Dell Studio 15 1558 Thread

Dell Support has agreed to replace my motherboard by this week. Looking forward to uninterrupted gaming by next week.

 

Much happier with the performance of my laptop... the cpu does not hit temps beyond 70 degrees.. so even if the gpu goes to 100 degrees the chances of throttling are negligible...

 

Where did you get the new skin? Any particularly excellent brands of skins which would be easy to apply, look good, and yet also be easy to remove when you want to?

 

anyone know where I can get white plastic piece under keyboard? I was cleaning after little spill of soda and while removing the keys I broke white piece that goes under black keys by accident.

 

I posted a while back about my Blu-ray drive not working properly, in that it only read discs on CD or DVD, not BR.

Well Dell sent out someone out to fix it, just installed some new software for reading the discs and it's back in action He said he'd fixed quite a few BR drives of late, most of them all had software problems like mine.

 

It looks like I'm more than a bit late to this party. I took a Studio 1536 in trade from a woman who never used it (didn't like the lid color!) but she kept it until the warranty expired, only to discover it was broken.

In the process of setting her up with a newer non-Studio Dell notebook and fixing the trade-in up (I gave it to my GF for Christmas after replacing the lid to one a bit less raucous, installing a backlit keyboard, and so on), I discovered that I really liked the Studio 15 design. So, starting with a basic 1558 model, 720p i5-450M with next to no options, I tore into it and upgraded it to top-of-the-line - i7-740QM CPU, 1080p matte screen, 8GB 1333 RAM, Ultimate-N 6300 + Bluetooth 365 + Wireless 5620 (GOBI), UJ-235A Blu-ray burner, 9-cell battery, custom color lid (matches my race car), back-lit keyboard, and Win7 Ultimate x64, I think I'll have a great system to take to the race tracks (Unlike most amateur racers these days that trailer their car to the next track and have loads of tools and spare parts on board, I just bring what I can fit in the footwell, which is mostly clothes, camera bag, and notebook and drive from track to track. Last summer I did a grand loop across country, hitting 7 tracks). Look for posts by user "atomacrossamerica" on Youtube and you'll see like 20 of us on the Golden Gate Bridge. My old notebook (a HP dv5-something) was getting a bit outdated for quick processing of videos like that.

I actually liked the resulting 1558 config so much that I bought a second one "Dell refurbished" on eBay. All the technical parts were correct, but it didn't look like the refurb did anything but wipe some crud around all over the system. So that one got all the changes listed above, plus new bezel, palmrest, and keyboard surround.

I've written up a nunber of these experiences over on my blog, at www.tmk.com/blog.

I also have lots of posts about my race car and its use of computers, at www.atomacrossamerica.org.

 

I ordered my skin from THESKINMANTRA.COM. But i am afraid as i am not sure if they make any international deliveries. All the skins that are right now available are easy to apply and remove - if they use vinyl adhesives. you might encounter 2 kinds of skins - matte and glossy. while matte is more durable glossy gives more shine and better colours.

Dell | Skinit.com - has the best quality of skins (seen on my cousins lappy, couldnt order as it was not available in India) so if you are from US go for this site.

Cheers and happy new year !!

 

BATTERY !!!!

Hey everyone !!!
I am using this application battery bar. And it's showing a battery wear on my laptop as 30%. and my lappy is just 3-4 months old.
Any clues??

 

I just upgrade my studio 1558 with 2nd HDD in the slot loading bay by DIY.

 

Upgraded my dad's Studio 1558 to 8 GB RAM Crucial. Not much of a difference though.

 

Hi guys, I have a dell 1558. I downloaded a big movie file last night in 7 - 1gb rar parts. When I combine the files to make a 6.5 gb MKV movie file and try to play it using VLC player something weird happens to my computer. I have nothing else running (checked task manager) all of a sudden my 4 gb ram goes off the charts - hitting 97% reducing my computer to run at a snails pace... This has never happened before... but I have never played such a big movie file before. I downloaded it from a website that I always go to for movies but I usually download smaller files but I cant get my head around it. I check task manager and I cant see any programs running. But my 4 gb ram is maxed out??? just by playing a movie file even for 1 minute. I close the file and nothing else is running but my rams stays at 97% and when I try to access anything including internet, its slow. I have to restart the computer for every thing to be normal again. If I go near this movie file like if I scan it for a virus then the same thing happens!!!! any ideas?!! I have an i5 520m with a 4570 512mb graphics card. HELP!!!

