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Dell XPS 15 (9550) w/ Intel 530 / NVIDIA 960M - Intel Causing Screen Flickering
I have a Dell XPS 15 (9550) that I received last week from Dell with a random screen flickering issue.
It is based on evalue order code: <ADMIN NOTE: Order number removed per privacy policy>
It is the 6th Gen Core i7, 16GB RAM, 15.6" FHD 1080p display (not 4k), 512GB SSD, 84WHr Battery, Intel 530 Graphics AND NVIDIA 960M
I saw a post about the XPS 13 with the intel display flickering being fixed with the new driver... I am running driver version 20.19.15.4300 for the Intel 530 and my screen is still constantly flickering on my brand new XPS 9550.
Another Issue: I also noticed that in the Intel graphics properties config panel -> 3D -> Application Optimal Mode... this also causes issues with the start menu looking distorted and fuzzy, even making some of the white text look gray. I disabled this to resolve that issue, but the screen still constantly flickers.
One thing I have done recently to mitigate the flickering is go into the NVIDIA driver control panel and set the NVIDIA card as the preferred graphics card, which works for most applications. As soon as the Intel card kicks back in the screen flickers... I have tried various drivers versions for this model off the Dell website without success. I am running Windows 10 Pro... not sure if a newer driver is available and just not posted. For example the newest Laptop BIOS on the driver website ends in .3 while my pc came with .5 installed. So wasn't sure if the website was behind on graphics driver releases, although the Dell Update app hasn't downloaded any new driver either.
I am about to return this laptop, this is annoying... I know it is the intel driver because if I uninstall the Intel Driver completely and let it install the generic microsoft basic graphics driver, while the performance isn't good, the screen does NOT flicker.
Was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and if you were able to resolve it OR if this is completely a driver issue that only Dell / Intel can resolve?
Thanks!
FrozenFusion
12 Posts
4
January 2nd, 2016 12:00
Another update... I was ready to give up as others have above when I found posts on the NotebookReviews forum mentioning this new Intel Driver: downloadcenter.intel.com/.../Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-7-8-1-10-15-40-6th-Gen
It won't install through the executable, but if you follow the instructions here for a manual install: www.windowscentral.com/how-install-intel-beta-graphics-drivers-surface they do work. Incidentally that link is regarding the exact same flickering problem on the MS Surface Book Pro(very similar hardware). I'm 3 days in to using these drivers and it appears to have resolved the problem. This is the longest I've gone without flickering by a long shot.
Note on the Intel download site the first of the "Key Issues Fixed"... "Display may flicker on 6th Generation Intel Core and related processors".
I also updated to the latest WiFi drivers from Dell's site at the same time, so I can't be 100% certain my issues were fixed by just the display drivers, or if it was the combination of the two.
sjsilverman
10 Posts
1
April 11th, 2017 15:00
Same very frustrating problem. Solved it by rolling back video driver from 20.19.15.4590 to 20.19.15.4483. I have a feeling (that I've not been able to verify) that problem is interaction of video driver and Windows Pro 10 64 bit, which I, like you, also have. The dell driver is a 32 bit driver that is supposed to be compatible with 64 bit, but intel does distribute separate drivers.
JbSkyline
5 Posts
1
April 11th, 2017 21:00
Good call sjsilverman. Intel 530 Driver 20.19.15.4483 worked for me too, back to no flickering.
Thanks
Dell_Liberate
1 Message
3
April 16th, 2017 13:00
To resolve the issue of the screen turning completely black repeatedly, I disabled Dell PremierColor in the startup tab in the Task Manager. I had the newer Killer WIFI already installed so that wasn't the issue as reported by others. Haven't had any issues after this change. Fingers crossed!
DELL-Colin Hu
Moderator
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351 Posts
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November 9th, 2015 05:00
I've sent you a PM
McNeill.Daniel
24 Posts
0
November 9th, 2015 05:00
"Can you let me know what versions of the BIOS, Audio and Graphics drivers you have on the system and you are running Windows 10?"
