XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

i just gently worked a finger-nail under one corner until I had enough to slowly pull it off. No big deal, worked easily for both.

 

Same to me, be gentle. And to remove all remaining residue, just use the stickers themselves. The glue will attract the glue, it's really efficient.

 

I've installed BIOS A09 yesterday and after some testing I want to revert back to A04 because the fan is running almost all the time @2100 RPM rather than 900RPM as with A04.
Unfortunately when I try to reinstall A04 I get a "Flash write error in SMI". When trying to flash to A06 I get "The secure BIOS is signed by older version of security flash"

Does anyone know how to revert back to A04 (or A09->A06->A04) ?

TIA

 

Yeah I got it now. It's super clean. I just need to fix the battery life and wifi and I'll be happy

 

The same here, it seems that is not possible to revert back to older Bios. The only thing it will be motherboard changed. I am pretty sure that most of them are still on Bios A04.
I have problem with video card, is not loading any longer.

I will request the motherboard changed.

 

Quick question.
As far as cases go...can you use a MBP cover? Seeing that it's around the same build.

 

Only way I can figure is by restoring the computer back to Dell factory image. Flashing back to factory reset puts your computer back in the state it was in when you first got it, so its essentially reformatting with all the things that came pre-loaded

 

No they're different sizes. I tried using a 15inch mbp sleeve and it doesn't work. The bezel on the xps is slightly larger by like a cm

Also how long does it take to charge your xps battery? Mine takes so long and battery drains so fast

 

I'm using A04 BIOS and with power saver I will get 5 and a half to 6 hours doing normal stuff. (Web browsing, music, some video)

 

For what its worth I wouldn't buy a laptop with known issues and no estimated fix date.
I think you would be mad, especially as this laptop is pretty expensive.
Have a good look around, I'm sure you'll find something that meets your needs and actually works!

 

i went to A06 when it came out but for me A04 is still by far the best BIOS (i use this laptop for work so no gaming) and I get really good battery life.

 

It is not possible.

 

Except the BIOS which is NOT part of the image. It is not possible to restore BIOS to previous version by restoring Dell factory image.

 

I restored my Windows image before installing 306.23 driver. Now it is 296.01. The score is 7.0. When I look at the GPU processor clock, it is 810MHz.

 

Same laptop/specs on power saver. Only get an estimated 4 hrs on 100%. Browsing, music, and video causes fast drain

 

Well, we will see what happens tomorrow with my warranty price issue.

However am I crazy to actually like this laptop even though I know I know the faults?

I mean I know the likelihood in which Dell would "fix" the issues, but its not set in stone and we don't know what will happen. Do I take the risk that nothing will happen and then I will be left with laptop that will have virtually no resell value in a few years cause of these issues?

 

I'd like to share a conversation about the wifi I had with Dell on twitter, nothing special same old canned responses.

me: @DellCares Any news on the XPS l521x wifi?

Dell: Thanks for reaching us. Please DM service tag, issue specifics. Will check into it. MA

me : My service tag is ******* I have a xps l521x with wifi problems. I am just wondering of there is a fix coming up and if there is a timeline

Dell: We're working diligently to eliminate root cause and will provide improvements which will be available to all affected customers>>
>> present and future.^FY

me : Is this fix hardware or a driver fix?

Dell: That we could not confirm as we are in the process of getting into the root cause.^FY

 

So pretty much what we were being told all along :/

 

I'm at 95% right now with estimated 5 hours 15 minutes right now and we all know that it's not always accurate but I will consistently get 5-6 hours battery life on power saver.

 

WTH I've never gotten over 5 estimated. I went from 100% to 68% in an hour and a half and that was only playing music and surfing facebook.

 

My Xps 15 order has been processing since friday, still not changed it was a ship fast system so should have been here by now. Money has been taken i phoned customer service yesterday and they said they will track.
Got an email earlier:
The order ******** is still on hold due to one of the tools we have to released order into production stage is current being updated.

Our specialist has confirmed that they are working on it already and I am monitoring this for you.