 

Dont use VLC use Media Player Classic HC

 

Is that the reason for crippling my computer....

 

Download Malwarebytes Anti-malware, update it and scan your computer.

 

I have malware bytes which I scanned the whole computer with and that file, nothing was found...

do you think its a virus?

 

The only few things that make your computer lock up are are:

Overheating

Viral infection

Corrupt System files

Failing hard drive

Or something else along those lines or a combination of the above.

 

Try downloading and burning a stand-alone virus scanner like the free AVG Rescue CD. That is a bootable CD that you can use to scan your system.

In addition to the other things mentioned here, hangs / lockups can be caused by a hard disk error (the system continues retrying a read or write), or excessive CPU or memory usage (a memory shortage will cause swapping to disk, which uses more CPU and disk bandwidth, making things worse).

What does Task Manager show for process memory usage? (Processes tab / click on the Memory column header to sort by usage, and make sure that "Show processes from all users" is selected.)

 

I think it maybe that ur not using DXVA to do the playback which means ur CPU must be under stress.. even so i don think it should cripple ur computer.. But u could try Media player Classic Homecinema n use the DXVA option n see if it helps

 

I think the file could be corrupt. But it plays fine with VLC player but the rest of the computer is useless unless I reboot. I tried changing the default player to windows media classic hc (which I just downloaded) it played ok - but the same thing is happening. I scanned the whole computer using avast. Also managed to scan each rar part individualy, which turned out fine. I checked the task manager (show processes for all users selected) and it showed ram to be at around 96-98% BUT the CPU was fine at around 5%! I can tell when the cpu goes crazy cause the fan kicks in. So I can only think of 2 things causing the problem... either its the file that is corrupt or the computer cant handle the large movie file!!!

 

^^ Are u sure u were using DXVA? wat is ur CPU usage while u play it?? I have files of similar sizes n they play fine so somethin is definitely wrong!!

 

yes im using DXVA its playing now... ram is at 97% and Cpu is at around the 20% The movie has been playing for 3 minutes and I have firefox and windows media player classic hc running... thats it..

 

Can you try some another dxva enabled mkv file? Maybe the file is corrupt. With GPU accelerated 1080p should only take like 5% or less of the CPU and basically no ram.

 

What's the best SSD for the 1558 to date?

 

Also, what spec's should I be looking at. Still haven't got round to buying an SSD, but one's in the pipeline for the next month. 2.5" should do, right?

 

I'm using the Crucial C300 256GB. I get 260MB/sec reads and 200MB/sec writes according to AS SSD.

The only issue is that there's a timing issue which causes the C300 to randomly not be detected on boot. I had it frequently with an i5-460M but it almost never happens on a pair of i7-740QM's. Hopefully Crucial can address this in a future firmware update.

 

How much did you pay for that??? A 256GB SSD means forking out quite a bit, no?

 

Around $500. But prices have been dropping because the C400 was announced.

 

I've been experiencing problems when watching video files in HDMI. I connect my laptop to my TV through HDMI and most of the times after some time my CPU meter goes to 98%-100% without ever coming back to normal levels. Of course the movie gets laggy and I have to restart. This happens even with no other apps running.
I've used various video programs (VLC, BSPlayer, Media Player Classic) and it doesnt seem to matter.
Also, I must say the laptop gets extremely hot when I touch its base.
Although, I'm not 100% positive I believe that does happen when I go to HDMI mode and not when just using my laptop screen.
Anyone else experiencing that or having a possible solution?
Is it possible that it could be a graphics card problem?

 

Which 1558 configuration did you have? It comes with either Intel HD graphics or ATi discreet graphics.

100% CPU usage could be viral, have you tried a malware scan?

 

I got the ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470.
I never have this problem while using my laptop (and I use it for many hours a day). If it was viral shouldnt it happen always?
It only happens when watching videos and watching them on my TV through the HDMI.

 

Hrm okay well possibly you could have a defective GPU or motherboard; Have you tried reinstalling ATi drivers?

