It's taken a long time, too long by most accounts, but Dell finally has what looks to be a proper, honest to gosh fix for the CPU throttling issues that have been plaguing some of its
Studio laptops. Users were reporting that the machines, when faced with slightly elevated temperatures, would throttle themselves back by up to 95 percent, leaving some folks with 100MHz paperweights. Dell issued a
firmware update quickly after we
shed a little light on the situation back in December, a "fix" that helped some but, apparently, not all. We're just now hearing that the company apparently launched a program back in February to replace the stock 90 watt power adapters with more capable 130 watt models for anyone suffering this affliction. However, this doesn't seem to be a proper recall, as the reports we're seeing indicate only customers who call and complain have been made aware of this program. So, consider yourself made aware. The source link below will take you to the official site where you can order a replacement adapter, but if it doesn't like your service tag number give Dell support a call and mention this program. We're hearing others are having success going that route.
[Thanks, Kevin]
posted July 25th 2010 12:12PM
Gah, those new quad-core i7 for laptops have been riddled with issues. Just look up any HP Envy thread, you will see a whole lot of fail from Intel on this. Better to just get the i5 or i7 dual cores right now it seems until these throttling/heat issues are resolved.
@Bhima
What issues are you talking about. I've been in the market for another laptop and have been reading tons of threads on the Envy 14 and not come across much on the i7 quads. The only issues I have seen mentioned were about the extra drain on battery life. Is there more issues then that? I am asking as I have just ordered a Envy 14 with a i7 and would like to read about these problems you mentioned.
For what it's worth, those of you with Studio XPS 1645s might want to be aware that Dell's page may not accept your Service Tag. I had to contact Dell support since the page says my tag wasn't valid -- taken straight off my 1645.
Support agent, while possibly uninformed about the new program, told me I just needed to install the new BIOS and it would resolve the problem. I said that wasn't true, and pasted her the link, and then she offered to send the adapter.
Not saying the support agent was lying (it's possible they just want A10 installed first -- which I'd already done), but it may be worth knowing that you might have to do a few additional steps to get your adapter.
Oh what the fuck. I *just* bought a Studio laptop for college all of two or three days ago. Am I gonna have to update the BIOS the second I get it and request for a replacement power adapter that probably wont get here by the time school starts?
FML...
@kenny goo OMG! Like your life is going to totally get worse in the next month! When you get to college, you'll have a dorm mate who you've never met and probably has some disgusting habits. You'll have even more homework than hs, you'll have to make all new friends because your old ones are gone, and now you won't have your mom to do your laundry for you.
Dude, the 30 minutes updating your slow Dell is going to be the least of your worries. Better start whining now!
@morcheeba
You couldn't sound more like a douche bag if you tried. The whole point of me being frustrated by this is that after all the shit I've done getting ready for college, the one instantly gratifying thing here was that I get my new laptop which I spent a shit load on. But now I'm going to need to update the second I get it, and then order a new power adapter which I'll have to have shipped up to me.
PS: I do my own laundry ass hole.
@kenny goo - hey, sorry I didn't mean to sound like a jerk. It's apparent from your post that you've got a serious problem and I respect that. Best of luck.
If this were Apple, there'd be 10-20x the comments, and people here wouldn't be so forgiving. Fancy that.
@Cats Exactly. Apple brings out the best in some, but the worst in others.
Hating apple is a full time job for some, as is defending
@Cats
No, what Apple would do is spend three weeks trying to find every laptop their competition makes that has some power related flaw in it, blow it up to be much bigger then it really is, and create a page on their website about it so all their consumers can be brainwashed by their bullshit. Then they wouldn't produce enough power adapters, so they'd make you pick between a selection of third party adapters which may or may not be quality. And rather then putting out an update or fixing future models and adapters, they'd try and play it off like there isn't even a problem to begin with.
