Studio 1737 DPC Latency

Bill,

Why is it that your tech support knows nothing about this?  Why is it that they refuse to refund my money for a system that has not worked since the first second It was created in your factories?  Why am I told it is my fault when I am on the phone with them?  Why are they having me unscrew my laptop and take it apart?  Why did they have me do something which ultimately led to my computer crashing and losing all of it's data?

I want my money back, you people have had long enough to diagnose and treat this issue.  Your company is using deceptive practices to get purchases and they are giving the run-around to anyone calling tech support, either because A) They have no clue because upper level people are keeping this information from them, so refunds for computers wont be given.  B)  They know about it, but are told not to address the issue so they don't admit that ALL OF THESE COMPUTERS HAVE ISSUES BEYOND FIXING. C)  They are just stupid third world idiots who speak broken english and are told an exact script of what to say whenever anyone calls with a problem for anything!

Last night I spent 3 hours and 20 minutes on the phone trying to describe the problem to customer service, who then sent me to tech support to talk to Jasmine (a broken english asian who had no business being in her position, an utter idiot).  Who would not refund my money for this (broken from day 1) laptop.  Who proceeded to tell me that the only way it would be fixed was if I reinstalled the operating system.  I TOLD HER NO.  WHICH SHE WAS TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND.  She then had me try to update drivers (which I told her was not the problem and wouldn't fix it, but she insisted).  Installing the drivers crashed the computer (AN ERROR)and she told me I needed to perform a test on the hardware (which was fine).  She then took control of my computer remotely to install the drivers herself because she thought I couldn't do it right, and the computer completly crashed.  In order to TRY AND GET ANYTHING OFF OF MY HARD DRIVE, My laptop is supposed to go to a remote technician who will try and get my data off the drive.  (I WAS TOLD BY JASMINE NOT TO EXPECT ANYTHING GOOD FROM THIS).  After which I am to get the laptop back and then take it apart to fix the KEYBOARD WHICH IS NO LONGER NOTICED BY THE COMPUTER and reinstall the operating system (which we ALL know will do nothing.)

At the end of all of this, Jasmine informed me that your computers are down, (WHICH I DON"T BELIEVE BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE  THEY ARE DOWN EVERY TIME IVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH TECH SUPPORT, another deceptive lie, so this doesn't have to be documented, I was told I've never called tech support about any issue (JOKE)) And this 3 hour and 20 minute conversation ended with her telling me she would send me an e-mail with all of the information regarding our tech support session, WHICH NEVER CAME TO MY E-MAIL.

So after 3 hours and 20 minutes of trying to get a refund, I now have a completley broken computer and NO DOCUMENTATION TO PROVE IT WAS YOUR COMPANY.

And FINALLY,To EVERYONE WHO KEEPS THANKING BILL HERE IS THE GREATEST.  This forum is a community forum and the contents in here mean nothing (TOLD TO ME BY JASMINE).   Your efforts Bill, are undocumented, unknown, and Possibly not real, as your company will not admit that what you do in these community forums even exists!!!!

Everyone needs to be trying to return these computers for a FULL REFUND.  I am now going to call DELL to ask them why I never received an e-mail from last night.  I will not stop until my money is returned. 

Hi Bill, I hope you had a lovely vacation. Quick question for ya: Am I correct in thinking that the 1537 (my laptop) and the 1737 contain the same hardware apart from the screen sizes? If so, does this mean the fix for the 1537 will be the same as the fix for the 1737 and so will be released at the same time?  Do they use exactly the same BIOS updates? Many thanks!

hi Happy Dayz,

i started a new thread regarding studio 1537 as suggested by Bill

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19292883/19552612.aspx

/edit

i see you're already there.. :emotion-1:

Jamboe,

This is exactly the same as my experiences with Dell customer support.  I opted to try and resolve my issues through chat which is good in the sense that you have a concrete record of the interaction.  This being said, I personally have concrete proof of 3 promised call backs from Dell support regarding this issue, none of which happened.

jared  

In my experience, Dell support has been good about calling me back but in each instance, I cut the call short when I realized that they didn't understand the problem and we're attempting to walk me through troubleshooting.

And they also told me to apply the A07 bios like 3 times even after I told thme it was my first troubleshooting step.

Hi Bill B. I am a Dell Vostro 1510 laptop owner with DPC latency caused by the ACPI Battery Control Method (I know because when I disable it, live streaming TV via a USB tuner is fine).   I am in New Zealand. Dell support for this region said they had never heard of the issue even though I kept pointing them to this forum.   Dell have offered me a full refund.   Two questions:   1/ how do I know that if I buy a new laptop with the same money it won't have the same problem?   2/ If I keep the current laptop, where in your priority list is fixing the Vostro's?   Thx

Kia kaha!

If you have the problem on the current Vostro, my bet is you would have it on the next. One funny thing to try with Vostro, just because I heard something long ago. Try streaming something that drops out with just any old USB memory key inserted and leave the battery enabled.

