I have been following this thread because I too encountered the flickering problem. I have set up three 9550s to date. The first one, I updated everything...drivers and bios to their latest versions... and clearly had the flickering problem when dimmed at lower levels. On the second 9550, I updated all drivers, but not the BIOS. I did not have the flickering as many have stated. However, I did have two other minor problems such as the Dell Premier Color app crashing because it doesn't work with the latest NVidia drivers. I also had the Power Shutdown problem where the laptop would restart after three seconds when shutting down. On the third PC, I took a more careful approach. I decided to carefully follow the best practices in updating drivers in the correct order. I updated the BIOS first to the latest version. To my surprise, there was no flicker. I then proceeded to update the chipset drivers, etc in the order suggested by Dell and other OS experts. Here's the interesting part. The last driver I updated was the Intel HD Graphics 530 video card. As soon as I updated that from version 20.19.15.4331 to 20.19.15.4483, I started receiving the flicker. I wasn't happy obviously. So, I decided to revert back to 4331. I first went into Programs and Features and uninstalled the driver and software from there. I then rebooted. This left me with some generic Microsoft video driver. I still had the flicker with that driver. I then re-installed 4331. After I rebooted, the flicker was gone. I was somewhat surprised and very happy. So, I would suggest checking that out with the latest BIOS and see if that works for you in reverting back to 4331 on the Intel Video card. I have stayed with version 5894 of the NVIDIA card because I have found that their latest driver per their Software Update feature causes the Dell Premier Color application to crash. Hopefully they fix that. I would be curious to see if anyone else has seen the results that I came across with the Intel 530 driver version and the latest BIOS as I have in reverting back to driver 4331. Hopefully Dell fixes these issues (flickering on latest drivers and BIOS) including the NVIDIA and crashing Dell PremierColor app for 4K screens.
I've had this a few times (in fact also when the laptop was first delivered to me) but never pinpointed the exact problem. This application is extremely buggy, and eventually I preferred turning it off. There is no documentation, nor support, available for this application. Quite shocking, given that it seems required to have correct color profiles which Dell seems to tout as a selling point for this laptop.
- "had the Power Shutdown problem where the laptop would restart after three seconds when shutting down"
Could you redirect me to where this was posted before? I had the same problem 2-3 times, and for me it seemed related to my power adaptor. Unplugging the laptop and turning it off 'fixed' it for me. I am getting a full replacement soon since I even got a motherboard and screen replacement, and many similar weird issues persist. (e.g., random touch screen input)
- "As soon as I updated that from version 20.19.15.4331"
It has been reported before that the brightness flickering problem is seemingly a problem with combination of drivers. Just like you (and others), I also have no flickering with ..4331 (https://communities.intel.com/thread/104349). Neither do I have flickering with BIOS A06. However, since the flickering occurs in the BIOS as well (at which point the Intel driver is not loaded yet), I prefer 'resolving' the issue by reverting the BIOS rather than Intel driver, since Dell seems to be the primary cause here. I am still awaiting a BIOS update which explicitly addresses this issue (have tried up to A13 so far without success).
"the Dell Premier Color app crashing" - I confirm absolutely unreliable. Seems not related to flicker. Since last year seems also just no updates. They like this way, I suppose...
Whathecode...below are some blogs where people mention the Power Down bug. I had it on the first two 9550s, but I have not had it on this third 9550. As mentioned above, I am managing to run the latest BIOS 1.2.14 without the flicker as long as I stay on Intel 530 driver version 4331. Yes, you can update to the latest Intel driver, but then you have to revert to the earlier BIOS as you stated. So, it certainly appears to be some combination where the BIOS is in conflict with the graphics adapters. When I updated to Win 10 Anniversary Edition, the NVIDIA card automatically updated to a later version as part of Anniversary's drivers. This caused my Dell PremierColor app to start crashing again. If I stayed on the Dell listed NVIDIA driver, PremierColor was working fine. Since Anniversary already updated on this third 9550, I decided to utilize the Update Feature within the NVIDIA application and I further updated to the very latest version for the graphics card. This does nothing to help PremierColor. I did contact the people behind PremierColor at Portrait Displays (Portrait.com), and they told me they were aware of the issue and working on a solution with Dell. Meanwhile, they told me that I could roll back to the Dell listed previous NVIDIA graphics driver in order to get the full functionality out of the PremierColor application. For now, I will stay on the latest NVIDIA driver version and live without PremierColor. One more note, I did notice that Anniversary Edition updated the Intel Serial IO Driver to 30.63.1610.8 instead of the 30.63.1519.7 (30.100.1519.7 in the Dell listing). I just mention this. Not intending to hijack this flicker thread to something else. This seems to be fine and no problems that I can see there. Hopefully, BIOS and driver updates soon will resolve the flicker...as well as other bugs mentioned.
