Dell Studio 15 1558 Thread

Like to know the latest driver for my laptop video adapter ATI HD 5470. The issue is that even if I install the latest driver from ATI driver support site, Whenever I click the update driver button from the video adapter properties it is taking the driver version :8.680.0.0 and date : 18-11-2009 as latest.

Anyone facing this issue. The latest driver from the ATI site is also causing some browser crash and hang problem.

Thanks

 

Traditional hard drives used sectors of 512 bytes. This is also the sector size that Windows expects.

Some new hard drives (generally called "Advanced format") use a larger sector size to store more data on the drive (there's a fixed amount of overhead per sector, so a smaller number of larger sectors gets rid of the overhead). SSDs also use a larger internal sector size.

However, when the system writes data, dealing with larger sectors means additional work. Let's assume you want to write 1KB of data. On a traditional drive, that means writing 2 sectors and you're finished. On a drive with 4K sectors, if the 1K you're writing is entirely within one 4K sector, you need to read the 4K sector, update 1K of data, and write the 4K sector back. Or, even worse, if your 1K falls across 2 4KB sectors, you need to read the first 4K one, update 512 bytes, write it back, read the second 4K one, update 512 bytes, and write it back.

Now, if the drive is told by the operating system that there's nothing of value elsewhere in those 4K sectors, then you can skip the pre-read part.

Way too much. It just sort of grew. I discuss it in somewhat greater detail here. The neighboring articles are also about the 1558.

 

The driver for the HD 5470 is updated every month as part of the ATI Catalyst suite. Just go to the AMD site and select Notebook Graphics / Radeon HD Series / Mobility Radeon HD 5xxx Series / and your operating system.

That will get you a small utility which will check to make sure you're allowed to use the generic ATI drivers (some notebook manufacturers don't want their customers to have access to ATI updates). When you run that utility, it will download the compete Catalyst Mobility package. Run that installer and it will update your video drivers. Don't try to unpack it and use device manager to update the driver - that won't work reliably (as you've discovered).

 

You might want to google SSD drives and getting maximum performance out of them. I think with this chipset, it severally favors power savings and hence cripples the SSDs.

 

Disabling C6/C7 (C-States) can improved SSD performance. This has been tested on Studio XPS 1645. I think the success can be replicate in Studio 1558 too.

 

What's a C-State :S

 

It is processor power states. Every level (C0 - C6) have it own function such as reduce CPU voltages, turn off CPU cores when idle, enable/disable cache, etc.

(Source "2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processor Family Mobile")

• C0 - Active mode, processor executing code.
• C1 - AutoHALT state.
• C1E - AutoHALT state with lowest frequency and voltage operating point.
• C3 - Execution cores in C3 flush their L1 instruction cache, L1 data cache, and L2 cache to the L3 shared cache. Clocks are shut off to each core.
• C6 - Execution cores in this state save their architectural state before removing core voltage.
• C7 - Execution cores in this state behave similarly to the C6 state. If all execution cores request C7, L3 cache ways are flushed until it is cleared.

Please go to this post to see SSD benchmarks when some of the C-States disabled. I don't know standard benchmark for SSD but I found read & write speed does increased when some C-States disabled/enabled.

@Terry, can you test this on your notebook?

 

I'm not near my 1558's at the moment. However, I do have a saved benchmark capture. This is on a Studio 1558, stock BIOS A10, i7-740QM. The drive is a Crucial C300 256GB using iaStor 1010.0.0.1046.

 

When you have access to your 1558 & if you want to, it would be nice if you can disabled C6/C7 & run the benchmark again. Then compared it with this one.

 

The temperature of a CPU in a Dell Studio 1558 starts throtteling at 95 degrees

The fan is disabled below 55C, starts spinning normally at 55 degrees, and kicks on high at 75C

 

I have heard that disabling the "C" states can kill your battery life though as the system will be running "full throttle" as the expression goes. Your system may get "warm" too.

 

again the new driver I installed 11-2_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl from ATI driver site crashed...

 

Were you running a game while the ATI drivers crashed? Seems like CCC for me has an issue with my desktop GPU with the profiles. Did you OC your GPU?

 

I was playing video on youtube and suddenly the browser and windows crashed. I have the default setting in CCC with no OC.

 

It happen all the time or just once?

Maybe run memtest overnight and see if it fails?

 

I was also having some issue with freezing after I tried to load 11.2 now I am back to 10.11 AT driver.

