Dell Studio XPS 1640

Question

So I bought a Dell Studio XPS 1640 in Feb 2010, I took it outta the box and charged it up and turned it on.. About 8 hrs later while i was browsing the internet the laptop just completely shut off. It was plugged in , full battery i mean there was no cause for this to happen. I thought it was a glitch or what ever and paid it no mind. Unfortunatly, this happens sparatically all the time now, while i watch a movie, browse the internet. It is not caused by anything that i am operating on the computer I dont think becuase it is not doing this with any consistancy with what I am doing at any given time its just random. It has done this while just sitting idle even. well anyways, I ran a hardware check as per Dell technical help and came out clean so I am just wondering , Does anyone else have this problem??? Everytime it shuts off I just wanna throw this thing across the room... I am wanting to see if anyone else has this problem before i call dell again. Let me know!

Annoyed Dell owner ><

kirkd · Answer

Laptop may br overheating and then shutting down when too hot. Download a temp monitoring program,  like I8kfangui, and monitor the temps to see if increasing till it shuts down.

J2Bols · Answer

Kirkd,

I tried to remember everything but overheating is what I left out... I did also think that it was overheating after reading blogs about the wierd placment of the heat discharge vent. I ruled out over heating by buying a cool pad that has 3 fans and placed the laptop on it, It used to get really hot but after I bought the fans the laptop doesnt get as hot now. I even went as far as to lower the tempature down in my room to 65*F for a few days and it still kicked of at one point. Again like I said in my first post there is no consistancy with when it does it. The longest it has gone by my records without doing this infamous shut down has been 13 days and I had left my laptop on continuously during that period. Although I am skeptical about overheating being the cause , I will do the temp monitor thing and post results.

kirkd · Answer

Usual problem is dust bunnies inside, but yours is too new for that.

Poor heat transfer to the heat pipe from thew CPU and GPU is also a possibility. This is related to poor or no application of heat transfer paste, or even loose heat pipes. These are simple fixes.

Does your fan operate? Does it go on high before the shut down? Run the fan diagnostics in the Dell Diagnostics (F12 at the boot).

Many cooling pads do not really give much additional cooling.

J2Bols · Answer

Kirkd,

Poor heat transfer to the heat pipe.... What the hell is the heat pipe and heat transfer paste? Is this easy fix going to require me sending the machine back to Dell? I didn't try the fan diagnostic yet but I will tonight. I do know that the fan is operational but I have never known to hear it "rev" up to a diffrent speed at any time. It just sounds like it runs one speed constantly. When the computer shuts down unexpectedly it doesnt change how its running its like a light when you turn the swich off ; theres power then theres not. I will send the results of the fan diagnostic in the next post ..

Oh yea, what is the link to one of those heat monitoring program dill-hicky thing-ga-muh-jiggs?

kirkd · Answer

I8kfangui can be found HERE.

If under warranty and the temperatures are too high, call Dell. If not under warranty, you will need to fix it yourself. It appears you are not a hobbyist, so you will need to have a repair shop do it..

J2Bols · Answer

KirkD,

I have some iteresting results, I restarted and went into F12 at reboot. I ran the diagnostic for the comp(took like 45 mins). Everything showed pass. However you mentioned running a fan diagnostic and could not find any such thing, or anything about the fan system period. I started the comp and downloaded SpeedFan 4.40. This is the same type program as l8fangui assume. It monitors my CPU usage and my core temps as well as fan speeds and voltage...... The interesting thing is that I can watch it analyze the core temps and plot it on a graph BUT when i go to the drop down menu and select "anaylze fan speeds" it does not bring any fans up..... So that there got me to picjk the laptop up and listen for the fan....

Now I am not sure if I am hearing the hard disk running or if I hear the fan runing but as I watch the temps rise on my cores I am assuming that its not a fan... The temps show between 32C and 34C, but when I turn on a game or start up a movie it rises to 45C and then above that it will just display a little flame which I am guessing means its pretty friggen hot. Unfortunatly I havent been able to get it to sht down like it randomly does but I think that heat mitigation is the propable cause to these shut downs....

Questions I have are:

Is there a way I can find the fan in my device settings and try and see if I can get it to work.?

Would the fans show up under device settings at all?

Can using the laptop without a fan and having it overheat damage it permanently?

Oh and here is the specs of my comp, I bought it in Feb and I have a 2yr warranty so I guess I will send it back to Dell if need be...

Studio XPS 1640 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CCPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz / 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4670 / 4GB RAM / 500GB hard Drive / Windows 7 64-bit Operating System

kirkd · Answer

Those temperatures are NOT high. In fact, they are too low, so I suspect the program is not calibrated, or that you are reading the hird drive temp. My M1530 idles at 55-65° and the GPU at 45-50°.

Most programs DO NOT read fans in Most Dells. I believe in SpeedFan you need to go into the options and select Dell in order to get good data. I have deleted all temp programs except I8kfangui. Check for other programs.

There is a selection to test the fan only, but it should also be tested in the general test.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Dell Studio XPS 1640

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