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DELL Studio XPS 16 1645 i7 power problem
Update 4 (2/13/2010):
Bios A07 shows a significant improvement with the 130w charger.
There is still throttling that need to be analyzed, most likely this throttling is a machine limitation.
For now, the system is able to run near the advertised specs.
Please post your experience with the updated BIOS.
Update 3:
Dell is finally listening, they are replacing the 90 watt charger with a 130 watt slim charger with a promise of a BIOS fix version A07 that is promised to fix the problem.
Will update upon the testing of the BIOS.
here is how to place a replacement request in USA and Canada
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19320784.aspx
Update 2
DELL thinks a BIOS release will fix the problem and is working on it now.
ALL the people who performed all kind of testing in NBR assures the engineers at DELL that a BIOS fix will not fix the problem completely without the use of a charger of higher power. Using Throttlestop the system was able to consume 110-120 watts under load.
Some people will accept a BIOS that throttle up to the maximum power of the charger used so for a 90 watts charger the system throttles at 90 watts, for a 130 watts, it throttles at 130 watts.
Some people are planning a class action browse the thread for more information.
Update
Here is our group findings so far
1. The power conservative BIOS forces the system to throttle to 7x when the power consumption is around 90 watts due to one or more of the following reasons:
a. Limitation of the power supply capability
b. Limitation of the motherboard to accept more than 90 watts (This reason is from DELL, but we suspect it)
c. To increase the battery life
d. To limit heat generation
obviously DELL should be blamed for poor design if it is a, b, or d.
2. Thanks to unclewebb there is a software now to unlock the throttle, this one will almost certainly put the 90 watt charger to rest or fire.
3. Due to the power limitation, it looks like the people with the RGBLED are most affected by the problem due to the added power consumption.
4. DELL is aware of the problem, but according to them it only affects a small percentage of people that put the system on full performance.
5. DELL keeps saying that the 130 watts adapter is not the solution of the problem, which is quite true as it needs both an adapter and BIOS update.
6. After a long wait, DELL acknowledged that there is a problem and that they will address it soon without announcing a time frame.
7. We as a group lack the trust in DELL fixing the problem to our satisfaction.
I think most of our group will agree on the above.
With all the above said, i am quite happy that mine was returned back to DELL after a frustrating experience with DELL level 1, 2, and 3 technical support. This doesn't represent the other members as most of them are happy with their notebook but expect action from DELL.
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We are among the first to receive our DELL studio XPS 16 1645 with i7. We have some benchmark results that strongly suggest that the equipped 90W charger is not providing enough power to the system. To summarize, the performance of the system is correlated to the brightness of the monitor which suggests that the power provided is not enough so when the monitor is dimmed it allows more power to be consumed by the system. Here is some findings:
Here is the findings, if you stress the laptop using 3Dmark06 the performance is correlated to the brightness of the screen, here is the findings
Full brightness: 5003 3DMark '06
SM2.0: 1664
SM3.0: 2189
CPU: 2568
Lowest brightness: 5405 3DMark '06
SM2.0:1834
SM3.0: 2326
CPU: 2785
To further see the effect of the power consumption, i ran Crysis benchmark for two cases with one difference, the power source battery and minimum brightness vs charger and maximum brightness. I used the exact same settings for power plan (High performance and optimize performance for powerplay)
On Charger, Battery full, maximum brightness
Run #1- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 68.75
Run #2- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 30.24
Run #3- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 20.38
On Battery, minimum brightness
Run #1- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 80.31
Run #2- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 50.93
Run #3- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 29.50
To further test the claim that the power is not enough, an external monitor is connected and to our surprise the system showed its muscles with best performance.
The correlation to the between the brightness and performance, and the heat generated from the charger strongly suggested that the charger is not providing enough power under full load.
It will be a shame if the power adapter is not adequate specially after the whole mess of delaying orders.
[Poll]
rbgatti
15 Posts
0
March 1st, 2010 11:00
On the "Order Details" screen, assuming your order is in a "Shipped" status, you should see a link that states "Invoices". Select it and you'll see an updated invoice for your order. On the bottom, you'll find the "System Service Tags" below the last detail item above the final totals.