 

This is inaccurate & misleading fact. Disabling C-states won't kill the battery life & CPU doesn't run "full throttle".

 

Its happening most of the time both while playing games and browser. Memtest is showing as passed(dell support center application). Time to revert to old drivers....

 

If it's not happening with the old drivers then you know you had bad drivers.

 

Has anyone tried upgrading the DVD drive to a Blu Ray drive? Is it a hard job?

 

Its not easy.

keyboard trim (3 screws on back then snaps on top),then all screws on back,remove rear hard drive/ram cover,hard drive (theres small screw under the hd),flip back over and remove keyboard,cables,screws.

Remove the top cover (one with mouse pad) and your there.

Theres some more info on it here.I know its a 1557 but their the same thing.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...io-1557-copper-shim-dimensions-thickness.html

 

Installed my SSD. Seems to be working fine, although its not as quick as I would have liked for some reason. Realworld usage (copying files on the same drive) achieves about 80-110MB/sec. I got the Corsair F120 for those who haven't read my previous post). The drive can reach speeds of up to 275mb/sec write, and 285 read.

Another question for those of you who've formatted and installed a clean version of w7 before: what's the GPU rating for the in the Windows Aero environment when you benchmark your system in windows? I got a 4.9 for my GPU; can't remember what it was before but don't think it was 4.9!, it just sounds rather low. On the flipside, my harddrives been bumped up to 7.0 (should it be higher though??).

Appreciate your input guys!

 

4.9 isn't surprising. The 5470 benches higher than my 8600M GT and I get like high 4 something. Have you tried the latest ATi driver?

SandForce posts their...maximum sequential speeds.

 

My 4570 post 5.0 Aero and 6.3 on 3d.

With the Vertex 2 60gb ssd I have 7.5 on hd.

The strange part for me was going from a 1557 motherboard to a 1558 my WEI memory score dropped big time. From 7.4 to 5.9 .. other memory benches show it being alot slower as well.. weird

 

Has anyone tried using their eSATA port? I am picking up a 1TB bare drive & docking station tomorrow that supports eSATA. Want it for backups and to move files to in preparation of a clean install. USB is way too slow. I know eSATA is faster but am wondering if anyone has actually used it on a 1558 as the port is a hybrid USB port. The search tool here had no results.

Thanks in advance.

 

Ive used the eSata, what do you want to know about it? It works fine and well... lol

 

Just wanted to verify it works because it's Dell and a hybrid port. Did you happen to notice the speed? Reported speed versus real world speed is different based on overhead used.

 

I got speed when transferring 3.5GB file is (max) 45 - 46 MB/s. I have WD MyBook 640GB. So far e-Sata on my Dell works brilliantly, unlike the stupid firewire.

 

kizwan, That is the answer I was looking for. I'm aware of the speed difference between eSATA & USB 2.0. Roughly eSATA is 3x faster. USB 2.0 has gotten so long in the tooth.

I updated the chipset drivers yesterday from Intel.

There are two standards for SATA, 150 & 300. I wish there was a way of knowing which controller Dell used. I am hoping it probably supports the newer SATA II 300.

Lost of useful comments from users here: What Is eSATA?

 

When you said SATA II 300, did you mean SATA 3 Gb/s? Because SATA 3 GB/s also known as SATA 300 (MB/s). There's a bit confusion on the terminology since 1.5 Gb/s SATA I and 1.5 Gb/s SATA II were referred to as both SATA 1.5Gb/s or SATA 150 (MB/s).

Based on the PM55 & HM55 chipsets specification, both support SATA 3 Gb/s. You can check with AIDA64 & you'll find " Intel Ibex Peak-M PCH - 6-port SATA AHCI Controller [B-2]" (or similar). (Just want to show Dell use Intel, not other controller like JMicron).

EDIT: Check with AIDA64, current HDD already SATA II. In addition to chipset specification which said it support SATA 3 Gb/s, the answer to your question is Yes. Our notebook does support SATA II 300.

 

I was going to use the e-sata port myself until I found a flush mount usb 3.0 card for the express slot.
Amazon.com: AKE expresscard Express To USB 3.0 FL1000 34mm: Electronics


Believe it or not it works good!