Here are some Forums where people talk about the Power-Down bug. I had it on the first two 9550s, but not on this third one. I am on the latest BIOS as I stated above, but I am staying on Intel 530 driver version 4331 to avoid the flicker problem. Windows Anniversary updated my NVIDIA driver to a later version than the Dell listed version. This caused my Dell PremierColor app to crash. I therefore proceeded to update to the latest NVIDIA drivers per their app's Update Feature. This did not resolve the PremierColor issue as I figured. The people behind the app at Portrait Displays (Portrait.com) informed me they are working with Dell on a solution for that problem. They told me that I could roll back to the Dell listed version to gain back the app functionality. For now, I will stay with the latest drivers and lose the PremierColor functionality
I purchased a 9550, i7, 16GB, 512GB, 4k, Win10 Home from amazon.co.uk this month. The one that I got was manufactured in 03/2016.
I didn't notice any flicker to start with and took no notice of the BIOS version it came with. I updated the BIOS to 1.2.14 A13 and reset to BIOS defaults. Immediately, I saw flicker. To be clear which type of flicker I mean (there seem to be at least 2 different kinds discussed in this thread), it's a brief flash - just perceptible enough to be irritating, about once every 20 seconds (but not regular). It seemed worse when brightness was set lower (so was automatically worse when running on battery since the BIOS defaulted to 50% brightness on battery, 100% brightness on AC power).
The flicker was visible when in the BIOS settings, so I don't think it has much to do with the version of the windows 10 video drivers, unless Dell has embedded a version of the drivers into their BIOS code.
I tried going back to BIOS 1.2.10 A10, but the flicker remained. I read about some people solving the flicker problem by going back to BIOS 1.2.0 A06. This doesn't seem to be available from Dell support web site any more, but I found that the old location saved by Google cache is still valid. Download here.
Going back to BIOS 1.2.0 A06 seems to have solved the flicker problem for me.
Sounds good Teeu. Makes sense. Mine has a manufacturing date in April 2016. I had the first flicker you described on low brightness levels. It was like you described. Not terrible. About every 15 - 20 seconds. But definitely unacceptable for a machine of this caliber. Honestly, I have never seen this in any PC at any price point. Regardless, I never checked the BIOS menu to see if it was flickering while in the BIOS. I can only say that I am running the latest BIOS 1.2.14 with no such flicker on low brightness as long as I remain on the Intel Video driver ending in 4331. My machine is a Signature Series machine from the Microsoft Store. Maybe someone else can explain why this might be working for me with the older Intel Video Driver. I am definitely on the latest BIOS. Thanks!
It seems there are several issues being discussed in this thread.
I had the flickering issue where when the screen would change its brightness briefly once every few seconds. I did not have the issue when I bought the laptop back in December 2015, and have stayed on top of applying all updates.
When encountering the flickering I also installed latest drivers straight from intel & nvidia, and set the nvidia graphics as the preferred output device as an attempt at a fix.
Following the advice to downgrade my bios from 1.2.14 A13 to 1.2.0 A06 through Teeuus provided link has resolved my issue.
I have the same issue, but I don't want to worry about resetting my bios back a few versions. Is there a better solution, like a new version that DOESN'T add new bugs?
@matchison326687: You are correct, since both are described as 'flickering' this thread started out discussing both. In short:
- 'Brightness flickering' due to BIOS update after A06, at the time of writing still not fixed. Rollback is adviced.
- The worse, 'black screen for 1-2 second or so' (video somewhere above in this thread) seems to be related to the Wifi card of the XPS 15 9550. Dell must be aware about this, since I just received the new specifications for a full replacement system I will receive, which now includes a Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 card instead of Dell Wireless 1830 3x3 802.11ac
Rolling back the Intel HD Graphics driver to .4331 also reduces the issue severely, but removes the 'gamut' slider. I have asked Dell for specifics as the implications of this in regards to color calibration, but nobody at Dell knows how this works.
Whathecode...Dell is sending a 9550 replacement with a different wifi card? Interesting. That would be an acknowledgement of a hardware problem. Makes me wonder if they would offer wifi card replacements to customers who request it instead of entire machine replacements. Anyway...it would be good for Dell to get to the bottom of this flicker problem in conjunction with the latest Intel driver. I am not a fan of staying on older drivers if I am losing some functionality in color calibration possibly.
joteroz3: If they are finally aware about this problem (which it seems), and the severe black-flickering problem is the only reported problem, I'm quite certain they would just send a technician to replace the wifi card.
