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    XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Muddy, Jun 28, 2012.

  1. ballercb4

    ballercb4 Notebook Geek

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    Well the XPS 1640 is discontinued hence getting the new XPS 15...Now I am just waiting for Lorna to respond to my PM for a wireless USB adapter, how long does it take to get a response? I assume she has lots of PMs to answer...
     
  2. merkamerka

    merkamerka Newbie

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    have any clue why? it feels strange that I'm not able to easily get 60 fps on a game like tf2 or stay above 40 on vindictus. I'm extremely worried I won't be able to play gw2. I have a cooling pad on it, an external hdd, and my mouse. may any of these things be causing it? could it be possible that people playing more demanding games disabled certain features or made changes to the system. do you have any definite system changes or programs I should get to up performance?
     
  3. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Yes but people who reported battery life drop wrote that it happens also with simple web browsing, which shouldn't involve hard cpu usage. :confused:
    Are you sure you are using the 640M and not the HD4000?
    P.s: cooling pad shouldn't make much difference with L521x, since it's very well insulated on the bottom
     
  4. bjammin

    bjammin Notebook Consultant

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    When not under load, the CPU throttles all the time to conserve battery. Maybe in A06 it does that less aggressively.
     
  5. merkamerka

    merkamerka Newbie

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    not really with how bad the performance is. given BTW that I had it on most of the day but charging. I went into the NVIDIA global panel and made it use the NVIDIA gpu globally and on specific things but is there anything else I should do to ensure this is happening or to enhance performance?
     
  6. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    You could right-click on the game icon and chose "run with graphic processor" (or something like that) and choose NVIDIA, but if you've already set it in the Nvidia global panel it should use it anyway. Sorry, I don't own the laptop and I don't know what more you can try
     
  7. merkamerka

    merkamerka Newbie

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    well playing vindictus just a second ago at 1920x1080 and high settings I was getting around 45 fps. can anyone who's played this game confirm theirs? also I think its that I'm being throttled after sometime of play.
     
  8. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    It is not your imagination, if you're running BIOS A04 then it is throttling the CPU to 1.2Ghz and if you're on BIOS A06 it's continuously throttling the GPU between 270Mhz and 700Mhz. The throttling when the GPU is in use on this laptop is absolutely atrocious.

    If you feel like taking a look yourself you can download the monitoring program HWINFO64 (make sure to start the game before HWINFO so it can pick up the GPU) and set it to record the numbers while you play.
     
  9. tonkawv

    tonkawv Notebook Enthusiast

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    My computer appears to have completely deleted the Maxx Audio. I cannot find it anywhere on this thing, even the dell audio is missing. Everything still works though. I am wondering if this has something to do with my BSOD message. I am thinking that I am just going to re-install my windows. Can anyone provide me with a link of directions to install the OS on the 32G SSD. I figure if I am going to go threw the trouble of re-installing stuff I may as well go ahead and install it on the SSD.

    I also got my l521x as a replacement for a SXPS16. They sent me an L502x first, but when I received it, it had scratches. I considered that unacceptable since they sent me that computer because they ruined my SXPS. Then they sent me the L521x.

    I do not understand why my computer gets so much hotter running A06 than it did running A04. I expect it to get hot when running intensive programs, but streaming videos and web browsing should not over heat a premium computer.
     
  10. romu

    romu Notebook Consultant

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    There is no enough space on the m-Sata module to install Windows 7, maybe you can make it for a fresh install, but you won't be able to update your system, you will have to move a loooonnngggg list of system folders to make this suitable.

    If you want to use your m-sata module to hold the system, use Ubuntu, the whole OS + applications take less than 5 GB ;)
     
  11. TheCanadian

    TheCanadian Notebook Enthusiast

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    It gets very hot when watching simple things like video or movies. Bill, is this going to be addressed? Is there an eta on another bios version? Thanks!
     
  12. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    If this is the case, I'd really appreciate if the work also on the optical drive noise...It shouldn't check for DVDs every now and then
     
  13. gixer2000

    gixer2000 Notebook Consultant

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    So the dell technician is at my house replacing my display now. It's a good thing I left my T5 torx with the pc because the tech does not own any torx drivers. You would think dell would notify their techs when they start using semi rare tools to open a pc. This guy would have had to find a torx or return another day to do the work.
     