Try:

Reseatting RAM/HDD

Testing with known good RAM.

Otherwise you may have to RMA it to Dell.

 

Just a heads up to anyone else with this issue.

Power button light stopped working at first; then eventually I had to hold and move around the power button for the button to work at all.

The issue is the flimsy power button cable. When you actually see them, it is amazing they did not brace the cables better...it looks like they would lose connection with only a few lid open/closes.

Anyway, called Dell and had a great support experience:
-Tech answered right away
-Tech did not go through a script - he listened and took action from there
-Tech ordered part (power button is attached to the whole rubber siding of the lid)
-Tech set up a person to come to my house and fix it
-Tech that showed up at house was very quick and knowledgeable (he was contracted)
-Not it works again

Not sure how many others will have this issue; but from the looks of that cable I would be surprised if it was not a 95% failure rate. Hopefully it happens within your warranty (if not, the part is probably not too costly, but the time to take it apart may be a hastle).

 

Which Studio 15 is this? Since it is in the 1558 thread, I would guess a 155x, but...

Which piece are you describing? The power cable goes through the same path and supports as the right-side wireless antenna(s). On the left side the display cable follows a mirror-image path, and there are a lot more wires inside the display cable.

Did the tech order a whole replacement lid? That's odd as the switch/cable and button insert are 2 completely separate parts:





The only time the lid should need replacing is if the case slot the tab on the circuit board fits into is cracked.

I've never heard of this part failing (not to say it doesn't), but I can open a system, swap the button and cable/board, and have it back together in 10 minutes. I did that to get the pictures I posted above.

I've seen older 153x's with power buttons that didn't seem like they would work (no noticable click feeling when pushed) but which worked fine. The actual switch technology is similar to that used on things like microwave oven touch buttons, so it should last for a very long time.

 

Terry,

To answer your quuestions:

-Model: Yes, 1558 (I forgot it was 1558 thread and not just studio 15)

-The flimsy part is on that board in your picture. Two of the three cables that connect to the board broke on mine. They are very thin and I guess there is enough movement that can break them over time. Or maybe mine was not connected properly (I do not remember seeing that glue or poxy that is in your pic on mine).

-The lid was not replaced, just the rubber stripping that runs along the edge of the lid. Connected to that rubber stripping was also the power button assembly (I guess you can just get the assembly but dell sent the rubber stripping and power button assembly as one).

-I did some research before calling dell and found others with this issue. Most of them narrowed it down to those three cables breaking. When the tech took mine out there was only one connection that was still fully attached.

-10 minutes - you the man!

 

I just starting having screen freeze issue yesterday on my 10 months old 1558.
Laptop screen froze 3 time within 2 hours and required me to shut if off and reboot. I was not doing anything intensive just surfing the net. When it freezes the laptop become completely unresponsive to all buttons and mouse does not move. Only choice is to hard turn off using the on/off button.
I have i5 (specs in signature) and so not sure if this is the normal over heating issue (normally seen with i7)

I checked the temps using HWmonitor and PC Wizard 10 and in both cases CPUs were in the high 40s C and GPU was in low-mid 50s C. Nothing abonormal.
I did notice that on the bottom of the temperature page of the PC Wizard 10 it shows temp of the DIMMs. I have 4GB and it showed DIMM 2 and 4 being 170 and 195 C which I think is an error as those slots maybe empty and that is why such high temps.

Other possible thing is that I realized that I have about 7 GB left in my OS partition HDD. Could this be causing the freeze? I am planning to shift some stuff to the Data partition soon.

Any idea how to verify or check for issues? any error checking I can do, logs to check etc.

Thanks for your help guys!

 

I would suggest you check the event logs. There may be acpi errors/embedded controller error. They may be resolved by removing the battery, keeping the power button pressed for a minute and then leaving it without the battery for some time. Reinsert the battery.

 

I've had the same issue, and it always points at the ATI driver for the 5470 GPU. Nothing really resolves the issue, and it doesn't always happen. I kind of doubt the temp you reported, as the solder would be reflowing at 170 and 195C. Note that if it really is the same GPU driver issue as I have, the display driver system will restart itself without rebooting, although it doesn't always fully recover and will instead go into an annoying loop. This only really happens when I'm using my laptop on a soft surface (couch cushion/bed/blanket/pillow) that blocks certain vents and causes the GPU to overheat. CPU overheating just leads to annoying throttling, not display freezes.