I have open product support requests with the 1737 and the Studio XPS 1340 at this point in time. The 1340 issue is for latency caused with the A11 BIOS and the Dell 1515 WLAN card. With an Intel card, no issues with A11 BIOS installed. The 1737 is for "latency remains after BIOS rev A07."  To be honest, Vostro will be a whole seperate support request that I plan to open after we see a fix for 1737 and any other Studio, Studio XPS and Inspiron platforms. My gut feeling is lessons learned from the 1737 will decrease the turnaround time for any subsequent fixes on other platforms, Vostro included. However, like I said, Vostro is honestly down the list.

Short answer- take the refund. I know I am supposed to make sales stick, but I do not want to mislead you in any way. For what it's worth, I've tried DPC latency checker on a couple of D series Latitudes, and it passes with flying colors. I can only hope the same holds for E series. So, if  you want to look at Latitude, it may be worth a shot. Happy to get my hands on an E series and give it a shot, if you like.

Kia kaha! If you have the problem on the current Vostro, my bet is you would have it on the next. One funny thing to try with Vostro, just because I heard something long ago. Try streaming something that drops out with just any old USB memory key inserted and leave the battery enabled. I have open product support requests with the 1737 and the Studio XPS 1340 at this point in time. The 1340 issue is for latency caused with the A11 BIOS and the Dell 1515 WLAN card. With an Intel card, no issues with A11 BIOS installed. The 1737 is for "latency remains after BIOS rev A07."  To be honest, Vostro will be a whole seperate support request that I plan to open after we see a fix for 1737 and any other Studio, Studio XPS and Inspiron platforms. My gut feeling is lessons learned from the 1737 will decrease the turnaround time for any subsequent fixes on other platforms, Vostro included. However, like I said, Vostro is honestly down the list. Short answer- take the refund. I know I am supposed to make sales stick, but I do not want to mislead you in any way. For what it's worth, I've tried DPC latency checker on a couple of D series Latitudes, and it passes with flying colors. I can only hope the same holds for E series. So, if  you want to look at Latitude, it may be worth a shot. Happy to get my hands on an E series and give it a shot, if you like.

Hi Bill, your Maori is better than mine!

Thanks for your honesty.

D Series is fine thanks - it is all the budget would stretch to.

I hope I undertsood the test you wanted me to do. With the ACPI Battery Control Method enabled I had a movie saved (NOT one obtained by a recording from the USB TV Tuner device) on a USB stick. I was able to play that movie directly from the USB via VLC (media player) without any issues. Is this what you wanted me to try as I am not sure what it has proved?

I speak Google Maori. :emotion-4:

That's not exactly what I was going for. Here's the thought process. Some latencies are cause by polling of USB ports for mass storage devices like a USB key. The poll request will sometimes time out when there is not a volume attached- like a USB memory key or external hard drive- and will result in audio stuttering while streaming music off the internet or recording from an external input like a guitar or microphone. What I'm wondering specifically on Vostro is if when a USB key is present- like the one the movie is stored on- were connected and you attempted to either stream something from Youtube or record something via an external device, whether you would hear audio dropouts or see spikes in DPC  Latency Checker.

I believe it has something to do with a Windows Driver or something related to the software. I have been running linux on the Studio 1737 for a day so far and I have audio continuously (Ableton Live 8.0.5 via Wine) going and have not had any dropouts. I have also hooked up different hardware, usb hard drives, firewire devices, and such during playback and still no dropouts. Only glitch I get is when I enable or disable the wireless card. Just letting you know I think I have finally made some headway!  Time will tell on this.

UPDATE: Running the CPU at 85% or more will cause a few cracks and pops. So looks like it is hardware related.

Trent

Once again, the Inspiron 1750 runs great and is only $499.  I returned my 1737 for the 1750.  true the 1737 has many cooler add on's and features, but hey gang.. IT WORKS!!!  And is half the price!

Hello TidalWave,

They also payed you the difference in value back? I should really try it too (really no red spikes?), it doesn't seem the problem will be solved fast. The screenshot I took from  my 1737 shows it's really a big problem...

DJ TidalWave, Does the Inspiron 1750 have firewire built on? My issue is most of my audio interfaces use firewire.

D J TidalWave:

What are the specs for your Inspiron 1750 as that exact model is not available in NZ. How old is it?

Bill B:

Have you done any testing that confirms the Inspiron range are free from this issue?

Only Inspiron I've tested so far is the 14z. It was pretty much spike free in DPC. No reds and an occasional yellow.

I speak Google Maori. :emotion-4:   That's not exactly what I was going for. Here's the thought process. Some latencies are cause by polling of USB ports for mass storage devices like a USB key. The poll request will sometimes time out when there is not a volume attached- like a USB memory key or external hard drive- and will result in audio stuttering while streaming music off the internet or recording from an external input like a guitar or microphone. What I'm wondering specifically on Vostro is if when a USB key is present- like the one the movie is stored on- were connected and you attempted to either stream something from Youtube or record something via an external device, whether you would hear audio dropouts or see spikes in DPC  Latency Checker.

Hi Bill B.:

I tried leaving a USB flash drive in one of the spare slots while running the USB Hauppauge TV Tuner device and the latency was still there and caused the same problems. I then disconnected the TV Tuner device but left the USB flash drive in the slot and still the latency existed ie the USB Flash drive made no difference.