Studio XPS 1640 scrambled screen and static problems

Question

I have had a studio xps 1640 (Windows Vista)  for about four years now.  I have used it to play alot of hours of video games(on minimal settings though). Last night, while gaming, (about 2 hours in) the display suddenly turned all scrambled and crazy and froze. Here is a list of things i have tried so far but with no success: I proceeded to power off and on the pc , but when it restarted the display was instantly scrambled once again. I then booted in safe mode where the display seemed to have worked, but on looking closely i observed tiny flickering white lines appearing randomly all over the screen. I went to Device Manager and disabled the video card. ( ATI Mobility HD 3670).  I rebooted the computer normally after this and the display looked the same way it did when in safe mode with the tiny flickering white lines on the screen.  I Uninstalled and re-installed the video card driver then re- enabled the video card but the problem was still there. I rebooted the pc once more and entered the BIOS this time. The tiny flickering lines were seen even in the BIOS menu. which is leading me to think it must be a hardware issue. I also made sure the laptop screen itself wasnt the problem by doing the display test (powering on the computer while holding D). No abnormalities were seen there. I then plugged the pc into my television via HDMI. The same flickering lines could be ssen on the tv aswell. Could it be that i may need a new GPU? Im curious about this since the flickering static lines were appearing even with the GPU disabled. But when i enable it the entire screen gets scrambled. anyone's help or advice on this issue will be  greatly appreciated  PC: DELL studio XPS 1640 Graphics Card: ATI mobilitiy Radeon HD 3670

DELL-Manshu S · Answer

Hi ADookie,

Welcome to the Community.

I would suggest you to perform diagnostic on LCD. You may refer to the link mentioned below for more information:

http://dell.to/11PAQ6c

As you mentioned that the issue persists on external display(Television or monitor). It could be an issue with the Video card on the system.

Please update the BIOS. Click the link mentioned below to download the latest BIOS:

http://dell.to/15mPm8R

NOTE: Ensure that the battery is more than 20% charged and the adapter is connected during the BIOS update process.

Also, you may refer to the links mentioned below:

http://dell.to/11Pe7Ht

http://dell.to/17Z3nds

Please keep me posted with the results.

Thanks & Regards
Manshu S
#iworkfordell

ejn63 · Answer

It sounds like you have a bad GPU, yes - for that, you'll need a replacement mainboard.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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