  14. tonkawv

    tonkawv Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the warning. Lol I do enjoy ubuntu but I am in college still and my program requires alot of windows software so i dual boot them. Ill just do the fresh install if my last list of updates didnt fix me problem.
     
  15. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    If you need a bigger mSATA you can also find it online.
    If you live in Europe there is this german site which has also the Samsung PM830!
     
  16. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Is there anything else?
     
  17. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I just chatted with Dell Technical Support on there website and inquired about getting a USB adapter and after waiting for a response for about 5 minutes they are shipping me one and I should receive it in 1-2 business days.

    I also had the opportunity to talk to a supervisor and told her about the many people with the problem and she assured me it is only a temporary fix and they are trying to find the permanent fix as soon as possible. They also said that as soon as the fix is available I will be contacted about the next steps to solving the problem.

    Overall I am happy with their customer service very top notch, they still do not have an ETA for the fix as Bill confirmed on here.
     
  18. Dell-Bill_B

    Dell-Bill_B Guest

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    I like MSFT Security Essentials a lot.

    Kind of you to say.

    I'll probably make it official and put out a blog post on our corporate blog.

    While I'll have to admit this is within the realm of possibility if we're talking in generalities, but with respect to this specific situation, I got feedback from "the powers that be" that my official statement you will probably see in multiple places (“Dell is aware of customer feedback regarding wireless performance on the XPS 15. We are working diligently to eliminate root cause and will provide improvements which we will make available to all affected customers present and future.”) could have been a little more clear about there definitely being a fix coming. The specific suggestion was "Your statement below is good from my perspective. I would not complain if you were to use the words serious and aggressive to describe our mindset to get this resolved." (Hi, Marz. :) )


    Yeah. I could have worded that better. Factory issue investigation is drawing to a close, but the implementation of changes still has some logistical work to be done. By "factory issue" I mean the manufacturing process stuff at final assembly and at the part supplier level. I will definitely let you know when the fix is cut in at the factory.

    It means, in part, if you want a refund, Lorna can process that too. If you want a USB adapter, she can also do that. Just let her know. An update to the announcement about the adapters will follow in a separate post.

    If only it were that easy.

    Normally, that's either an application error or driver. Sometimes I've seen it as GPU RAM or system RAM. Easiest thing to try first is GPU driver update. If that's no fix, troubleshooting could get rather involved.
    I'll comment on this in the update to follow. Some issues we have to work through.

    I'm going with a combination of fans running more often and at higher RPMs along with more sustained voltage draw from the CPU and GPU under loads.

    Stalling tactics? I know you're upset, and I'll acknowledge and apologize for your poor experience, but I have to point out a couple of things that prove some of your assertions untrue. First, it's not stalling if we say (as I did right here in writing with my name on the post) that you can get a refund with no restocking fee right now. All you have to do is PM Lorna (I'll follow up on Lorna's PM responsiveness in the next post.)
    If you hear, "don't worry" or "this is no problem" on a phone call from a Dell rep, they are not up to date on internal messaging. I'm doing all I can to get teams across the globe to get on message. You will definitely encounter sales reps, care reps and even tech reps who are unaware of the issue. It's not that we're "sitting on thousands of these defective systems." NOT ALL UNITS ARE AFFECTED. That's readily evident in posts from some customers on this thread if you don't believe me. Posts deleted from DCF are only removed for violations of the terms of use. Period. Any assertion to the contrary is poppycock. People just get mad when their posts are removed, and they choose to leave out the part about receiving an email from the DCF mod with their original text, a call out for the part that resulted in the removal and a statement letting them know they are free to edit and repost.

    Only way to address heat with the platform as-is is to throttle more.

    This will be addressed in either a future BIOS revision or a firmware update for the ODD.

    Update on the announcement.

    Lorna has 18 PMs now. She ran into trouble with her dispatch rights and had to submit a TT to the application manager who owns the tool she uses to manage customer contacts and dispatch parts. I asked her not to reply to each one with a "working on it" type of reply. Instead I'm letting you know here. When she gets the issue sorted, she'll start whipping out adapters. In the meantime, we're working on getting another rep to take the dispatches off her hands. Once she either gets her issues with dispatch rights sorted out, she'll start replying with order numbers. If it takes too long, she'll get the other rep to send them out and reply back to you with the order number herself.

    I'm sure some of her 18 PMs are return requests, so I've asked her to reply to those and get them knocked out.