BIOS Version: 01.00.05 (Website lists 01.00.03 as newest available, so mine is a newer revision)
Laptop Manufacture Date: 10/29/2015
OS: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Intel 530 Graphics: Video_Driver_C2Y38_WN32_20.19.15.4300_A02.EXE
NVIDIA 960M Graphics: 9550_Video_Driver_033Y2_WN32_10.18.13.5425_A01.EXE
(Also tried the newest version Geforce Driver NVIDIA's website, but doesn't fix issue since its the Intel driver causing the problem)
Realtek ALC3266 Audio Driver: Audio_Driver_RRTG5_WN32_6.0.1.7620_A01.EXE
Another Issue to report:... I have also experienced an issue where the wireless card drops out of device manager, thus the system cannot see or use it. This is after the system went to sleep and it only happened once so far... I fixed it by going in the BIOS to Wireless -> Wireless Switch -> Unchecking WLAN and applying settings. It came back after a reboot of doing that.
Dell Wireless 1830 Driver: Communications_Driver_NYN84_WN32_1.519.0.0_A01.EXE
I even tried reinstalling Windows 10 Pro using a clean install.
DELL-Colin Hu
Moderator
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351 Posts
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November 9th, 2015 06:00
Hi,
Thanks for the info on the drivers. Can you try the 64 bit driver from Intel's website here - filename win64_154010.4300.exe and let me know how the flickering is after it has been installed.
Keep an eye on the wireless issue and if it becomes a regular issue let me know
McNeill.Daniel
24 Posts
1
November 9th, 2015 10:00
Still flickers with that driver as well. I also previously tried that one, but gave it another shot anyways with same negative result.
- Dan
JbSkyline
5 Posts
0
November 9th, 2015 17:00
Delete
cdode03
27 Posts
0
November 10th, 2015 10:00
I have had TH2 for a few days now and it didn't fix the issue for me. I still have my screen freeze randomly and sometime I get the error about Intel Driver stops responding.
McNeill.Daniel
24 Posts
0
November 10th, 2015 10:00
Hey Colin,
I installed the Windows 10 Professional Insider Preview for the Threshold 2 build coming out shortly to everyone... Microsoft may have fixed the flickering on their end, because (knock on wood) my screen hasn't flickered yet on this build.
I still have experienced a random blue screen with the wireless card dropping out. Had to do that BIOS trick again to get it to reappear. Windows 10 Blue Screen - CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED
This insider build did give me a blue screen one time from the NVIDIA driver, but I don't blame that on the system as that issue didn't exist before the insider build was installed. I will try clean reinstalling the driver again. SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (nvlddmkm.sys)
d3msd8le
33 Posts
0
November 10th, 2015 16:00
No screen flickering at all here on this 9550 i7/16GB/1TB/960M/4k beast. Running BIOS 1.00.05.
Wasn't running the "out of the box" config long enough to see if there would be any flickering there. Immediately after confirming the machine worked, deleted all partitions and installed Win 10 Pro (created with Microsoft media creation tool), installed all MSFT updates through control panel.
Then installed the latest nvidia driver package from nvidia itself, not the dell version. I did use the Dell driver for the Intel 530 onboard video (20.19.15.4300,A02). I did NOT install any of the proprietary Dell support apps. However, I did install all of the other Dell apps for chipset drivers, etc., just none of the four apps in the "Application" tab.
I also have not seen any Windows notices about a display driver ever crashing. If you have the Win 10 Home on your machine, you should be able to reformat and reinstall the Win 10 Home fresh from the media creation tool and it should activate automatically. Given that there's basically no pre-load on these machines anyway, I'd recommend that approach.
McNeill.Daniel
24 Posts
0
November 11th, 2015 19:00
I spoke to soon, flicker still happens every now and then on th2 build.
karny408
1 Message
0
November 11th, 2015 21:00
The wireless issue has happened twice today to me.
DELL-Colin Hu
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351 Posts
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November 12th, 2015 02:00
There's a BIOS update due to be released for the system in the next few days that should help to resolve these issues. When it's released I'll post the link