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Dell XPS 15 Hardware Screen Glitch
Hi, I have a Dell XPS 15 that is making this flickering box-like glitch upon physical contact with the laptop, such as: me moving the laptop, pressing the keyboard at normal pressures, or even just putting a glass of water on the table next to the laptop will set it off if not done with extreme delicacy. Vibration or pressure seems to set it off (especially on the left half of the laptop) and the problem has only increased in the last couple of weeks. Resetting the laptop temporarily will reset the screen and make things normal until the next vibration comes along, I am also unable to move the cursor, do any keyboard actions, etc., after the glitching starts; the screen effectively becomes frozen, but the square glitches will shuffle around again upon another vibration.
This is clearly a hardware issue to me. I tried just disconnecting and reconnecting all the display cables and the display assembly with no luck; to be honest I’m starting to think the problem is lower down the chain and not at the screen itself but I’m not sure where to start.
If you could point me in the direction of parts or cables I could try to disconnect/reconnect or replace to fix this issue, that would be appreciated. Thanks.
ejn63
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March 4th, 2022 11:00
Start with a screen diagnostic -- hold the D key through powerup. Do the test screens show the same fault, or are they clear?
If they show the same fault, you need to replace the screen.
If not, the fault could be in the cable that connects the display to the mainboard. Whether that's replaceable depends on the system model -- there are many XPS 15 models, ranging from the XPS L501x and 521x of a decade ago, through the XPS 9530, 9550, 9560 to the newer 9500 and 9510. On newer systems, the entire display assembly would then need to be replaced; on older systems without touchscreens, the cable can be detached from the screen and separately replced.
ShadowPillow
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March 4th, 2022 15:00
Reread the second part of your statement. It's a newer model (I think 9560), I tried to see if I could detach the display cable from the display assembly but I couldn't. Buying a new screen for this is a bit expensive, especially if it's not the real issue, what are the chances it's really the display cable and not something else?
The pixelation does not change at all when I open and close the laptop lid, so I know it's not the classic case of the display cable getting twisted/disconnecting due to the repetitive hinge-like motion on it.
ShadowPillow
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March 4th, 2022 15:00
Hi, thanks for the response. I did the screen test, and on the bright side, the fault did not reappear despite me trying to replicate the issue pretty hard, so we can eliminate the screen and display stuff from being the issue. The bad side is we still don't know where the issue is coming from then.
I'm thinking, it looks like a physical perturbation causes the entire screen pixel rendering to downshift and to not be rendered/calibrated to the screen right (you can see on the left of the pic of the screen the background actually loops around again). It could be a weird battery or power supply issue that when the cabling is interrupted for a few seconds, it messes up the entire rendering flow and it's unable to do it. Or a GPU or CPU thing with a similar logic. Or a memory fault. Which leaves me with pretty much everything.
Any ideas for where to start? Right now I'm thinking of just trying to unplug and replug anything underneath the hood, and see if I can also figure out how to clean the cable connectors while doing so.
ejn63
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23.6K Posts
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March 4th, 2022 17:00
I would open up the system and carefully check the condition of the cable and both ends of the mainboard connector (the end of the cable and the mainboard connector). You cannot access the screen end of the cable and the connector to the screen itself, so you can't be sure the issue isn't there short of replacing the screen. Still, a screen replacement is far less expensive than the replacement of the other part that could be bad -- the system board.