Dell Studio XPS 16 consistently underperforming and now no longer turns on

Question

I bought a Dell Studio XPS 16 1645 i7 processor from dell in January of last year. It has been a continual disappointment over that time period. By March of 2011 the speakers no longer played any audio and I bought some computer speakers which allowed me to play sound at least, although not quite as mobile audio as one would hope for from a laptop. I didn't devote too much time into resolving this issue though and it was one of three which has irked me with the xps 16. Secondly, since October, it has consistently overheated by a considerable amount more than a lot of inferior laptops on similar tasks (I saw some threads which looked like they touched on this issue). Fortunately, none of these issues were so severe that I felt compelled to spend between a month and 4 years of my time waiting for dell to repair my laptop (previous experience with a dell fix was pretty horrendous, they came and picked up a faulty laptop charger, spent about a month examining it and then returned me my laptop with a new laptop charger, which was clearly the issue and I had made it clear before they insisted on taking the laptop off to their workshops). Having fixed the audio problem by purchasing additional speakers and the overheating problem by always using a laptop cooling stand (which confined the laptop to my desk and essentially rendered its ability to move from location to location redundant, an ability i tend to value somewhat highly in laptops) it was only natural that my XPS 16 should seemingly end its own life 3 months outside of its warranty, continuing to perform to the highest standard. 2 weeks ago, the laptop began to flicker when charging and would vary between charging and not charging every second (screen would flash brightness, charging icon at bottom would be turning on and off etc) The charge on the battery ran down and although it seemed to be saying it was charing then not charging then charging again, the laptop turned itself off, claiming critical battery levels, I tried to turn it on, it would get 10 seconds in then turn itself off because of the low battery. I left it charging overnight to no avail. I then took the battery, memory etc out as suggested by the dell hardware advice on the matter. None of this helped. To avoid the 2 month long wait that I anticipated would ensue if I asked dell to see if it needed a new laptop charger, I bought the correct charger on amazon for £28. This has not solved the problem and it is still completely unable to turn on. When the laptop charger is plugged in (either one incidentally), the two white circular lights on the side of the laptop at the back which would normally be white if powered, or flashing orange if on low power are flickering in exactly the same manner as the charging icon flickered just before the laptop unpowered and no longer turned on.Does anybody know of similar issues (I did run a forum search which didn't seem to uncover the same problem) and if not, does anybody know the right procedure to follow? (I accept that the right procedure may be, swallow, accept that your £1.1k laptop lasted 2 months of quality performance, 5 months of subpar performance, another 7 months of pretty poor performance and is now done, but some advice would be most welcome)Sorry for any underlying bitterness in the post, I guess I'm a bit frustrated that a laptop that I paid substantially more for than most of the dell laptop range has performed so clearly below what should be expected. I will warmly welcome any help and try to be as receptive as possible to advice. Thanks

DELL-Roshan L · Accepted Answer

Hi mossy270,

It sounds like though the charger is working the system is not getting power.Since the media buttons are not lighting up its a no power issue.

It could be an issue with the motherboard or just the power adapter port where you plug in your charger.

Try wiggling/pushing the adapter barrel where you have the blue light towards the system,if that does not make a difference than most likely the motherboard has gone bad.

Since the system is out of warranty,you would have to contact Out of Warranty Repair Service to get the motherboard replaced.

Let me know if you need any more help.

Thank You

Roshan

DELL-Roshan L · Accepted Answer

Hi Raz Razalli,

Welcome to the Community,

Mute (solid),Volume down (blinking),Volume up (solid) indicates the memory(RAM) has encountered problem.

You may try to reseat the memory modules.For steps to remove and reseat memory modules access Service Manual from this link(page 31) : www.dell.com/.../studio-xps-16

If reseating both memory modules does not help then try booting system with only one memory modules installed.If it still does not work try the same memory module on both slots.This will help to identify if its an issue with memory module or the memory module connector slot on the system board.

Let me know how it goes.

Thank You

DELL-Roshan L · Answer

Hi mossy270,

Welcome to the Community,

I understand your system is not turning on.To diagnose the problem just had few questions for you.

The new charger which you bought is that a Dell charger?The circular lights which keeps flashing is it white or amber?

What is the status of the light on the LED on Power adapter barrel( the part that plugs into your system)? Is it solid blue or does it not turn on?

Have you tried turning on the system only with the charger plugged in ( without the battery connected)?

On your system there are few media control buttons.Observe the mute,volume up,volume down button when you turn on the system and see if light on these three buttons come on and go off (see if there is pattern i.e if those button light up and one or more keeps flashing).

Let me know what you observe and we can take it from there.

Thank You

Roshan

mossy270 · Answer

yes it's a dell charger, and is, upon examination, identical to the original charger provided by dell.

The circular lights are flashing amber but i would describe them as flickering rathern than flashing. They previously flashed (fairly brightly) if the laptop was nearly out of power, now there's just a faint flickering which really needs to be in a dark room before you can see it.

The power adapter barrel LED is solid blue.

Yes i've tried turning on the system only with the charger plugged in without the battery connected, the system does not turn on and again the circles flicker amber.

None of the mute, volume up and volume down show any sign of life when I try to turn the system on.

Thanks for the quick reply Roshan

Raz Razalli · Answer

Good day, Roshan. Do you have a list of media button error codes? I'm getting mute (solid light), v.down (blinking), v.up (solid). I have a Dell 1640 I believe, XPS Studio 16

Raz Razalli · Answer

Good day, mossy 270. Do you have a list of media button error codes? I'm getting mute (solid light), v.down (blinking), v.up (solid). I have a Dell 1640 I believe, XPS Studio 16

Raz Razalli · Answer

Dear Roshan, Thank you for your input. I'll try out what you have proposed, as soon as possible, and will let you know the outcome. Cheers!

Raz Razalli · Answer

Hello Roshan. Your advice panned out. I've sorted out my XPS Studio 16 problems. Thanks.

DELL-Roshan L · Answer

Great to know it worked. Thank you for posting back.

Raz Razalli · Answer

Hello Roshan. I'm having a new problem with the 1640, XPS Studio 16. When I boot up, the progress bar on the start screen reaches around 75%, then the startup stops. I have had to turn off the laptop, and turn it on again to boot up into the OS. Any suggestions why this happens? Thanks, Wata

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