Studio 1537

I am soooooooooo frustrated with this computer.  I had it build with all the bells and wistles and have had it for two months and HATE it.  I am tired of talking to tech support I am trying to trouble shoot and solve problems.  I don't know if it is Windows Vista (which I hate) that is causing the problems or Dell or what.  I have always had HP's and never had any problems.  This product was a CR Best Buy recomendation -- so far it has been nothing but a headache and a LOT of wasted time.  I am tired of trying to talk to people who barely speak English for help. It looks like I am about to just reformt the whole computer again for the 2nd time and start over.  Not sure what anyone can do.  I guess I just need to vent my frustration.

What is wrong with the Studio 1537

Hi there akohl, i just got this computer for christmas and the one thing i've noticed is the sound quality. you can't turn up the volume very much and it doesn't sound good when listening to music or other stuff. it's almost like my cellphone sounds better when playing music. i find this really strange since this (studio 1537) is a very new computer compared to my old one (dell) that i've had for many years now which sounds a lot better than this one. and since i've only had the studio 1537 for a few days now, i haven't noticed anything else that bothers me. but if the sound isn't possible to fix, then i'm going to return it, so i just wonder if you have experienced the same problem cause otherwise it might just be mine that doesn't work properly. the dell support is anfortunately closed at weekends so if you could answer this i would be very greatful!Thank you /Erika 

hi i too unfortunately have a studio 1537 and sound is horrible without headphones and only marginally better with.  i cant listen to music or watch dvd anyway as my 2week old latest system is faulty amongst the media keys fault and battery and fan issues.

it's meant to be an entertainment system, but it falls far from even being average.  i'm sorry but i've had 4 months of disappointment with 3 systems and awaiting my 4th on wed so i do know enough to warn people.  

Where do I start.  I am on my 3rd complete factory restore and am hoping I have downladed and installed all of the appropriate updates.

The first problem was with the dell wireless 5530 HSPA mobile broadband minicard.  what a nightmare.  After countelss coverstations and working with both ATT and Dell I got the thing to work once.  I have since cancelled the service andtotally removed the card and all its componenets.  I am now trying to tether through my BlackJack II but not having much luck with that either so I will likely just discontinue and give up with trying to access on the road -- which was the whole reason I got the laptop.  I will just have to make sure whereever I stay there is wiFi.

Then I have had poer problesm, freezing instead of shuting down, the sleep and hybernate don't work correctly and I have to reboot, Shuts down when I don't want it to shut down, and get the big blue error screen -- attmpts to work with dell to to fix the peoblem have been useless.  We shall see if this last reinstall does the trick.

Then I get some windows .net error thing

Sound problems including constant "blumping noises"

BDDVD problems -- plays one day doesn't play the next.  This is a highlky tempermental computer. Seems to work sporadically.

I keep getting lack of memory signals however I bought TONS of memory.

Anyway 2 months and several hundred wasted hours later, I will see if this latest reinstall does the trick.  IF not I am senind this thing back.  I don't have time to fiddle and faddle.

I totally understand peoples frustration!!! Sound is my life, I've been going crazy. I absolutely hated my dell studio 1537, but not so much right now. This seemed to do the trick. DVD's are MUCH better. Here is the link.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944436

Follow the instructions based on whether it is a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system (you can find this out by clicking on start>control panel>System) most are 32bit though. It works in both media center and real player, probably whatever you use for dvds.

Media Player Center is default set to 50% not 100% yet although I have not figured out how to change this WOW, what a difference after creating this registry from this site!!!!! Must try, dell phone support are doodoo heads, I figured this AND their internet problem out without paying their $69 or their on-call support! Go me lol... Good Luck all....do a lot of research/searching before getting on tech support...no need to reinstall drivers ESP. if it is new!...they are bored and want to keep u on the phone lol Let me know if it works for anyone else...I'd love to hear!

that is so nice of you to share your solution to the problem, but unfortunately i can't tell you if it works for me as well, cause i've already bought a new laptop, a sony vgn-fw21e,  and i'm sending the old one back. the dell i mean. but it's great to hear that it has worked out for you! take care.

Of course! I am still considering a different one but don't have much time to decide. This laptop has been such a pain. For the first 4 days after receiving it I could not get any internet despite the wireless capabilities paid for. Tech support wanted to charge me $69 to fix the settings....found out how by myself after 4 days, then the sound....ugh! There is only good sound on things played in the drive but not on all websites and things....something is off (of course) Then there is the keyboard,when typing 5 times already it has erased what I wrote and or closed the page. It also keeps pulling up the "open" window on top of my browser in the middle of typing. I am not a typer I know this much...never had any problems on my HP desktop...really want to send it back....what else will come up? It was back ordered twice and waited over a month to receive and for all this headache. Your definitely better off with the Sony. You take care as well!:)

I do have one question though: Before I bought it, I saw in a couple of reviews for this machine on YouTube that the 9-cell battery has a built-in charge meter which lights up when you press on it or something like that... Mine does have something that looks like a battery meter at the bottom (on the battery) and has the 4 or 5 circular thingees which should supposedly light up, but the thing is, they never do. I even tried it with the charger disconnected as well as in the connected state. Just think it's kinda odd. Does anyone else have this problem or any ideas on how to make it work? Would really appreicate it.

Thanks so much in advance...

I too bought this machine a couple of weeks ago in Karachi and must say that I'm happy with it so far, fortunately, although the sound is kinda embarassing. Particularly because I was using an HP-510 prior to this one and to be honest, it sounded a WHOLE LOT BETTER than this, even though the former is a much simpler, basic machine! I'll try the driver fix that Rizwan.Shaukat has suggested above but I'm sure the hollow sounds that emanate from the 1537's speakers has more to do with the hardware on the machine than the drivers... Will give it a shot anyway. Just goes to show that Dell uses poor quality hardware on its machines, regardless of the cost. Shame on Dell! I had expected better, despite the negative reviews at least as far as audio is concerned, as this was my very first (and probably the LAST Dell machine). I think I'll stick with HP from now onwards simply because of its durability (the HP-510, as basic as it is, is a really sturdy and stable machine and in fact looks and feels stronger than the 1537, believe you me!) and quality...

Just an update: battery issue resolved as I discovered that the button at the bottom just needed to be pressed a little harder in order to budge.

As for the sound issue, try disabling all "enhancements" by right clicking on the  volume icon in the tray, select Playback Devices, Speakers and headphones and then go to the Enhancements tab. Worked for me as the sound is a lot louder now. However, the bottom line is that Dell just put really low quality (aka CHEAP) speakers on this machine. The ones on my old HP-510 were at least 10 TIMES better than this one even though this is a newer, more powerful (in terms of computing) system. Just goes to show how cheap Dell is (which is quite obvious with their outsourced, useless indian support as experienced by lots of uers on this forum), putting low quality hardware on its machines. This was the first and probably the last Dell laptop that I'm ever going to purchase. From now, I'll stick with HP for its durability and quality!! GO HP!

Thanks for that suggestion,  My issue is I am unable to keep my Dell BH200 bluetooth headphones connected.  I have managed to get them to play music from my I-Tunes music library two times, huge effort, including at least 3-hr. session with Dell tech support.  I also now have no sound coming from laptop speakers.  I am disgusted.  I am also no techie so I can easily cause more harm than good in attempting a fix.  I think I now have removed drivers.  Would you suggest installing the Microsoft drivers given my sound problems?