XPS 13 7390, periodic LCD screen failure

Question

Dell XPS 13 7390. Periodic LCD screen failure. I have a Temporary fix. Looking for permanent one.

I am looking for a diagnoses of a problem with my Dell XPS 13 7390

It runs on Ubuntu...It was purchased with Ubuntu 18.04 installed. The current version is 20.04 and the version of bios is 1.19.0

The problem – Everything initially works fine but there is a gradual deterioration of functionality to the point where the LCD stops working. (This happens with both versions of Ubuntu.) So it will display the standard 2 amber and 7 white flashing light. The failure of the LCD only happens AFTER a reboot or restart. BTW I NEVER open and close the LCD display on the laptop. It is always open. So I know that does not contribute to the problem.

How I “fix” the problem. This fix is only temporary and it seems that the time interval between when this problem occurs is getting shorter and shorter.

Disconnect the power cord, my internet connection and my USB connector for my printer, mouse and ACER display.
Close the laptop – ie flip the LCD from the vertical to horizontal position so it covers the keyboard.
Flip over the laptop to access the bottom panel.
Remove all of the screws and lift off the bottom panel.
Examine the LCD connector and press down on it to see if it is secure. It always seems to be.
Replace and screw in back panel.
Reconnect everything and – It works fine for a while. It used to be several months before failure. Now it is about a month.

I have no idea if the issue is software or hardware. Something I do in steps 2 to 6 inclusive is at least making the issue go away temporarily.

My questions:

Does anyone else have this problem or something like it? I have seen a number of posts on this issue in the forum but mine seems a little different.
If yes has anyone figured out what the issue is?

For me this is a show stopper. If I can’t figure this out it is time for a new computer. The first time it happened, a year and a half ago it clobbered my SSD and the data was lost for good. I even had to reinstall the OS.

ejn63 · Answer

if the issue shows up on the external monitor as well as the internal, it's likely a mainboard issue. If it shows up only on the internal screen, it's likely the display panel that's failing.

markjp59 · Answer

When this problem crops up the external monitor works fine. But the internal screen is black. So I take steps 1 to 7 above, turn it back on and voila! both internal screen and  monitor work.  And things are fine even after repeated restarts and shutdowns...for a while then it happens again.

markjp59 · Answer

I would like to update this post.

Today I upgraded to Ubuntu 22.04. For most of it I used my ACER monitor. My laptop monitor was acting up during the process. When shifting the mouse cursor onto the laptop display from the ACER monitor it would freeze or be very slow and jerky in its movements. Trying to shut down apps from the ubuntu task bar (which is on the laptop display) would cause the laptop display to briefly go off but not the ACER monitor, which worked just fine through the process.

With the restart at the end of the upgrade I got the two amber, seven yellow flashing light and my laptop display was black, but the Ubuntu upgrade was successful appearing on the connected ACER display. I restarted the laptop again immediately this time holding down the “d” key on restart. The monitor worked as expected on reboot – flashing light gone, showing red, blue, etc then once the OS was loaded everything worked fine.

One other thing when I run the Ubuntu disk utility it tells me that all is well on the ESP and Filesystem partitions of my SSD but with the OS partition I get “Filesystem damaged” and needs repairing. This was also the case before I upgraded from 20.04 to 22.04. I also notice the OS “Partition Type” is “Microsoft Reserved”. Should this be the case or is that just the factory name used?

More questions: Could this be what is causing the screen issues? If so I know a fresh install will not work. The original OS in which the problem happened was the original Dell factory installed Ubuntu 18.04. The issue at that time nuked my SSD and I had to do a fresh install of Ubuntu so I went with 20.04 (November of 2021) That being the case could this be an SSD issue?

markjp59 · Answer

UpdateAfter not having the laptop screen working for several days after a few restarts I decided to boot into BIOS. There is an option to run a system check which I did. After exiting BIOS the laptop screen was working again. This is not always the case...ie I don’t think this would be a 'fix' for the problem.When booting and holding down the 'D' key to screen test - it so far has always worked displaying the different colours on the laptop LCD screen even though as it continues to boot afterwards the screen ends up blank. I have only tried it a few times.The built in camera above the LCD screen always works even if the LCD does not.The keyboard back lighting works on boot up but not afterwards period. Seems to me it always worked before? But I can say for certain that only when the LCD screen fails to work the LED for the 'Caps Lock' does not work. CORRECTION - KEYBOARD BACKLIGHTING ONLY FAILS WHEN LCD SCREEN FAILS.Lastly here are some images of the log in screen and the other screen. Notice the weird horizontal green bars on the LCD but not on the main monitor. This does not always happen but frequently does when the LCD is working.

markjp59 · Answer

Here is the latest update on the issue. I am still trying to diagnose the problem and have ruled out a few things.

First, thanks for your post 8 Krypton:

“if the issue shows up on the external monitor as well as the internal, it's likely a mainboard issue.

If it shows up only on the internal screen, it's likely the display panel that's failing.”

It is not showing up on the external monitor. But none-the-less I believe I can rule out the failing display panel. And in fact as you will see below I think it may be a mainboard issue...but I am not sure.

A reboot – either shut down or restart will not temporarily fix the problem. However, if I boot into BIOS and then exit this sometimes brings back the laptop display but of course does not fix the problem. Some other recent developments – The power button remains unlighted when the laptop is powered up...regardless of whether the laptop display is working or not...but recently the keyboard backlighting works regardless. Also, now the front LED gives the very annoying two amber and seven white flashes regardless of whether or not the display is working.

On suspicion that the battery, which is failing, may have been the cause I removed it and just ran the laptop using the wall outlet. Voila! everything seems to work fine...no issues. So I ordered a new battery and put it in yesterday. Same problems as with the old battery. So it appears now I just have to use it without the battery or if I use the battery I have to use the monitor.

What I have concluded is that 1. This is probably not an issue with the laptop display because it works from time to time when the battery is connected (but it is becoming harder and harder to get it to work). 2. This is a hardware issue somewhere on the part of the board that is connected to the battery. 3. It seems that there are one or more components that have failed or are failing. Given the deteriorating performance, I suspect it is the latter.

In light of that I have disconnected the battery in the hopes that things don’t continue to get worse and also that I can continue to use the laptop display.

I do not want to close this post yet as “solved” because the problem has not been solved. I am still hoping to be able to accurately diagnose the problem. Given there are over 200 views on this topic I suspect I am not the only one with this issue. For those interested I will keep you updated...especially if my XPS 7390 starts failing without the battery.

BTW does anyone have the circuit schematics and technical specs for this laptop? I would love to get a copy.

margirl · Answer

I have exactly the same problem with my first XPS13. Now I have got another one (same model) with different problems (in-built camera is not working and no way to fix it). Both laptops have the feature that one gets a shock when the laptop is closed, connected to the network, and one touches a corner.

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XPS 13 7390, periodic LCD screen failure

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