    We don't have a ton of the ones I picked out in stock, so we're going to send a few of those and switch to another N adapter. If you prefer a different one, or have a #2 and #3 choice from the ones we offer on Dell.com, let her know in PM, so she doesn't have to deplete all of the original ones.
     
  19. Elands

    Elands Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey Bill I just contacted tech support and they are sending me an adapter, I don't know the model of it but could you confirm Dell is only sending out one adapter and it is the same one being sent out by Lorna.
     
  20. doclarse

    doclarse Newbie

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    Thanks for all your help with this Bill. I know when I purchased my XPS15 about a month ago, I felt confident in doing so because of all the work you've put in on this. I also have the wifi issue and will PM Lorna once I get to 5 posts.
     
  21. krayziehustler

    krayziehustler Notebook Evangelist

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    @Bill, what about BIOS/firmware updates for Windows 8?
     
  22. mrt194

    mrt194 Notebook Enthusiast

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    My brand new (and first) XPS 15 just arrived! I see no gridded screen like some users have reported, and I did not have any trouble connecting to the wifi about 4 or 5M away with a wall inbetween was quick and easy with full bars. More details in a little while!
     
  23. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    When all possible root causes will be isolated, could you please let us know which they were? So we can stop betting :D (pretty sure my grammar in this sentence is a mess, sorry :p)
    Happy to read this, thank you!
     
  24. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    Notice "root cause" was written in singular.

    Over a month ago, my post on "USB WiFi adapter" was taken as a ridicule. Look at what Dell is handing out now.
     
  25. merkamerka

    merkamerka Newbie

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    Is there ANYWAY to stop the throttling? I used a monitor and it will randomly bring it down to 1200 MHz. Also is Turbo on this machine an alright idea? I don't know with the compactness of the machine if it would be fine?
     
  26. c0derbear

    c0derbear Notebook Evangelist

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    Search for use of the ThrottleStop app, but be warned that on your own head be it if something is damaged.

    The Win 7 power management has a feature for "minimum cpu state" that can be set, don't know if it will override BIOS but it may be worth a shot.
     
  27. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Do you guys know if some site tried to test gaming again with Bios A06? Because notebookcheck used A04, and anandtech used A04+Throttlestop...
     
  28. mrt194

    mrt194 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Here is something new for everyone to chew on. I have this same wireless problem everyone else does. I contacted Dell and the tech tried a few minor things (to no avail), and then put the computer on safe mode. Full throttle wireless anyone? Speeds of 22.75mbps for downloads and 3mbps and some change for uploads. @dell-bill something the engineers know already?

    p.s. The tech blames Norton for this, any opinions?
     
  29. Cyrris

    Cyrris Newbie

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    Hi everyone,

    I have been following this thread for a while now (since at least 150 pages ago), having found the thread after ordering my XPS15 back in July. I'd like to start out by thanking everyone who has had input in to this thread - it's been great to see people trying things, sharing information, and getting the XPS owners to make the most of their product. Bill, I know you're getting a fair bit of praise already for your efforts here, and I'd like to add my voice to those.

    Anyway, I thought I'd share my experiences. I've been resisting making an account on Yet Another Internet Forum, but seeing some posts recently, I thought I should chime in just in case it's helpful. Since it's lengthy, I will point out that I don't focus much on the Wifi issue, and am more interested in the throttling. So, here we go...

    Wind back two months, I needed a thin, powerful laptop to take with me overseas, since I was about to make a big move with my partner for a two-year stint. I actually wanted a 14" notebook, and was keen on the Gigabyte u2442n, but it was looking like it was not going to be released in time for my trip. I figured a smaller (numpad-less) 15" would be a goer, but HP's Envy 15 was having screen problems, and I didn't want to have the hassles of bootcamping a MacBook Pro and losing graphics switching. So, I found the Dell. I'd previously ruled out all the Asus, Alienware and MSI offerings, as I wanted something I could sit with a client with for work, and not be embarrassed. Having not seen this thread, I placed the order.

    My XPS 15 arrived, the WiFi issue has not been a big problem due to the positioning of access points and/or routers in my places of work/residence. It is definitely there though, and I noticed that it gets worse depending on the orientation of the laptop. Glass facing the router is generally OK, lid facing the router, not good. Nothing new here - I think all the long-term contributors to this thread already have a general idea of what the problem might be, as does Dell. I've successfully transferred my warranty between countries, so once a fix is available, I should be sweet.