Mule9
10 Posts
0
March 1st, 2010 11:00
How did you get your service tag before receiving the laptop? I've got a laptop on it's way now, but I don't see a service tag anywhere.
F4guy
2 Posts
0
March 1st, 2010 12:00
Sign in with your email address/password and select edit profile. Then select site options and scroll down to email configuration and check "NO" to receive email notification and all remaining options - worked for me.
Thirumal
9 Posts
0
March 1st, 2010 18:00
Thanks a lot Mr Mule9.....:emotion-2:
jdb1978
5 Posts
0
March 2nd, 2010 00:00
Unfortunately that doesn't work for me, when I select 'site options' I get an error, the same one I've been getting for weeks now.. It says to contact the site admin but there is no address and I've logged a call but had zero response. Looks like I'm stuck with having to delete them as they come in :(
Thirumal
9 Posts
0
March 2nd, 2010 02:00
Hi All,
Could anyone please let me know, the new 130W adapter is a slim one or Brick size one....
Dell promised to deliver the new 130W adapter today, if they deliver Brick size 130w adapter so what i have to do.
anyone please advice on this?
Thanks
P.Thirumal
Lance Lambert
1 Message
0
March 2nd, 2010 06:00
Where can we get the 130w other than asking Dell to send it to us? I didn't find it on any website, not even here.
Also what's the 130w part number? Just for my easy reference when I'm looking for one out there.
I purchased my 1645 from Dell on one country and I'm now living in another country which doesn't have an official Dell. So I don't think they are willing to send me a 130w with a different address than my original purchase address.
susuman
17 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2010 02:00
If you received a brick 130W, just call them to replace the slim 130W might work.
DELL-Todd S
1.8K Posts
0
March 3rd, 2010 05:00
Nikolay,
First, I must ask that you edit your message to remove the masked profanity.
Second, those images make it look like there is more going on with your system then what this thread covers so all I can recommend is that you contact Tech Support and report those problems happening after the service call and request they escalate the matter to someone that can resolve it.
Todd
nikolay.t
19 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2010 07:00
OK, Todd, I am sorry about that. You've done to us only good so far, so you are not the one to argue with. But hope you understand my frustration, because local Tech Support have been useless to me so far. Anyways, I am calling them again for a new screen and hopefully adapter.
Nikolay
rosli
1 Message
0
March 3rd, 2010 21:00
After complaining to Tech Support, Dell had shipped me the brick 130w adapter in exchange for the 90w unit that came with the laptop.
I had contacted Dell Tech Support Malaysia to request that they exchange the brick 130w adapter for the slim version, their reply is they don't have any supply of the 130w slim adapter. What gives? How do I exchange the brick for the slim adapter.
I am not happy with this whole issue of Dell shipping out the laptop with an inadequate 90w power adapter and now customers have to resolve Dell's obvious mistake.
susuman
17 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2010 23:00
Maybe you have to keep the 90W for the moment, and request them to ship a slim 130W adapter when the stock is available. I received the 130W slim version to replace the 90W in my company, but it has another issue, the 130W cause the external LCD flickers.
BD91
6 Posts
0
March 4th, 2010 02:00
Just got my adapter, and it's indeed a HUGE brick... I guess I can't call back to the tech support either 'cause they said it was the only one in their system... guess I'll just use the 130W brick when I'm at home and carry the slim 90W adapter around even though it'll limit performance :(
DELL-Todd S
1.8K Posts
0
March 4th, 2010 11:00
Every region of the world is different and each has their own regulatory review boards that electronics have to go through to get validated. So each will have different inventories and parts availability. If the slim line versions are not approved or they don't carry those parts at all then they will send you what they have available. That's simply the way it is. If they are out of stock on slimline they may be able to exchange them at a later time but that is up to each region to decide. I have no visibility to their inventory data or parts lists.
Thirumal
9 Posts
0
March 4th, 2010 19:00
If you received a brick 130W, just call them to replace the slim 130W might work.
Thanks Suseman, They gave the brick size one, i call them and asked for a slim one and they said will send a slim one if they have a stock else i have to wait for the production.
Also my doubt is I am using A07 Bios + 90 W adapter will it cause a problem, i tried to downgrade the A07 Bois to A06 Bios, but the software does not allows to do that..
Please advice on this....
Thanks..
P.Thirumal