XPS 15 l502x freezes during gameplay

I already use all the options you suggested except for turning off threaded optimization. Will do that and see if it fixes the freezing, thanks.

I have better solution for this entire problem. Less overheating, no games freeze or no overclocking requires.

Before going further the issue, here my hardware & latest update driver version for my Dell XPS L502x:

- Intel(R) Core (TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00Ghz (Turbo Boost to 2.90Ghz).

- Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 (1.5GB) (Driver: v8.15.10.22696)

- NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (2GB). (Driver: v301.42)

- Realtek HD Audio: v2.68

- Seagate 750 GB SATA HDD.

- RAM 8GB (4x4GB).

- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-Bit).

I purchase my XPS on April 2011 & until now lot information and testing I already done since buy this product. But now, I found that is Intel i7 cause the problem. The problem games freeze cause by the 2 graphic card running together & nvidia control panel setting cause the issue.

The Solution:

-          Before start playing games, you must switch graphic by manual in NVIDIA Control Panel Setting.  Go to “3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings”, under ‘Global Settings’ & switch under ‘Preferred graphic processor:’ setting from ‘Auto-select’ to ‘High-performance NVIDIA processor’. After done playing games, switch to ‘Auto-select’ for balance battery saving & performance. The reason doing this because to remove using ‘Intel HD Graphic’ when playing games & also helps boost games performance with less overheat issue. Intel HD cause gives extra heating to fan when playing games.

-          Please insure you change graphic switch in ‘Global Settings’ because even you already did switch for individual settings in ‘Program Setting’ to NVIDIA but Intel HD still in use. Global setting only can disable Intel HD.

-          2nd, I found that the cause games freeze are because enable ‘Threaded optimization’ in NVIDIA Control Panel. If setting to ‘Off’, no more freezing. So, no overclocking needed. Also disable ‘Antialiasing – Gamma correction’ setting because this setting only affects OpenGL programs. Already did test all the games especially ‘Call of Duty’ series & found no more freezing. Also, no more problem freeze with ‘Alan Wake’ or ‘NFS The Run’.

-          Please insure in “Nvidia Control Panel > 3D Settings > Set PhysX Configuration” switch from ‘Auto-select’ to ‘GeForce’ & also give help reduce overheating and extra performance to the games that required PhysX like MAFIA II games.

-          To reset the graphic clock to original setting, use official nvidia software call ‘NVIDIA SYSTEM TOOLS’. You can download here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-system-tools-6.08-driver.html.

-          If

So far, no more freezing after apply this setting & hopes can solved your problems.

Regards,

Mohd Jamil.

thanks for info, can someone test this ,, I have tested all settings including probably these to no avail

i completely agree with you. i dont suppose anybody knows of some sort of tech watchdog that we can all report this atrocious company to? i feel like ive been robbed and theres nothing i can do even though i know who robbed me!

BRKMS:

FYI, your other post was deleted by the Forum moderator I believe due to the language used - even though it used substitute characters.   Dell is making unusually strict interpretations of their policy these days.

Also I doubt you paid 70K for your laptop - $2k maybe.

 For NVIDIA on Dell XPS 15 L502X

 To minimize or eliminate freezing while playing games, you must do the following:

 Install the latest NVIDIA driver, 301.42 as of this post.  

NVIDIA makes many improvements to the driver including how it performs with various games and fixes specific bugs relating to game freezes.   Please read the Release Notes that are available for each new driver update.    The Release Notes change for each driver update and provide valuable information about game problems fixed and what issues are known to still exist.   Some issues are specific to a given model GPU.

Now do the following:

Open NVIDIA Control Panel.  Change settings as follows:  (Be sure to Click on Apply at the bottom right of the screen after each change for it to be effective.)

Under MANAGE 3D SETTINGS,  on Global Settings tab

            Preferred graphics processor:

Select “High performance NVIDIA processor”

Under “Settings”

                        Feature                                     Setting

Antialiasing – Gama correction            OFF

Threaded optimization                            OFF

          Click on “Manage updates . . .”  link

                        On Preferences tab check boxes shown here and choose

                                    Check for updates “Once a day (default)”

            Under Set PhysX Configuration

                        Under “Select a PhysX processor:”

                                    Select “GeForce {your processor model number}” 

                                                        (Select “GeForce GT 525M”  for my XPS15)

Heat is your enemy.   Apparently the Intel CPU generates additional heat when gaming as NVIDIA Optimus (the GPU processor switching technology built into the mobile NVIDIA GPUs) switches to the NVIDIA processor but appears not to completely shut down the Intel graphics.   The settings above appear to minimize this problem.

When done gaming, it is a good idea to switch the Global Settings processor back to Auto-select to maximize battery performance.   If plugged in all the time it is not as important.

 This summarizes the information posted by mjamil85 on 06022012 in an easier to read form (I think).    There is a lot of logic to this due to the way the NVIDIA Optimus program works.

 This should help if each step is completed exactly as indicated above.