    Now, I am a gamer as well as an IT contractor, and I bought this due to the specs of a GeForce 640M, Quad processor, and hefty SSD. The Dell website also said this model was " ...for who doesn't want to compromise style for speed and performance". Hm. Reading about the throttling issues here has made me wonder about this statement and the truth behind it. Anyway, having subsequently read here about BIOS updates soon to be released, I kept the laptop past it's return date, and across my international move.

    I stayed away from serious gaming until A06 was released. My games of choice at the moment are Team Fortress 2, Civilization V, and Sins of a Solar Empire. A fairly diverse set of games with unique properties in terms of how they stress the computer. Trying out some Civ, I found the GPU throttling annoying enough for me to try reducing the max processor power state on AC power. This was to see if that allowed the GPU to stay under 80 degrees on the joint heat sink, to no luck. Civ likes to use all four cores and the GPU an awful lot. Moving on to Sins of a Solar Empire, I had surprisingly low performance until I undid my processor power changes and allowed turbo boost again. Sins is entirely single-threaded, so the difference here was immense, and it was very playable on high settings at native res with the GPU not really being strained. Finally getting on to Team Fortress 2, I found the GPU throttling so much that it was not really playable. The GPU would regularly go down to 135 or 270mhZ, despite the GPU load not being high, and the temps on it only being around 70 degrees. So, 2 out of 3 games weren't playing well.

    Reading Bill's post, quoting & confirming the use of A06 for those who need CPU power and A04 for those who need GPU power ( compromise?), I decided to take the Anandtech route and use ThrottleStop with A04. Since I can't stop the throttling of the GPU but can for the CPU, this seemed like the right combination. Anandtech set their multiplier to 23x, I decided to be a bit more conservative and sit on 21x for a 2.1GHz clock. Testing today, Civ5 was much smoother and very playable on a large save game I loaded, but the temps quickly jumped to 96 CPU and 95 GPU. I thought that was a bit much.

    I went down town after lunch and purchased a notebook cooler, it's a Revoltec RNC-2100. Aluminium, two fans, I had been eyeing it for a while for this very reason, and reading a few reviews here and there on notebook coolers in general. It seems to depend very much on the type of laptop you have and the model of cooler you get as to how effective it will be. I was lucky too, as I got the last one in stock. Loading the same Civ5 game from the same point in time and playing for a while, I checked the temps and was pleased to see them hitting 90 and 89 degrees respectively, gradually creeping up to 94 on the CPU after more than an hour of play. The aluminium on the Revoltec was cool at first, but got a bit warm after an hour, so the heat sink effect of the aluminium seems to help quite a bit despite the insulating layers on the base of the XPS15. Given that the base of the notebook is one big pad instead of a few small legs like my partner's MSI GT60, it actually makes sense that the heat transfer was good as there is so much contact area. Nevertheless, I was actually surprised at how much of a difference it made in terms of raw degrees over time.

    To complete the (not-so-scientific) test, I also tried some rounds of Team Fortress 2 and a larger map on Sins of a Solar Empire. Both were (almost) buttery smooth this afternoon and temperatures never went past the mid seventies on either CPU or GPU. Sins would likely benefit from me turning ThrottleStop off while playing, and allowing turbo boost. Haven't tried that yet. I'm also not too keen on repasting, having seen the lack of difference it has made for others mentioned here.

    Obviously a notebook cooler is not for everyone, but as someone who will have the notebook on my desk 99% of the time, it suits me well, and helps raise the screen to where my eyes like it. When I take the notebook travelling, I don't tend to game much. If you're considering a notebook cooler, just make sure that you don't get a plastic one. For this laptop, it seems the metal body is more important than the airflow that the cooler's fans provide. Other laptops of course may be vice versa if they have bottom vents...

    I am now generally OK with the notebook, having been grinding my teeth over the previous few weeks on the failings of a very expensive purchase. I'm still not happy with the screen -there are no grid issues, but the gamut frankly sucks and due to this, the color banding is very noticeable even in games. And I was hoping to do a bit of web design on this - fat chance. If the previous XPS laptops had better screens, I do wonder why the backwards step was taken. The optical drive noise issue was also annoying enough for me to disable the drive in Windows - I am hoping a fix will come out for that too.

