Dell Studio 1557

[kizwan]

Catalyst 10.8. No overclock.

[OneCool]

Another new BIOS

A08

Fixes and Enhancements
Fix:
Password setting problem in BIOS using Numeric keyboard and keypad.

I havnt had any problems with this?

[umirza85]

I got fed up with the bsod happening every few hours, sometimes even when msn was the only thing running, just sent my laptop back to the depot. Hopefully they fix the issue.

[maxilick]

My 1557 has been a trustworthy notebook to date, I reluctantly gave it to my daughter having replaced it with an Alienware m15x. Thanks for all the info in this thread.

[umirza85]

Well I got my laptop back from the depot today, along with a paper that says my cpu fan, heat sink, and system board, and palm rest were replaced. Ive been using my computer for a couple hours with everything on and havent experienced any crashes so far. Also my fan isnt constantly going crazy.
And best of all my subwoofer is actually working now, the speakers sound so much better now, its not all highs the sub rounds the sound out so nicely. Its actually powerful enough to vibrate the palm rest a little bit.

[wecaz]

I have an urgent question about the replacement of studio 1557 core i7. Dell is offering me the same configuration as a replacement for overheated system. I need some good advice.....

Here is my thread.

[kizwan]

Hi guys, I found a tweaked driver for ATI Mobility GPU called Xtreme-G. Currently only ver 10.5 available. I haven't tested it yet but I'm going to later. We'll see if I can increase the 3DMark06 Score.

(Not related to tweaked driver I mention above)
I played a couple of games & collected several data:-

 SC2 1280x720 Medium
 Campaign - 26 - 39 FPS
 Temp - CPU 51 - 78 Celcius
        GPU 60 - 102 Celcius

 Bad Company 2 1024x768 Medium
 Single Player - 23 -28 FPS
 Temp - CPU 51 - 70 Celcius
        GPU 57 - 93 Celcius

The 102 Celcius is actually a spike. The actual range are 80 - 90 Celcius when playing above games. Thanks to the fan which contained the temperature in the range. I think we can lower the temperature a little bit by undervolting the GPU using AMD GPU Clock Tool. However I don't know whether this tool support our 4570 or not since I haven't tested it yet. LOL.

[The Streets]

I have this laptop (specs in my sig) and for the most part I really like it, it's fast and responsive.

But I've had a serious problem with it overheating and the power cutting out, particularly when it's on my bed (but even on a flat surface sometimes).

I've already had my fan and heatsink replaced before. Should I have them replaced again? Are there any software fixes?

Please advise as it's kinda ruining my experience with this laptop, and I like it otherwise. Thanks.

[kizwan]

But I've had a serious problem with it overheating and the power cutting out, particularly when it's on my bed (but even on a flat surface sometimes).

Whether you like it or not, put your notebook at top of cooling pad when you use it on bed. Bed surface can suffocate your notebook. You don't have to plugged in the cooling pad (to USB port) at all if you don't like it. At least it provide better air flow underneath the notebook. This notebook have serious flaw on the casing design. The bottom of this notebook too low to allow good air flow. And the high power consumption by ATI 4570 doesn't help at all. Yes, I like this notebook too.

[The Streets]

My old laptop (Inspiron 6400, 2ghz core 2 duo, 2 gig ddr2 ram, x1400 ati radeon mobility 256 GB) could be used on a bed all day and night without issue, and besides, like I said, the Studio 1557 will occasionally bug out even on a table surface...

I'm getting a sense of the Xbox 360 'RROD' about this laptop, like the innards and heat management are not properly designed at all.

So what's the fix, that there's no fix? Do you think if I raised a stink with Dell that they'd send me out a brand new, updated Dell Studio, with the problem fixed? It's a great laptop really, other than this one issue - bit like the 360 then, ha!