Owner's Thread: Dell Inspiron 7000 series

I have no idea what is causing the system and system interrupt processes to hog the CPU but that will be the root of the problem I'm having. My experience with Dell customer support is a little less forthcoming. The next step they are doing is to post me out the Windows installation media to get me to install from scratch. I think that will be the same as the Factory image reset I did so I'm not hopeful at all as I've already tried installing an MSDN version of Windows 8 which had the same problem as well.

 

I have also had this same problem with a samsung 840 pro 256gb ssd. I returned mine but am now thinking it was not the ssd.

I did a fresh install of windows 8.1 core (vanilla). Has improved the responsiveness of the laptop in my opinion.

Has anyone had an issue where not all of the dell driver updates will extract properly?

I am having trouble with a 'video_dxgkrnl _fatal_error' bsod lately. Has anyone experienced this?
Have installed intel hd graphics driver from intel website and nvidia 750m driver from nvidia website.
Looking in windows event logs I am getting a warning stating that a processor speed is being reduced by system firmware. I am using the high performance battery setting.
[UPDATE] now using intel hd graphics driver: 10.18.10.3355 + Nvidia GeForce GT 750m driver: 9.18.13.2702 error seems fixed.

I also encountered a problem that has been mentioned before that the screen will not wake from sleep. Once I updated the display drivers (intel hd graphics) this issue was resolved.

Wifi had been a little weak and problematic, but driver updates seem to have resolved any issues.

Very happy with this laptop apart from these little annoyances. Should serve me very well for the next 4-5 years. Build quality is excellent; screen, keyboard, battery, and performance are all very good too.

 

Depending on how you go about reinstalling, the installer may read the product id off the motherboard itself or you can download some software which will find it for you. This forum post may help you out. Guide to preserve Windows 8.x OEM Activation

 

Has any owner in this forum swapped the original HDD with an SSD and had it working for more that a few days without error?
It seems there are some scary feedback about people facing a BIOS level boot issue with damaged sectors...i wonder what's going on here.
I'd love to hear back from people who managed to have it working for good (and how they did it - cloning software etc)... Thanks for your feedback!

 

how much time does it take to receive your laptop?

I'm from Spain, ordered mine 19th november, they estimated I would receive it on 2nd December. The tracker they gave me 26th November haven't changed since the first day. I can't use this tracker on DHL Spain, because it doesn't seem it hast arrived here. I called Dell by Phone today, they took my details 10 hours ago and told me they would call me in a few hours and tell me where my laptop is: no one called me (now it's 9p.m. in Spain). I called DHL Spain: no one knows anything. Asked Dell by twitter, and they don't know anything about my laptop, they just say "it's not in Europe". I asked where exactly is it, and they only tell me "it's not in Europe". They even said me now It MAYBE could come to Europe next week, and I could receive it in two weels.

Are they joking me? Two more weeks when they told me I would receive it today? I'm not ordering any crappy thing from Dealxtreme, I'm buying a 1000 euros laptop from Dell! I feel totally cheated, and I'm starting to feel regretful, I shouldn't have bought this laptop. Now I'm reading lots of faulty units in last pages and I just feel like I want to receive it and ask for a refund and return it the same day I receive it, and buy some Asus or something like that...

Anyone knows where should I track my order and have more info? It starts with JJD000...

 

Hi can anyone help me with this regard?

 

I have the SSD running for over week now, everything seems fine. No problem at all. FYI, I did a clean install using win 8.1 pro iso I got from SCHOOL so I'm not sure about cloning software but I believe you can google it.
Regarding the screw, I didn't have a Phillips but I used a 3mm screw for both cover and the HDD screws.

 

A small philips screwdriver will do the trick. Screw out the battery first too. Have heard good things about acronis true image. Backup software for data backup and disaster recovery in Windows and Linux - Acronis

 

What make and capacity is your ssd?

 

Thanks so much! I think I read earlier in this thread that you can;t make a recovery image on a USB/External as the laptop does not boot from it when tried, that correct?

