Online official Dell drivers don't work on XPS 17 (A14 L702X) -- please provide latest OEM drivers!!!

Yup same issue here. Good thing I paid the $15 for the worthless driver discs....

Someone proposed a very hands on solution on this forum, but if you fail it likely voids your warranty. :/

forum.notebookreview.com/.../562138-dell-xps-17-l702x-thread-555.html

Sorry for the long post, but im not really happy here.

I'm another of the many XPS 1702x owners that reinstalled Windows to get rid of all the bloatware that ships with the system and had the same problem as reported here and in the notebookreview forums where i couldnt install any drivers off the CD's or Dell website.

It seems as if something in the A14 BIOS that is now shipping with new XPS17's has changed the hardware so only the packages in C:\Dell\Drivers work. The A14 bios hasnt been released to the public yet but is shiopping on all new systems so they better sort this out pretty quckly as there are a lot of confused an unhappy people around now. In the thread linked to by John_Doh above, someone has posted a full backup of the C:\Dell\Drivers folder so i was able to use them to get everything but QuickSet working. Quickset required a separate fix which is also covered in the same thread.

Before i found the above, i did call Dell XPS support and they asked me several times why i had reinstalled and i dont think they liked my response when i said mainly as i have never liked Dell factory builds. Its my system and i should be able to reinstall whenever i want without going through such garbage and accusatory tones from their technicians.

They eventually took control of my system and tried to install the latest drivers (unsuccessfully) from the Nvidia website and wouldnt listen when i said that i wanted the Optimus dual graphics to work which this would likely break. They went off to check on something and then disconnected the phone call after around 30 minutes of me waiting. They advised on the GoTo Assist chat session that this had been escalated to higher up and then disconnected the remote support session as well.

I didnt get a support case number and there is no history on my account that i even called them so im guessing they just gave up and disconnected me when they had no idea what was going on. At least i ended up finding the solutions and my XPS is now running pretty well but stuck with the one version of drivers as nothing else works.

Way to go Dell, what a mess you have created for yourself and your users.

Cheers,

Chris

The same thing basically happened to me Chris. I'm just mad because i don't want to be stuck with the old version of drivers, especially the NVIDIA one, because it doesn't run all the new games that well like Skyrim and ACR.

As of 12 December 2011 the Intel HD 3000 driver appears to install from Microsoft update and sound is also working on my system.  I cannot get the nVidia card to work.

This really is appalling Dell.

Hi Terry,

Yes, it seems anyone with the A14 BIOS is having the same issues after manually reinstalling Windows using the OEM Windows 7 DVD we purchased with our Systems as well as standard Microsft retail / volume license media.

All the drivers you have linked to above installed successfully with the exception of the Intel HD 3000 and Nvidia GT 55xM. The Intel package just reported this is not a supported system and the Nvidia package reported it could not locate any compatible hardware.

We can install the Intel HD drivers from either Windows Update or direct from Intel however the only Nvidia drivers that work are the v269 drivers that were located in C:\Dell\Drivers when the systems were shipped however most people that reinstalled didnt backup these before reinstalling as we expected to be able to get these either off the CD's that shipped with the system or from the Dell Website.

There was also a problem with the audio drivers as the obnes above installed but didnt produce any sound at all which i solved by getting the latest drivers from RealTek and then the latest Soundblaster drivers.

The Dell System Software you linked to cannot be downloaded for me as any format i try always results in a 404 error.

There is also an issue with QuickSet from the Drivers and Downloads page as it also reports an unsupported system and the only known fix for this involves using a custom MST file created by a user on the notebookreview forums.

EDIT: Also, there are no visible options in the BIOS relating to Optimus and i have tried installing in the order listed above as well as multiple other install orders.

I have a few questions regarding this.

All of you have XPS 17s shipped to you with the A14 Bios?

All of you made the decision to manually reinstall Windows on the system?

When you reinstalled the drivers did you install the following drivers in the following order?

Chipset driver  (Huron River)

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

Dell Notebook System Software

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

Intel Turbo Boost driver

www.dell.com/.../DriversHome

Video drivers  

Intel HD Graphics 3000

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

Nvidia Driver

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

audio driver

www.dell.com/.../DriversHome

touchpad driver

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

Remaining drivers dependant of system configuration.  

One other thing, do any of you notice any options in the BIOS that mentions Optimus at all?

Please let me know what drivers and driver order was installed. If needed I will check with engineering to check what BIOS rev you should be having on your systems, and where the drivers can be located for download.

TB

yes i have the A14 bios.

yes i manually reinstalled windows 7.

I don't need the intel turbo boost driver because its just an applicatiion and the dell notebook system software doesn't exist when i tried to download that so i've never used those drivers. Intel 3000 and nvidia drivers don't install so i skipped those. The audio drivers install but there's no sound. Also, i don't see anything about optimus in the bios.