In my case I did not even have this issue, but rather a seemingly *** powersupply or something that broke two batteries already, and results in erroneous touch screen input, audio issues (I hope), and many other issues. Hence the full replacement.
I bought my XPS 15 9950 on August 31,2016. It worked fine for 3 weeks. At the end of the 3rd week it suffered a bump to the bezel on the top left corner creating a burr on the plastic. There was no screen damage. It continued to work fine for another 2 weeks.
At some point I had applied Dell updates and BIOS update.
Then I started to get the 'going to black' flashing. Another display plugged into the dock or HDMI was not affected. I went through Dell telephone troubleshooting for about 3 hours, then sent it in. ( I made a drive image even though they said the data would be untouched)
They said the unit had been dropped and repairs would not be under warranty coverage. I agreed (what else could I do) and two weeks later received my computer back. Of course, all of my data was gone and I had a fresh install of Windows.
It took me a while to get the image reinstalled (Dell WOULD NOT help me through this process).
So, I've been using the computer for a few days and had immediately noted the 'brightness flicker'. I have emailed Dell to find out what is up with this and have now found this support forum and am ***. I doubt that my laptop had any damage that needed to be fixed to take my $202.
I don't know off hand what revision my BIOS is. ** Edit - My bios is 1.2.14 **
joteroz3
16 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2016 18:00
I have been following this thread because I too encountered the flickering problem. I have set up three 9550s to date. The first one, I updated everything...drivers and bios to their latest versions... and clearly had the flickering problem when dimmed at lower levels. On the second 9550, I updated all drivers, but not the BIOS. I did not have the flickering as many have stated. However, I did have two other minor problems such as the Dell Premier Color app crashing because it doesn't work with the latest NVidia drivers. I also had the Power Shutdown problem where the laptop would restart after three seconds when shutting down. On the third PC, I took a more careful approach. I decided to carefully follow the best practices in updating drivers in the correct order. I updated the BIOS first to the latest version. To my surprise, there was no flicker. I then proceeded to update the chipset drivers, etc in the order suggested by Dell and other OS experts. Here's the interesting part. The last driver I updated was the Intel HD Graphics 530 video card. As soon as I updated that from version 20.19.15.4331 to 20.19.15.4483, I started receiving the flicker. I wasn't happy obviously. So, I decided to revert back to 4331. I first went into Programs and Features and uninstalled the driver and software from there. I then rebooted. This left me with some generic Microsoft video driver. I still had the flicker with that driver. I then re-installed 4331. After I rebooted, the flicker was gone. I was somewhat surprised and very happy. So, I would suggest checking that out with the latest BIOS and see if that works for you in reverting back to 4331 on the Intel Video card. I have stayed with version 5894 of the NVIDIA card because I have found that their latest driver per their Software Update feature causes the Dell Premier Color application to crash. Hopefully they fix that. I would be curious to see if anyone else has seen the results that I came across with the Intel 530 driver version and the latest BIOS as I have in reverting back to driver 4331. Hopefully Dell fixes these issues (flickering on latest drivers and BIOS) including the NVIDIA and crashing Dell PremierColor app for 4K screens.
Whathecode
62 Posts
0
October 3rd, 2016 04:00
- "the Dell Premier Color app crashing"
I've had this a few times (in fact also when the laptop was first delivered to me) but never pinpointed the exact problem. This application is extremely buggy, and eventually I preferred turning it off. There is no documentation, nor support, available for this application. Quite shocking, given that it seems required to have correct color profiles which Dell seems to tout as a selling point for this laptop.
- "had the Power Shutdown problem where the laptop would restart after three seconds when shutting down"
Could you redirect me to where this was posted before? I had the same problem 2-3 times, and for me it seemed related to my power adaptor. Unplugging the laptop and turning it off 'fixed' it for me. I am getting a full replacement soon since I even got a motherboard and screen replacement, and many similar weird issues persist. (e.g., random touch screen input)
- "As soon as I updated that from version 20.19.15.4331"
It has been reported before that the brightness flickering problem is seemingly a problem with combination of drivers. Just like you (and others), I also have no flickering with ..4331 (https://communities.intel.com/thread/104349). Neither do I have flickering with BIOS A06. However, since the flickering occurs in the BIOS as well (at which point the Intel driver is not loaded yet), I prefer 'resolving' the issue by reverting the BIOS rather than Intel driver, since Dell seems to be the primary cause here. I am still awaiting a BIOS update which explicitly addresses this issue (have tried up to A13 so far without success).