 

Yes, I was referring to SATA 3 Gb/s.Thanks for the info. I am currently formatting it now. It's a Hitachi, 1TB, 7,200 RPM, 32MB cache, SATA 3.0Gb/s. Micro Center - Hitachi Deskstar HDS721010CLA332 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive OEM 142059

I was surprised the price included both cables. I've got it in this dock. Micro Center - Kingwin 2.5" & 3.5" SATA to USB / eSATA Docking Station w/ One Touch Back Up EZD-2535

 

The dock caddy only supports eSATA or USB 2.0. I've seen other caddys that support USB 3, but USB 3+eSATA is a lot more expensive. If I had USB 3 devices already it would have made sense but I already paid for an eSATA port when I bought the laptop. I think it's quite handy as it supports 2.5 & 3.5 disks. I have 3 other SATA drives besides this one. I plan on using it for back-ups. I have most of my stuff saved on my laptop drive and after I get everything backed up I'm going to do a clean install, make a couple of images and be good to go.

 

Cheers, I think I'll wait until I have some time off work to do it .

--
I'm also looking to replace the 500gb 7200rpm HDD with a 256gb SSD, is there any recommended brands?

Also would there be much point in upgrading from the i7 720qm to the i7 740qm once I have added in the SSD, or is there not much of a noticeable speed difference between the 720qm and the 740qm.

Thanks in advance.

 

EDIT: Just found a forum post on Dell's site that says it can't be done.

Has anyone looked into retrofitting their 1558 with a TPM module? I would really like to use Bitlocker, but don't want to hassle with a startup key in place of the TPM module.

 

So I was using my laptop this morning, just browsing the web, and noticed it becoming sluggish. Some of you will know I've recently bought an SSD so I was surprised to notice any lag at all. I checked my temperatures and noticed they were pretty high, which is odd / unusual, especially as it's not even summer yet and my room is about 18 degrees celsius. Can anyone else relate to these temperatures on their 1558's?



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The same thing happen to me yesterday (but mine is 1557) but I didn't noticed any sluggishness. Processor usage also low/normal at that time. IIRC, I did reboot but temps still high. Today temps back to normal though.

 

How high do they get up to on your machine? I used to think its the GPU but I doubt it. I felt the bottom of my laptop earlier and the RAM seemed extremely hot. It's located roughly in the middle under the laptop...

 

Around 80 to 85 celcius, including GPU. On mine, processor doesn't throttle down because default trip-point on 1557 is 95 celcius. On 1557, the bottom of the laptop, near the RAM & WIFI area is normally hot (actually feels hotter than our "standard" of normal hot) but the CPU's & GPU's temps are normal. To cure it I use cooling pad with fan at the middle (only at home). The bottom of the laptop works like a heater when I work in server room. It's nice feature...sometime.

 

WOW thats hot! I dont see those temps unless im gaming for a while.What kind of back ground processes are running?
I see the CPU power draw is 37 watts plus...

Heres mine just browsing the web


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Holy sh... I think I actually had the webcam on in the background on MSN, but surely thats not worth the extra umph in wattage / heat??? Otherwise nothing's running in background processes tht's worth noting. The Antivirus is eset and uses nada, then theres some basic dell apps (touchpad, IDT). What core do you have btw? i7?

I'm worried now, given you're running about 20 degrees below me

 

720qm here.

I cant see any other way yours would be running so hot unless there is something running you dont know about.

Surly a webcam doesnt use that much.

 

This is mine when on "normal" usage. I don't play games on this notebook anymore. I have another notebook for that. The heaviest thing I run on this notebook is running a couple of VMware guest OS.

 

Is anyone here running that latest version of the Intel Storage Technology?

 

Yeah im running the RST 10.1

 

@OneCool, do you use the eSATA port? There is a problem with eSATA. BSOD with BugCheck 0xa will occurred after a couple of minutes unplugging eSATA device.

 

I don't know if this has been posted before, but there is a new A12 bios available for the 1558.

Drivers and Downloads

Description
Dell Studio 1558 System BIOS

Level of Importance: Recommended
Dell recommends applying this update during your next scheduled update cycle. The update contains feature enhancements or changes that will help keep your system software current and compatible with other system modules (firmware, BIOS, drivers and software).


Compatibility
Systems Operating systems
Studio Laptop 1558
BIOS

Fixes and Enhancements
Fix Lojack malfunction issue.

 

+1. That is where I was going with this as well although I think it's an OS issue.

 

I did found somebody explained that the BSOD happen because SATA controller become unstable after unplugging the eSATA device. The BSOD happen because it want to prevent further damage. However I unable to find the website again.

 

Looks like it only patches a Lojack issue. Not sure if its worth the upgrade if you don't have the issue.