Dell Precision 5510 Owner's Lounge

Go to the "Details" tab or the "Processes" tab (Windows 8+) and you will see a list of everything running...
Click on the "CPU" column to sort the most busy process at the top. ("System Idle Process" is OK to be using huge CPU on the details tab, that just represents all of the unused CPU power.)

If the machine is sitting completely idle, I think you should see CPU utilization around 1-2% with perhaps occasional spikes.

 

My own 2cts:

Ordered a top-level one for work (Xeon, 16GB, no touchscreen, nvME 512GB) with 3yrs pro support.
Ordered June24, invoiced june 30, receive july 5 (Long weekend).

Multiple issues from the beginning - fans constantly on and noisy with the ethernet dongle plugged it, even when idle.
Multiple error messages in all diagnostic reports. Why on earth would Windows report “poor rating” (CPU, gaming graphics, graphics, disk) or even “very poor rating” (memory) from such a top-specs machine???
Hardware report shows CRAZY temperature, including ambient. A couple of BSODs when trying to update drivers and firmware - which eventually never installed. I even reinstalled windows as per their recommendations. (Spent hours on phone/email with Dell ProSupport.)

July 20 I was borderline on returning it for a refund but as I had the ProSupport I sent it for repair. Took a couple of days to organize - receive the return box and label. Sent the PC out on July 25 or 26
I returned from a short 3 days trip on July 30 with the computer having been returned from repair and LEFT ON MY PORCH with no signature!
Repair notes say main system board, hard drive, fan and heatsink have been replaced and windows reinstalled.

Upon trying it again - three BSOD in a few hours - same fan issue as before (constantly on when ethernet dongle is plugged in - even if the new fan is a bit less noisy), still same drivers update notifications that come poping up and refuse to install, even a FSCK returns unrepairable errors!
I can;t even believe the "PRO" support "Advanced resolution Center" would send out a PC with so man errors !

I have asked for a refund now as I don;t have time to waste with this Lemon, but they are giving me a hard time with a "Your request (august 2) is beyond our 30 days policy" - which starts on INVOICE DAY!
So with this nonsense policy, from the beginning my 30days return warranty was reduced to 24 days for me - they shipped to days after the invoice and over the long week end it took 4 days!
Out of these 24 days , the PC had been in shipment to/from them for repair for 4 or 5 days and actually in their hands for repair for 3 more days!

I should have returned it from refund from the beginning but I have been delusional thinking these were just unlucky errors - I thought " Dell top-of-the-line PC should be better than that let's give them a chance fixing it!". I'll never do such mistake again

Actually better, I should have told them I never received it back (after it was left on my porch), sold this lemon on Craigslist, and get a new one from them - Honesty does not pay!

It has been now more than a week arguing with the Customer service to get my refund - this $2800 (with licenses and pro support) paper weight has been in its box since on my desk taking dust

 

The ethernet dongle uses the USB-C / Thunderbolt port. I quickly discovered that anything plugged into that port creates around 3W extra power drain (and that is without having any data passing through). Intel appear to have forgotten to apply their power management skills to the Thunderbolt chip which might be warming up. Did you check that the Thunderbolt firmware, not just the driver, was up-to-date?

John

 

Went to resource monitor under CPU and found that a process called svchost.exe (netsvcs) is in itself using ~13% of the CPU. Time to scour the net on how to remedy this power suck.

Thanks!

 

svchost could be any number of Windows services. To find out which one it is, right-click it on the "Details" tab and select "Go to services". Then scroll the whole list and see which ones are highlighted. One of those is running the CPU high, but you cannot tell which one from Task Manager, you will have to do trial and error.

Type "Services" on the start menu to get to an applet you can use to start/stop/enable/disable background services.

 

Turns out it is Windows update, wuauserv. When I stop this action it drops my CPU usage down to 0 or 1%.

Odd thing is that when I try click on the icon by the clock to have it search for new updates...it searches forever with no result. I think there is something wrong with windows update itself on mu machine.

I followed this: https://blog.krissmilne.tech/windows/windows-7/windows-7-stuck-on-checking-for-updates

I also turned windows update to "check for updates but let me decide whether to download and install".

I now have 0 or 1% CPU usage when machine is idle. Hope this lasts. *fingers crossed*

 

If you've never done updates before on this install... I have found that the first time Windows 7 checks for updates it can sometimes take *hours* (and it will run at high CPU during that time). Maybe let it run overnight and see if you have an update list in the morning.

 

I was able to search for updates using the windows updater, and it said I'm all up to date at this point. Thanks a ton. Extremely helpful!

New question. When you push the volume keys (F2 and F3) and the brightness keys (F10 and F11), does an on-screen scale appear showing where you are in the respective scale?

Something like this: http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/VolumeControlIndicator.jpg

On my M3800 it does but not on my 5510. Kinda irritating.

 

I can tell you that Windows 8 and up include this on-screen scale as part of the OS, but Windows 7 does not. You'll have to check the Dell download page and see if there is a piece of software that you can install that provides this.

 

I've got the Fn key OSD on my 5510 + Win 10 - it's quite small and near the top left of the screen so easily overlooked. It's probably in one of the optional Dell software packages which will be listed under the 5510 downloads. Perhaps the Dell Foundation Services Application.

John