 

I had the driver issue you mention many months ago. It would pop up on the screen and then quickly recover without any intervention. It has not happened recently as I have updated the ATI driver from AMD to 10.11, used to be 10.6 or something.

This is much different but it has not happened since my laptop froze 3 times a few days back. I did notice one thing and that is my GPU temps are around 58-60C idling with normal surfing. Used to be around 50C before. Also playing some games the temps go in mid 80C which I think used to be in the 70s.

Maybe the AT driver is the reason. What are you guys running for ATI driver and what are the idle temps?

 

I don't think it is caused by ATI driver though. I'm experiencing the same scenario on my 1557 with many drivers I tried. Dell, ATI, new & old version, all the same. Maybe the thermal pad/paste for GPU need to be replaced. I haven't disassembled my notebook yet to see what is going on in there.

 

I have had the same video problems that others are having. Dell replaced the motherboard and updated all my drivers. That has helped but I still get the video freeze/ crash occasionally. I am hoping the Windows 7 update to SP1 will correct the problem. I don't know if Windows has anything to do with it but I am hoping.

 

some update on the ATI 4570 temps. I tired to update to 11.2 driver on AMD website but ran into issues installing. So i uninstalled and tried again seemed to show installed. Noticed that my temps are not going above 60-65C even when I play SC II as it seems the GPU is either throttling(not likely) or being limited so it does not go higher. I could not figure out why. Tried some settings in CCC to make sure it does not limite the GPU but nothing.
So finally gave up and I just went to an older restore point. Now I am back to 10.4 (i think) with the driver date 1/22/2010. Temps are back to 86C when playing SCII.

Any idea? I would like to use a newer driver for GPU.

 

did u restart after installing the driver.. coz sometimes for me wen it installs the new driver the clocks are stuck at 2D..

 

My sis-in-law is having issues with her pointer icon on her 1558. She says that a few times a day, the pointer will become supersized for apparently no reason, and the only way to get it to go back to regular size is to reboot. Has anyone experienced this and know a fix for it?

 

Never mind the above post. She called Dell and they fixed a bunch of stuff on her machine. Apparently there were two updates that her computer was trying to do simultaneously, which ended up messing things up. She says the machine is working like a dream now, so I guess Dell Customer/Tech Support got something right!

 

Hows everything in the world of 1558? Anyone had any HDD failures or massive f*ck ups on their laptops? I've invested in a 120GB SSD (Vertex 2); just wondered, what's the *correct* procedure for installing it to get the best performance from it? (i.e. formatting it / setting it up in BIOS). Cheers!

 

Mine have been behaving fine.

I assume you're running Windows 7. You'll want to make sure that the partitions on it are properly aligned to take advantage of the SSD. If you re-create the partitions using your Windows 7 install disc, it will properly align them. If you restore a backup, the backup program may or may not re-create the partitions properly.

 

Awesome stuff man, thanks for the reply. Just to let you know where I am with my knowledge of HDD + SSDs: This is my first SSD, not sure what you mean when yo usay 'align'. I've previously only used HDDs and it used to be a simple case of plugging it in, formatting it as NTFS, and making 1 partition (or as many as I wanted, I stuck to 1 though). Then I'd be good to go from there; what's changed in the world of SSDs? Appreciate the knowledge sharing bro

 

Reason I asked about other peoples 1558; mine has on a few occasions given me a clicking noise from my HDD - scary stuff when it happens especially when you know you haven't backed up in a while. Going to be running my 320 internal drive as a second external (need a USB port splitter, grr @ 3 USB ports on the 1558!). At least if it fails then it won't have all my *important* stuff on it.

 

Urgh, sorry for the TRIPLE post. Terry, how much did you pay for your machine (in total, inc. upgrades), sounds like you've got a blisteringly hyped up rig there

 

Shame, just cancelled my order on the OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G. Read about the issues facing OCZ SSD owners following OCZ's unannounced change from 34 to 25nm modules and the reduction in speed; not happy about it. WIll probably end up with a C300 I think!

Edit: Bought the F120 (Corsair), which has 34nm NANDs.