 

I too had this same problem with a Samsung 840 pro 256 GB SSD and have returned it for a replacement. I installed Windows 8 (Vanilla) twice and both times the SSD failed in 2 days or less and I had to reformat and install again.

I've had not trouble with drivers extracting properly.

 

Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD with Vanilla Windows 8 install. Fail.
First time lasted one day, second installation 2 days before drive wouldn't boot and was considered Unallocated by Windows Disk Manager.

 

Samsung 840 Evo 500Gb.

 

To all who did a clean install: where did you get your iso? Paul, I know you said you had a student copy - but what about everyone else?

 

Mine was an MSDN version. (Through my company)

 

I think my incident earlier may have been caused by some malware.

Anyway, how do you turn off the touch-screen functionality on this thing?

 

It keeps happening to me as well, it's unbearable! I thought about returning the SSD to Amazon but oh crap I think it's the laptop. Do you have any updates? Have you worked something around it?

Here we go, have you installed an SSD? What brand and model? Or did you just stay with the original HDD?

That'd be me and people I quoted in this post.

So, can we clarify a little bit what is going on? Should we open a support thread on the Dell community?

 

I found this posted on dell community - quoting this thread: Any questions? New Inspiron 15 7000 owner - What Do I Buy Forum - What Do I Buy - Dell Community

Has anyone having this problem used an ssd other than samsung?

 

I am frapontillo on that thread.
Just trying to understand what the hell we can solve and as soon as possible.
It'd be even better if anyone who had the issue posted on that Dell thread as well, so maybe we can get someone at Dell interested.

 

Aldo: I have had my Corsair GTX 480 SSD running since day one. Aside from the first boot which said that Windows 8 had some errors it has worked fine since then. Don't know what those errors were, didn't get the log, it allowed me into Windows and has run fine since. I used Acronis TrueImage to copy everything from the original HDD. Before that though I had used Partition Assistant to minimise the size needed of each partition before cloning. It was a hit and miss job, I tried loads of things before getting it to clone.

An OEM version of Windows would be really useful as I would like to do a completely clean Win 8 install. I have told Dell this when they gave me a courtesy call to see how I was getting on with the laptop. The agent basically disregarded my comment by blabbing on about something irrelevant regarding Windows 7 and business laptops, then asked me if there was anything else I'd like to buy. In short Dell don't care if we can't make a clean install of Windows 8, they have decided that by making a recovery partition everything will be fine. That's helpful then Dell.

 

Well based on my previous problem of ghosting, the screen was replaced and didn't resolve the issue. They are not talking about coming out to replace the motherboard now but also the keyboard as it had seemed to be damaged during the previous 'repair' attempt. Hopefully this is resolved otherwise I will just request a new machine.

 

Just got my laptop today, was wondering is it normal not to find the nvidia control panel?

 

Yep, I had to install the nvidia drivers myself, they weren't pre installed.

 

Thanks MrZod for the reassuring and helpful comment!
What happens if you don't resize the partitions before cloning? Acronis TrueImage would not let you start the cloning process? And what were the loads of things that you tried that did not work before (different software?)

I wonder if the issues reported by BBBB101, majoho and McGyver88 are not due to using a fresh install version of Win8 instead of cloning, what do you guys think?

 

I don't know Aldo38, that's been my process:

1) Cloned the disk with Samsung Data Migration, so the SSD originally had the Dell system, it worked
2) Installed Ubuntu in dual boot, everything fine for a few days
3) Boot device not found, I start blaming Ubuntu/the data migration (see a few pages back, I wrote something about it)
4) Reinstalled Windows and Ubuntu, everything works fine for a few days
5) No boot device found. I blame Ubuntu, but reinstall both of them anyway in dual boot
6) Everything ok for a few days, then again " Boot device not found"
7) Wipe clean the SSD, install Windows only, everything good for a few days
8) Boot device not found. I still have the Windows USB pendrive I used to install Windows 8.1, so I use the "restore boot" option and I am able to restore it in a few minutes (I guess the "restore boot" option is able to recover lost partition tables, on some level).
9) A few days later, " Boot device not found" again. The restore option doesn't work. So I reinstall Windows. All good for a few days.
10) Boot device not found. I still have my Windows USB pendrive and I am able to restore it (probably the partition table didn't damage that much this time).
11) Working fine for a few days, but I know there's something odd and I promise myself to return the SSD if anything happens again
11) Today: boot device not found. The Windows USB pendrive isn't able to recover the boot table. I contact Amazon and they say I have to wait for December 9th to ask for a SSD replacement, as they don't have any. Meanwhile, I open this thread again and (fortunately, if you will) read about other people having the same issue.

