E1405 screen - horizontal lines and out of sync

Connect it to an external monitore and see if the screen does this on the ext. monitor. If it does then it is an issue with your graphics card. If not then it is your LCD.

Inspiron E1505
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB/2.00GHz/667MHz)
15.4 Inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WSXGA+
1GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1400
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0 + EDR)
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Bios A08
pur. Sept. 7 2006

Thats just it, by hooking it up to an external monitor you have eliminated the possibility that it is the graphics card, since it works on the external monitor. The issue is with your lcd. Possibly your flex cable is loose. Does it change when you open or close the lcd?

Inspiron E1505
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB/2.00GHz/667MHz)
15.4 Inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WSXGA+
1GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1400
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0 + EDR)
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Bios A08
pur. Sept. 7 2006

Message Edited by dallascowboysworldchamps on 10-16-2006 06:34 PM

nope, it doesn't have a problem when u open/close the lid.

I'm not sure I follow though.. isn't it still possible that the graphics card has a bug that's specific to the sync rate used by the LCD?

reload the operating system? that sounds like level 1 tech advice... i.e. the same people who tell you to "turn off the cable modem, unplug all the cables, etc." @ your cable modem tech support. =P

I'm fairly certain there's something wrong with the firmware in the graphics chip but I can't prove it. I don't think it's the LCD because I have hooked it up to an external monitor and not seen this problem reoccur.

please update your status on here so we can both get this resolved... if i'm correct, we have a long road to travel because that would mean Intel has to fix this problem. With all that red tape, our warranties will be expired by the time a fix is issued.

Here's one more piece of information that may or may not make a difference. The problems with the screen seem to pop-up more often when I'm using my M-Audio Firewire 410 D/A interface which is conneted to the firewire port.

And, one more thing, there are 2 distinct problems with my screen right now. One is depicted in the photo I posted, the other one I didn't take a picture of. In the one I didn't take a picture of, the screen moves/scans like crazy as if it is completely out of sync.

One last question.. Does our laptop use "shared memory"? That is.. does it use the system memory for graphics? I put in some aftermarket memory and I'm wondering if the memory is bad.

Message Edited by KatFox on 10-16-2006 08:45 PM

My e1405 has the exact same problem. Trouble is that it happens so infrequently that it is hard to diagnose and replicate. When it does occur I can close the lid and reopen it and the screen will be fine. It may be a loose connector cable to the screen but I dont want to go messing around with it. It may also have something to do with the video memoryor bios. I don't think the problem is system memory. I have the latest video driver(v.6.14.10.4634, A03) as of 10/10/06. I have the Samsung manufactured screen. Anyone found a solution yet??

did u ever experience a problem with the monitor hooked up to ur laptop? I tried it and didn't have any problems..

Nope, I haven't found a permanent solution yet. When I contacted support they had me re-install the video drivers and since that time I haven't had a problem, but I'm fairly certain reinstalling the SAME version of the drivers won't fix much. I'm just waiting for it to happen again so I can snap another picture and submit it to tech support as proof that it's not working still.

The fact that this problem is happening on more than one system alone is an indication that there's a hardware problem in my opinion.. Go through support and jump through their hoops.. eventually you'll have to send it back in for service and hopefully they'll just swap the screen or figure it out. Please keep us updated on what happens though.. my problem's not resolved yet.

Also, the one thing about mine is that it seems to act up when connected to firewire devices. do u have any firewire devices connected? (i.e. external hard drive)?

I have several bits of information you guys are going to need.

1) It is definitely a video card problem. Next time it happens, watch closely. your mouse should move freely without distortion, and dragging windows act weird.

2) The real hard evidence it is not the LCD - I have 3 pictures corresponding to the problem occurring with 3 different video setups. Check these out:


Just the internal LCD. I think we have this image down.


Just the external monitor. Still choppy, and it even changed the resolution when it swapped.


Both displays. Every time I cycled through (using Fn + F8), the external would always be the up one, and the LCD is fine. This HAS to eliminate the LCD being the problem.

Another few notes:
Ive almost always been on AC power when ive had this problem. When i unplug it, the video signal goes blank. On the external monitor, the power LED stays green, but displays nothing. On the internal LCD, its just all black, but still powered on.

To temporarily fix it when it happens without loosing data, just put your machine to standby or hibernate, and turn it back on. It should be fine when you turn it back on.

Hope this helps. Im in the process of collecting all this data and sending it Tech Support's way.

My first attempt contacting tech support was somewhat unsuccessful. They give pretty generic fixes that dont really help.. Reinstall operating system, download latest drivers, use diagnostics on boot, etc.

The more this happens to me, and the more I think about it... I think its a drivers problem/Intel problem. Once time when it happened i was curious to play around with it, so i tried playing a video. The section of the screen with the video was perfectly normal, but the rest of my desktop was still messed up. It COULD be the graphics chip itself, but its highly unlikely. Also, I noticed the problem happening almost every 10 minutes under Vista RC2 x64. I used Ubuntu for a few days and it never happened. All points back to software.