Dell Studio 1557

If you formatted your HD and did a freash install of Win7 why do you want to do a Dell restore?
Maybe I read it wrong.

 

You got it. I installed new windows. But the ORIGINAL windows has many programs like anti virus, system recovery, Rioxy(or something like that) .... for free!

 

Just reinstall all of the software from the CDs included when you bought your laptop.

kizwan

 

80-81 deg. cpu 100% Stressed with Everest Ultimate Edition.

 

Wow, ok, so it seems like it is at least partly the video card (and linux driver I was using) that was causing the higher heat. I followed these instructions:
http://www.botchco.com/agd5f/?page_id=2

and now if nothing is running it idles at 58-59C and with a virtual machine running is at 63/64C(was previously at 66/67C). Fan doesn't run quite so loud either. The new ati driver in linux does actual power management to control the clock a bit keeping things cooler.

 

if you are getting the 1557, get the 9 cell battery, it will help lower the temp.

 

Which sounds very funny. Spend extra $$$ so your computer temperature can be lower. I understand what you mean, since I've seen what the 9-cell battery does (lifts the back of the laptop about 3/4-1", giving better ventilation), but obviously there is a certain design flaw in the Studio 155x line.

 

I´m getting an average of 50-51ºC while surfing the net. I think it´s not horrible, but could be better. Does anyone know how to turn the internal fan to maximum? I think that it´s the only way I could improve the temperatures

 

I would not worry, your temps are normal/good considering the type of processor fitted. When my cpu is totally idle (cpu usage 0%) my temps can go as low as 43 and as high as 59, fan runs very slowly cpu temp slowly climbs to approx 58/59 fan speed increases cpu temp slowly falls to 43/44 fan slows, cycle repeats. Regarding the fan speed, hopefully dell will issue a bios update to better manage the temp/fan speed ratio. Although, no doubt this will not please everyone as increase fan speed means more fan noise. Have you considered a laptop cooler which in theory should help to keep your laptop cool, especially when stressing your cpu/gpu.

 

Yes, I got one, but it doesn´t help too much when idle, it just lowers the temp 1-2 degrees. It does help a lot when I stress the cpu. I think that the problem is what you said. The fan runs slowly until the temperature rises to 53-55 and then it runs faster to lower it as you said.
I´ve been tryng the different fan speeds on the cooler and I´m surprised. If i turn it to the highest speed, the temperatures go up and down as I said, but if I use the slowest speed the temperature stays at 50º. Its weird. I think that maybe there is too much air when its on the highest position and it makes the laptop to turn off its own fan. What do you think?

 

Ideally, you want to try and achieve a steady flow of cool air in through the grills at the bottom of the laptop, it will then flow over the internal components, hd, ram chips, chipset heat sink, wifi card, motherboard etc. The warm air will then find its way, aided by the internal laptop fan out through the grill at the back. That’s the only way the air can flow in this laptop. Therefore, I would suggest that you have your cooler on the lowest setting because if you blast to much air into the bottom of the laptop it will not be able to escape through the rear grill fast enough and the warm air will try and force its way back out of the bottom grills, somewhat defeating the object. I have recently purchased a cooler myself but I have not used it so far. I will carry out some test soon to see what effect it has on my temperatures.

 

Something is still not right with this computer. I got a new blue screen. I tried attaching it, but it's freakishly large for a minidump at 1267kb...?

 

What were you doing?

Did it pull a Toyota on you

 

lol, i had itunes open but i left the computer on to watch a movie before i updated my ipod.

 

if i'm watching a video and i unplug the laptop, i still get the random click-offs.

Pretty sure I'm going to be calling dell over spring break. fun!!

 

Yes - I have tried every darn version of the video drivers - I have seen the blu screen of death! I have seen the driver crash when I was watching some video full screen mode!! These laptops are not well tested - Dell should have a recall on these. Are there any class action lawsuits we can join???

 

I would like to see your tests. I´ve been doing some more and I think It´s imposible to lower the cpu temperature when iddle or surfing the net. When the temperature goes below 48ºC, the laptop turns off it´s own fan until the cpu gets to 55ºC and then it turns it on again. There are no differences if I use the laptop cooler on minimun, medium, or maximum. The only thing I have been able to lower is the Hard Drive. I think the only way to be able to lower the temps is if we could manually kept on the fan, maybe with a bios upgrade. I don´t know.
Of course, the cooler helps when stressing the cpu, but I haven´t done too much tests.
Waiting for your opinion

 

what software do you use to see the temps? i found a graphics card temp, which shows the idle temp at 48 degs

 

Everest Ultimate Edition

 

Agreed,it works great!

