XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

Yeah, I made the mistake of applying A09...it killed my nVidia chip / multi-monitor support and has reduced my battery life significantly. I posted a thread on the Dell XPS Forum detailing it: Re: XPS 15 L521X ....Latest Problem - XPS Club Forum - XPS Club - Dell Community

 

yes i do know that, but ive even tried a video chat over my own network between my laptop and homr pc.

even in the dell webcam central, the picture is worse than it was a few days ago

 

Wow the price dropped by almost $150 today. I only got my system 2 days ago. Can I get a price adjustment from Dell or should I return and buy again?

 

I would call and ask dell. If they say No then just return and buy it again

 

Ehh they're giving me something about how if I price adjust, I won't get the $200 GC because it'll go past the profitability price point...

 

Is there a way to reset the computer to factory settings?
I downloaded the Intel wireless driver and it made it worse.
Before it was faster than my XPS m15...now it's nearly cut in half. >.>

Nevermind I just did a system restore. Currently I have no issues with the computer. I get the same speeds as the rest of the computers in my house, sometimes even faster so I'm happy about that. The grid on the screen isn't too noticeable, and I'm a pixel artist so I'm also happy about that.

Now what really bugs me is 1. The webcam quality is super bad. It's very ugly.
2. The wifi range is still bad though. It's weird my download speeds are like 50 mbps and so on but it reads only like 3 out of the like 15 internet signals around.

Not really a bad thing when it comes to home use, but at school I'm afraid it won't reach. D:

 

just received my replacement xps15 from Dell and it came with bios A09 already flashed. guess what? Video card showing an error.. BOOO get it together Dell!

 

I hope we get an update on the wifi issue soon, the lack of any news is getting a bit ridiculous now!

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

Flashed the A09 and still viewing the GT640M.

 

What Version of the Intel HD 4000 driver are you running. I have 8.15.10.2696 installed and the Bios A09 up date broke my GT640, but I see that there is a new version on the Dell web site but the link is broken. The new version is 8.15.10.2778, A0

thanks

 

I think when I had mine, I didn't both with the Dell updates. I just went directly to Intel and downloaded the drivers off the site.

The same goes for the Nvidia drivers...

 

I find it ironic that the Inspiron 15r SE is the true successor to the XPS 15 (L502) and that no one has posted on that official thread in a week. It costs between $500-$1000 less than the L521x with virtually the exact same specs and it has no issues whatsoever. I like Dell for their service and warranty, but the SE was the way to go for a 15". Granted, the L521x looks better and weighs less, but I think Dell has proven they couldn't cram the specs they (we) wanted into the chassis AND get it to work. And for those prices? Yes, I'm beating a dead horse, but I'm curious why people went with the L521x instead. I made the mistake of buying a L521x, but then I came to my senses, returned it and got the SE instead. Works like a charm. Slightly heavier, but the wifi screams, there is no throttling, it has a gorgeous grid-less screen -- a real winner in every category. And I ended up saving $750.

 

In my book - it was quality, and durability. At least I thought it had the first part anyway...

 

Just got off the phone with the top resolution person at dell, he assured me the drivers wont harm my pc...

now getting the gpu error

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)


ive tried uninstalling driver but it wont go away is my card dead now?

 

the xps has better sound and battery for one...also since the Inpsiron is lower end you get quirks like small pieces of plastic being bent, flex in the screen, flex in the keyboard and things like that....

on the hardware and build front the XPS is perfect....internal design aside of course lol

 

the card is not dead but the bios are wrong and windows isnt seeing the video card correctly. the are sending me a motherboard to repair this and told me not to flash A09 to the new mb. you should call them and let them troubleshoot so the problem becomes known. the more people that call the bigger the issue will get and quicker it will be repaired

 

Did they at lest pull A09 from their website?

 

called dell, the person i normally deal with (customer resolution) is gone for the day. spoke to other sections, they are sending over a technician to replace the mobo and an xps support supervisor by "Raymond" assured that a new mobo should also fix the wifi issue .

also to note, i bought a warranty with my first laptop back in 2009.. last year before it expired i renewed it for my replacement system 1645 and now im being told i should not have been sold that warranty and its being taken back and refunded. so basicly after my a few weeks ish i no longer have a warranty (should have expired in 2015) for this already broken system

 

Is that a serious question? Of course they didn't as of a couple hours ago

 

I was expecting they didn't, but hey one can hope. lol

 

Back when I was a CIO of a small company I had a rule that if you don't have a back-out plan for an upgrade, you don't do the upgrade unless you've tested it on a non-critical system. If the A09 BIOS upgrade puts you up a particular creek with no paddle, then don't do the upgrade. Following my own rule, I'm going to stick with A06 for the foreseeable future....

