Screen color glitch, any help please.

So recently I noticed when I pick up my laptop it caused a quick visual glitch, a bunch of red lines would appear on the screen for a second or a selective color would be covered with red or something to that extent. It feels like it's the bottom of the laptop putting pressure on something inside causing this. My first thought is graphics card. So I opened up my m15x and sort of unscrewed all the GPU screws and put them back in tight, took out the fan, cleaned it and put it back in. And now its worse and even more fragile. If i barely even lift the laptop the screen goes all screwy again and it stays for longer until a fidget around with it on a table till it goes away.

The only thing I could think of doing is reseating the GPU, however I am in Mexico at the moment staying in a very hot and humid and dusty house, so even having my laptop open was making me nervous. So I don't exactly want to remove the heatsink from the GPU and have to stick it back on here. Can I take the GPU out with the heatsink still attached to it? Sorry if that's a dumb question, I haven't opened up or messed with my laptop in a while.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

I'm starting to think it could possibly be the wiring to the screen. It's very strange. At times it's incredibly sensitive, I can barely move the laptop around and it flickers with the blue lines and what not. But then at times It's fine and I have to really jiggle the screen and laptop to make the lines appear.

If it is the screen I find that odd, since it only got worse when I opened it up and messed around with the GPU...

 

if you talking about red mist over black colored pixels, I had same thing when I replaced gpu. what I did was tighten the heatsink screws too much, and I think that's what caused it. by touching and applying pressure to hearsink it would go away, but when released it would come back.

I fixed it by loosening the screws a little. it might also have something to do with actual mxm connection to mobo. mby not proper connection between gpu and mobo.

 

Yeah that's exactly it, red mist over black colored pixels and turqoise blue lines over any white pixels. I actually tightened the screws today cause I thought it was maybe loose. I guess I'll try undoing that. You're talking about the 4 screws over the actual die of the GPU correct?
And where does the GPU connect to the mobo? I might as well check that connection too.

 

yes those 4 screws. and when u take off the heatsink, there should be 2 little screws holding it down. undo them and card will flip up. then make sure the card is connected properly. and make sure those 2 screws aren't too tight as well. refer to disassembly videos if u need more help

 

D'you know if you can remove the GPU without taking the heatsink off? I'd rather not have to repaste my GPU die right now if possible.

 

I loosened the screws and I can't exactly tell but it seemed like it was better for a bit, but now the lines and dots are back

 

I tried taking off the backplate while the laptop is running and putting pressure on the GPU die and doesn't seem to do anything. So now I'm thinking it maybe isn't the GPU. I tried applying pressure on different parts of the laptop and it seemed to produce the red dots and lines randomly, very hard to tell what is the problem. Tried taking a screen shot when the lines were appearing too, however the lines don't show up in the screen shot.
This is making me really nervous as I'll be flying and moving around a lot in the next few days and I have some important video work to deliver soon, if the screen gets stuck with those lines on it and I can't fix it in time I'm screwed.
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Bump.

Does anyone have any suggestions? The laptop has become so sensitive. It has to be in the "perfect" position for the screen to function properly.
Some cable or connection must be loose or damaged. Does anyone know where the LCD connects or anything? I really need to get this fixed asap.

 

this is purely hardware issuance, which means while producing anything in software wont have those red things.

you could try jiggling the main LCD cable. it is located directly underneath the keyboard.

also I don't think you can take gpu out with heatsink still attached, as chassis overlaps the heatsking on the right side.

 

Alright so I took out the keyboard and jiggled all the LCD cables lightly and pushed them in a tad. And now the screen is stuck with the cyan lines and red mist. And if I pick the laptop up it becomes incredibly sensitive, the whole screen flashes different colors. I have urgent work that needs to be done on here this couldn't happen at a worse time
D'you have any other suggestions? In the mean time I'm just guna try to take the keyboard off and turn the laptop on so I can wiggle around each cable to maybe determine which one exactly is causing this.

 

I'm considering just buying an alienware 17 laptop cause this thing is so unstable right now. But I really shouldn't be spending money on that right now. What's annoying is I know this must be fixable. It has to be some small cable loose or damaged somewhere.
My warranty is long expired of course. Is there any tech's from dell that would help at all with this with no warranty? I can fix it myself if someone were to just tell me which cable/connection is causing this.

 

if you have time, you could take it apart all the way down to mobo and put it back together. mby on the way you would find what's causing it.

I don't think its a broken LCD as u said it shows no red crap if you place it perfectly.

dell offers warranty renewal for around 300 pounds, so I doubt that's in anyone's budget. it is cheaper to get laptop repaired professionally for around 80 pounds

 

Yeah, the problem is that I need the laptop running when I'm opening it to tell exactly what is causing this. I took the keyboard off and all that. stripped it down. But when looking at all the wiring etc it's impossible to tell where the problem could be, it could be anywhere.
I did take my GPU out and reseated and pasted it. The problem seemed to be gone when I started it up again, but I only had a couple minutes to test it out. So yesterday I spent all day flying, carrying my laptop in my bag. So it definitely moved around a lot and now when I start it back up the red mist and all is back. As bad as before. I wonder if it is my GPU.
It's so odd, it's impossible to tell what is causing it, the laptop is so sensitive. touching specific parts or holding it a certain way causes it to appear and disappear. But not in a logical way to where I can tell where it's putting pressure on a certain component or not.

 

you could try buying a cheap gt240 to test of its you gpu.

