Dell Studio 1557

llol... and breaaaaath

 

anyones mouse-pad area heat up?

 

While using wifi it will get hot.
This is again a design issue as there is no vent for heat generating from 7200rpm HDDs(they r quite good at it) as well as the wifi.

 

Hi,
I am getting really tired with my 1557. Currently it freezes at least 2 times a day and it is pretty annoying :-(.
I have HD display and I use Win7 Ultimate 64x.
I have updated all drivers to the latest ones, especially my BIOS to the latest A06, installed the complete latest ATI Catalyst 10.6 what eventually updated driver on my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 to 8.741 and it still from time to time during my work just freezes. Nothing helps, just hard reset. Any ideas what can be wrong?
I read stories in this thread that some of you were able to get rid of this freezing and stabilize your system, but I am seriously thinking to return back to XP.
Thanks.

 

If it happens often try keeping a log of when it happens, what the machine was doing at the time, what applications were open, whether the machine is on battery or mains power, and what the setting are for when the machine switches off the display, hard drive, sleeps after a period of inactivity.

I had a problems with freezing but I backed up my dataa and chose the Dell reset to factory settings, then installed the latest Dell drivers on their website (note not diect from other hardware component manufacturers drivers) first, and take it from there. I was expecteing to download drivers direct from Ati etc but I havent had any more freezes yet. Also, I haven't messed with the power saving options yet either except to not shut down when the lid closes.

 

Anyone else having problems installing latest update, Microsoft.NET Framework 4 (KB982670)
I get error code 80200053 fail to install message.

 

Mine went through the windows update process without a hitch. But I did have a complete re-install of the operating system recently so its a fairly clean system and I've yet to load on all my usual programmes.

 

Hi, it is only this specific update that will not install for me.
Can you check in your list of installed updates and check that you have KB982670 listed.

 

I installed it without any problems.

maybe theres a earlier version you need for this one to install

or

Maybe your earlier version is corrupt.You could try to un-install and re-install it?

Any services disabled that might affect it?

 

Hi yes I checked the installed updates log file for this specific item before replying to you in my earlier post. Perhaps onecool has hit on something

 

Thanks guys, I will look into it.

 

hello all
fiirst of all, Iam from India . bought my laptop on dec last yr. i called the dell service center and had a long call about 90 mins they said that its not possible to replace the motherboard(subject i7-4570 issue) of dell 1557 with 1558 or they can replace the entire system with new one (all due to some "dell" conditions)
when i told them that outside India they are getting parts replaced or full system replaced , they told me that if i can prove it happened so, and they need their service tags and will look into it.

so who all got system /parts replaced with that of 1558 ?

guys check this link also
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19303691.aspx?PageIndex=41

 

Still having problems with this, but they happen infrequently and I cannot really pinpoint the problem or narrow the symptoms. Very frustrating. I know if I call dell I wont really be able to describe what's going on, other than "it's just broken". I've recently dealt with either blue screens (in succession) until the laptop refused to boot windows and I had to "repair" with that large white bar at the bottom and then 20 minutes of "trying to resolve" before it would boot back and work again. I was watching a video through HDMI just now and a similar incident occured. I wasn't plugged in and I got the "switch to power" message. So I grab the power cord, plug in in, and boom- blue screen. I reboot- blue screen again. Third time I get the white bar situation above and 30 minutes later I'm back to using it.

While there are variations of this problem, there are a few constants here. Videos are always running (usually streaming, sometimes running after downloading some movies), and the "trying to repair" thing seems to always happen. Another oddity is sometimes following a crash, I wont be able to power on; that is, the power button will flash along with the keyboard, and click off immediately. This is resolved after waiting a few minutes and plugging in/out of the power cord.

I've kept up with this and many other threads for a while but it has been months since I looked. Any new developments?? New updates that repair stuff? ADVICE?!?!

Argh!

 

Hi dcgm, try look in the Event Viewer. Create custom views, e.g. ACPI, with "Event sources=ACPI" & tick all available "Event level". If you see error messages with the custom views, post it here or email it to Dell support. This way you can "tell" them what actually happen.

 

hello kizwan,
now a days my laptop is getting stuck (mostly once in a day cant predict when it will happen). i donno whats happening .
iam attaching my events (critical) with this message
hope it will help.
thank you

 

Well my computer failed again and this time I kept bluescreening and was entirely unable to reboot. I finally bit the bullet yesterday and started the hell that is a dell customer service conversation.

The woman gave me the run around and ran some useless diagnostic test. "This is most certainly a software problem!!" she says. I get the cure-all reply: "reinstall windows sir!".

I demanded that I speak with her supervisor. I explained to him that I reinstalled 3 times and I still got the same issue. Surprisingly, he immediately agreed to replace nearly every single part: video card, heatsink, hdd, motherboard, network card, etc.

So that's where I stand. I hope this fixes it, but from what I'm reading, it probably wont since the model is faulty. Regardless, this is some great head-way.

Will keep everyone posted.