I know, I lost count of how many times I installed Windows and Ubuntu.

 

Hi ¡¡ waiting for a SSD inspiron from europe.

I´ve been reading about SSD issues and i think is a motherboard bios problem

Perhaps we can draw a common pattern

My question are:

1. SSD brand?
2. your windows version (DELL windows installation / NO DELL windows installation / Win8/ Win8 Pro)
3. Bios version, i core model and amount of ram of your inspiron ?

Thanks ¡¡

 

Ok, let's set up a common scheme:

PC Model: Dell Inspiron 7537
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
OS: Windows 8.1 OEM cloned from the original HDD onto the SSD / Windows 8.1 Pro x64 with Ubuntu 13.10 in dual boot / Windows 8.1 Pro x64 in single boot
BIOS: latest A05, had it from day one
CPU: i7
RAM: 8GB

 

PS I have set up a Google Docs spreadsheet, please say your PC details and I'll add you in the file so we can better understand the pattern here.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqFg1AU3KimIdHYxaXRGaW0waUg2clFjS3NNbER5TWc&usp=sharing

 

Good idea guys. Very similar specs myself.

PC Model: Dell Inspiron 7537
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
OS: Windows 8.1 Core x64 OEM cloned from the original HDD onto the SSD then tried Windows 8.1 Core x64 Retail (noDellware)
BIOS: A05
CPU: i7 4500U
RAM: 8GB

 

PC Model: Dell Inspiron 7737
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro x64 MSDN (noDellware) (Will try cloning later if/when my other 100% CPU load issue is resolved by Dell)
BIOS: A05
CPU: i7 4500U
RAM: 16GB

Has anyone tried the A04 Bios? Mine shipped with A05 even though this is not available on the Dell website for the 7737 model. I thought I'd try downgrading but a command prompt window appears and is quickly closed which presumably is displaying some kind of failure to downgrade the Bios. I can't see what it's saying before it closes.

 

Damn, I was just about to pull the trigger on ordering a 7537 when I dipped back into this thread and saw all the problems with SSDs which is one of the main changes I was looking to make when I upgraded.

Dell has the 7537 on a special for the next few days for £699, so I have a difficult decision to make.

I dont really have any experience of cloning drives and dont have access to an Win 8 iso. The Samsung cloning software seemed a pretty straightforward proposition, not so much now!

I havent really seen another laptop in this price and class which does what I want, SSD or no, and my current laptop is solid but is passing the 5.5 year mark. Plus Ive got a family member with a 7.5 year old laptop that is barely hanging on, and the "you have mine, so I can feel better about upgrading" justification is in effect!

I guess the question is, will I be happy with the purchase if I have to settle for not upgrading to an SSD due to an inherent incompatability.

Does anyone on this thread who HASNT upgraded to an SSD generally feel impressed with their user experience?

 

It's a Samsung 840 PRO, 256GB - I keep the original harddisk laying around in case I have to reinstall.

It would be weird if there is a problem with this SSD model since the SSD option from Dell will have a Samsung SM841 installed and that is basically an OEM version of the 840 PRO.

The Samsung cloning software is very easy to use, it copies all partitions and re-sizes the main partition so it will fit on the SSD.

 

If you could maybe put the other details as other users and myself did in the previous page, that'd be great. Thank you!

 

PC Model: Dell Inspiron 7537
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
OS: Windows 8.1 Core x64 OEM cloned from the original HDD onto the SSD then upgraded to Windows 8.1.
BIOS: A05
CPU: i7 4500U
RAM: 16GB

Worked for a week.

Reinstalled again hoping it will stick this time.

