Help! My new Dell Studio XPS 13 Laptop keeps on freezing up!

Has anyone else noticed that when your machine hard locks, not even the flashing white/orange LEDs on the sides work?

Hi! I'm from mexico i have the same problem, my computer works to hot every time, the processor works at 100%... the screen sometimes is freezing up... I hate this computer... the video driver and bios are not solution for this problem, the dell support don't help me (in mexico) ...  i want my money... 

and sorry for my english is very bad

Hi! I'm from mexico i have the same problem, my computer works to hot every time, the processor works at 100%... the screen sometimes is freezing up... I hate this computer... the video driver and bios are not solution for this problem, the dell support don't help me (in mexico) ... so sorry but ... now i hate the cumputer and i hate the company...

Hi Ejugo,

I understand your frustation.

I've got to the point where I'm going to ask for a refund.

The motherboard was swapped out today and 5 mins after installing the nvidia graphics driver... it froze!

I already turned off all the hibernation features so that isn't the solution for me.

I do like the laptop, but I can't use it in this state.

Let's hope Dell will refund me with the minimum of fuss...

Hi Ejugo, I understand your frustation. I've got to the point where I'm going to ask for a refund. The motherboard was swapped out today and 5 mins after installing the nvidia graphics driver... it froze! I already turned off all the hibernation features so that isn't the solution for me. I do like the laptop, but I can't use it in this state. Let's hope Dell will refund me with the minimum of fuss...

minimum fuss? lol. i doubt it.

however, dell agreed to replace my 1340 with a 1640. im not entirely happy with this because the 1640 is big and heavy, but they gave me an upgrade to the 1080p rgb led. i guess thats noble. havnt arrived though, still being terrorised by the 1340. i was doing some coding on a web app today and the freeze actually caused some data loss!!! arghh!! :@

does this have anything to do with whats going on with our laptops?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/faulty-gpus-reportedly-cost-nvidia-another-$119-million/

Possibly.

I have given Dell one last chance to fix it on Monday by replacing the GPU.

If tjat does not work I can get my refund.

So lets wait and see.

Mate, replacing anthing on the laptop is unlikely to fix it, We've pretty much proved it's graphics drivers/ power settings/hibernation related.

My Studio XPS 1340 had run without crash for four days since installing latest drivers and changing:

Control Panel -> Power Options

away from dell settings

Hey kmtlondon,

Could you post the version of the drivers you are currently using?

I've downloaded the latest drivers off the nvidia website and also the laptopvideotogo site.

Both are causing freezing...

On a side note I'm really disappointed with Dell's technical customer service.

I spent over an hour on the phone to them (whilst I was at work!), spoke to one guy who initially told me they would have to swap out the motherboard again.

I told them I wasn't willing to do this and wanted a refund.

He then spoke to his team leader, who after 20 mins discussion back and forth between themselves said there was no option for me other than get the motherboard replaced.

I demanded to speak to the team leader who told me he that they needed to swap out the motherboard again and he was going to escalate to tech support, which would take 2-3 days!

I told him I didn't want the hassle of the motherboard being swapped out again and I wanted a refund for a laptop that was completely unusable.

He was very reluctant to give me a refund, but after 10 minutes of heated discussion he said they would swap out the GPU on Monday and if that didn't fix the issue he would offer me a refund.

I also requested all this in an email so I had some record of what he agreed, he promised me he would send me this in an email and had no problems doing so.

Needless to say I didn't get any such email, only the bog standard response email, saying thank you for contacting dell etc. Actually got sent 2 of them...

Anyways, if the GPU getting swapped out tomorrow doesn't fix my issue then I'll be requesting my refund again but making sure I get this recorded.

The funny thing is in my new work position I actually have a major input towards which hardware supplier we use for our office and server side equipment.

Dell not playing ball could cost them a lot more than the £857.93 I paid for the laptop. Probably well over 100 pc's and laptops and many more poweredge and blade servers.

Let's wait and see (although I'm getting very tired of it all)...

The drivers I'm using are:

Nvidia GeForce 9500M - v7.15.11.7982

Dell Wireless 1520 Mini-Card - v5.10.38.26

And i'm using the Windows Power Options, not the Dell Presets

kmtlondon,

You must be very lucky, I've just tried that configuration (never used the dell power presets anyway), and I still get freezes.

Oh well...

Well I called Dell XPS hardware support again, for my 5th service call. (3 for DVD drives, 1 HDD and now this)

Advised that the media keys were locking up again ("Wireless Power" and "Skip Back" either go very bright or off. wireless turns on/off randomly skips songs on VLC randomly, pressing anything is usless, even Eject stops working) and the wifi issue..

Now im having the Wifi card the MB and the media key palm rest replaced.

I nearly have a brandnew laptop again, add to that the new screen and speakers on the CEO's 1640 and.. well.... not looking too good.

Oh and the lazy guy from unisys tried to plam my service call off till tommorow... I pay for next day service for a reason!

Let you know how it palms out

[edit] Oh ill throw in my driver info.

Dell 1510 wifi: 22/10/08 5.10.38.26

9500M: 16/04/09 7.15.11.7982 (Dell official)

I havent tried the laptop video 2 go drivers (used to use them on my I9400) because i read they dont have Hybrid SLI working yet and Im sorta getting used to long battery life.

Video footage of the media keys playing up.

This time the Wireless button is stuck bright and its turning wireless on/off randomly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUr_30jZRYM

Atreidae - same thing happened to me little while ago.

Closed the lid and let it hibernate, then lifted the lid and come out of hibernation - it seemed to kick the media centre keys into action again properly (noticeable when the media key lights all light up once from left to right).  I then rolled back to the previous system restore and all was okay after that...

so far no further issues with it, even after having more Windows updates installed.  hopefully that works for you.

I'm running Windows 7 RC 64-bit.

well just had the tech out.. after adding the new card to my ACL. bam lockup

Interestingly ive ben running for 15 mins now in safe mode transfering files and running u torrent.. no crash

So either Im very silly and ive installed something to mess up the wifi only (wierd) or there is an app/driver that doesnt have a problem in safe mode that is related to traffic over the wifi..

Power management maybe?

]hmmm

lets wait and see.. it may still lock up

[edit] since when is that a swear word?

at least the media keys were fixed