    Overall, I am less than impressed that it has taken this kind of effort just to get close to the stock performance of the components inside the notebook. It seems to me that if a GPU and a CPU cannot run at close to maximum load at the same time, then they should not be sitting in the same chassis. If the PC is not designed to run both at once, it should not say that it is "...for who doesn't want to compromise style for speed and performance". I'm not interested in handing the notebook back - I am in a foreign country where this device is my only connection to friends, family and work - I can't go without it.

    The only other Dell product I have ever owned was a U2412M monitor, which I sold just before I moved overseas. Great screen. I recommend it to everyone who asks me about screens. However for laptops, it may be a long time before I can recommend a Dell of any kind. I hope Dell learns a lot of lessons from this device launch, and I hope the next XPS generation lives up to it's price tags.
     
  30. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    I recommend removing Norton, and showing them the speeds are the same.
     
  31. mrt194

    mrt194 Notebook Enthusiast

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    We did, and sure enough it was the same. I find the safe mode part very interesting though....
     
  32. codred2

    codred2 Notebook Consultant

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    Safe mode with networking? No working, the same speed.
    There is no AV to blame for such a low speed. The only AV i used and decreased the speed of internet was Avira.
    Here is different story I am afraid.
     
  33. mrt194

    mrt194 Notebook Enthusiast

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    That is weird :confused: I'll keep updating, i'm still on the computer with the tech. He seems to want to fix it as much as we want it fixed. He is also aware that there is an issue among most of these computers, and said the dell techs are working on a fix. He's trying HijackThis right now to isolate the problem.
     
  34. cadroguett

    cadroguett Newbie

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    Well what can i say... I got the laptop I been working for a couple of days on it.. basically reinstall windows in the msata ... and load all the CAD that I work with and the laptop performs well... but like everyone else I got the wifi issue

    Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

    I hope that a permanent fix will come soon cuz apart from this issue the laptop is great

    Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

    I will contact Lorna regarding the USB dongle the thing is that I'm out of the country for work and I will be in chile for a year for this reason ... I hope that they can send it over here

    Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
     
  35. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Thank you for sharing your experience in depth. Were you playing those games on max/high settings?
     
  36. Cyrris

    Cyrris Newbie

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    Nothing maxed. Sins was all set to "High" (which sits just under Highest) for all graphics options. Team Fortress and Civilization were fairly customized but I would say hovering around Medium/High. All were native res.

    I might give Tribes: Ascend a shot this weekend as well. Previously that did... poorly, on A06. WASD keys got a bit too hot as well.
     
  37. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    Did you try playing at slightly lower resolution with A06? Or A04 without throttlestop?
     
  38. Condorll

    Condorll Notebook Guru

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    According to Bill at Dell the issue is hardware.
    On another note removing McaFee and installing Norton resulted in a major improvement in my WiFi connection.
    You really got your machine fast, 4 days ago on August 20th you were talking about ordering it.
     
  39. mrt194

    mrt194 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, I truly dislike McAffee, it corrupted my old XP too much. I find norton does a much better job anyway. The tech will call back in a week to see if he has any updates. And yeah I ordered it next day xD
     
  40. gixer2000

    gixer2000 Notebook Consultant

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    I'm really getting upset with dell right now. So as i stated earlier the dell technician came out today to replace my display/antenna. I had to provide him with the T5 torx to open the bottom cover and it didn't bother me at all because it is kinda of an odd tool to have around. So when I returned home I tried the wireless and it has not improved at all(as expected). Then I noticed the screen does not close correctly(left side lifted 1/4" when shut) and a gap in the left end of the hinge and right side pulled tight to the body. So I called dell and spent 2 hours being forwarded to other people in tech support and customer care trying to get an exchange. Ive had this pc for about 40 days and have spent a ton of time on the phone with tech support since I got it and now they want the technician to come back and replace the screen again. All I want at this point is an exchange and i'll wait for the wifi fix but if a technician has never had one of these apart then how is he ever qualified to be working on mine. They also gave me the option the send it to them and they will repair or replace it but I will lose it for 10 days. Im So tired of this and really thinking about taking Bill up on the offer to return even though I really want to keep it. I just cant deal with dells tech support or customer care anymore.
     
