Latitude E5420 ESD Nightmare

I bought an outlet E5420 a month or so ago for a great price. I absolutely love the laptop. The only problem i'm having with it is the issue mentioned in this thread on the Dell community forum.



Here is a video of the problem:
Dell Latitude E5420 - ESD Problem - YouTube

I'm pretty certain this is a flaw with the laptop as a whole and not a component fault. They've replaced the motherboard and video cable so far and i've a tech booked for monday to replace the screen. Seeing other people's experiences i'm pretty sure that it's not going to fix anything.

They first wanted to replace the entire laptop for me but upon discovering that it was an outlet laptop they changed their minds and offered me a refund instead. I really don't want a refund. There's literally nothing else on the market that interests me. I spent three months choosing a laptop and the only thing that ticked all the boxes for me was the E5420. I refused the refund and they've started the chain of component replacements which has so far reached a screen replacement next Monday.

Has anyone ever had an outlet laptop replaced under warranty?

 

I had a similar problem, i did a clean installation following this guide(some wont apply as this is for the E6x20 series and depending on what components you have) as an order to install the drivers, also installed the latest HD graphics drivers from Intel.

Has your E5420 got the 1600*900p screen?
Have you got the discrete Nvidia card or just the integrated intel HD graphics?

 

Maybe it was on outlet because someone returned it because it seemed to have that sort of problem?

When does this happen? Does it happen every time you do something in particular or does it just happen randomly?

My UL20FT used to have a corrupted screen on resume after an Intel driver was automatically updated by Windows Update. It went away when a newer version was sent through Windows Update.

Driver-wise, E5420 should not have the video issue with nVidia caused by install order because it does not have Optimus (E5x20 is only sold with Intel). There are also some advanced Intel display settings that can screw up things, but it gives you a big warning saying bad things can happen if you're tampering with it. What is the refresh rate on this?

My recommendation would be try to uninstall the Intel drivers and see how far it goes without doing that. Then try reinstalling Intel drivers from the Dell support site.

As far as outlet, they would likely tend to want to swap the unit whole with another outlet unit when it's still under their responsibility. As far as what sort of warranty you would have afterwards, not sure, though I would expect it should be the same as regular.

 

I've got the 900p screen. The E5420 doesn't have the option of an NVS 4200M. I've reinstalled Windows already and done driver and BIOS updates. Hasn't helped unfortunately.

There doesn't appear to be any pattern to it. Totally random. Sometimes it'll happen when i'm idling on the desktop after three hours of use. Sometimes it'll happen right after a cold boot. Sometimes it'll happen when i'm working on something in Office.

Strangely enough, i've never had the issue occur while doing anything CPU intensive.

Dunno... No other HD3000 equipped laptop running the latest drivers appears to be affected though.

40Hz to save battery life. Should I put it back up to 60Hz? I set it to 40Hz after the issue had occurred for the first time though so I doubt it's the reason behind this fault.

Will give that a shot and report back.

I really wouldn't mind that. In fact, I wouldn't mind exchanging the laptop for an E6420 and paying the difference in price if it meant I had a stable laptop. The only problem is Dell refuse to let me do that. They want me to go through the arduous process of waiting for them to refund me and then buying again as a new order. I really can't afford to be without a laptop for an entire month.

 

Hmm odd, back when I ordered mine in July the NVS 4200M was an option here in NZ

 

Really?

Do you have any idea how it's attached to the motherboard? MXM or something proprietary?

 

I have no idea, i didnt order it with it, i only wanted the integrated. I assume it would be the same as in a 6420, the machines are very similar component wise

 

Hi there,
I just got the same model laptop and have many questions regarding this:
- is the display problem linked to ESD or is it a driver issue?
-if the symptoms have shown, does a reboot help? i.e is it a permanent issue?
- do you have an intergrated graphics card or is it an additional one?
-did you use your laptop alot while it is plugged in?

If ESD might be the main cause
- does your lid vibrate when you touch it when plugged in/and when not plugged in? (it only occurs when i plug in to charge)


I am interested as I recently got this model laptop and there is a mild vibration to the lid when I charge which worries me. Seems to be general issue with metallic bodied laptops and grounding.

I found and interesting discussion for macbooks and ESD that was fixed by replacing extension lead of the charger. Seems to have fixed the issue with the vibration on the laptop lid.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2663087?start=0&tstart=0

 

The most direct way to eliminate drivers and Windows would be to try another OS. I would say try to download an Ubuntu LiveCD and let it sit for a while. If it can be shown that it happens irrespective of OS, it will pretty much confirm it being a hardware issue.

I think one of the profiles sets the display to 40Hz to save power, so I doubt that should have an effect, but I would still try it at 60Hz just to see.

As far as grounding or AC power goes, maybe try running it on batteries to see if it happens on batteries? (assuming ESD hasn't already damaged it?)

E5x20 only has the integrated Intel GPU (built into the CPU). E6x20 has the "option" for the NVS4200, but the chip is soldered into the motherboard so it can't be simply swapped out short of changing the entire board.

 

1. Seems to be ESD. Others on the Dell community forum have found a way to cause the issue at-will. They rub their feet on the ground and touch the laptop and it goes crazy. I haven't been able to confirm this but I can tell you that the issue only ever occurs while my hand is in contact with the touchpad or when I touch the (Metal) screen bezel.

2. A reboot clears everything up. After 1-2 reboots from a cold boot it can stay running pretty much indefinitely without any issues.

3. Integrated.

4. Yes. It happens both on battery and on AC.
If ESD might be the main cause

Nope... It's all very steady.

Haven't got one handy i'm afraid. The thing is, I only ever use Ubuntu in a virtual machine. I didn't buy this laptop to run Ubuntu natively on it.

It couldn't possibly be software related imo. Hundreds of other laptops with the same hardware components don't have this issue. It may possibly just be a BIOS issue but again the only people who can solve that is Dell.

Tried it at 60Hz over the past two days. Same issue. We can rule out refresh rate.

The first time it happened was when I was running on batteries. Every other time has been on AC.