9 Posts
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Precision 5530 and TB16 black screen flashing/flicker
I've searched the forums across the internet and this is a common problem that has not been fixed!
When the notebook is waking up from standby and/or connected and reconnected to the dock the screen flickers/flashes black on all connected screens.
When will Dell provide a working solution as all suggested workarounds do not mitigate this problem?
After a reboot the problem will start appearing again.
EDIT: Video from my later posts
Dell-Alan D
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September 13th, 2019 03:00
Hi @tonytone23 thanks for adding to the thread. It would appear from the responses on this thread that from the various solutions suggested what works for some doesn't necessarily resolve it for others. From the various system configurations presented so far, its less likely a hardware issue and is more down to Windows and the drivers it uses.
As far as Dell is aware, the most common solution is a combination of the latest BIOS and graphics drivers along with the latest version of Windows.
Other forum users have suggested clearing the dock cache - I would suggest a combination of the above should resolve the issue for you. Here's how to clear the dock cache
I hope this helps and I look forward to hearing ow you get on.
Alan
Dell-Alan D
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September 18th, 2019 06:00
@Marjoryjm engineering have asked where you obtained this information about clearing the dock cache so they can investigate it further.
Alan
user_fd6aa8
1 Message
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October 24th, 2019 20:00
Could you help provide the links to the updates/and drivers that are mentioned above please?
Thanks.
Dell-Alan D
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October 29th, 2019 06:00
Hi,
You can find the links to the latest graphics driver and BIOS update here -
BIOS - https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=w46tv&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-15-5530-laptop
Graphics driver - https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=dnc8x&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-15-5530-laptop
Alan
n.w
1 Message
0
November 12th, 2019 11:00
I have a Precision 5530 and TB16 as well and have been following this topic, trying different suggestions for some time now. I finally put a ticket in with Dell a couple weeks ago. After a few ideas that did not help, they asked me to try Intel UHD Graphics 630 P630 Version 23.20.16.5037, A01 yesterday and I have not any issues since downgrading. I'm not sure if the combination matters, but at this point I'm also downgraded to BIOS 1.8.1.
I wish others luck. This is something to try, if nothing else has been making a difference.
elninus25
3 Posts
0
January 20th, 2020 02:00
Dear Alan,
I have found your responses the most relevant and wanted to share a workaround for the black screen I have been struggling with on my Precision 7530 since over a year. Here are my findings:
Tried to install the NVidia Powermizer, but this did not really help.
https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/Screen-going-black-but-still-running/td-p/4654576
In the BIOS I have done the following changes:
Settings -> Video -> Switchable Graphics:
Uncheck the Enable Switchable Graphics box
Check the Discrete Graphics Controller Direct Output Mode
This resolved my black screen issue, however I could not adjust the brightness of the screen anymore. This was on full 100% always, which is not good for me at all.
The switchable graphics setting allow the OS to switch dynamically between the builtin Intel graphics and the faster but more power consuming NVidia graphics card. Apparently the drivers and/or hardware can’t handle this switching correctly.
Dell newest BIOS 1.12.1 - the black screen nor the brightness issue was not solved.
I have looked a bit longer and found out that the following BIOS 1.10.1 is actually taking care of this issue.
Here is the link:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=kvcky
Tried to go back to BIOS 1.12.1, but this issue appeared again so when back to 1.10.1.
This means that the problem is with the BIOS version 1.12.1.
Hopefully DELL will fix this with the new BIOS version.
I would like to ask you if you could forward this information further up the chain in DELL.This is clearly a hardware/BIOS/drivers issue.
Kind regards,
Patrick
SteveO69
1 Message
0
January 22nd, 2020 07:00
I've got 2 Precision 7530 systems (both of which are less than 2 months old) with identical config's that have the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 adapter along with a discrete NVIDIA Quadro P1000 adapter in them, which I've also been experiencing these same sort of "blacking-out" or "flickering" issues with since they first taken out of the box and set up over a month ago.
I've gone through and made sure all of the drivers & firmware are up to date (with what's available on Dell's Support site) several times, and have recently been working with Dell's tech support team who seems to be determined that this is more of a hardware issue than a driver and / or compatibility issue of some sort. As a matter of fact a Dell tech was just out yesterday and replaced the system board in one of these two systems, and after shutting the system down, then bringing it back up a couple times I was able to reproduce the problem while the tech was still here. His response - "Huh, I guess that didn't take care of it. Can you please report this back to Dell" - URGH!!!!
