XPS 435 Owners Thread

I would be seriously remiss if I didn't explain further. I'd read quite a bit of the 435 threads after purchasing the system as a Refurb as I have done the past 3 purchases, an 8250 2.8 GHz 1 Gb RAM and XP, XPS 600 P4 3.2 GHz with 4 Gb RAM and XP Pro both are still up and running, and now the Studio XPS 435T i7 965 3.2 GHz Extreme with 9 Gb trichannel RAM and Vista 64. I had 3 of the items which folks had issues with, i.e. ATI Radeon 4870 1024 video, Realtek media card and the 1505 Wireless w/antenna and knew upfront the drivers for those may give me some problems so I paid attention to the BSOD as to what the cause was and they were either the 1505 or the ATI 4870 depending on what I was doing when they happened the media reader never caused a problem probably because I did not use it until after W7 RC 1 Build 7100 was installed and stable. I have no qualms working on PC's be it hardware/software etc I retired in 2005 after 30 plus years of service to the US Navy with 4 of those years being active duty and the 26 plus that followed as a civilian the last 10 plus as an IM/IT Specialist for BuMED, I was also listed as our Dept. registered DELL Eng which still follows my DELL profile when I call for Support. I knew I wanted to try W7 64 so loading it was not an issue and now that it is totally stable I will go back and fix the Vista 64 issues as well since having a dual boot platform is what I was planning on to begin with.

My 435T hasn't given me a BSOD yet.  I did get the CCC (ATI 4870) error the first couple times I started it up, but that seems to have gone away. 

Now, I bought mine from the outlet at a "scratch & dent" discount, so maybe Dell fixed the BSOD problem while they had it back. 

So, maybe not all the 435T's are lemons.  A significant amount, but not all.

Another data point, recently installed Linux as dual-boot (Ubuntu 9.04 with KDE desktop). Installation of Ubuntu went much faster and smoother than Vista - no driver to install except AMD 9.7 Catalyst for Linux. No other driver installation was needed. Very stable, no problem. Linux came up recognizing all the components, including my Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard and bluetooth mouse.

Here is mine

They threw in the monitor which I dont need, it shipped today.

XPS 435's still being delayed? Original order date 8/9/2009. Estimated delivery date 8/20/2009. Update 8/14/2009 new estimated delivery date 8/27/2009. 1 week delay so far.

Not knowing which model you are refering to I can say my new 435MT shipped lightning fast! Ordered it on the evening of 8-13-09 and it arrived this morning 8-19-09. Less than a week from order to delivery, not to shabby!  Works perfectly so far and I expect no problems as this is our second 435MT and have had no problems with the first one. We were so pleased with the first one ( scratch and dent, dent so small you could hardly notice and also delivered in about a weeks time!) that me and the better half each have one.

I purchased my 435T from Micro Center ($999 after $100 rebate) a couple of weeks ago - 1TB hard drive, 6GB memory, Radeon 4850 512mb, free Win7 upgrade - and I have zero problems. Boot time is around 40-45 seconds. LOVE THIS MACHINE! I usually build my own PCs, but I couldn't get anywhere near this kind of performance for this price. My 7-year-old Athlon rig finally gave up the ghost, so I transferred the hard drives to my #2 unit (another Athlon, but its only 6 years old!).

This is my first experience with Vista - it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Can anyone recommend a good software application that would allow me to transfer my files and settings from the relocated hard drives, over my network,  onto my 435T? Or does Vista have an applet that can do that?

Thanks in advance!

Just a heads up that the A13 BIOS for the 435T is apparently out for download.

Indicates it adds Windows 7 support.

Haven't yet played guinea pig on it myself....

Forgot to mention I updated from A07 to A13 this morning and no problems encountered.

