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June 18th, 2023 08:00
Laptop screen flickering on desktop wallpaper & windows fragments upon start up?
Hi community, XPS 15 9570 running Windows 10 user here.
Haven't had issues for a good while until out of the blue - the laptop screen started to flicker out of nowhere.
The way flickering looks is, like the alt+tab would be constantly pressed on flicking the taskbar in an upwards-stretched move, in certain fragments at certain FPS
Things I've done so far:
1. If I take a screenshot - it's not captured and image is clear, normal, I believe it could be a hardware, or display signal issue.
2. I went into safe mode, uninstalled video/visual drivers and re-installed them through the update lookup. - Same issue
3. Did a hard reset on the battery, by taking the cover off and draining the memory, unplugging the battery and holding the on button for a minute - it resulted with the existing problem still - the same.
After the hard reset / battery drain - startup somehow looked better, but it tends to hold a fragment from a desktop upon loading up windows. Which is strange, like running 2 cpu's on 1 screen. Same after a restart, during loading, despite none of the tasks can't be opened.
4. I have unplugged all the power cables, printers, bluetooth mouses etc - none of them seems to affect the issue that would trigger the flickering. Even after restart.
5. It is touchscreen when using it - it makes nor affects the flickering. (Also feature itself has been used less than 5 times across all these years of ownership)
6. if you bring over a new folder - it freezes a screen shot at that particular area.
Any suggestions?
It is offering me windows 11 update for months, which I've been ignoring. (launch it and pray for the best?)
Some pictures are attached below.
1. Recovery display after hard reset - Startup with desktop memo/taskbar mess it's displaying.
2. Video drivers being installed back on
3. Restarting the PC, while it displays the desktop wallpaper image fragments
4. desktop, once it's all loaded up - just imagine 20 flicks per second - displayed.
Any help would be much appreciated.
PESIX
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June 18th, 2023 08:00
have downloaded diagnostic data viewer and list comes up with the following bits. Anything to look out for or track / re-install / update?
PESIX
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June 18th, 2023 08:00
Tried, it went through series of colour screens - throughout the 5-6 different colour slides - the flickering - in a shaded form was visible on the screen test. Was intermittent.
PESIX
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June 18th, 2023 08:00
Hi, I do run it with an additional screen on daily basis (extended to second) and second one doesn't display any errors. If I change settings to copy screen 1, then second displays fault free copy.
Restarted the PC, pressed D throughout the startup and didn't get anywhere - started up as normal, with the flicker. Is it a different button?
Thank you
ejn63
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June 18th, 2023 08:00
Last thing to check is the connection between the display and the mainboard -- service manual linked below. Unplug the system and disconnect the battery before going inside. Disconnect the display cable from the system board and check it for damage. If it's not evidently damaged, reconnect it and reassemble the system to see if the problem resolves. If it doesn't or the cable is damaged, the display assembly needs to be replaced.
Service manual here
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-15-9570-laptop/docs
ejn63
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June 18th, 2023 08:00
Press and hold the D key. Then press the power button, continuing to hold until the screen self-test starts.
Once in the tests, if you see the same fault as the photos you've posted, the screen is faulty and will need to be replaced.
ejn63
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30.2K Posts
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June 18th, 2023 08:00
Absolutely do not upgrade to Windows 11 until the problem is resolved. The upgrade could easily complicate troubleshooting and won't solve the problem.
You should run a screen diagnostic (hold the D key through powerup to initiate the test). Do the test screens appear OK or do they have the same fault?
Another thing you can try is attaching an external monitor to see what the image looks like on that.
PESIX
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June 19th, 2023 11:00
How flickering looks like :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIJAhKc8RPY
PESIX
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June 19th, 2023 11:00
Hi and thank you once again for all the advice. This evening I took it apart, checked visually all the visible looms, re-plugged them back in (did the whole procedure twice) and the display still goes all over the place, unfortunately. Displays small desktop icon fragments upon startup like the screen memory or ram is holding some fragments. Throughout the steps - flickering pattern didn't change either. Any idea how much is a new assembly from dell or other places? (Google comes up only with second hand stuff)