Isn't ship fast systems already built? :S unless all ship fast systems go into production i have no idea, i wonder what tool takes 3 business days to update.

 

Well, my xps arrived last friday with wifi problems, throttle problems anda very slow hdd. After some updates the wifi stopped working and the windows just refuses to do anything. I contacted Dell with a very angry email saying I was very disappointed, on Monday and today they just email me saying the refund has been approved. No discussion.

Guess this the end for me.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

Yeah unfortunately it seems that way. I am actually sure they are working on something my only fear is that when the fix actually comes what we get is not really a fix at all but just an improvement of something that is still broken. Hopefully they fix the wifi to work exactly as intended and not anything less.

 

Strange, one user provided a link with the latest BIOS A09 that it could not be downloaded from Dell website, I use it and updated the Bios when all the problems started.....the video card would not load, temps high to 98 degrees, throttling, even I had to press a few times the power button to turn on the laptop.
It was a user, I could not find his post, that was warning about the Bios on Dell website, the date of it is not the same as the other one, so I downloaded it and gave a try.
Once I pressed run the laptop shut it down and the update was done in DOS mode,basically this is the best possible way to update a Bios.
Now I am able to load the graphic card, the max temp, fort short period to 95 degrees, the CPU and graphic card 80 degrees. Both were stressed to max. No throttling so far, just encoding video files.
As for the fan speed, now it behaves the way it was under the A04 bios, while light work and surfing is mostly off.
I do not think that there is an issue with A09, at least with the one on the website.
I know for sure that the one A09 I had, under which the Bios was updated, was done with the system on like previous version, A04 respective A06.
Maybe Dell noticed an issue with the A09 and immediately issued revised one under the same name, because the process of updating is not the same.
I also see more hotspots than before, for more, before was only from my router, but unfortunately no improvement 7-8M away from router...
I suggest all of you which are having problems under Bios A09, download it and try it again, it might solve your problems.
I will not change the motherboard, there is no reason!

 

bios A09 shaved 4 seconds off my boot because I am now booting using UEFI and not legacy bios. I had to reinstall Windows 8 using a UEFI usb stick but all is good now

 

What is UEFI indeed and what are the advantages over BIOS?

 

short version: old-form PC BIOS replacement with faster processing and more capabilities. Used by Apple. Eventually going to be used by PC's.

long version: UEFI - Home

 

short version: old-form PC BIOS replacement with faster processing and more capabilities. Used by Apple. Eventually going to be used by PC's.

long version: ... let me google that ...

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

UEFI - Home

Demystifying UEFI, the long-overdue BIOS replacement | ExtremeTech

 

WRT: the two urls for downloading bios a09

I ran a binary comparison of the files downloaded the two ways, after unpacking the file (it is a self-running 7-zip archive), and the contents are identical.

If you retrieved A09 before the xps15 driver page was updated you do NOT need to re-download and apply.

 

I guess the problem is driver related, I updated my XPS15 with the A09, changed somethings in the Bios to boot from the mSata module, and with Ubuntu, the PC runs perfectly well as it always did. But for me, the NVidia card is always off.

 

I updated to A09 a few days back, and I had no issues.

Went from 04 to 09.

 

I need to do some more testing, but I've been getting under 2 hours on a full charge with balanced settings.

 

Guys, how long was your l521x processing for? Mines been 5 days now and the money has been taken.

 

Using A09, no issues for me too on battery, it says about 5 / 5:30 hours on 100%, on "Dell" battery setting surfing the web.
Haven't tried it until shutdown yet, I will see in next days and tell you.

 

Well, mine is going back. Not due to the the issues, but due to an warranty price issue.

I purchased through microcenter and not Dell direct, so I'm not eligible for the lower point of sale price

Extra 2 years of warranty with complete care:

Online sale price (if the laptop was purchased direct): $398
Upgrade/Renew price: $873

 

Wow, that price is outrageous...

I'm curious though, have you tried contacting a Dell rep by phone or here on the forum?

 

Phone, and I would contact Bill, but hes not here any longer :/

 

He introduced his replacement, i don't remember who it is, but you could contact him. It's shame for Bill though, from what i understand, he intends to stick around on a personal basis.