 

I had this same problem fixed it myself. The problem is the lvds ( screen cable ) isn't plug all the way in on the motherboard. it has to be level it takes some time before you get it right. after IT IS STRAIGHT AND LEVEL. Then tape the lvds cable down. Cheers

 

Thanks so much for your reply. What is the lvds cable though? There seems to be 4 different cables coming from the LCD that are connected under the keyboard.

 

I believe its the thickest one that connects horizontally. and its rly awkward to reconnect it as its some strange connection.

 

If it isn't the screen you could try uninstalling any displayed drivers you have (nvidia or AMD) to get the generic VGA adapter. See if that makes any difference.

Have the latest display drivers ready to reinstall.

I've disassembled my m15x before and didn't find it particularly difficult to disconnect and reconnect screen. It's the ribbon cable rather than the thick sleeved cables which are antennas.

Hope you get it sorted muy rapido!

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk

 

Also if you want I can sell you a working m15x nvidia gtx 260m pm

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

Have you tried attaching it to an external screen and see if it has the same issue there?

 

No I travel non stop I don't have an external screen

 

That's ok thanks. I actually have a gtx 460m with me I can test out. I just want that to be a last resort. I have some very important work right now that I'm doing on this laptop, if I open it up and play with the lvds cable as you suggested or change video cards and something messes up to where I can't finish this work.... Well let's just say I'm in big trouble. So I'm trying to wait until I can get this project finished (by proping the laptop up very awkwardly) and then trouble shoot this.

How sure are you that you had the same issue as me? I took out my current GPU and reseated+pasted it a week ago, problem still persists. So I'm thinking it really is the lvds cable as you suggested but I'm scared to fidget with it for the reasons stated above.
Should I take a picture of the screen for you so you can see exactly what it looks like? It's green mist over anything that's black on the screen and pinkish mist on anything that's white.

 

So i'm not so sure it's the lvds cable anymore. I managed to fidget with it while the laptop was on and it didn't seem to affect anything. I'm starting to think it might be my GPU, so that's my next step I'm going to put a different one in and see. I haven't switched GPU's in a while. Can anyone tell me what to do as far as uninstalling drivers? Isn't there some software you use to wipe out all drivers and software? I currently have a 7970m and I'll be putting a gtx460m to test.

And if it is the GPU, what should I do with my 7970m? I payed like $500 for it off some guy on here, almost a year ago. I'll be piiiiissed if it's just trash now. That will have been the second one I've had crap out on me.

Here's what the black pixels look like when it's bugging out

 

It works right if you move the display and get it in the perfect position? I'd definitely recommend REPLACING the display cable. I had a m15x show lots of red dots and what not, very noticeable on black screens like when windows is loading. I ended up tearing down the lcd panel, reattatching the cable to the lcd, tape it, and do same to the motherboard, and worked fine after. Colors would change and flicker when adjusting display.

Try hooking up to an external display also to see if it works normal. If it does, its your display cable.

 

I really want to try out an external display but I travel almost every single day to new states, so it's not really an option right now unfortunately.

I'd like to remove my LCD as you did. I've figured out how to remove the lvds cable but I'm worried about removed the remaining 3 cables that are hooked up to the mobo. It almost looks like some of them are soldered on or something. And in the AWm15x disassembly video they are already disconnected so he doesn't show how to remove the connections. Can you explain to me how?

 

Its on the half mini card 1 black 1 grey 1 blue and 1 white you can remove them

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

The wide monitor cable has a lever / bar, that you pull upright and will pop the cable off as you pull. The metal bar / lever, acts as the clip that holds the cable down also, once installed. Look inside and look on the ends as you move the bar back and forth, you will see how it presses in from the sides to hold the connector down once installed. To reinstall, make sure you push the connector on nice and flat / level, and then push the lever down so the pins slide into the ends of the board connector, which holds it down. The smaller connector just pushes and pulls off, nothing special. The small single wires are just antenna wires, once you pull one off, you will see it just pops back on like a button on pants, just make sure its lined up perfectly before you apply some pressure, dont wanna crush the thin casing on the connector.

Just make sure you look at each connector and understand how it goes back on, take it slow. Breaking off a connector or damaging the motherboard can really suck. Even ribbon cables can get damaged easy, if you try to push one into the slot at a funny angle. I accidently popped one of the tiny copper wires off a ribbon cable, and it basically slid over on top of the other ones, by pushing it into a slot on the board wrong. Happened on my m11x.

 

When I take the lvds cable out and put it back in it seems to help a little bit sometimes but it's so hard to tell if that's really the problem. I really want to take the whole screen off, but when I pull on the little wires you call antennas, I get really scared I'm guna break them. It hurts my nails pulling on them which makes me think it's not meant to come out. Are you 100% sure if I just pull on it it'll pop out? I attached a picture below showing exactly what cables I'm talking about.

I also really want to try swapping out GPU's to see if that's the problem. I have a gtx460m I can put in. By I currently have a 7970m running. When I switched GPUs a while back I had to use some software that wiped out all drivers and everything for your existing GPU. I can't remember what it is and don't know of any alternatives. Can anyone tell me what to use to uninstall my current GPU?

 

Those wires just pop out, easy peasy. Shouldn't be difficult or require too much effort.

You'll want to uninstall catalyst control centre in control panel and select express move all AMD components. Then you'll want to restart and run driver sweeper Guru3D - Driver Sweeper.
Finally do a registery clean using Ccleaner CCleaner - PC Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download