 

Hi altoster, the log file doesn't mentioning anything weird. Try create custom views in Event Viewer with "Event sources=ACPI". How about the temperature? Does it too high or normal? You can try boot with linux live CD & see if you can replicate the problem with linux OS.

 

Good luck!

@guys & girls,
I connected external monitor via HDMI cable & now I can see two GPU temperature with HWMonitor. The temperature also very high, constantly 69C.

 

are dell 1558 laptops any different then 1557.. if so what ways(besides processor)

 

It use different chipset which is HM55. It is more advanced chipset than 1557 have (PM55).

 

the temperature are pretty normal. previously it was going more than 60 for cpu(idling) now its 50 degrees and gpu 51 (after 10 mins of working). i tried to watch youtube 1080p videos on battery power only and full screen no problem at all. (did a stability test in the background and got max cpu temp of 60 and gpu 62 while playing hd youtube video). i never found youtube issues with my laptop.
last time my sytem got hang when it was ting down.
immediately after reastarting i found avast got updated (i dont think its caousing it)

 

hello all,
my new event log is attached with this message pls help.

 

Email this log file to Dell support. This error maybe (IMHO, I'm sure 99.99%) the cause to the problem & it is hardware problem.

 

what is IMHO

 

I just found interesting solution for the Embedded Controller error. Please follow this steps to "reset" the Embedded Controller:-
1. Turn notebook OFF with button, hold 4 seconds.
2. Remove recharge plug
3. Remove battery
4. Leave it like this for about 5 minutes.
5. Put everything back and power the laptop again.
I found the solution over here.

But I still believe it is hardware defect.

(P/S: IMHO=In My Honest Opinion.)

 

thanks . i will do that now itself.
lol about imho i forgot.. i thought some comp related..
by the way is 1558 motherboard better than our 1557s. some wher i read 1558s i7 performs slower...

 

I read in 1558 thread in this forum, their i5 scores better than our i7. LOL. So far I hasn't found any issue reported by 1558 owner. That said, I hasn't read all of the posts in the 1558 thread but enough to make the conclusion. LOL.

Yes, 1558 (HM55 chipset) motherboard is better than 1557s (PM55 chipset). We buy too soon. Moral of the day; when new model come out, wait for the 2nd version. LOL.

 

what would be the hardware issue which is making my system getting hang at the most unexpected time... and what should i do... i talked abt this to a dell rep and he told me to reinstall my os again.. i was arguing abt this for abt an hour and asked him for a replacement with 1558 motherboard which is by far cooler one... whats ur opinion...

 

Embedded Controller like a nervous system in the computer. It controlled a lot of things like battery, monitor, usb, GPU & others. When it failed to works as it should be, you will get symptom like computer freeze when changing the power source from battery to AC plug or getting bluescreen for unknown reason. I doubt by re-installing OS will fix it. It lies with BIOS & hardware.

Yeah, why not. I think it is possible to put 1558 motherboard in 1557 casing. Nevertheless, Dell need to fix the problem.

 

thanks buddy .. i will look forward abt tht...

 

again it got freezed unexpectedly. i am going to call dell support...

 

cinebench 11 benchmarks of 1558 (driver is old test was conducted in march30th),and my 1557(my driver 10.6)
i havent seen any recent benchmarks of 1558.

 

Good on you altoster. You shouldn't be left standing with a laptop you can't rely on. Get on to dell, go through the motions co-operatively and eventually there will be an engineer come round to fix it/swap the mobo out. They will continue swapping bits out until the unit is OK again. But that is their hassle to go through, tyou have been hassled enough with the repliability issue - let them work for you and be patient.

What country are you from if you don't mind me asking? What sort of support package do you have with the laptop? Is it the one where you have to send it away or the one where the engineer comes round to you the next day?

 

hello
i am from India and i have basic warranty for the system and next day support on site.
my system freezes ,may be once in a day , it usually happen at the most unpredictable moment. usually when i stresses it or do some 3d modelling or something its ok.
which motherboard are using 1557s or 1558s?

 

They replaced my motherboard with another 1557 and things are going very well. However I do recognise these machines don't like higher ambient temportatures, so if you live in warmer climates...get a laptop cooler or fan pointed in your direction

Since getting the insides of my laptop swapped out and initialising the Dell first time install (then applying all of the Dell website latest drivers) touch wood I have been happy. I now have the machine I thought I bought and it's a pleasure to use actually. I can admire it's plus points now.

However in your case, you are some way short of that right now so keep making Dell work to get it right and follow the process. If they can't after several attempts, including at some point re-installing Windows/use the dell first time setup if Dell need to rule that out of the way, then reject the goods (you have consumer protection/rights right) and think twice before buying a Dell next time!