Anyways, at that price, you can get a decent notebook so returning is kind of a no brainer if you can.

 

This is the guy that replaced Bill.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=231473

 

Yes, he has. However I wouldn't call him that since hes never showed his face since the introduction. I understand that hes busy, but something would be nice.

Also, I will return it since I have 14 days and I'm only on day 4.

Granted I can maybe get the store warranty, but thats more trouble than its worth.

 

I sent him a pm to let him know we are waiting for an update

 

I wouldn't hold your breath, doesn't look like he's even logged in since his introduction. He's definitely no Bill, at least he checked in every few days. So much for a company "representative."

 

Has anyone tried the new WiFi driver update? After the update I see no improvements... As a bonus I think it might be affecting the WiFi USB adapter Bill offered us... Regardless of card or USB, my WiFi reception is HORRIBLE. Ranging from 3Mbps ~ 55Mbps. Before the update USB was fine.

 

ok so im at day 4 with the l521x ... hate the small keyboard, the intergrated right/left clicks, lack of express card slot(tv tuner), lack of available pci e slot and wwan(mobile gps).. But it is a replacement from my studio xps 1645 so i guess itll do , however i need some help with some things.

1- ive heared about drids and seen pics of the issue, but i dont see it all the time on my laptop, only somtimes my eyes will pick em up what exactly should a grided display look like from afar?

2- wifi is bad, really bad, really missing my n 6300

3-for some reason , the webcam quality has really degraded, ive been on video chats with friends since i got the laptop but today, i on opening the video call, the picture was horrible, pixelated, really bad. ive tried plugging in the laptop, andeverything what could be the problem? i use windows live messenger but have also used facebook and skype and they were all looking great two days ago.

 

So, shall I apply A09 or not?

 

I applied A09 ( was A04 before ), and i don't experience any problem.

Don't know if it's related ( because i experienced already an amelioration yesterday before the update ) but in my case, wifi is a lot more stable than before. My driver is 15.3.0.16. Speed is ridiculous on download ( 2mbps instead of 30mbps ), but ok on upload ( same speed than my another laptop ), and i can access to it on places i couldn't before ( even if it's still pretty near of the router, i haven't make "big" distance test, but on differents floors ). Wifi not anymore "shutting down" every 5 minutes like before.

What i really hope with A09, it's that it resolve one big problem for me : i experience 1 or 2 times a day a big crash. Don't know if other get that problem too, but when it appends, all is freezed except the mouse cursor. A few seconds after, cursor is also blocked, and i must made a hard reboot ( impossible to ctrl+alt+del ). For the moment ( but it's only one day ), all seems fine, but...

 

frech50: Your freeze/lockup sounds like something windows-based, not bios-based. Drivers. Other apps. You may try surfing for general help with that (e.g. not specific to the xps).

 

You Shall, And You Shall Love It.

Seriously though....general guidance I can give that makes sense for this kind of thing (driver, bios, os updates) is that if the update does not address a specific problem that your are having then there is no need to install it.

If you're happy (ish) with the way the machine is operating now then why bother?

Dell hasn't published what were the meaningful changes in A09, and I've not seen anyone quantify how it changes the behavior of the system. With people's operating environments varying so widely the few anecdotal reports of things changing are hard to take as solid.

The only meaningful change I'm aware of in the bios is the support for UEFI - but if you're running Win7 it doesn't matter, and if you wanted to switch from old-bios-boot to UEFI boot that would likely require a windows reinstall.

I can only infer that it is a preparatory release for full Windows 8 support.

 

I wouldn't flash A09.Dell told me they have had a flood of calls after people flashed it. once you flash it your video card will be stopped by windows due to code 43. Dell told me that there is an issue with the bios A09 and when I receive my replacement system not to flash it.

 

Webcam quality (while video chatting) is almost entirely based on your internet connection and the person you are talking to internet connection.

I've used it several times and the quality is very good and only a couple of times I've seen a small glitch and it pixelating than its back to normal.