Hi Thylakaleo,

Please reply us with the snapshot of the LCD screen so that we can check and assist you further.

Also, we will have to perform the ‘LCD BIST’ (Built in Self-test) on the computer. Please follow the steps mentioned below to run the “LCD BIST’.

1. Turn of the computer.
2. Press and hold down the ‘D’ key on the keyboard and press the Power button.
3. You will see different colors on the LCD screen. Please check if the issue reoccurs on the screen.

In addition, please connect the system to an external monitor and check if the issue reoccurs.

The issue is gone now. I have no way of knowing when it will or will nto come back. If it does reoccur, i will try to post a snapshot, but it wont be anything but a muddle of colors.

I also don't own and external monitor that i can attach the computer to. Would it be possible to rig something up with a second laptop?

I will perform the LCD BIST test as soon as possible and report back with results. It would help to know what i'm looking for particularly with the test. Seeing as the issue only occurs once a month, and only lasts for a few hours, it may be hard to catch the problem. Then, even if i do and manage to perform the test, it seems like most likely anything i could view on the screen would be wildly obscured by colors.

This is what happens when i try to log in. The computer still works, and i can enter my password and get to my desktop, it's just that the screen isn't displaying properly. This will go on for a few hours. The images will stutter and skip, and the lights will flash. It will become faster and faster until finally the screen will correct itself all at once, and behave as if nothing happened.

I can't seem to get a video to upload, so this is a picture. I have a few more with some different weird colors.

I've also performed the LCD BIST. It cycled through the colors, and then when it started up, the same as above happened. The screen looks mostly like that, and i can see the silhouette of the windows logo.

Now that it has rebooted it is past the windows logo, and the screen is pictured as above, except now it is pulsing. It will pulse faster and faster until the screen finally breaks through.

Anyone have any idea what's going on, and why my screen is coming in and out like this?

Alright. I managed to get a video up. What you'll see in this video for the first second is my computer at the initial account login screen. I typed my password already and hit enter around 2 seconds into the video. The flashing you see is what the screen does when it logs in and takes me to my desktop area.

Towards the end of the video, you will also see the screen go from white with outlines to blue. That is what happens when i use the ALT-TAB function to transition to my web browser.

So as you can see, the screen is still functioning to a point. There is still visual feedback on the screen, and this problem will persist for about a day or two, before my computer comes back and is usable again. Anyone know what's happening?

[View:onedrive.live.com/redir]

How does it do when you plug in an external monitor. Sometimes Fn F8 toggles between the external monitor and the LCD. If it shows up the same on the external monitor then it is your video card. if it is good on the external monitor and bad on the LCD screen then you have a problem with the LCD screen.

I haven't had the chance to hook it up to an external monitor while it was giving me problems. I just hooked it up to an old dell monitor i found in the basement, and it worked fine. But the screen on my laptop is still working fine. Once the issue persists, i'll hook it up to the monitor and then i should know for sure.

Hi Thylakaleo,

I would suggest you to update the BIOS and Video card driver on the system. Please enter your service tag # on the link below, select the OS, then download the BIOS from BIOS section and Video card driver from Video section onto the system and install it.

http://dell.to/18r60nI

Also, If the issue persists on the external display then it should be an issue related to system board if the external display is fine then it should be an issue related to LCD screen.

In addition, once i figure out for sure what the problem is, what would be a good way of explaining it to my insurance company to get them to fix it? It only occurs every once in a while and only lasts a day or so, so there would be no way for me to get it to them and be sure it was still displaying the problem. Odds are by the time it reached them, it would have corrected itself.

Yes that makes sense and i understand that. I had a hunch it was the screens issue all along, as i have had this screen fixed by my insurance twice before. The problem is i am getting these screen issues again, and i am tired of dealing with it. My insurance has a policy that if they have to fix the same problem three times, they will refund the value of the laptop.

So, what i need to know is what specifically is the most likely cause of the problem. My personal opinion is that it is a loose or faulty wire somewhere in the connections of the lcd screen to the laptop. So what should i tell my insurance company?

Hi Thylakaleo,

Either the LCD screen is faulty or the system board is faulty. Only by checking it on external display we can determine if screen is faulty or the system board.