 

hello
infact i have a laptop cooler , it does cool my system while i am at my room, but when i take my laptop to work, i usally wont take it with and its often embarrasing that my friends old core 2 duo based systems run very cool. Mine works well ,faster than most of the laptops, would be happy if it runs a lil more cooler(and nowadays freezing up.... thank god it didnt happened today).
does any one think that getting a motherboard from 1558 might reduce the heat of this laptop(without compromising performance).
infact some of the guys in this forum got already their motherboard replaced like tht..hows it performing???
actually i am asking dell guys to replace my mobo with 1558s but they said they wont do it. they said in my country, till now nobody have ever received a different mobo as replacement. when i told about u guys , they were asking your service tags (who got 1558 mobo) for clarifying. so if u got it like that, then plz provide your service tag so tht i can tell them this happend so in other countries...and they might look into it.
pls help ..
thanks

 

Have you considered a clean install? This solve my freezing issue. I haven't had anywhere near as many hang ups. I think its happened 3 times total since I did a clean install and installed drivers from scratch a few months ago.

 

Once I copper shimmed the 1557, swapped out HDD to to 5400rpm and updated BIOS all problems disappeared.

I often ask myself why should I have done this to a new notebook?

 

In your case, what is the 5400RPM vs 7200RPM HDD issue in 1557?

 

7200rpm generates more heat, i720 cpu and PM55 chipset generate more than enough heat. So in swapping out to 5400rpm I assumed I would be lowering overall system temps in which I am more than happy about.

 

i never experienced any heating sue to 7200rpm hard disk. In fact the left side under the palm rest of the laptop where the hard disk is located (if i am correct) never gets heated up. I don't think that might in any way badly effect the working of i7 and pm55.
5400rpm and 7200 rpm is not great issue while using ordinary tasks, but when you r doing a video editing or editing tasks including large files then the faster the hard disk the better.

 

I also did not experienced any overheating with a 7200rpm.

After changing the motherboard and heatsink, my 1557 did not overheat anymore. You guys want me to do any testing?

 

i just downloaded the throttle stop software ... but didn't understood a thing abt the readings.. anybody had checked the software ???
i downloaded from here...
Download ThrottleStop.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

 

Please refer to this thread to learn more about ThrottleStop.

 

well when i told the dell support abt my 1557 getting freezed once in 2 days, they told me to reinstall my windows 7.(i think for all problems, they will tell the same solution) any way i am going to reinstall ....which is better?
going with the dell factory backup or with the dell cd??
whats the best way ?

note: i have partitioned my drives....

 

First try restoring the Win7 using Dell factory backup. Update the drivers & re-install your software. See whether you still experienced system lockup or not. If I'm not mistaken, files on the other partition(s) will be safe. (Damn...I done this already but can't remember. ) Just to be safe, backup all of the files.

If it still freezed or lockup for unknown reason, try re-installing Win7 using installation DVD.

Have you tried to reset the Embedded Controller?

Off topic: I have external monitor, 23" Samsung SMB2330H, connected to my Dell via HDMI cable. I noticed when I set to mirror mode, firefox seems to be "heavy" while using it. CPU usage also slightly increase by 10%. I'm using ATI ver 10.4 driver. I'll try updating to new version & see whether it helps the issue or not. Most of the time I set the monitors to extended mode. Games like Command & Conquer 4 doesn't like extended mode.

 

i have tried that... after that there were no errors based on tht..
but my system got hang again ... (only once in three days now,) anyways i havent done anyclean install till now.. so i am going to do it with the cd..
let see how the system behaves after the installation...

 

badluck for me again.. my cd drive is not working properly.. while trying to reinstall my system in boot mode its giving me a blank black screen with recurring mechanical noise. i waited for around 10 mins and restarted my system . (i had used my cd drive onlly twice by the way)now dell need to replace my cd drive for sure. i had used my cd drive for only two times or something.
what will be the problem...

 

The guy came and swapped EVERYTHING out. He tried to disconnect the woofer cable but it melted from the lousy heatsink! LOL! 2 days later (today) he came and fixed that, too. The hilarious part is that he had to call dell to tell them about the woofer cable...and they put him to India! He was like "no no, my ID is 'D' as in Delta, 'A' as in Alpha...NO NOT 'E'! I'm not even a customer, why is my technician line redirecting me to customer service?!?"

My roommate and I were hysterical. Anyway, everything SEEMS ok now. But of course, only time will tell. It's basically all replaced parts now. I'm even running on a new HDD, so new windows install (which never hurts). I will keep posting if problems persist.

Anyone having problems: If you're within a year of your purchase, call dell. Tell them you know it's a hardware issue. They will give you that generic, cure-all reply: reinstall windows. Tell them you did. Multiple times. They WILL replace parts.

 

That is too bad! Where did the notebook assembled at?

@guys,
Honestly, I'm considered myself as 1557s happy owner. I never got system freezed or bluescreen (except when I tried to use unsupported software) since I bought it. Even with original motherboard, I only got beeps sound two to three times. I have to admit that CPU temperature is a little bit higher than Core 2 Duo processor but it is acceptable if you understand the technology that come with it. Since max power consumption for i7 720QM is 45W, I think standard 90W power adapter will be more than sufficient for it to operate properly.