There is also a new update for Creative SB. Make sure you get the right one for your sound card. If during the install it says something like no product can be found, you probably have the wrong one. I'm speaking from experience.  ;)   However when I attempted to do the automated update through Creative during the setup, I got the dreaded  BSOD (blue screen of death). It also does it if you try and run it from All Programs.  That feature has not worked since I got my 435T even on the original Dell image.

I've been running Windows 7 on my 435T for many weeks now with no issues. I wonder what specific changes are in the A13 BIOS?

The description for A13 says it is to support Windows 7. No other fixes listed.

My 435T is due here tomorrow. I hope I dont have to deal with a bunch of problems. My goal is to remain unattached and send it back if it fails once. It shouldnt, none of these issues on this thread should be taken lightly. Dell should build working computers, if they dont -- make them. Send it back 100 times if that is what it takes.

I updated the BIOS from Version 9 to the new 13 and its been stable and uneventful. All the hardware I connected works fine.

lesterpaul: For what it's worth, my machine has been stable and without any issues. The only complaint I have is the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard would not allow BIOS entry and the boot time took forever. I can live with that as I have a bunch of keyboards available. However,I am hoping Dell and Logitech do resolve the issue because I liked the keyboard as I work in dim lighting. Much luck with your new machine.

Well, I upgraded from A09 to the new A13.

Freaked out at first because the upgrade appeared to lock up the machine for about a minute before it started processing. Glad I just let it sit and do its thing.

Haven't noticed any significant changes. My BIOS load time does appear much more rapid now though. Think I had a USB device or two that may have been causing it to drag before (but it could have been something else I did that sped it up too).

D99X,

Well, I upgraded from A09 to the new A13. Freaked out at first because the upgrade appeared to lock up the machine for about a minute before it started processing. Glad I just let it sit and do its thing. Haven't noticed any significant changes. My BIOS load time does appear much more rapid now though. Think I had a USB device or two that may have been causing it to drag before (but it could have been something else I did that sped it up too).

I too was surprised that it appeared to lock up the system, I thought I was in BIG trouble.

My boot time has increased quite a bit though. Looong time with BLACK screens after the BIOS splash (which is faster though) and the first MS screen. From the last MS screen though once the desktop appears it completes populating very fast now.

I booted a few times with the same results.

As an aside to another problem others have been having, I've been able to fix one.

The problem was the 15-in-one Media Card reader.

Mine failed a few times and came back to life randomly. The USB port always seemed to work. Well, last week I need the card slots and they were not there. The USB port didn't work either. Hello Dell... after a LONG phone session in which the Rep. went off looking for other things to try, he decided I had bad h/w.

First try was to get on my system and make sure I knew what I was talking about, next he re-installed the Intel Chipset drivers (I had installed newer ones I think?). Now he wanted me to open the unit and check the cables. Tight, but I then discovered the USB drive worked on some USB devices, like and external drive, but not a card reader that was a single, that is a media card in a device that attached to a USB port. At this point it was 'declared' the USB port worked fine and the device was the problem? Didn't work on one of the USB ports on the top of the machine, but I really didn't care that much. I have a printer with a media card slot and I can read the card from there (which proved to him the card was good). Soooo, the choice I had was a TOTAL rollback and re-install of Vista or have the h/w replaced first. The h/w was my choice, and if that didn't work, I'll forget about it.

A day later, I get a response from a thread I opened on this problem. There appears that the 19-in-1 reader has some grounding issues. The 'fix' for that was to add a ground wire. Hmm, let me try that? I opened the case and I figured I'd remove the h/w and check the connectors on the back which were not easily reached. I started but didn't get the screw all the way out and didn't want to RISK dropping it in the case (I've already dropped 2 drive screws there and have not been able to get them out). So I screwed it back in REALLY TIGHT and I'll let the tech do it when he comes with the part). Turned the machine on and ALL the drives are back!!!! Could it be that the ground loosened up? I called Dell back but the part was shipped and direct to my home. I have it and will give it to the Tech next week, but all those with these problems, you might want to make sure the screw IS tight.