Thanks for the reply Terry.

Hello Terry,

I too opted to do a clean install of my system and wiped the hard disk clean (including the recovery partition).

I am on the A14 BIOS which makes no mention of optimus in the BIOS.  The Intel and the nVidia drivers from the DELL website you have posted above do not work.

I installed the drivers in the following order:

Chipset driver  (Huron River)

Dell Notebook System Software

Then experienced the same issues as the people above.

As of 12 December 2011, Microsoft Windows Update appears to install the drivers necessary for the Intel graphics and the  audio to work.

There is a workaround for the nVidia drivers which requires you to "hack" the drivers to add the necessary hardware strings for the new version of this laptop:

%NVIDIA_DEV.1246.01% = Section049, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1246&SUBSYS_05701028

%NVIDIA_DEV.1246.02% = Section050, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1246&SUBSYS_05711028

%NVIDIA_DEV.124D.02% = Section049, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_124D&SUBSYS_05701028

%NVIDIA_DEV.124D.03% = Section050, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_124D&SUBSYS_05711028

and add the necessary identification strings:

NVIDIA_DEV.1246.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M  "

NVIDIA_DEV.1246.02 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M   "

NVIDIA_DEV.124D.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M   "

NVIDIA_DEV.124D.02 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M    "

NVIDIA_DEV.124D.03 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M     "

But this is a somewhat inglorious fix.

The audio and intel graphics drivers from Windows Update should not be used. The intel driver causes problems when on battery power with certain 1080p displays. It not only reduces battery life, but causes the infamous 'flicker' problem.

The ancient NVIDIA driver isn't really worth being used -- the one that came with the L702x before the wipe is much better and nearly identical to a certain unnamed modded driver you can find online with full Optimus (and latest games) support.

The audio driver from Microsoft is generic and terrible. Get the one from Realtek's website at the very least.

Continued from above post: Also, that inf modification doesn't account for the 550m, which many L702x laptops have.

Cheers Gabe,

I haven't used the laptop on battery only yet so that will explain why I haven't had any flicking.  I'm going to set the system to always use the nVidia card anyway.

I patched the latest drivers from the nVidia website to work (I have a GT 555M - but lifted the strings for a GT 550M as well) with my card instead of using the old Dell ones.  They work, but as you modify one of the ini files, Windows does not recognise them as fully signed drivers.

I'm going to download the Realtek driver now and give that a go.

@ Terry - The fix is really a very easy one.  Dell need to post all the drivers which are now shipping for the XPS 17 to the support website.  You already have them somewhere as every system is released with them on.... they just need posting up to replace the awful old ones on the website.

Leebobs

I am checking with engineering to see if these systems should have shipped with the A14 bios at all.  I am waiting to hear back from them. I have spoke to Bill B and he has posted a statement regarding the problem over on Notebook Review.  Something to consider until we find out more.  Here is the link to Bill's post.

forum.notebookreview.com/8154070-post5603.html

Hi all. Can someone try something for me, please, and post back findings? I think if we can roll the BIOS back to a previous version, we can get drivers to install. I just need someone to verify this works. I'm pretty sure it does, but the DOS switch I'm using here is pretty old and may have been changed since my days in tech support. I can go check one out from the hardware lab and try myself later. I'd do it now, but I have meetings for the rest of the day.

1. Create a DOS bootable USB key.

2. Download and copy BIOS A12 to the root of the key.

3. Boot to the USB key and run Y:\L702X_A11.exe /forceit (where y is the drive letter where the executable is located). If the switch is not recognized, try /forcetype or /jabil instead.

4. Follow the prompts and post back if it worked and anything I may have missed.

*Note- this may not work for the same reasons the posted drivers do not work.

TB

Hi Terry,

Whilst i do appreciate your assistance on this issue, i am not willing to try rolling back the BIOS until we get more information as to what is going on here. If Dell have mistakenly sent out a significant amount of l720x laptops with a BIOS that shouldnt even be released, I have more concerns with Dell as a company than just not being able to install drivers on my freshly rebuilt laptop.

As most of us have already got ourselves fully operational using the original drivers that were posted on the notebook review forums, i would need a really good reason to roll back as well as exactly what changes are in the A13 & A14 releases that havent made it to the drivers and downloads section yet. If we had applied the A14 release ourselves as an unofficial release i could understand but we received the laptops with this configuration that you are asking us to roll back from.

I work in an enterprise organisation with over a thousand Dell desktops, laptops and servers across asia pacific and have never seen anything like this before although this is my first ever consumer range device i have ever purchased. If the laptop itself wasnt so nice and working well once i finally found my own solutions to the problems caused by the A14 BIOS, i would be considering sending it back at this point.

Once again, i do appreciate your assistance and apologies if it seems im taking my frustrations out on you however someone really needs to provide us with some proper answers here.

Cheers,

Chris