 

I get that, I mean that going down the road of an SSD at all, including this particularly straighforward process, suddenly appears to be a very risky business.

 

Maybe you can try with another SSD brand and model, if you have the same issue you can always return it. At least you know what you're going through.

 

Can any one tell me: if I get the 15" Dell 7000 inspiron WITH the SSD, could I also add a HDD aftermarket? (I realize doing this the other way might save a few $$, but the HD bay seems a lot easier to access).

Can anyone confirm if this is do-able?

Also, if at some point I wanted to upgrade to 801.11.ac, does anyone know if this machine has the requisie antennaes for that?

Many thanks!

 

Then Im in the market for sourcing some third party cloning software which Im in the dark on.

On a separate point, do we feel its likely that this BIOS issue is specific to SSDs? Or an issue with drive compatability in general.

Is anyone willing to clone the drive onto a regular HDD or an SSHD and see if the problems recur? That would at least prove something.

 

Wow looks like lots of folks are having SSD issue. I know it's the hot topic right now but I have something to say as heads up for any of you wanting or being offered a part replacement. So I got my whole panel replaced yesterday and the new one doesn't have screen bleeding at all. There is just one thing I don't feel satisfied about the process even though the Dell technician online was really helpful to me. The guy who replaced my panel treated the laptop like it was a tank. He just didn't care how easily the diamond-cut (or whatever) the edge got scratched. Watching him removing and reinstalling things was the worst experience I've ever had with someone on my baby. I am not even sure if he got everything back to its first place correctly or not and hopefully he didn't break any of the cables (or all the little detail) inside. He used the most disgusting piece of plastic wrap to put the laptop on while doing the replacement. That thing looked like it was covered with cement and paint all over. The worst thing was the edge around the keyboard was completely demolished after all. He was a nice guy but that was just horrible. Someone also got into the same situation on the xps 15 thread so I decided to say something about it.
Here are some pictures I took:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2kP7zbvzkZBSHNQdE55cm1rcTA/edit?usp=drive_web
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2kP7zbvzkZBSUp4TlVMYWFYZ3M/edit?usp=drive_web
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2kP7zbvzkZBeno2XzVCUTU0UG8/edit?usp=drive_web

 

Paul, can you post your specs for the spreadsheet? It seems that everyone having ssd problems has the samsung 840 pro. I thought you said you had the samsung 840 evo, and your machine seems to be fine.

 

I couldn't edit the link provided so I posted here

PC Model: Dell Inspiron 7537
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 500Gb
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro clean install (courtesy of Drexel University)
BIOS: latest A05 upgraded manually after purchase
CPU: i7-4500U
RAM: 8GB

And yes so far so good. Hope it will be that way for the next 3,4 years.

 

i found my nvidia card at the display adapter but dont see the nvidia control panel, so what does it mean?

 

So, is it noT a Pro model? You're the first one so far, how long has it been since you put it on?
Added to the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...RGaW0waUg2clFjS3NNbER5TWc&usp=drive_web#gid=0

 

It'll be two weeks by this friday!

 

I can't access the BIOS on my new 7537. Holding/tapping F2 or F12 highlights the Setup / Boot options on the bottom right of the splash screen but then it just boots into windows regardless. Anyone having the same problem or know of a fix?

 

Yeah, that's on Windows. You have to boot Windows and restart it by holding Shift. Then you access a special Windows boot menu from where you will be able to access the BIOS (use the "change UEFI setup" option).

 

Worked great, finally have my fn key re-enabled. Thanks

 

Does anyone know if any newer drivers are available than 17.0.13.0? My touchpad is still having some issues with the latest drivers from Dell and the latest drivers from synaptic (17.0.19.X) wont install.

 

Ordered my 7537 last week, but now there's a further 100 pounds off. Are Dell likely to apply this given I've asked (and shipping date is still 2 weeks away), or will they do the stupid thing and expect me to reorder?

 

I think I will receive my 7535 early next week, and I already have with me waiting a Samsung 840 EVO 250Gb. I will write my impressions once I have it and test it, and see if I have the problem too.