 

Agreed, still on A04 here, as received on my machine from dell.
I won't update untill I here rave reviews for a new bios.

 

FWIW, I'm using A06 and have no issues. I'm not using my system for hard-core gaming, however. Chrome and Office run great.

 

I'm running A09 with no issues, gpu is fine, wifi still sucks though...

 

Yep. I use the internal Wifi when I'm within a few meters of the AP (such as right now), but the USB wifi supplied by Dell anywhere else.

 

I'm using A09, but I want to downgrade to A04...of all 3 versions I think that's the best one. Can anyone post the link for download here? I've been looking for it on the past posts, but wasn't able to find it =/. This thread is getting way too big

 

I don't think you can downgrade, there was a couple of posts a few pages ago that people tried to downgrade and were getting a message about the file being signed with an older version of something and that it would not allow the older bios to be loaded once A09 was installed.

 

I haven't really found it worth using the USB dongle as the speed on the one they sent me is only marginally better than the built in wifi. With A09 and the latest Intel drivers I can get ~20mb downstream and 1.5 up, with the DLink 2.4Ghz adapter I was seeing ~30 down, 1.5 up. My wired desktop runs at ~51 down, 4.9 up (50 down, 5 up cable service). Not sure why I can't better up speeds even with an external adapter though as my old Lenovo T510 gets speeds about the same as my desktop on both the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz wireless.

 

My WiFi dongle isn't working just like the internal WiFi card after the Intel update....

 

For me the dongle works a lot better with the internal card drivers not installed. give it a try

 

I'm having trouble downloading the Dell driver for the IvyBridge Graphic driver (8.15.10.2778 , A01 ) from dell anyone else having the same issue, funny it says Urgent!

I get "The page cannot be displayed because an internal server error has occurred."
thanks - ejp

 

I had the same issue when tried to download, and gave up. Now I am running the latest version, Intel HD Graphics 9.17.10.2817 taken fro Intel drivers website.
It is working fine.

 

Got my l521x today, got the wifi issues on A04 BIOS, should i stay with A04 or get the new one. Also whats the best wifi dongle to use as temporary fix i heard dell were giving them out.

 

Stay with A04, from what I heard that's the best. I got it on Monday and Im staying with A04 and not upgrading.
Do you notice that the estimated battery keeps changing a lot. It can go from 1 hour to 3 hours after ever refresh. It's never accurate. I have noting open and it says 52% 2 hours, then check again in 5 seconds and says 3 hours +, check again and says 1 hour +. Just wondering if you have that issue. It's not that big of a deal but it's pretty annoying.

 

Did Dell give this to you for free?

I got fed up with the performance of my wifi. Can't even leave the room. I finally got on with a Dell service rep. After checking a few things he said I needed Bios A09 and couldn't help without updating. So I agreed. I did mentioned the other issues people have with A09, but he said he knew of no problems. Of course not.

Before all this started he did some internet speed tests as a baseline. In addition to the bios he updated the wireless driver from the intel website and tweaked some settings. He also mentioned that when you are using bluetooth the internet speed will be less due to both things using the same card. I hadn't gotten it to work yet anyway.

After all this the speed test showed the speed cut in half. Yes, it was slower!

So now they are replacing the wireless card. The laptop is only a week old. I really hope they figure this out. They are starting to lose me.

So far I've had no other problems that I can pin on A09. Battery life still showing over 5 hours left. Fan seems the same. No video issue so far, but I haven't really used the computer that much yet. I still hate the touchpad.

 

So how do you turn off Bluetooth? I have yet to find an on off option.

 

e6bwiz: wifi issue won't be affected by bios one way or the other. the latest wifi drivers seem to have had an impact, positive for most reporters but some have reported worse performance with 15.3.x. If the wifi performance isn't good enough for your needs I seriously advocate returning the machine. The USB wifi dongle I have is the netgear wnda3100v2 N600, and it works pretty well. With my home setup on the internal intel part I get about the same performance as the netgear up to about 12' from the router, then the intel part starts falling off faster than the netgear.

condorii: only way I know of is to disable it in the device manager, maybe. the bluetooth is in the same package as the 6235 wifi so they may not be separately disable-able.

