New XPS 1645 Crashes constantly!

dustminusc:

Well, if the system is still crashing so much, I wouldn't consider the laptop is fixed and usable.

Calbrod:

I wished I would join an elite club of proud owners of a high performance, premium laptop :emotion-1:

I could not believe that such a product is released to the market.

Updates:

Technician came with the 130w power adapter and mother board and replaced them (I tell you.. it bleeds to see a brand new laptop getting worked belly up and wide open).

It has not froze in the last 90 minutes.

Media Card reader still not working.

Laptop is still getting hot.

Will contact Tech Support later tonight.

Mine also required a new fan and a new heat sink, in addition to two new motherboards and new memory.  So, if the heat continues to be a problem, you will need more parts.  Mine is much better with the new parts, with no lock-ups, but it does run kind of hot and the fan kicks on a bit more than I would expect, but less than before the repairs. 

OK  - New XPS 16 arrived, and it had major cosmetic damage - I think they sent a Scratch and Dent.  HOWEVER - IT DOESN'T FREEZE OR CRASH.

Apart from the freezing/crashing - here's the key differences I've noticed with this computer vs. the one I sent back:

- This one did not come with Sound X-Fi or whatever it's called pre-installed.

- One thing I noticed with the first computer was whenever it came out of Standby/Sleep, my connection to my wireless router was dropped, and the symbol near the clock that shows the number of bars would have a golden star in it...I would have to click it, then select my router, and finally select Connect.  The golden star would then turn to a blur circle as connection to my route was re-established.  With the new computer, upon waking from standby, there's no issue - it's still connected, and connection has never been dropped.

Makes me wonder whether the problem is with the wireless card...have other who's XPS freezes had this connection-being-dropped problem?

on a dell 1645 xps laptop, receive late feb

I had random crash out of the box new.

They swapped mboard twice, hard disk memory and gave me 130watt ps.

running with a07 bios. It still locked up.

I discovered it would lockup if i removed external monitor cable.

so I tried run msconfig and  stop 4 services idt sound, and creative x-fi,and two other creative things.

I also got new driver from ati.

That has stopped random crash for two days now.  I may keep it, after 6weeks of trying to fix.

I had the same problems.  I recieved a new 1645 a few days ago.

Just a little run down of what it took to get here with a randomly freezing system:

1. Reinstalled all drivers and BIOS

2.Replaced 90W PS for 130W PS

3. They tried to make me pay for software troubleshooting (I reinstalled W7 myself).  At this point the freezing quit but the Bluetooh module starting acting up.  The BT mouse would quit working and I could cycle the wirless switch and ti would start again then quit soon after.  Then it quit working altogether.

4. Replaced Bluetooth and Wireless modules

5. I now have a new XPS16

It has not locked up and the bluetooth mouse works.  I still get the black screen when playing Farmville full screen.  I haven't tried any other full screen apps or videos yet.  When playing farmville full screen for a few minutes the screen blacks out.  I hit escape and it kinda redraws the desktop and then blacks out.  I can hit CTL, DEL, ESC and with some patients I can hit the turrn off button and shut it down.  Its almost like its runnin in slow motion.  The other 1645 did that once and it recoved with a video driver failure recovery notice on screen.  Anyway, I don't play farmville full screen anymore.  Yes I have the latest flash drivers.....

Any ideas?

I had the same problems.  I recieved a new 1645 a few days ago. Just a little run down of what it took to get here with a randomly freezing system: 1. Reinstalled all drivers and BIOS 2.Replaced 90W PS for 130W PS 3. They tried to make me pay for software troubleshooting (I reinstalled W7 myself).  At this point the freezing quit but the Bluetooh module starting acting up.  The BT mouse would quit working and I could cycle the wirless switch and ti would start again then quit soon after.  Then it quit working altogether. 4. Replaced Bluetooth and Wireless modules 5. I now have a new XPS16 It has not locked up and the bluetooth mouse works.  I still get the black screen when playing Farmville full screen.  I haven't tried any other full screen apps or videos yet.  When playing farmville full screen for a few minutes the screen blacks out.  I hit escape and it kinda redraws the desktop and then blacks out.  I can hit CTL, DEL, ESC and with some patients I can hit the turrn off button and shut it down.  Its almost like its runnin in slow motion.  The other 1645 did that once and it recoved with a video driver failure recovery notice on screen.  Anyway, I don't play farmville full screen anymore.  Yes I have the latest flash drivers.....Any ideas?

