Display Distortion after going into Standby/Hibernation

I've been having this problem for well over a month. It doesn't matter if I use the LCD screen on the laptop or if I extend it to my external monitor via HDMI.

After leaving the computer, it will eventually dim the screen, go into standby mode. However, once I'm back at my desk I will be looking at a distorted screen as below.



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But If I were to log in again, or simply right click and click refresh, all those distorted lines would disappear.

I'm beginning to think it's a faulty gpu, any thoughts on this?

Using m11x R2, i5, 4gb ram with all stock settings no OC and all drivers and bios are downloaded from Dell.com as of the latest revision (last week checked).

 

Mine does this also except mine doesn't look as distorted. Personally I haven't worried too much about it since it has done it since I got it and it's easy to fix. However if this is really unusual and a bad sign I would be interested in knowing as well.

Does yours do it every time? Mine only does it occasionally.

 

Yup. Does it every single time the laptop goes to standby, or when display shuts off after 10 minutes (had this set in my power option).

Should I call Dell and get a technician over to fix it?

 

Same! I've been getting this lately. The two things that changed this month were that my screen was replaced by a Dell technician, and I think I'm using the 275.33 WHQL drivers.

Do you guys have anything in common with me?

 

I'm not sure how to identify if it's 275.33. But I know it's the latest that is available from Dell.com

If it really is a faulty gpu, could the technician drop by and just switch it out? Or it is embedded into the motherboard, therefore requiring a change of the whole motherboard?

 

You're using the 257.30, which is probably a year old now. I don't think it's the GPU because the GPU shouldn't be on. :| Any other ideas? I don't have any.

 

I have the same problem with latest official driver from nvidia.

 

I just downgraded to the 266.58 WHQL and I don't have the problem anymore. I think it's just an issue with the newer drivers. It doesn't make sense that Dell's official drivers (which are quite old) would have the issue, though...

 

I just tried the newest 280.26 drivers and I have the same issue. I guess rolling back to older drivers might work? Can anyone else try this?

 

Okay... Dunno if anyone still cares, but if that's happening, the graphics card is fried.

Alienware M11x Graphics Chip Repair - Alienware M11x LCD Screen Display Repair

 

How can it be fried? I have had that for a month and I have no issues with playing games no crashes.
Edit: Nvidia control panel everything is set to use auto select and the only programs that automatically use nvidia are my games. So it can't be the chips fault.

 

Then it must be the integrated graphics? It doesn't matter since all the parts are soldered to the motherboard...

Can you try something for me? Try connecting your laptop to an external monitor. Do you still get the funny lines using a different screen/tv?

If yes, it's something with the motherboard. If no, it's the screen.

For me the answer is yes, so it has to be something attached to the motherboard...

 

Ok after an hr of waiting and testing it seems that it is the motherboard or a component on the motherboard. Integrated graphics being a problem is probably not the problem b/c i tested it with high performance nvidia processor on for all apps and it had lines meaning it cant be integrated graphics and vice versa. Auto select also showed the lines. So what could it be? I have new ram coming in so maybe i can check if ram is causing issues. Highly doubt it though. Tested with lap connected to Samsung 46 lcd using hdmi cable. Maybe it's just overall graphics issue with both chips and they're both faulty or something independent of graphics. Hopefully we can resolve this soon.

 

If faulty hardware is causing the problem, I would assume I would be having problems in games and such as well. This only happens occasionally when I wake up from standby, and a simple refresh screen fixes it. I see no other side effects. I think this is more of a software bug from windows. You could try a linux distro and see if the lines show up on it. (however in my experience linux has much buggier standby problems, but that was long ago and it might be better now)

Anyways that's my thought. If I were you I'd listen to somebody much more computer literate then me.

 

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1412424

Pulled up this old link. An Asus owner had this too. Dunno the specs of his machine, but it's not an Alienware exclusive problem, at least.

I'm glad it doesn't bother me during gaming, but it's abnormal, and it likely foreshadows issues in the future. If the laptop has even a small problem, I'll repair it now, not later. I only started having it in July, when my laptop was 11 months old. :| I'll call Dell now; my warranty expires in four days

 

Can you post how it goes and what they say?

 

Called dell, and they had me reinstall my driver to the factory version, also they had me update my bios to the latest version. They said they would call back tomorrow in case the problem wasn't fixed, then they would he would help my get a new mother board...well It isn't fixed so hopefully a new mother board will be installed in the near future

 

Called Dell, and they said:

1) "Go back to the stock BIOS and drivers." I told them I did that already, and I still had the problem.

2) "Check if it happens on other screens." I told them that the problem also showed up on my tv when connected via HDMI.

3) They then said the problem was likely with something connected to the motherboard. They said faulty RAM is possible because it's only seen when the laptop wakes from sleep mode. They also said it could be either the integrated or dedicated graphics because power goes through all the parts when a laptop is woken from sleep(?). They said it could also be the hard drive since it's a year old and it's a HDD, not an SSD.

I dunno if that's true, since the guy's tech support, not an actual technician... but they said they'll order a motherboard for me. If that doesn't work, they'll send RAM, and then a hard drive. I listed my preferences in that order.

 

Thanks for posting and also do you get the problem of your brightness going really high then coming back down? I don't mean the brightness going up using function keys but the option under intel gma called color enhancement(brightness). The color enhancement goes to almost
max and its random happens during games to.

 

Also gotta ask, can you check your BIOS version? You can do that by repeatedly pressing F2 immediately after pressing the power button when you boot up.

Yeah, I had that issue from September, when I first got my M11x, to early July. I stopped getting it when Dell replaced my screen last July... By the way, it only happened to me when I was on battery, but never on A/C.

 

A03 bios. Also happens to me when I'm on battery. So is it a screen issue? If so I'll call Dell and get them to replace mobo and screen.

 

Oh. I tried A02 but I still have the screen lines issue. The calibration thing is normal for most M11x R2s, I dunno why mine went away though.

Try this first:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/492790-m11xr2-calibrated-lcd-icc-profile.html

 

New ram will test it out a little more to see if line issues still show.

 

Just had my Motherboard replaced due to this issue, I will let my computer idle a couple times and see if it is fixed.

Edit: So after dell replaced my motherboard(the lines were an indicator of a bad graphics card) Everything is back to normal. So if you are still under warranty give them a call and get it replaced.

 

Hey guys,

I used AlienRespawn to reset my M11x to factory settings. My hard drive was acting all funny. Anyway, the screen lines issue is gone for me. Killed two birds with one stone. (repost)

 

Happens to me as well, think the first time it happened was the first time I used the HDMI out.

 

This is a driver issue. See the other thread for fix. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/605745-m11x-distorted-line-issues.html