  41. Condorll

    Condorll Notebook Guru

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    I had a bad experience with a tech replacing ram and mother board on a 2.5 month old XPS 15 L502x which is how I landed up with the L521x 2 weeks ago. The 502 machine was left in worst shape than before. As far as I was concerned I had a bad stick of ram but Dell decided to replace the MB as well which is when problems got worse.
    That said, although I believe a laptop should work perfectly out of the box I recognize that the 521 issue with the wireless will be fixed. so I am willing to wait this out. My switch to Norton from McaFee helped alot, no more disconnects, but signal still weaker at further distance.
    The 521 is an awesome machine for MY purposes, business apps and stock trading with a secondary monitor. It doesn't get too hot, battery life is great on the A04 bias which came on my machine. As long as they have a relatively minimally invasive fix that works for the wireless issue it's a keeper for me. This puppy is fast with good features and it's a good looking machine. I always buy overkill so yes I have the i7 quad core, 750mb 7200 rpm with the 32gb SSD as well as the 2gb Nvidia video.
    My two cents.
     
  42. L521X

    L521X Notebook Enthusiast

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    Poor experience is an understatement, and I have PROOF that I've been purposely stalled, lied to, and misled by certain Dell employees. I'll be happy to give you the direct Extension and Full Name of someone higher-up in Dell XPS support who will BACK ME UP AND VERIFY THAT.

    In regard to getting a refund so easily, if only that were true - Dell denied even having my returned system for over a week and I was forced to contact UPS Tracing to get a copy of the Dell receiving dock employee's signature and send that proof in, and even after that it took several more days to stop denying that they had received the return.

    But even worse, now that I finally have been refunded after all of the hell I've been through (which goes way beyond what I've posted here), I've been refunded the INCORRECT AMOUNT.

    The refunded they finally applied to my account is almost $100 less than what I paid for the unit.

    So I submitted contact to DFS first thing this morning, and how convenient - they responded with an email stating that they need to speak to me about this and the issue is time sensitive - BUT they sent me that email at 8:47pm CST - try calling the phone number in the message at they are of course, closed at 8:00pm CST.

    This only scratches the surface of what Dell has put me through over FIVE, yes FIVE separate brand NEW laptops during the past 3 months.

    Everything I'm about to say is 100% true and can be confirmed with one of Dell's most top-notch XPS techs AND his supervisor, and I will glady PM you their names and phone extensions so that you can verify every word I'm saying.

    So now that we know I'm not making this up and you can verify my claims and story with some very well-known Dell techs who work very closely with engineering, and I'm clearly riled-up and PO'd as hell, I'm going to post a bit more of the story. I won't be surprised if I get silenced, because that's how these things operate.

    Here goes:

    In June I ordered a high-end 15z with 256GB SSD. Dell knew that there is a known issue (for close to a year now) that prevents hibernate from working properly on that model of 15z with the 256gb SSD, but they sold it to me any way. When I called in for tech support about it and was passed around the tech departments, 2 of them denied knowledge of any such issue. However, a third tech that I dealt with over the course of a couple weeks was honest - he said they knew about this hibernation problem and after I had wasted hours of time troubleshooting, I finally got the guy who said "we really don't have a fix for it I'm sorry to say".

    So I sent the 15z back and I purchased a high-end L521X. By the time it had arrived in July, this whole WiFi is was ALSO already known, but not being acknowledged / admitted by some XPS techs. After going through the ringer once again and then trying to return, I was lied to and told there would be a fix "on monday, so please give us until then". That Monday came, but the fix never did, and then I was refused return because it was 23 days. I fought tooth and nail, wasting TONS of time and actually having to ARGUE to at least get an EXCHANGE. (All the while, little did I know - this issue was already discussed here fairly widely).

    The exchange arrives, same problem.

    So I call on a Saturday evening at 6:00pm EST and tell Customer Care I want to demand to return both bogus systems for a refund, as I've discovered that this is a known issue, and I was told (and this is documented in one of the over 12 case numbers I've been given in the past 60 days), and I quote "there's nobody available to handle these returns on the weekend - you need to call back Monday or Tuesday". LIE. DOCUMENTED. (one of many that I don't have the time or energy to type about anymore)

    Eventually I got that one good honest tech, whom I mentioned earlier, and he admitted that Dell knew of the issue when they sent me the exchange and it should have never happened this way, and that returns can be made 7 days a week. He helped my finally arrange the return of these two L521X systems that I was just sitting here paying compounded daily interest on for no reason, knowing they were going back.