 

My battery drops a lot. I put the computer to sleep and 2 hours I went from 50% to 19%. WTH

 

The Dell rep said to turn off the bluetooth on this unit you must use the device manager.

This computer was a complete care warranty replacement for my L501x. They said they no longer had the parts to fix it and sent me this one. It isn't refurbished either. I don't know what to tell them. Every time I got a new computer it was better than the last - except this time. I guess my options are an Inspiron or Alienware.

I really don't enjoy using the L521x. Even writing this short reply has taken some time. My palms keep touching the pad and causing crazy things to happen (even with palm protection on high). Just one of the many things I hate about the touchpad. Everything else being equal, I could deal with the touchpad, but if they can't fix all the other issues, it's going back.

After my last post, upon waking from hibernate, it showed an audio driver failed to install. What? Everything was installed before. Okay, didn't want to deal with it. The next time it would not come out of hibernation. Just hung. Hard restart.

The more I think think about this computer the more I miss my L501x. I could type and navigate so fast on it. Using the L521x is just a chore.

 

let me know if you get it switched to a different model. this is a replacement for my studio xps 1645 and horrible, battery no more than 2.4hours on power saver i hate it keyboard too small, usb and etc pushed together to close, wifi horrible. touchpad bad! no wwan slot, no half mini card slot.

 

My synaptics mousepad on this L521x is absolutely horrendous...practically every time I use it even in spit of having palm rejection cranked high, I'm also suffering majorly from the curser jumping all over the screen and random buttons being pressed! It's beyond annoying and after spending 1 hr 23 minutes yesterday with Dell, they finally agreed to replace the mousepad. It's funny...as I type this comment, the cursor has moved all over the place! And why is it that since Bill has left, there has been virtually no representation from Dell's behalf. Ignoring this thread and the folks who've purchased and have concerns would be counter intuitive to what Dell's mission statement states.

 

Unfortunately, mine was sent back as well. As I said in the other posts, I liked the machine, however there were too many things to ignore in this case.

I will still follow this thread hoping for some Dell rep to chime in, however as it looks right now - thats a pipe dream.

I don't know what type of laptop to look at now. I need to wait a few days for the funds to return back to the CC so I think I will do my research on the some of the other models mentioned in this thread. Dell had a great thing going with this laptop, but it was rushed and missed QA in several different areas.

 

I have returned mine XPS as well.

The laptop is incredible good looking, but the tradeoffs are too high.

Sincerly, half of the main components just dont work the way it is supposed to work.;

I could not use half the power of the CPU neither the GPU for more than 30 minutes;
I could not connect to my university wireless newtwork;
Display was kind of strange;

And I am out of good options right now for when Dell refund my money.

 

Do yohave iRST installed that wakes up your laptop from time to time?

 

A few times now I was typing a paragraph somewhere and the touchpad will highlight some of it and delete it. I'm not joking. This is ridiculous. All my gestures except scrolling are off. Many times it activated the back browser button. I didn't even see that option in the mouse settings. Also, I'm starting to think the fan is a little bit louder than it was before A09. The touchpad did not do this crap before A09. I know it shouldn't be related, but it did happen this way.

Anyone who is returning this laptop and going with a different model or brand, I would appreciate you posting what you went with.

And since I am interested in quickly discovering any problems, can someone recommend a stress test program or something so I can put this thing through the paces and find any other performance problems? Thanks.

 

I am under A09 Bios (updated second time under DOS). Since updated second time, I have experienced only once video card error, the fan as I typing is off, basically is off most of the time (doing light work).
It is working fine everything except the Wi-Fi.
The Dell tech is scheduled on Monday for motherboard replacement but I will not allow doing it.
The touchpad works perfect; one of the best I have seen so far, is very sensitive and responds to all commands without any hesitation.
I will see now how long it will be working fine for.

 

I do but i thought irst was just quick boot for the ssd. How do i turn off the wake locks?

 

orry not iRST but iSCT.

 

there is a new hd4000 driver 2778 but again cannot download?

 

what is that?

Also I keep changing the setting for hibernate after: to 5 minutes but it keeps changing itself to never