1558 screen freeze/solid colors

Hey all,

So I have a Dell Studio 1558 laptop (i3, W7). It will run for 15 minutes or maybe an hour, then suddenly the screen will turn either white, orange, or violet. I mean like one solid color. The computer does not respond to anything otherwise. I will need to restart. No other problems besides that. The laptop is about six months old. I tried searching some forums but most people have a different problem, one where they have lines on the screen and the screen flickers.


This first happened in July ( I bought it in May) and I realized I had recently updated the graphics card driver. So I rolled it back and that solved the problem. Then recently, because of a virus problem, I reinstalled everything (Windows 7) using the Dell disks. All was well until the problem started occuring again. I updated and rolled back the driver and tried a few different GC drivers (there are a few different choices depending on what you're looking at, i.e., what your device manager tells you, what the Dell website tells you, or what the Intel utility tells you). The graphics card is the Intel ® HD Graphics card.

Nothing works, as I still have the problem. I have also done all the typical diagnostic stuff; check disk, the dell diagnostic utility, etc. Like I said, everything is fine on the unit except for that screen freeze problem. I have no video games, special configs etc.

I called support but they kicked it back to me saying it must be software related and my warranty doesn't cover any software related issue. Of course I tried, "Can you tell me what "software" exactly?" but no go on the "support" side of things.

So my only question is, am I on the right track? Is it the GC? Is it the GC driver or some other driver? I have updated the bios to the latest version, A10 but no change.

Thanks in advance!

 

Do you like this laptop? I want to buy this one an i5 processor with 1080p but i keep hearing lot of people talk about problems.

 

Is your laptop overheating? If the drivers aren't solving the issue, perhaps it's more of a hardware issue.

 

Yes, I do. The viewing angles for video aren't as good as my Studio XPS 17" (which is older and runs hotter) but the 1558 seems way snappier.

The "screen crash" is the only problem I'm having right now.

Some more info is that when I try to run the Windows experience index assesment I can force it into the crash I'm talking about. I've gotten many different frozen screen/solid colors; I think the last one was a kind of light blue.

I'm looking for a course of action really.

 

Doesn't seem like the fan. It's always very cool to the touch, as I said, unlike my Studio XPS.

 

Are you seeing a different timestamp on the posts or something? I posed my query before you mentioned the XPS was warm.

In any case, I would push Dell to cover the issue under warranty since either the software they're providing or the hardware they sold you. Now, whether they just send you a new hard drive w/factory image to address their wonky software or try to replace the CPU/mobo is another story.

 

@Robin001: Your 1558 has Intel i7 720QM CPU with Intel HD Graphics GPU (mine has ATI Radeon HD5470 1GB). I suspect that the problem is hardware: either the LCD (the whole assembly, not just the screen) is bad or the Intel GPU is faulty. One of them must be replaced.

I suggest that, when you call Dell tech support, focus only on the visible problem of the LCD and do not tell them any details about your own attempts at fixing the problem by updating video driver and reinstalling Windows. Force them to look at the main problem.

I seriously doubt that your problem is related to Windows or Intel video driver. You could, as part of your due diligence, to reinstall W7 from scratch. But, man, I feel so bad that a customer spent $1000-1500 and has to try all sorts of fixes on their own.

 

@Robin001: consult the DELL support first.

Drew1 : If your are going for gaming, you should raise config.