    At this point Dell had my money for the 15z still not refunded, and they had my money for the L521X, and I was getting slammed with interest charges for defective systems.

    When I finally got the return shipping labels for the L521X systems, there was a mistake. One of the labels was for a product I don't even own that only weighs 1lb and UPS was certainly not going to take the product back with a mismatched shipped label.

    So again I spend hours fighting to just get proper return labels and finally the systems go back.

    Then when they arrive at Dell, I contacted Dell the next day to confirm the the process of refund is being expedited, Dell denies having the computer. Despite it being signed for by a Dell employee right at the receiving dock in Lebanon Tennessee, the Dell rep on the phone bold-faced lied to me and said "UPS Still has it - we cannot do anything for you until UPS delivers it to Dell." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We had PROOF that it was SIGNED FOR AND RECEIVED BY A DELL EMPLOYEE, but would the Dell agent on the phone listen? No. Would the agent call UPS and confirm anything? No.

    So for almost two weeks that went on EVERY DAY.

    Then yesterday Dell finally admitted that they had the system all along and they processed my refund.

    But wait... what's this? The refund is not the amount I paid??

    And in the midst of all this, as a last resort to get back work (losing time and money and customers over spending most of my days dealing with Dell), I had ordered an Inspiron 15R SE 7520.

    First week of August my brand new Inspiron 15r SE 7520 arrives, and the Dell Touchpad software is defective (resets pointer speed to default on every reboot).

    SO begins another huge go-around of spending hours letting Dell techs play with the computer attempting to fix it in vein, doing all the same stuff that I already did (remove and reinstall all drivers, bios flash, etc... etc...), and they even try different drivers for different touchpads and other models of inspiron. When the tech realizes that nothing they do fixes the fact that the Dell Touchpad software is the bug, he then suggests that the problem is Windows 7. They ship me a disk and ask me to delete parititions / format / install fresh WIndows 7 from scratch. So I do..

    Then after getting everything fully prepped, I installed everything BUT the Dell Touchpad driver, purposely, because I know I'm going to call Dell and let the tech try it himself. I knew the problem wasn't Windows 7 just like anyone here would know, but I had to waste more time and play Dell's game.

    So I get on the line with the tech and he tries it, and clearly sees that doing a fresh Windows install on a completely reformatted drive made absolutely no difference. The Dell Touchpad software still reset to defaults with each reboot.

    So then, just like with the XPS 15, now they wanted to blame it on hardware and send me an exchange. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I agreed to giving that try.

    The brand new replacement / exchange inspiron arrives in mid-august, and surprise - same. exact. issue.

    At this point we know it's the Dell Touchpad software that is the problem, but we have to go back through tech support again.

    Fortunately the tech I got for the REPLACEMENT Inspiron 15R SE 7520 Dell Touchpad issue could clearly see that everything possible had been done, and then it came - he admitted that there is a known issue about the Dell Touchpad drivers/software just like this, but that the volume of complaints was not enough for the techs to call it a "known issue" yet.

    I was told that there would be a fix - a driver update for the Dell Touchpad software on the SE 7520 by August 21st.

    Never happened. I am now being told that they will have a fix for it in a few weeks.

    (ANY OF THIS STARTING TO SOUND FAMILIAR??)

    FIVE DEFECTIVE SYSTEMS, THREE DIFFERENT MODELS, ALL SHIPPED TO ME WITHIN 90 DAYS WITH KNOWN-ISSUES, AND DELL HAS HASSLED ME ABOUT THEM AT EVERY TURN.

    VERIFIABLE ACCOUNTS OF DELL EMPLOYEES LYING TO ME / DIS-INFORMING ME, DOCUMENTED. ALL WITHIN THE PAST 90 DAYS AND 5 NEW SYSTEM PURCHASES.

    So before I get banned from here for speaking the TRUTH, and trust me there is WAY more to the story than that - in fact I've had 2 different Dell managers and one very top-notch XPS tech all tell me (AND I QUOTE):

    "In the many years I've been working here at Dell, I have never seen such terrible mishandling and mistreatment of a customer, we are very sorry and we're going to try everything to make this right. It is truly unbelievable sir, and nobody should have to go through the kind of things you have kept going through. And these problems... Maybe one bad system and a return, but not all five systems in a row from our different lines of products should have such issues. This is very bad situation and I apologize for all you're put through".