g.becattini
59 Posts
0
October 3rd, 2016 09:00
"the Dell Premier Color app crashing" - I confirm absolutely unreliable. Seems not related to flicker. Since last year seems also just no updates. They like this way, I suppose...
joteroz3
16 Posts
1
October 3rd, 2016 21:00
Whathecode...below are some blogs where people mention the Power Down bug. I had it on the first two 9550s, but I have not had it on this third 9550. As mentioned above, I am managing to run the latest BIOS 1.2.14 without the flicker as long as I stay on Intel 530 driver version 4331. Yes, you can update to the latest Intel driver, but then you have to revert to the earlier BIOS as you stated. So, it certainly appears to be some combination where the BIOS is in conflict with the graphics adapters. When I updated to Win 10 Anniversary Edition, the NVIDIA card automatically updated to a later version as part of Anniversary's drivers. This caused my Dell PremierColor app to start crashing again. If I stayed on the Dell listed NVIDIA driver, PremierColor was working fine. Since Anniversary already updated on this third 9550, I decided to utilize the Update Feature within the NVIDIA application and I further updated to the very latest version for the graphics card. This does nothing to help PremierColor. I did contact the people behind PremierColor at Portrait Displays (Portrait.com), and they told me they were aware of the issue and working on a solution with Dell. Meanwhile, they told me that I could roll back to the Dell listed previous NVIDIA graphics driver in order to get the full functionality out of the PremierColor application. For now, I will stay on the latest NVIDIA driver version and live without PremierColor. One more note, I did notice that Anniversary Edition updated the Intel Serial IO Driver to 30.63.1610.8 instead of the 30.63.1519.7 (30.100.1519.7 in the Dell listing). I just mention this. Not intending to hijack this flicker thread to something else. This seems to be fine and no problems that I can see there. Hopefully, BIOS and driver updates soon will resolve the flicker...as well as other bugs mentioned.
en.community.dell.com/.../19992618
en.community.dell.com/.../19988839
en.community.dell.com/.../19988805
www.reddit.com/.../
forum.notebookreview.com/.../
joteroz3
16 Posts
1
October 3rd, 2016 21:00
Here are some Forums where people talk about the Power-Down bug. I had it on the first two 9550s, but not on this third one. I am on the latest BIOS as I stated above, but I am staying on Intel 530 driver version 4331 to avoid the flicker problem. Windows Anniversary updated my NVIDIA driver to a later version than the Dell listed version. This caused my Dell PremierColor app to crash. I therefore proceeded to update to the latest NVIDIA drivers per their app's Update Feature. This did not resolve the PremierColor issue as I figured. The people behind the app at Portrait Displays (Portrait.com) informed me they are working with Dell on a solution for that problem. They told me that I could roll back to the Dell listed version to gain back the app functionality. For now, I will stay with the latest drivers and lose the PremierColor functionality
en.community.dell.com/.../19988839
en.community.dell.com/.../19988805
en.community.dell.com/.../19992618
Teeuu
3 Posts
1
October 5th, 2016 06:00
I purchased a 9550, i7, 16GB, 512GB, 4k, Win10 Home from amazon.co.uk this month. The one that I got was manufactured in 03/2016.
I didn't notice any flicker to start with and took no notice of the BIOS version it came with. I updated the BIOS to 1.2.14 A13 and reset to BIOS defaults. Immediately, I saw flicker. To be clear which type of flicker I mean (there seem to be at least 2 different kinds discussed in this thread), it's a brief flash - just perceptible enough to be irritating, about once every 20 seconds (but not regular). It seemed worse when brightness was set lower (so was automatically worse when running on battery since the BIOS defaulted to 50% brightness on battery, 100% brightness on AC power).
The flicker was visible when in the BIOS settings, so I don't think it has much to do with the version of the windows 10 video drivers, unless Dell has embedded a version of the drivers into their BIOS code.
I tried going back to BIOS 1.2.10 A10, but the flicker remained. I read about some people solving the flicker problem by going back to BIOS 1.2.0 A06. This doesn't seem to be available from Dell support web site any more, but I found that the old location saved by Google cache is still valid. Download here.
