Screen flicker

Hi STEEFD,

What is the exact system model? What is the current OS installed on the system? Does this happen with or without the adapter connected? Is the adapter frayed? What applications are you using when you notice the screen flicker, while using the keyboard to type?

Connect an external keyboard and check if the screen flickers while using the external keyboard.

Connect an external monitor and check if the issue is seen there as well.

Restart the system and press f12 key on startup - choose diagnostics. Let it run the diags and if you encounter any errors - make a note of the complete error and report the same to us.

Run the LCD bist - Turn off the system and press and hold the "D" key + power button to turn on the system and it should run the LCD built in self test - see this link for more info - http://dell.to/1SkXNrG

While running the tests above, use the keyboard and press any key, although the keypress would not come into effect on the display, check if the screen flickers while in this mode.

Also, run a custom test on the keyboard through Support Assist and check if the screen flickers at that point - http://dell.to/1NEc1Y4

Based on your response, we could isolate the source of the issue.

Also, please click my DELL-username and write me a private conversation with the service tag and your contact details(Name and Email) for case records.

Let us know if you have any other queries.

Hi,

It's a XPS15 with 4K display, running Win10. Approx 3 months old.

I don't have an external display or keyboard, so I can't test that.

But I will try to find out whether indeed the power supply is the problem. 

I changed the screen brightness settings on the power plan are further apart, and will check whether 

I notice the flicker more or not, both with the power adapter connected and running on battery.

Well, it's definitely not a power adapter issue, as I also have the screen flicker when running on battery alone.

Any other ideas?

Hi STEEFD,

Apologies for delay in response as I was on emergency leave.

Thank you for the update.

Have you run the tests as advised in my previous post? Also, I would need more info about the screen flickering - What applications are you using when you notice the screen flicker, while using the keyboard to type?

Based on your response, we could research further.

Keep us updated.

Hello,

Yes I ran the tests you mentioned.

The problem does not seem to be related to any specific application. 

I have opened a Dell support call in the meantime, which is still open.

Action done so far: reinstall of drivers. But the problem is not gone.

Weird thing is that sometimes I don't see the screen flicker for more than an hour, and then the next minute it flickers a couple of times in a row. Also I have seen it flicker while I was in the BIOS, so I don't think it is OS or driver related.

When I say flicker, I guess the best way to describe is that the screen brightness briefly goes down and back up.

Also it seems that the screen brightness settings sometimes get forgotten after a reboot. Related?

Hi STEEFD,

Thank you for the update.

Well, screen flickering and screen brightness issue are two different. I would describe screen flickering as if the display gets distorted with no signal, black screen for a second or two, garbled video, you get the picture, I presume.

If what you face is screen brightness issue, then it might be a hardware or a driver related issue. Are you certain that you did notice the display brightness automatically reduce and increase while in BIOS?

I would need the exact system model. You would find this info in BIOS screen - f2 on startup or turn the system upside down and look underneath the XPS plate / badge and you would find the required info. Based on this, I could suggest further course of action.

Also, if you have already contacted our colleagues, if you could send me a private message with the service tag or the case#, I shall review the same if required.

Let us know if you have any other queries.

I am experiencing the same problem. It seemed to occur after I upgraded the BIOS on  my Dell XPS15 9550 to 1.2.10.

Dell support suggested I uninstall Norton, since they had reports that the problem occurs with that application.

I had Norton installed before I upgraded the BIOS, and did not notice any problems. Soooo.... I chose to leave Norton installed, and just live with the screen flicker (brightness changes up and down).

Good to hear I am not the only one experiencing this issue.

I also have the feeling that this started after the previous BIOS update, but I'm not sure.

I hoped that the latest BIOS update, release end of August, would fix it, but it's not the case.

I don't use Norton, and to be honest I don't think this is an application problem.

I have the feeling it's a hardware/BIOS problem.

Can you check whether you also see this when in the BIOS configurator? So before the OS has started.

I checked for screen flicker while in the BIOS configurator, and did not notice it. I ran the configurator for about half an hour.

I had installed BIOS version 1.2.13 recently, and the flicker still occurred with that version, but it introduced other problems (computer froze OFTEN), so I reinstalled 1.2.10, and the flicker still occurs.

Hi SEADOG69,

On what applications does the screen flicker? 

A new BIOS update was recently released - http://dell.to/2cc4qUD -kindly update the same and also update the firmware. Restart the system and check for flickering. 

Connect an external monitor and check if the screen flickers on both.

Also, please click my DELL-username and write me a private conversation with the service tag and your contact details(Name and Email) for case records.

Let us know if you have any other queries.

I too have this issue with a new XPS 15 9550, running:

Intel HD Graphics 530 with latest driver

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with latest driver

BIOS - 01.02.14

4K screen

Screen stills flickers (doesn't go black just a flicker in the picture)

Connected to a second monitor only the laptop screen flickers

What is the solution? It's an expensive laptop so annoying I'm having this issue.

Complain to phone support, at least they are aware of the known issue unlike the staff posing in here!

Try BIOS 1.2.0 or failing that 1.1.15 until they fix it but make sure you ring phone support to get a ticket logged and the case handed to the development team. The more that complain in theory will lead to a faster fix. 4 months and counting.

Rolling back to a really old BIOS means we are missing lots of important fixes so this is not the solution but a temp workaround.

I have a ticket open at Dell support. Dell technician is coming by tomorrow to have a look at the problem. Don't know what he will do, as I have the feeling it's not a hardware issue.

Do you know where I can download the older BIOS versions?

On the laptop driver page, only the most recent, and one version down are available for download.

Steefd,

I gave up on trying to fix the screen flicker problem. Decided to just live with it. Besides, the laptop had other issues - randomly froze every few minutes.

So, I took it back to Best Buy, where I had purchased it and the two year warranty, to have that looked at.

My local Best Buy contacted me yesterday and told me that they suspected a bad mother board for the freezing behavior, so they are sending the laptop off to their service center to have the MB replaced. 2 to 3 weeks estimated for the repairs.

Let's see, countless hours diddling around with Dell tech support, applying firmware updates and BIOS updates, disk scanning after almost every freeze.... Not a very good experience. And I bought Dell because my previous experiences (I've owned several) were superb. Where has the quality gone? Somewhere else, it appears.

Almost everyone using a XPS15-9550 has this issue, just read the Reddit and notebookreview forums. It has become a bit worse (i.e., noticeable at higher brightness) after the last BIOS update.

Unfortunately, Dell doesn't seem to care about this problem. I do, and my colleagues with MacBook Pro's are ridiculing me for buying an expensive laptop that has so many flaws as this XPS15.