    Now.... I imagine that this post will be censored because it contains the truth about how Dell is operating right now, and I'm assuming I'll be banned.

    But at least I got to get this off my chest, and before this gets deleted at least a few other Dell customers will have seen it and will have know that there is no mystery behind the run-around that they too are currently getting, and that they are BY FAR NOT ALONE.

    I'll screenshot this now for posterity.

    Good luck everyone, you're going to need it.
    Dave

    PS - Considering the extreme circumstances and being shipped a 5th system in a row with known issues, a "Senior Support Resolver" has no promised me that they will grant me a refund on this 5th system even if we go beyond the "21 days" mark if they don't have a fix for it within "maybe two to three weeks". Sure there's some comfort in that, but honestly... after spending the past 3 months trying to get a properly working system from Dell so that I can do my own job, I'm not holding out any hope. If I wasn't having such a hard time financially and wasn't so dependent on my DPA/DFS account, I'd be buying ANYTHING BUT a Dell right now.
     
  43. Kaso

    Kaso Notebook Virtuoso

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    I have saved the full text of your post.
     
  44. Quix Omega

    Quix Omega Notebook Evangelist

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    I had a tech appointment for this thing to replace the screen. I took an entire day off work because they refused to nail down even an approximate time and then the tech didn't show up. He (or she) didn't even call me to tell me, I found out later when Dell's support desk called me to ask how the service appointment went. They did eventually replace the entire system but it didn't help with the Wi-Fi (if anything the second one's Wi-Fi is much worse than the first) or throttling. I'm getting frustrated with this.
     
  45. gixer2000

    gixer2000 Notebook Consultant

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    Everyone seems to be getting exchanges but I can't. So after my post earlier while doing some cleaning in my kitchen and found 3 screws from my XPS and 2 small pieces of plastic sitting on my kitchen floor under a chair. It appears that the tech broke something plastic and did not install all the screws because I guess he lost them. Now Dell wants to send the same guy back or lose the pc for 10 days and ship to them. either way sucks and seems like im more qualified to make the repair. They did say if the tech came back and replaced the screen again then they would exchange it but I really don't want him back here. I will tell you this if he does come back I will be here to watch everything he does

    *edit to add more* I also seems to be booting much slower after the dell screen. the dell screen come up then sits at the black screen for about 30 seconds then starts loading windows(no GUI Boot). Before it was booted and ready to go in 30 seconds. I don't know whats going on.
     
  46. merkamerka

    merkamerka Newbie

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    So I was pumped to play Guild Wars 2 and well... Quite some problems appeared

    First of all the CPU was getting throttled to atleast 1,200 MHz to even 800 MHz. At one point the computer decided to just shut off for no particular reason.
    First, can someone please give me a program/tutorial on how to stop this terrible throttling on the CPU, I have the A04 not A06. Second, why would my computer ever shut off spontaneously? The heat levels on the laptop weren't even that high.

    I'm really thinking of sending like laptop back and getting a different dell laptop in place. If I went for something else, mainly for the purpose of playing Guild Wars 2 decently what would you guys suggest from their site? (Laptop wise)
     
  47. Cyrris

    Cyrris Newbie

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    I don't like playing at non-native res, so it wasn't attempted. For me, that's a non-negotiable detail setting.

    I did briefly try A04 without ThrottleStop in TF2 and I found the GPU still throttling terribly until I changed the Nvidia settings from Adaptive to Performance (strange how it didn't save that setting when I updated the Nvidia driver. Beta indeed?). It's still not great though. I think quite a few games just need more than 1.2GHz on the CPU, and various benchmarks confirm that for a few games on NoteBookCheck.net, if you check the various 640M benchmarks.

    Of course for Sins and Civ, CPU is of utmost importance, so I didn't even try those on A04 without ThrottleStop.
     
  48. Tjee

    Tjee Notebook Consultant

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    @merkamerka
    If you want to be able to game decently, go alienware or inspiron se.
     
  49. alfling

    alfling Notebook Deity

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    If I purchase a XPS 15 now, I guess it will come with BIOS A06 already, right? If yes, will I be able to rollback to A04? I don't think I can accept half battery life, I'd rather prefer to play with lower settings when I need...
     
  50. 1kevinm

    1kevinm Notebook Enthusiast

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    A04 is still available on the website. I received my laptop a couple of weeks ago and it came with A04. You could download and install either from Dell.

    I am still using A04.
     
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