Going back to BIOS 1.2.0 A06 seems to have solved the flicker problem for me.
joteroz3
16 Posts
0
October 5th, 2016 23:00
Sounds good Teeu. Makes sense. Mine has a manufacturing date in April 2016. I had the first flicker you described on low brightness levels. It was like you described. Not terrible. About every 15 - 20 seconds. But definitely unacceptable for a machine of this caliber. Honestly, I have never seen this in any PC at any price point. Regardless, I never checked the BIOS menu to see if it was flickering while in the BIOS. I can only say that I am running the latest BIOS 1.2.14 with no such flicker on low brightness as long as I remain on the Intel Video driver ending in 4331. My machine is a Signature Series machine from the Microsoft Store. Maybe someone else can explain why this might be working for me with the older Intel Video Driver. I am definitely on the latest BIOS. Thanks!
matchison326687
1 Message
0
October 11th, 2016 13:00
It seems there are several issues being discussed in this thread.
I had the flickering issue where when the screen would change its brightness briefly once every few seconds. I did not have the issue when I bought the laptop back in December 2015, and have stayed on top of applying all updates.
When encountering the flickering I also installed latest drivers straight from intel & nvidia, and set the nvidia graphics as the preferred output device as an attempt at a fix.
Following the advice to downgrade my bios from 1.2.14 A13 to 1.2.0 A06 through Teeuus provided link has resolved my issue.
buggaby
9 Posts
0
October 11th, 2016 16:00
I have the same issue, but I don't want to worry about resetting my bios back a few versions. Is there a better solution, like a new version that DOESN'T add new bugs?
Whathecode
62 Posts
0
October 12th, 2016 06:00
@matchison326687: You are correct, since both are described as 'flickering' this thread started out discussing both. In short:
- 'Brightness flickering' due to BIOS update after A06, at the time of writing still not fixed. Rollback is adviced.
- The worse, 'black screen for 1-2 second or so' (video somewhere above in this thread) seems to be related to the Wifi card of the XPS 15 9550. Dell must be aware about this, since I just received the new specifications for a full replacement system I will receive, which now includes a Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 card instead of Dell Wireless 1830 3x3 802.11ac
Slow progress, ... but hey, its Dell.
Whathecode
62 Posts
0
October 12th, 2016 06:00
Rolling back the Intel HD Graphics driver to .4331 also reduces the issue severely, but removes the 'gamut' slider. I have asked Dell for specifics as the implications of this in regards to color calibration, but nobody at Dell knows how this works.
joteroz3
16 Posts
0
October 14th, 2016 04:00
Whathecode...Dell is sending a 9550 replacement with a different wifi card? Interesting. That would be an acknowledgement of a hardware problem. Makes me wonder if they would offer wifi card replacements to customers who request it instead of entire machine replacements. Anyway...it would be good for Dell to get to the bottom of this flicker problem in conjunction with the latest Intel driver. I am not a fan of staying on older drivers if I am losing some functionality in color calibration possibly.
Whathecode
62 Posts
0
October 14th, 2016 05:00
joteroz3: If they are finally aware about this problem (which it seems), and the severe black-flickering problem is the only reported problem, I'm quite certain they would just send a technician to replace the wifi card.
In my case I did not even have this issue, but rather a seemingly *** powersupply or something that broke two batteries already, and results in erroneous touch screen input, audio issues (I hope), and many other issues. Hence the full replacement.
joteroz3
16 Posts
0
October 14th, 2016 23:00
Wow...I can understand how that had to be frustrating to say the least. Glad they sent a replacement. Keep us updated as to how things are going.
FloridaJimL
31 Posts
0
October 16th, 2016 09:00
I bought my XPS 15 9950 on August 31,2016. It worked fine for 3 weeks. At the end of the 3rd week it suffered a bump to the bezel on the top left corner creating a burr on the plastic. There was no screen damage. It continued to work fine for another 2 weeks.
At some point I had applied Dell updates and BIOS update.
Then I started to get the 'going to black' flashing. Another display plugged into the dock or HDMI was not affected. I went through Dell telephone troubleshooting for about 3 hours, then sent it in. ( I made a drive image even though they said the data would be untouched)
They said the unit had been dropped and repairs would not be under warranty coverage. I agreed (what else could I do) and two weeks later received my computer back. Of course, all of my data was gone and I had a fresh install of Windows.
It took me a while to get the image reinstalled (Dell WOULD NOT help me through this process).
So, I've been using the computer for a few days and had immediately noted the 'brightness flicker'. I have emailed Dell to find out what is up with this and have now found this support forum and am ***. I doubt that my laptop had any damage that needed to be fixed to take my $202.
I don't know off hand what revision my BIOS is. ** Edit - My bios is 1.2.14 **
My Intel 530 driver version is 20.19.15.4483
My NVIDIA 960 driver version is 21.21.13.6909
Jim