reason I ask is I'm downloading graphic drivers from the Dell site. 222mb and it 's took 20 minutes at an average speed of 179kb/sec.. When I run speed tests I usually get anywhere from 10mb/sec to 25mb/sec(speedtest.net) .It could be that the Dell server is just slow tonight for all I know .