Just changed my settings to match this, I'll post how it goes. I was getting ready to start calling Dell for a refund or replacement product of another model (because really, crashing every 15 minutes kinda takes the fun out of gaming), so I checked this thread again, I'll see what happens now.

Just posting here to let you guys know that this fix, after doing exactly those steps as indicated, didn't change anything for me. 20 minutes of any game I have, still crashes like no problem. Now just the long and probably tiring road to calling support and actually getting a replacement for this broken product.

@ tacoslammer: I should have clarified that it was 70k+ in INR, not USD, I supposed that its not being USD would be obvious from the context but there you go.

As seriousmode posted none of these fixes work, and I already have the latest NVIDIA driver.

The gist of my deleted post was that the customers of Dell's L502X laptops were effectively scammed into getting a defective product with either a faulty architecture or a poorly implemented technology like 'Optimus', and it's incredibly frustrating that there has been no official word or a fix for this issue YET. Avoid Dell like the plague.  

BRKMS:

Thanks for clarification on currency.  My assumption is that we all talk US$.   Hence my finding that you may have been screwed by paying $70k US!!  :emotion-15:   Delled twice!  :emotion-2:

Sorry to learn the suggested changes don't work.   Apparently it worked for mjamil85 from his post that I summarized.   He may be on the right track in that the Intel graphics interferes with the Nvidia graphics.   Nvidia attempted to address that issue with Optimus that is supposed to switch from the Intel graphics to Nvidia's.   If you recall sometime back, Intel and Nvidia were tight coupled when Intel had no graphics capability.   When Intel developed a GPU they dumped Nvidia in favor of their own graphics generating some legal actions.   The squabble really has never ended.   What Nvidia has done is an "end around" Intel by implementing Optimus in mobile GPUs.  The attempt is to allow both GPUs to be used "as needed" to improve battery life for laptops.  

Bottom line is that the gaming freeze when using Nividia GPU may be an Intel issue.   I think Intel has no interest in fixing it because Intel wants their graphics processor to be the only processor used.   We see some more evidence of this since Intel has improved their GPU with the introduction of the Ivy bridge.   I am not sure if Dell is ever going to be able to fix this problem.   It appears the Intel Ivy bridge CPU/GPU may be more compatible with Nvidia Optimus since I have not seen any similar problems   The Ivy bridge uses a different chipset also. 

As a side note, recall that Intel had problems with the first generation of Sandy bridge processors.  Intel recalled them and hence the Dell model number differences in the XPS 15:  L501X being the 1st gen Intel processor and the L502X the 2nd.   It could be Intel never really fixed all the problems of the 1st gen Sandy bridge CPUs.   In Ivy bridge, Intel may have completed the corrections.

On your deleted post, it is interesting I got an email containing the complete deleted post.   In me Dell account settings I get emails for any posts made to this forum.  I guess the email went out before the moderator could stop it.   So why delete posts if emails are sent before the post is deleted.   Go figure.

Also email techcrunch , cnet and others with link to this thread and also can include links from the nvidia forums . There are many there.

Here is example

forums.nvidia.com/index.php

Include the fact that they are deleting posts demanding explanation from Dell . That just adds up to media hype these tech news sites are after.

i too have the same problem

i purchased this laptop in august 2011 and it ran fine till november  2011

after that i took a break from gaming and last month (may 2012) when i checked, my laptop had this problem

so i don't know when exactly it started malfunctioning but it did work properly for the first 3 months

now i have done everything that people on this thread have suggested (updating drivers, updating BIOS, running games on battery)

i was able to run crysis at 1366 X 768 at high setting while running on battery

but with the laptop plugged in, it barely lasted 20 minutes at low settings and then i started experiencing 2 second audio loops, video judder and subsequent crashes

i haven't tried the global settings of nVidia control panel that tacoslammer suggested above because i don't think that'll help since the games run fine on battery and optimus has got nothing to do with the power source i guess. still i'll give it a shot

so what should i do now?

i have around 65 days of warranty left

should i get the MB replaced?

that didn't seem to work for everyone

should i not give Dell support a chance and go ahead with underclocking the GPU?

also, has anyone tried rolling back to the drivers that came installed in the new laptop? i was thinking of doing so because the new laptop worked just fine.

so what should i do?

OJASV,

You said:  ". . . i haven't tried the global settings of nVidia control panel that tacoslammer suggested above because i don't think that'll help since the games run fine on battery and optimus has got nothing to do with the power source i guess. still i'll give it a shot . . . "

I don't believe I was addressing any power source concerns in the NVIDIA control panel settings post.   Someone already reported those changes did not make any difference, yet for one person it apparently did.  That is one of the reasons I mentioned in a later post about an Intel/NVIDIA problem.

You may want to check out the NVIDIA forum links.   It appears this problem is NOT an isolated Dell problem.   From the NVIDIA Forum, it seems there are many manufacturers whose laptops have the freeze problem with certain games.    As I mentioned in a recent post, it may be more of an Intel chipset problem associated with the Intel Sandy bridge processors the interaction with NVIDIA Optimus.   I don't believe Dell engineers are investigating this potential connection.

so how do i solve this problem, man?