Dell xps screen glitching. Help!

[spencer55555]

I have a dell xps l5018 with an i7 processor and 8 gigs of ram wit a nividia ge-force graphics card. My screen recently started doing this and I can't figure out what's causing it.


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[spencer55555]

Can someone help?!


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[Bahawolf1]

Ouch. This could be a number of things such as a faulty cable, faulty card, or an issue with the screen itself. I'm afraid that the diagnostic and repair could get pricey, and might cost you more than a new laptop.

In my own experience, I usually don't salvage laptops in the case of a hardware failure (unless it's RAM, a HDD, or a simple ribbon replacement). An LCD replacement in itself can run 100-200 bucks.

 

[Celery]

Try reinstalling your video driver. Use the disk that came with it.

 

[Bahawolf1]

Try reinstalling your video driver. Use the disk that came with it.

I was thinking about recommending that, but the picture doesn't quite look like a software related error to me.

- Does the distortion occur in Safe Mode?
- Does the distortion occur outside of Windows?
- Does the distortion change / shift as you move the display back and forth?

 

[spencer55555]

Yes it does move when the screen is shifted and that led me to take the display out and disconnect and re connect the wires. Now that I did that I haven't been having the problem. I will also try to reinstall the driver. Thanks for the help


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[Bahawolf1]

Awesome! Since that fixed it, you may have had a loose ribbon cable (the cable that connects the display to the card / board). I've seen these ribbons come loose for a number of reasons, but loose / broken hinges is often the culprit. As the hinges loosen or crack, they cause excess tension as the screen is moved. This over time can cause the ribbon to become loose, or in worst case scenarios even tear.

Fortunately, a ribbon replacement is easy if it ever does tear. Though if I were you, I'd inspect those hinges and check for cracks.

Oh, and you should get the latest video driver online (as opposed to installing the original driver). More than likely, a newer version has come out since, and will provide better performance for your machine.

 

[spencer55555]

Ok! Thanks for the help.. I actually got this laptop off a friend who had dropped and broke it. Both hinges were destroyed and the screen assembly was very loose. After I repaired it I probably didn't secure the Ribbon cables properly and that's why I had this problem.


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[cb600fshornet]

I'm glad this got sorted, laptops which have been dropped often get little quirks over time, unplugging all the cables/components and seating them correctly again usually sorts it!