I've performed some of the same troubleshooting steps as elninus25 did by enabling the Discrete Graphics Controller Direct Output Mode setting in the BIOS which seemed to resolve the blacking-out or flickering issues, but when doing so had some issues where I no longer could adjust the brightness of the screen, and was unable to project to an external projector / monitor using the HDMI port on the back of the laptop. Given this, I was eventually forced to change these settings in the BIOS back to the default settings, hence deal with blacking-out or flickering issues again.
Dell-Alan D - If you could please forward this information further up the chain in Dell, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Steve S.
l44444444
20 Posts
0
August 8th, 2021 18:00
I have had a blinking multiple monitor (2) issue with Dell Thunderbolt docks (TB16 and WD19TB) for 4 years and Dell could never solve it.
I have a Precision 5510 laptop with both Intel and Nvidia grahics cards 32GB memory, 2 SSD drives and a Xeon processor. I had it customized for the processing demands of Autocad, Ever since I started using Dell Thunderbolt Docks about 4 years ago I have had problems with my 2 Dell U3415W monitors blinking intermittemently. They would blink a couple times every hour but during certain intensive processor workloads they would blink at a slightly higher rate. I have literally spent at least 100 hours through the 4 year period using Pro-Support to try and get the problem resolved. They recommended updating the Dock firmware, using Support Assist and Dell Command Update. I also updated the Nvidia Drivers as well as the Intel Graphics drivers to the latest versions. Every Thunderbolt related driver was updated. There was not a single driver for the computer that was not up to date. I went through every Bios setting and made sure that all Thuderbolt related options were all on and that there was no security needed for Thunderbolt. I also replaced all my monitor cables and tried different refresh rates and every cable combination possible. IE HDMI, Displayport, USB-C to Displayport etc. After many months of trying to get Dell to troubleshoot the TB16 I was told it only had a 1 year warranty and there was nothing they could do other than suggest I buy a new dock. I then updated the Dock from the TB16 with a 240 watt power supply to the newer WD19TB. I was also motivated to replace the TB16 as it was causing BSOD DMA Driver Violations due to it not being able to store the current version of 2 NVM drivers.The WD19TB was actually worse and caused more blinking of the monitors to the point of where my work was constanly being interrupted. I got Pro-Support on the phone and they swapped out the WD19TB with a refurbished unit and the issue was the same. Finally they replaced the motherboard due to the Dell on-site tech seeing that the USB C type dock connector on the laptop looked worn out and loose. But the same day the problem returned. I recently spent hours and hours of time on the phone with various Dell Tech support agents. I was told to refresh/reinstall Windows 10 Pro as it might be driver corruption, run SFC Scannow, trouble shoot the Bios, install a fresh version of Windows 10 etc etc etc. The last suggested solution is to replace the Dock again or send the Laptop into Dell for diagnosis which would take a least a week (I run my business on my laptop).
I have a Dell XPS-13 and noticed that when I would connect it to the docking USB-C cable that it would work fine with no blinking monitor issue. I read several articles on companies websites that manufacture 3rd party Thunderbolt Docks that there are many comments about issues with Dell Thunderbolt docks and the blinking monitor issue that do not seem to occur when Dell customers replace the Dell docks with the 3rd party Docks.
I realized that the XPS 13 has less of a power draw than the Precision laptop. I also noticed that when I was doing more processor intensive tasks the monitors would blink at a more frequent rate. It seemed that the Dell WD19TB (got the largest power supply) was not supplying enough power through the Dock USB-C connector to the laptop when the laptop itself was consuming more power and thus connected devices or the hub did not have enough power and the monitors starting to blink and I also could see various device drivers disconnect and reconnect in Device manager. So I took out the power supply for the Precsion Laptop and hooked it up to the laptop (while leaving the Dock connected and powered) and Voila it fixed the issue no more blinking monitors. I am amazed that after years of posts about their Thunderbolt docks and monitor blinking issues with different laptop models and different dock model combinations that Dell has never figured out that their dock is not supplying enough power to the laptop when the laptop is consuming more power (I realize this might apply to only larger more power hungry laptops). Although it defeats a big selling feature of the dock by having to connect the laptops external power supply...it fixed the issue for me. So it might be worth a try as the dock seems to not supply enough power to the laptop on its own, at least with a Precision laptop.