HWmonitor works good also but it doesnt offer a GPU temp.

 

In case you aren't aware, there is a new A04 bios out for the 1557.

http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=384345

 

It seems to be an update for iphone sync issue, any feedbacks?

 

Didnt see that anywhere.




Although there should be one in there

Only supports Windows 7?Whats that about I wonder.Power Management maybe?


Will try soon.Not at home and on battery right now

 

They did not change the description compared to A03. I'm testing it since 2 hours with my iphone and it seems to work as well

 

Everest

I´m going to download the new Bios. Hope Something improves....

 

Yep iphone (my wifes ) indeed works.

As for anything else I dont see any difference then the A03.

Maybe some stressing will show something

 

Just noticed this on the Dell 1557 downloads page.
Dated 25/02/2010, New Video Card Driver (8.692.1.0000, A17)

 

Yeah,Im also tring them too.Going to have to be really good to beat out the Beta 10.3s

 

Today I decided to update my BIOS from A03 to A04. Prior to updating the BIOS, I had the antivirus turned off, even restarting the windows (it always on) to "refresh" it & closing any other unwanted application. Once I'm satisfy, I execute the BIOS A04 updater utility & let the utility do the job. As usual, I see countdown from 80 (I guess number of block remaining to be flash). For unknown reason, the flashing process stop when the utility try to flash block 67. No error popup, it just hang. I can move the mouse though so I leave my laptop. I'm very very worried.

While leaving my dell laptop hoping the update process success (I doubt), I google how to recover from failed BIOS update. Fortunately there is a couple of people which owned Dell Studio (including Studio XPS) with Pheonix BIOS that faced the same problem as I am. The important thing is there is a way to recover from failed BIOS update & the required tools also provided. I need to:-
1) Preparing bootable usb drive (flash drive) with a utility provided
2) Extracting BIOS1.wph file from BIOS ver A03, to be put in flash drive. Probably need to rename to BIOS.wph but I put both file BIOS1.wph & BIOS.wph. Both is identical file, just different name.
3) Pheonix BIOS flash utility is required (I guess for DOS) - pheonix16.exe. Also need to be put in the flash drive

After preparing the flash drive, there is still no progress & this time windows freeze (mouse no longer can be moved). Since windows has freezed, I have to forced shutdown my laptop (by unplugging both power cord & the battery). After that my laptop can turn on but with blank display. I decided to try recover my laptop by using the flash drive I prepared earlier. By following step-by-step guide I found on another forum, I do like this:-
1) Unplug the battery
2) Unplug the power cord from the laptop
3) Plug in the flash drive to USB port
4) Press "End" button on the keyboard (at least 3 seconds)
5) Plug in the power cord to the laptop & in the same time release the "End" button. Laptop should automatically turned ON with battery indicator (LED) lit with amber light. During this time all button will not responding, including power button.
6) Wait for a while. Laptop will reboot automatically when the recovery process successful. In my case, after the reboot process, I need to unplug & re-plug the power cord to be able to turn ON my laptop.

This is very thrilling experience but with happy ending.

I'm now a happy owner of Dell Studio 1557 with BIOS ver A03.

kizwan

 

Glad you were able to recover it kizwan.Sounds scary

My flash went without any problems

 

Yeah. You should see my face.

BTW, based on your post at another thread, the new BIOS (A04) don't seem to improved the graphic card temperature. Maybe it fixed the "freeze" issue when playing HD video (full screen) at youtube.

kizwan

 

hello all i have some doubts regarding studio 1557
1. can we upgrade or add a more powerful graphic card to the vacant pci express slots. ?
2. whats the use of a sim card slot behind the battery

i have bought this system in january. have tested it a lot. using bios a04 now together with ati catalyst 10.3 beta drivers . didnt find much change with the bios upgrade. but ati 10.3 beta drivers seem better than the one dell is offering ( which was added recently by dell). have b\noticed an increase in fps in some games. my cinebench 10 opengl score went up from 5200 to 5460 (dell driver vs ati driver) but no differnce in windows experience index thoough.

 

1.No,cant upgrade the 1557s graphics card.Its embedded into the motherboard.
2.Sim Card was used on other machines apparently.This laptop chassis has been used for a few years now.I think it was used for wireless broadband.


Yep the 10.3 beta drivers are the best ive used to date.I cant wait to see what the official release this month.

 

I had the exactly same problem. Be careful if you want to upgrade to A04. Im going to try to do the same process you did. I will share my experience after.