Just when I think my system is fixed, something new happens. 

Did everything above, except the bluetooth and wireless. 

Every now and again, when I turn the system on, I either get a Blue, Red, or Green tinted screen.  I have to shut it off/down; unplug battery, unplug power, hold power button in with no power for a few seconds then hook everything back up and it will work.  These were the instructions from dell.  They said it is a build up of static ellectricity in the system.   I say they are full of you know what. 

Less than a week ago, it pretty much froze up on me and i tried to shut it down but it wouldnt shut down, when it finally did 5 min. later, Windows went away, then a black screen, then the blue screen of death which stayed up for about 10 sec. with a video hardware error of some sort.  Then it went black and I had to shut it down manually with the power button.

When it came back up, windows said he had recovered from a fatal error.  I found a new update for the video card on dells website yesterday and I upgraded to that.  Hopefully that helps.

I havent tried a bluetooth mouse but plan to get one.   I may get one sooner than later if I am going to have hardware issues with the BT.

Like I said, just when i think it is good, it screws up...no more than 1 min. after typing my last post, I raised the screen brightness and the screen went blank but everything else worked in the background.  Had to shut down cause I couldnt see what I was doing.

I had the same experience. After hours on with Tech Support they sent me a new computer. All of this transferring of important files between computers isn't easy when you have a family and a small bsns to run...So, the new computer comes with the new bios installed and the new AC adapter. Now the problem is I can't use the battery power. System works great now when plugged in....But it's a laptop....This is all very frustrating since I was advised to buy a Mac and opted instead to get a Dell with every upgrade I could find...Hopefully they will figure this out.

Yes..I to have the XPs 1645 i7. It too crashed constantly. Now...5 months later after Dell tech team has tried to fix it..including replacing the hard drive and motherboard...they declared it dead and said they would have to do a "system exchange. " So....I have yet to get another computer. So sit back and buy some patience..you will need it. Your problem will not get better! Sorry. (and..they no longer make this size computer...wonder why!)

hope this helped

I got my XPS 1645 in April and it began crashing right out of the box.  After going thru many of the same steps here I began to get error messages related to Dell Datasafe.  I uninstalled Dell Datasafe Local Backup and Support and the crashes stopped. 

I went from multiple freezes each day to no more than the average Windows machine.

Greg

My experience has been much the same as all the others including three visits from Dell Tech Support (4hr return trip to my house in regional australia). I have to say straight away that with the hours of time spent communicating with Dell support, they have been fantastic, problem is with the hardware, not the support. 

First Visit - replaced MB

Second Visits - MB & Memory and offer to replace HDD but decided against as the issue didn't seem to point to HDD issue

Third Visit ( unrelated issue) - replaced PSU (up to 130w from the 90w)

I haven't done some of the fixes suggested in here as i don't think i should have to for a new factory PC but i did at one stage do a clean install of Win 7 NOT off the recovery partition. I did get a respite for a while from the issues but the situation again degraded as suggested here previously. Because of all the hard shut downs I started getting more blue screens so ended up doing a few Win 7 repairs but it was spiralling downwards. Anyway,  got fed up asked for a replacement and got one. Have now had the replacement for a couple of days and this one has 8GB memory which is up from 6GB on the old one. This one also has the new video card (ATI 5370) which i expected would resolve the issue but it hasn't. Same issues but just for a surprise along with the lack of response indicated in this thread i am also getting intermittent shutdowns where the PC appears to just lose power. 

I am now requesting a refund. 

Had better post before the PC shuts down on me. 

I basically went through the same troubleshooting that you all have.

I finally got a replacement around May 2009 and it has been rock solid ever since.  I cant crash it for nothing.

Good luck with yours.

Ok...this is an update from my earlier post. To bring everyone else up to speed..no there is nothing that can be done to fix the 'freezing" or crashing. A new motherboard does not fix the problem. I was offered another PC, but smaller...I refused...and was then passed from one team to the next each saying that I had to accept the smaller PC, because they did not make the one I currently had. I ended up having to email the COO of the company and complain...ultimately I got a full refund on the 1645 and was able to get a brand new 17" touchscreen. So...stand your ground and dont accept anything less that what you want. This took about 5 weeks, but in the end Dell made good. This computer is smokin' and is great. No problems.

Why are defective computer repaired with refurbished parts?  With all that you read here, why hasn't Dell fixed the problem...or even determined what the mproblem definitively is?

My last post was deleted.  hope this one is deemed safe by the moderating Gods.