Dell XPS 13 WiFi and Internal Speaker Issues

I have been having problems with 2 issues, the WiFi and speakers. Problems with both of these areas come and go, but it is frustrating nonetheless as I purchased this laptop only a few weeks ago! 

1)WiFi

I had issues with the laptop in which the WiFi would disconnect after using it for some time, usually around an hour's time. The wifi icon would show as limited access with no internet access and disabling/enabling, airplane mode, and all the other methods described on these forums would not allow the laptop to neither connect nor find my wifi network. Restarting the computer would solve this problem. It got really frustrating so I exchanged it for a new one at the Microsoft Store.

With the exchanged new laptop, the exact same wifi issues would arise. Every device that is connected to the network was not having any connectivity issues and my router was working fine whenever the first and second laptops had the wifi issues. I then called Dell Support and i was instructed to install the wifi and bluetooth drivers from the Dell website, but the same issues with wifi going into the limited/no internet access and not being able to see the network would occur again from sleep mode/using it for some time. I found a thread in which someone unchecked the box that said something along the lines of "turn off ____ device to save power" which I'm assuming was a device related to the wireless card. This seemed to resolve the issue for about 2 weeks up to until a few days ago when the problem would start up again.

The wifi icon would go into the limited status with a no internet access caption and the disabling/enabling and airplane mode tricks would not do anything. Going into the network and sharing center once I disabled the adapter, i would try to right click and enable again but the icon would stay as disabled no matter how many times i clicked enable. Restarting the computer is the only way the laptop seems to find the network again. Everything is updated as of this post.

2) Speakers

The second issue is the speakers. Everything works fine except for a few times when I have used Cortana. when I click on the mic icon to speak and Cortana speaks back, there is a buzz along with the voice. Likewise, sometimes it Cortana would say that it's not working and to try again later.

These issues are really frustrating(especially the WiFi issues) and I really need some help with these problems as the offshore Dell Technicians I have encountered are very rigid and robot-like and they do not seem too helpful other than on basic issues. I love this computer but if these problems keep occurring, I feel it would be better to just return it as it is still in the 30 day period.

Having the exact same WIFI problems and Dell support is worst than useless.

Any luck?

Also having these exact same problems, although now I can not get the wireless to work at all. The computer has become near worthless, and I only got it less than two weeks ago.

If it's not resolved soon, aI will be sending it back and moving away from Dell. I need a working computer.

Having the exact same WIFI problems, as are many across forums all over the place... is it being addressed or even acknowledged?

I see a similar issue on a two week old XPS1300.  Wifi will drop out and the list of available SSIDs will be blank.  Switching to airplane mode and back and soft disabling and re-enabling Wifi do not fix the problem.  A hard reboot is required to get Wifi working again.  Will be returning the laptop to Dell within the week if I can't find a workaround or fix.

I have been having the same problem .

Update:

I am not having any of the WiFi issues recently, but I switched ISPs. I was told by the guy installing the new Internet connection that sometimes the WiFi kicks off a device if there are too many devices connected. I Know this is not a solution and I don't if this is what really happened to me, but I am just passing along something I was told.

On the other hand, I am still having the intermittent speaker issues and not just with Cortana. I am also experiencing times when video does not play, yet still loads: I am able to click around on different parts of the video and it shows a "screenshot" of the video of wherever I click on the loading bar. I restart the computer and it stops doing this.

Likewise, for the speaker issue, I found that resetting the Windows Audio through the services.msc window usually fixes this, but this should not be the way to address the speaker issue because I feel like the underlying issue is still there. Also, Cortana does not even pick up my voice anymore.

Another issue that has popped up, and this may be completely normal, is the battery life. I am about 1.5 months into ownership and the battery life has dropped significantly. During the first few weeks, I got about 10-12 hours unplugged, while on lowest screen brightness and just using Word/Netflix/Eclipse (Java). My usage unplugged has not changed and I am aware that background programs may affect battery life, but I now get about 4-5 hours tops with minimal usage on lowest screen brightness. I know there can be so many factors to this, but u just feel that a 10-12 hours to 4-5 hours jump with similar conditions does not feel right.

Going through the overseas customer service is  pain in the neck because we go through the same 3-4 steps everytime (which I understand is necessary because it's a new representative and they have protocol to follow)  for at least an hour, checking updates and whatnot, before they decide to connect remotely, which always ends up with them telling me what to do through the phone because the connection gets so laggy.

I just have too many school files now that it would be very inconvenient to exchange it.

Please help....

Just wanted to throw in another "me too" on the wifi problem - this problem seems to be widespread. My wifi randomly disconnects and I have to right-click, go to troubleshooting, and let it reset everything for it to work again. I've found people complaining about it in a number of places, including a discussion here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3kb0n0/xps_13_2015_wifi_dropping/

No fix yet that I've seen.

XPS 13 Non Touch here - having BOTH issues too. Not impressed.

XPS 13 Non Touch here with Windows 10. I am having BOTH issues also (WiFi + Speaker problem). Not impressed.

@Dell: Is this how you treat customers that buy one of the top range products you offer?

FYI - If this post is posted 2 or 3 times, it's because my WiFi connection hardware keeps dropping!

someone with a twitter account should make some fuss, apparently that's the only way to get customer care from a corporate these days, because it's apparent there's zero pressure for them to meaningfully address or acknowledge anything raised in this forum.

My XPS13 has started to show the described wifi issue.

Unchecked the power save mode, with no change.

Reverting to older drivers has been mentioned elsewhere. I will try that since it worked before.

Yes, I'm bitterly disappointed with my Dell XPS 13 (non-touch).  I would love to know how this machine was given such glowing reviews when a quick Google search will show many people with serious issues, such as useless wi-fi, speakers and touchpads that Dell will not address - I don't even know why I'm posting here as no one from Dell has replied to any of the posts on this thread.

I also have the same wi-fi problem.  In my house I get full wi-fi as I am sitting right next to the range extender, but in airports, friends' houses or work I get no wi-fi connectivity at all when my colleagues have all their laptops, phones and tablets connected via wi-fi.  What is the point of having a laptop with no connectivity!?

Add to that, the touchpad is next to useless. It's a $1500 lemon...  I can't even sell it as anyone who wants to buy it will figure out the wi-fi is broken.

It is indeed truly disappointing that Dell is flat out ignoring this thread - not even an empty promise of "We are looking into this. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Update re Wi-Fi: I had to move the router in my house to get a stronger signal. With a full signal the connection does not die off. However, now I have cables in the middle of a corridor. (Should anyone trip over them, I could consider suing Dell over it maybe?!) All this just to have basic WiFi connectivity on this very expensive Ultra-Book. If the signal is weak, the adapter has to be reset every few minutes. (Running the latest drivers off the Dell website + Windows 10 with all updates.)

Update re Speakers: I believe this is a software issue actually because I sometimes got the crackling on the right channel even on headphones. However, it happens way more frequently on the actual speakers. There are several videos on YouTube now also showcasing this problem. Here is one for example: www.youtube.com/watch

(I don't use the TouchPad so cannot comment on that issue.)

Maybe adding these tags will get someone's attention:
[mention:4d5e50d841f74b11b6a3537f76b5623e:48f9bad697564845ab98382808c7bced]  [mention:317daadf0a8a4d058aaec4b522ad60bb:23b05a61c3e5445190d9bfa00453bce4]  [mention:e8b6299852e944279041f25f7b60183f:23b05a61c3e5445190d9bfa00453bce4] 

Can someone at Dell actively start looking into this and produce a solution? Bios update? Driver update? An empty promise at least? Anyhting?