 

Yikes,another one


This isnt good

 

Let me know if you need help.

kizwan

 

Yes, I do need help. First, the bios A03 is not online anymore. Will it work with the A04? And then how i extract the bios? Thank you

 

Its still on their FTP site

Here you go http://ftp.dell.com/bios/1557A03.exe

 

You can use BIOS ver A04.

EDIT: I execute the exe file in VMware & it will extract the BIOS.wph file to temporary folder.

EDIT #2: Sorry, 7-zip also can't extract it. You need to run the exe file to get the BIOS.wph file. Make sure you run it in VMware or on another computer. When I execute the exe file, the flash tool stop with error message (which is a good thing because the utility do check first & stop the update process if it is executed at wrong computer - I'm not 100% sure though. Looks like it.) & I was able to copy the BIOS1.wph file from the temporary folder.

In windows xp, it should be in C:\Documents and Settings\ <userme>\Local Settings\Temp\WinPhlash\

In vista & 7, probably in C:\Users\ <userme>\AppData\Local\Temp\WinPhlash\

Please follow this guide:-

Code:

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/15377-Dell-XPS-Studio-1640-Bios-update-problems-through-Phoenix-Recovery?p=224048#post224048
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5773217

Good luck.

kizwan

 

what all are the fixed in new bios a04?
dell support site says enhanced gfx.
any of u guys noticed any changes ???

 

The only thing noticeable is the iphone fix

nice smack in the face imo

 

Are the official 10.3 drivers going to be released later this month.

Also this A04 bios update failure that some are experiencing is a bit worrying, trying to think of a possible reason for the failures.
In my case, I used the psu to power the laptop from the mains supply. I then just made sure no programmes were running in the background and turned off my wifi card to disconnect from the internet whilst carrying out the upgrade.

Thankfully my A04 update went without a hitch.

 

Yes,the official 10.3 (March 2010)driver will be released some time this month.

I just found out that you can downgrade the BIOS back to A03 by accident.

I was double checking the A03 from Dells FTP site just to make sure I was giving jaime360 the right BIOS file and insteadof saying "Your BIOS are newer Flash will not continue" it flashed back to the A03

So I had to reflash back to the A04.It went without any problems though

I used to only flash my BIOS in Windows while in SAFE mode because I was so worried something stupid would happen.Havnt done that in while now

 

Greets All.
Thanks for the heaps of helpful information. To date, have only had the Dell 1557 for a month, I have had no issues apart from the occasional freeze when watching video, this problem disappeared when Catalyst 10.3 drivers were installed. No thermal issues GPU is around 48-51 degrees with general use. CPU stress tested topped at 82 degrees. Updated Bios to A04 today without incident.

 

How long do I have to wait? I´m nervous....

 

Ok, I think It´s taking too long. Probably I did something wrong. You have got a PM.

 

Finally!!!! I did it...If someone has problems I can help now. I´m sooooo happy....

 

It does feels good, doesn't it? How long did it take to recover the bad BIOS (starting from plugin the power cord)? Which version of BIOS did you use to recover your laptop, A03 or A04?

I'm too nervous when recovering my laptop the other day, so I forgot to observe carefully what actually happen during the process. Can you confirm this what happen during the process?
(start after releasing the "End" button)
1) Laptop automatically turned ON with red light at battery indicator. Power button indicator doesn't light up.
2) After a while, battery indicator keep flashing with red & white light.
3) After a while, laptop seems restarting itself. Battery indicator stop flashing (can't remember is it a red or white light) but still with a blank screen & the power button indicator also doesn't light up. Unplug the power cord (maybe I'm a bit impatient) & re-plug the power cord again.
4) Turn ON the laptop by pressing the power button. This time it boot normally.

I just want to write it down, just in case if I need to do it again (not that I'm planning to brick another laptop ).

kizwan

 

thts a good temperature. mine always in the mid 50 degrees. (cpu and gpu on idling). on load . cpu goes nearly upto 80 degrees and gpu higher than that(close to 90). i had contacted dell support and they said its normal temperature. they also stated the temperature depends on the working environment , climate , season etc.
i use my laptop in a non air conditioned room and the room temperature here is 25 to 35 degrees.

share ur working conditions and thoughts.

note : i use notebook cooling pad of average quality too.
without it also the min temperatures remain same but when throttling its dificult without the cooling pad (in games the fps gets reducing, but while using no such issues are observed, game tested includes gta 4 ,dirt 2 in medium settings )
and these games doesn't stress i7 much but gfx card.

 

Mine idles just below 50c, in the office. Mine comes with 9 cell battery .