Sans the antenna problems, I love the iPhone 4. I think the iPod Touch is a great product. And yea, sometimes Apple gets more shit then they deserve, but this isn't even comparable to the most recent fuck up of theirs. At all. Call me an Apple hater. I don't care. But that's the reality of the situation.
@Awall1987 I can't believe I'm saying this, but to be fair to Apple (chokes up), Dell took a very long time to do this. I've had my XPS 1645 for quite a while, and was given the runaround many, many times over this issue, and flat out lied to in many cases. On top of all the different BIOS I had to install to "fix it" and being told repeatedly there "was no problem" and "people are imagining it" and "the problem only exists on a few computers," despite the fact that a lot of people could demonstrate it pretty easily.
I know some people had luck getting new adapters sent to them, but I wasn't one of them, and I'm normally pretty persuasive when it comes to that kind of thing, since I deal with it so much in business.
Some of us waited many, many months for Dell to finally do something like this, so we wouldn't have to spend any more time on the phone with support.
/Granted, they might not have wanted to send me a new one since I had my screen and DVD drive replaced twice in the first 3 months I had it -- and yeah, due to real, horrible defects
//loves me some random bright pixels all over the screen
///all that said, still love XPS 1645
It only took them forever... Time to buy a new laptop, it's been 4 years
They're still not addressing the issue on the 1640's
I have one and it fucking throttles... a lot!
Just ordered my 130w PS and installing new BIOS now. My 1645 does BSOD once in a while and it's always video related.
does this apply to all studios?
I've got XPS m1530 and temperatures are in the 90 degrees Celsius (about 195 degrees Fahrenheit) most of the time regardless of what programs are running. I've just purchased a Windows 7 upgrade to see if it'll cope with this problem but I'm not optimistic. The fan is running nonstop to try and cool the CPU but it's performing poorly and is getting louder. I've spent $2600 on this laptop and it's just degrading as time goes by. I've already replaced its motherboard twice.
It really looks like there's not going to be any light at the end of this tunnel.
Apple take note: Dell *admitted* they had a design issue, and offered their customers a *hardware* fix for no cost. Good job, Dell.
The grammar in that memo is horrendous. Does Dell not have someone proof and edit such customer-facing messages? Apparently not. So much for the English language, I suppose.
Next up Alienware M15x i7's. Its been well documented that the system throttles when multiple cores are being used. It actually throttles the GPU, and while a hack has been found (You basically force the CPU in a high power state, and force the GPU into its normal state.) its a PITA to need to do.
I'm really surprised that no one is talking class action lawsuite at this point. Because the performance hit IS noticeable on games that support multiple cores.
Well, I commented earlier, but I guess that since I included the url from the article it got automatically tossed as spam. Thanks, engadget.
The website url for the power adapter isn't dell's official website - it makes me a little...concerned...
Dell has been aware of this issue and been tracking it closely over the past couple of months. We have posted updates on Direct2Dell (http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/Direct2Dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/02/24/throttling-update-for-studio-xps-1645-customers.aspx) and in various forums, such as NotebookReview (http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/437800-s-xps-1645-ac-power-throttle-issue-investigation.html), and the bottom line is that Dell has created BIOS updates that resolve the issues in the vast majority of instances. The replacement program reported in this post is intended for customers with system configurations which may exhibit the problem to a greater degree than others. This is why the website does not recognize all service tags entered. If you do not have a Studio XPS 1645 with a core i7 CPU in combination with an RGB display panel, the site will not recognize your service tag as part of the replacement program.
In regard to any other model of Dell laptop, very few customers’ usage models will cause the problem to arise, but if you encounter this problem you should first ensure that you have updated to the latest BIOS, video driver and system chipset driver available on Support.Dell.com. If you still have concerns, please call into Tech Support to discuss your symptoms and appropriate resolution.
@anonymous Dell person Sorry, but I am having issues with my account name. The post above is from me, Bill Bivin, aka Dell Bill B.