Dell Studio XPS 1640 keyboard has started to melt!

Was happily surfing on my Studio XPS today when I spotted this:



At first I thought a component must be overheating inside the laptop but it's above the CD drive which I hardly ever use. What the heck could have got that hot to melt a couple of keys! I don't think I will be using the laptop on my lap any more.

Strongly worded email to Dell sent.

 

Woahhhh thats crazy, that definitely shouldnt be happening.

 

Indeed and I've also noticed that dust has got under my edge to edge plastic screen again. This is already my fourth screen because of various problems. I have requested a new laptop from Dell after all the problems I've had along with this very worrying heat related issue.

 

I have noticed that you have two drives listed in your sig (SSD + HDD).
Is one of them sitting inside ODD bay by any chance?

 

No the DVD drive is still in this 1640. If there was a hard drive in there I could maybe understand it.

 

Could something have fallen on it? Hard to imagine it getting that hot !!

 

If something had fallen on the keyboard it would have broken the keys not given them that gentle curved shape and stress lines.

Plus I look after my gadgets

 

That picture definitely looks like actual melting from overheating, not from physical damage from something being dropped on it.

I have no clue what would be underneath there that would cause the overheating, but its certainly quite disconcerting.

 

Ater looking at that picture again, I have to agree with you. !

 

On a completely unrelated note, how the heck do you keep the speaker grill so clean?? Tell me your secret.

 

Im shocked, I heard that this laptop gets hot, but never imagined sth like that!!

 

agreed!!!!

 

Not sure about his secret, but I printed out two clear labels with XPS logos on them and just stuck them over the speaker grills (aside from the "open" part at the top of each). Seems to work pretty well so far.

 

Have a pic please? Would like to see.
Thanks

 

yea im keen to see a pic of this too.

 

In my head, I dont like it. But yeah lets see those pics!

 

Sorry but that does not look like its melting from internal temps, but instead from some external influence.

The plastic below the keys, and on the edge of the speaker grill is not warped or discolored at all, and its in direct contact with the chassis where those buttons are actually hovering above it.

It looks like something hot was set on those two keys.

 

The speaker grill seems to be a different material, as is possibly the base beneath the keys. The keys are thin material . And I'm not sure why one wouldn't expect the grill to be affected if something hot was placed on the top edge of those keys.

 

Plenty of parts on this laptop approach the temperature of the sun when doing anything demanding (and I won't even go into the heat of the poor, underpowered PSU). This doesn't surprise me as much as it should...

 

Ah yes that would be my portable USB blow torch! I never have anything hot anywhere near my laptop and you can see from the melting that it hasn't come from above the keys. There are no heat marks on them at all. The heat has definitely come from within the laptop.

I keep the speaker grill clean by using compressed air.

 

Bearing in mind that I've already had six engineer visits for various faults with my laptop this is the response I received from Dell technical support having emailed them the photo along with a request for a replacement machine (I also mentioned the dust under the screen which they've fixed in the past):

After all the problems I've had with the machine (flickering screen, dust inside screen, uneven backlight, dodgy speakers, faulty motherboard x 2, new PSU) they now expect me to send it away for goodness knows how long, even though I have on-site warranty.

An absolute joke.

 

Call them instead of emailing them. Speak to a manager. I don't get how people get any results emailing anyone.

 

On phone now...

 

Replacement machine is on it's way - not sure what spec they will send me.

 

If the OP knew the reason the keys were melted as such, I doubt he'd make this thread... To suggest outside influence seems a bit silly

Considering the amount of heat the SXPS16 generates during use, I'm not surprised. I am a bit worried, but not surprised. Is it possible that the speaker wiring/components are faulty, causing excessive heat buildup?

 

This heat thing really baffles me, I use mine all day long. The case is barely warm as is the 90W power supply? Can't understand what people are complaining about with heat.

 

It depends a bit on how you use it. With web browsing and MS Office work, the system will not get warm at all.

If you push it a little harder with either CPU or GPU intensive tasks (or both), things will change. The palmrest stays relatively cool, but I have noticed the front of the system (where the BT & WLAN leds are) will get quite hot. Mucht hotter than the palm rest anyway.

Still this shouldn't cause the keyboard to melt, but there is definately heat.

 

I don't understand how the melting could occur right there; that area is directly above the optical drive and wireless card, all the high heat components are either in the center or opposite side of the sxps 16.

At least they're giving you a replacement. Best of luck with the new sxps 16 >_<

 

As an idea it could be a faulty LED that is overheating causing the issue. That area appears to be where one of the backlit LEDs would be located. Other than that I have no clue why it would heat up there. A clue that it is coming from inside the computer is the way that the plastic is curving, usually when heat is applied to plastic it curves towards whatever source is producing the heat.

Oh, another thing that works well for the speaker grills is Cyber Clean (just be carefull with it).

www.cyberclean.tv

 

lol whoa, I never thought something like this would happen, is there a chance that it was already like that when you got it?

 

No it happened just before I made the post and I had been using the laptop for about 6 months at the time.

Dell eventually sent me a new laptop.

 

I've had a similar occurance on two laptops recently.

The first was a diagonal melt across the keyboard of a HP Compaq 6710b which affected about 10 keys and no apparent reason can be found for it and so our IT department replaced the keyboard.

The second was this morning with an HP Compaq 6510b where the lower edge of the screen surround just to the left of the right-hand hinge has melted. However this has not affected the LCD screen at all.

Our IT department is at a loss to explain what is happening - any ideas anyone?

 

I had a Dell tech come out and replace my HD since it's still under warranty. When he asked if I had any other problems, I complained about it getting hot. He said it was a common problem since these systems have poor ventilation. I'm not sure what territory he all covers, but he said he just replaced one that was starting to melt.

 

Mate, i know its been a while ago since this incident but wanted to ask if you manage to get yours fixed or something