Latitude D820 WUXGA NVidia. LCD Vertical lines. Now Blue garbled screen.

I wanted to clarify something before I tell about the test. I dont see the beginning of windows loading start up etc on external monitor. The external monitor comes into picture only when the password screen is ready.

So I used USB wireless keyboard. I think you would want me to use a usb keyboard for this test. Please clarify.

So with this wireless keyboard, I did the steps you said. Hit power, closed lid, and hit F2 and waited for bios to show up but nothing happened on external monitor. I opened lid and nothing on LCD.

Let me know if you want me to try with a usb keyboard rather than wireless keyboard. I dont know if it will help because like I said before, I dont get to see anything on extenal keyboard until windows login screen shows up.

 

Ok, so my system qualified for free replacement and I sent my system over to Dell for repairs. Everything free of cost.

So yesterday I got call from Dell saying, we replaced your motherboard but we are seeing distorted image, and your system needs new lcd which will be 300. I told the lady, I have new lcd on that system and I paid 125. She said, ok, we will do 200 for you. At this point I got mad and I said send the system back, I dont need your LCD.

So I am confused now, why did the display show distorted even though motherboard was changed?

1. Did Dell really change motherboard or not?

2. If they changed motherboard, and lets say my new LCD is bad, if i put the old lcd which showed vertical lines, that should show up fine right with vertical lines?

3. Was Dell trying to sell me new LCD?

4. any other component that could be causing this issue if Dell really changed motherboard

What do you suggest? I have tried pretty much everything from new lcd to new cable to sending it to dell.

 

Did you send it with the old LCD or the new one?

1. Hard to say, but they should have...

2. Yes, it should still be the same with the old LCD.

Excluding external damage, LCD failure is usually not dramatic (dead pixels or backlight problems are more common). Since you have Nvidia graphics, I would first suspect the motherboard.

Next, parts from eBay are questionable as well, so if you have the new LCD installed, I would question both the motherboard and the LCD.

Finally, I don't know how much experience you have with servicing laptops, but it's fairly easy to damage parts when replacing the LCD, so installation/removal damage to both LCDs is also possible.

As you can see, there are quite a few variables here. I would wait until you get the system back to do further troubleshooting.

 

I send it with new LCD. OH me. Well I thought, with new one, they can replace the gpu or motherboard and it should work fine.

About installation/removal damage, only thing I can think of is accidentally touching "DO NOT TOUCH THIS AREA" at top. Other than that, I dont recall having any issues.

Also, I dont have much experience, but I feel there is not much in replacing LCD other than pressing the inverter tab/cable damaging inverter or the LCD cable back in its place. I really struggled to put LCD cable back in its slot but dont think it was that bad to damage anything.

 

It's better to leave out as many variables as possible. If they did indeed replace the motherboard, I think putting the old LCD back in should fix it, given there are no new problems.

Check the BIOS version when you get it back, if it's different, chances are it's a different motherboard. Most of the motherboards I've received from Dell have had older BIOS versions, which means Dell doesn't update the BIOS during the refurbishing process.

Touching it won't really do anything, it's grabbing or holding it that could damage it.

 

ok, this is shocking but true.

So, I got my system today. I started the system and the boot up showed Dell Logo which was blurry. The next screen was black with dashes. Scary stuff and then windows screen also showed blurry. But finally, windows loaded and I could see login screen, yay. I logged in and the desktop showed crisp and fine. I have to say, this is best screen, better than man old vertical line one which I used for 4 yrs. And by the way, I did not go with Dell trying to sell me their screen for 300 dollars. There was big confusion. Initially I said NO and then I said give me some time. So they said yes but they messed on hold process and ended up sending system back.

So I was happy at looking at my screen working but mad at dell for not giving me right information. The lady said your system shows distorted image and needs new LCD for which I refused. I just dont understand it. They could have said, only bootup is distorted but desktop etc shows fine. I strongly feel they wanted to sell me their stuff and when I said my lcd is brand new, they gave up.

Anyway, attached are snapshots. Can someone tell me what is wrong with this? Why is everything so blurry at boot up time? I have done several restarts but still I see same sequence of blurry stuff at bootup. FYI, writing this email using the same laptop and it makes me so happy.

Thanks all,

 

That's very strange...BIOS should show up clear if Windows looks fine. Have you tried reloading the BIOS and resetting to factory defaults?

 

How do I reload BIOS and reset it? I hope I dont mess up anything because now we know my screen is good. Maybe Dell replaced motherboard with a bad graphics card.

 

ok, so I tried to enter BIOS as well as Boot setup process shown as F2 and F12 keys. When I hit the key, I think I do enter BIOS but the screen is black with dashes exactly like the one posted earlier i.e. boot up screen snapshots. I tried F12 and the screen looked same black with dashes and I had to manually shut it down via power button.

No idea what is going on. Dell will call tomorrow. The screen looks fabulous, no kidding about that. Better than what I had before that came with Dell.

Is it loose connection? if Yes, then why is desktop so freaking crisp and clear. My bios version shows A09 on boot up, shall I try to upgrade it?

Please let me know if there are any options I can try.

 

The latest BIOS is A10, here's the link:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&releaseid=R256902&SystemID=LATITUDE%20D820&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=10433&fileid=377172

It's unexplainable why it looks fuzzy in BIOS and clear in Windows, other than the motherboard has issues. I would get it fixed, because who knows what other problems there are (or if it will deteriorate).