Jittery, shaking or vibrating screen

Hi Matt,

You can try and update the BIOS and the video driver on the computer. To download the BIOS and the Video Driver please click here to go to the support webpage. For the video driver, uninstall the current one and restart the computer and then install the driver which was downloaded fresh.

Instructions on flashing the BIOS are as follows:

1. Make sure the charger is plugged in before initiating the BIOS update
2. Battery should hold at least 10% of charge or above
3. No applications should run at the back end.
4. Do not manually power off the computer while BIOS update is in progress.

The computer might restart a couple of times during the process which is normal. Use the computer for a day or two and check if the screen starts shaking or not.

Please reply with your findings.

Thanks. Will try those two things. Although when I got the laptop I updated the video drivers and noted that the BIOS was up to date. I'll give it another try. 

Hi matthewcanty,

Sure. No problem, you can give it a try. At times there is a new version of BIOS released for the computer which is available for download so as you said, you can give it a try. You can also try updating the video drivers either from the Dell Support website or the manufacturer's website.

Let me know if it solves the problem. Also does the screen appears shaky when you move the laptop or it just happens even if its kept on a table or on a flat surface?

Awaiting for your reply.

Most importantly I have seen it happen on a flat stable surface. I've seen it flicker - imagine shivering - mostly when there is some multimedia going on like browsing Youtube or playing a game. But then again, I watched a whole hour on Netflix the other day with no problem.

Hi matthewcanty,

Thank you for that information. Seems to be more likely a driver issue but still please revert back to me with results after updating the video card driver and the BIOS and keeping the computer under observation for a day or two.

Awaiting for your reply.

I did the BIOS and video driver update last night.. Don't have a whole lot of time to play with it this weekend but I'll get back to you mid next week.

Hi matthewcanty,

Sure you can get back to me by replying to this post anytime. Hope this problem gets resolved with the BIOS and the Video Driver update.

Have a great weekend ahead! Take care.

Hi. I turned my laptop on about an hour ago and had the problem as you can see in the video. Since then I have restarted the computer and everything has been fine so far. It seemed gradually get worse, and when I first came here to make this post the typing might have appeared to be contributing. Although as you can see from the video it was pretty bad with nothing going on.

PS this is my video!

Hi matthewcanty,

Yes I do see how the screen flickers. And thank you for the video that you've posted, was really helpful. Appreciate that.

Now we need to narrow down and identify as to where the problem is. This could be either a software issue or a hardware issue as well. So, the first step would be to check the computer in BIOS. So shut down the computer and power it back up and as soon as you power it on, start tapping the F2 key on the keyboard. Now the computer should be in BIOS and observe the computer there. Leave it there for couple of hours and see if it still blinks. Now, if it flickers in BIOS we can be sure its a hardware issue, but if it does not flicker in BIOS, then most likely it seems to be a software issue.

Please reply with your findings.

Hi. Since posting it's only happened once. Restarting cured it. I've seen exactly the same symptom on another Youtube video and a commenter advised that it was caused by the laptop switching between 40 and 60 hz to save power. They suggested putting performance on full.

Also I've noticed that the wifi cuts out regularly and another forum post has suggests the power saving is kicking in. I'm going to try their suggestion for this again.

If this all works then it's very odd don't you think? I had to disable Intel Rapid Start because that totally filled to wake it up -  tested it by setting the time out to 0 minutes... Most of my problems manifested within hours and days of getting the laptop and all I can say it's a good job I'm a bit of a geek.

That 8 hour battery life is out the window now that the power saving features are proving totally useless during regular use (I haven't even done any work with it yet!)

Hi matthewcanty,

Well you can go ahead and try creating your own power plan in power options under control panel and check and see if that makes any difference in the screen flickering issue.

As far as the dropping off of the wireless card is concerned, there are a few settings which we need to change and then the wireless card would work fine. Different wireless cards have different settings. Could you please post a screenshot of the Device Manager with the type of network card (under Network adapters) so that I can give you the settings which you can change on the computer.

Also do let me know if the screen flickered when the computer was left on BIOS for quite some time.

Hi.

I've been away for a while. But I've just got back to using my laptop and there is still a flickering issue.

Anything else I can try?

Thanks

Here are some videos which show my issue...

Hi matthewcanty,

Thank you for the videos once again. They were quite helpful.

This seems like a hardware issue to me. The fault can either be with the LCD / LCD cable or the video card on the motherboard. To rule out the possibilities, please try these few things.

Connect an external monitor to the computer via the mini-display port on the XPS 12 and check if you experience the same issue on the monitor or not. Also along with that, take the XPS 12 to BIOS by tapping the F2 key on the Dell logo upon powering up the computer and keep the computer there for a couple of hours and check if the screen is jittery in the BIOS or not.

Please share the results. Appreciate your co-operation.