1558 i7 A04 - shutting down problems

Hi all,

Thought I'd start a new thread on this one.

I got my new laptop last week, arrivied with BIOS version A03 loaded so I immediately flashed it with A04. All was working nicely for a few days and then suddenly I've been experiencing random shutdowns. After reading through every thread I can find on the topic, most people seem to think that A04 fixed the shutdown/overheating/fan problem but it would not seem to be the case for me.

Has anyone else had similar issues? I'm gonna give Dell a call tomorrow and get the low-down but would be nice to hear from anyone in the same boat.

Spec is i7, 8GB RAM, 500GB, HD5470 1GB.

Cheers,
c

 

Try flashing back to the A03 BIOS and see if the shutdown problems still occur. That would be the first place to start.

 

Any ideas where I can get hold of an A03 version? A04 is the only one available on the dell website.

 

Hi ..

I got my Dell Studio 1558 last tuesday (23rd march 10) . I used it with A03 for a day then flashed it to A04. Its running smoothly till now (knock the wood). I haven't heard about shutdown with Core-i7. Hope yours is isolated case. Speak to dell support, I am sure yours will be sorted out soon ..

keep apprise of your situation..

 

I got mine on 23rd March also. Unboxed it for 1 day and it ran fine, flashed to A04 and it was fine. Only left it on for 2hours. It's back in the box now, will be taking it out and using it from Wednesday (been busy with other stuff).

What were you doing when it crashed? And how many times has it happened?

 

Well, it's been ok for over 24 hours now. I use it pretty constantly - it's my job. I installed all the latest chipset downloads from the Dell site.

Been using SpeedFan to check the temperature of the cores. Normal operating they seem to hold at around 50 degrees (which seems pretty hot to me but may be normal for the i7). When I load up a game they get up to around 70 degrees and you can hear the fan working pretty hard but no crashes since yesterday. Will keep monitoring.

c

 

I had a lock up yesterday.

I was installing ubuntu within vmware. In the meantime, I decided to install speedfan to check out system temperatures.

The system became unresponsive, all I got was the round circle "egg timer" but I couldn't move it anywhere. Eventually the screen went black but the keyboard backlight was on and the fans were on full pelt. I had to powerdown and restart.

Hasn't happened again. Will keep an eye on temperatures. It just may have been a hiccup.

 

Yes .. Since there is so much written about the abrupt shutdowns in Dell Studio 1558 i5 systems any shutdown due to software malfuction also worries us. Within 2-3 weeks we would know what is the status.

I want to check the turbo boost function of core-i7. I downloaded intel turbo boost monitor. It once went to 2.77 GHz but after that it is standing at 1.6 GHz. I cannot remember what I did to boost the frequency. Any software which I can use to see it working??

 

Copy & paste into your browser: ftp.dell.com/bios/1558_A03.exe

=)

 

Just so you know, my laptop hasnlt shut down randomly once. It's been on about 36 hours straight so far

 

Right, I've reformatted my laptop to get rid of the Dell bloatware. And, speedfan crashed my laptop again on the first launch so I suspect it's buggy code rather than the Dell.

 

Speedfan used to lockup mine too, I dont recommend it. I do recommend RealTemp. RealTep has a test called prime 95 to test the temperature sensors. With that test I reproduced the random shutdowns and confirmed it was overheating. The thread called 1558 fan problem has everything in detail.

 

I'm having the same problem with my s1558, it happened several times in the past week since I got it. every time it starts with the screen flashing, and the pop up shows ATI graphic card stop working(while flashing), then the laptop shut down and reboot.

I called Dell, and they're giving me a laptop exchange, however, I doubt if the exchange can solve the issue. Dell technician tried to reset my computer, however, the "Repair Your Computer" mode is not working in the F8 menu, after chosen it, it just starts the windows normally.

my specs is i7-720m, 4GB RAM, 320G HDD(7200), 5470 1GB, BIOS:A04

 

Same spec as mine. Mine hasn't crashed one though. Maybe you're one of those unlucky ones... I reckon the replacement laptop will solve the issue. Mine's running flawlessly.. and very very well. We have an identical machine.

 

Vicyy, how many days passed from the arrival of your laptop when you called the dell technician for exchange?

I have the same spec of 1558. I received on 25th of March. It has the same symptoms of overheat, black screens, and shutdown. Gradually the problem repeats more often, once per day now.

I want to ask for return, ideally. I don't know what to do with this laptop, really, now. The problem is really, annoying.
Viciyy, how did you ask for exchange? Was is very complicated?