120hz screen upgrade problem - Blank screen

Hello Power Rangers - please help if you can.

As title said, I bought aliexpress screen and cable. Following @MogRules excellent guide.
I've reread guide but i cant see where this is falling down.

Screen and cable installed, no post errors, if I put boot drive in it boots to windows I think (can see wifi and hdd activity leds flashing like christmas tree).

I have a back light on screen, just absolutely nothing displayed.
Plug old lvds cable into new screen gives 8 beep post error.
Plug new EDP cable into old screen gives 8 beep post error. (yes i saw the brick caution, Im typing back on old screen and lvds cable)

Anyone have ideas of testing cable or screen? Maybe i bought wrong part?

Thank you for the insight

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32825226292.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.437c8c8aSuP5hr





Ordered parts actually says
17.3" 3D 120HZ LED LCD SCREEN LTN173HT02-D01 D02 for DELL Alienware M17x 17R 7720

 

EDIT: I have used magnifier and checked pins/connectors, reseated, all look new and ok. I have not checked continuity, my probes are way too big.

I changed bios settings from PEG to auto (just for giggles) A14+ unlocked

Only thing I got left to try is put my old 860m card. Give it a bash tomorrow.

 

So I couldnt sleep thinking about this and no work tomorrow...so I put old 860m card and new screen and guess what.....beautiful colours! 860m works great. Why the hell not my 980m? Im sure I read that 980m and 120hz was ok???

 

So the 860m works fine but not the 980m? Seems to me that you have legacy support enabled under the boot mode option in the BIOS. Make sure the boot mode is set to pure UEFI. Pascal cards (1000 series) will present you with a glorious black screen should you enable legacy support under the boot mode option since they do not support legacy boot mode, and I think it's the same case with the Maxwell cards (900 series).

 

Hi Clamibot, Thanks for reply.
Yes the 860m card worked with 120hz screen. Booted no issues. The 980m boots, but nothing can be seen. (No errors though)
I dont have legacy mode enabled. I was reading and reading, seems some people had problems with this card (about 5 years ago) a bit hit and miss.

 

ok....Im stumped.

Has anyone any idea at all?...I will research the wildest ideas


EDIT: Does anyone know a good source of vbios roms?...specifically for nvidia...980m?
Techinferno wont let me download...Im not cool enough to be "in"
I tried a rom from Eurocom...wouldnt flash
Couple from techpowerup...no fix but flashed ok

Thank you

 

One more thing you could try since there are no beep error codes. This may or may not work, but it's an idea.

In the past when I would get a black screen with no error codes, I'd just do a BIOS reset and then everything would be fine. If you don't know how to do this, simply remove all the memory installed in your system and turn it on. Let it beep until it shuts off, then quickly insert a ram module before it turns itself back on. See if that yields any results.

 

Clami...its worth a try, thank you mate.



So here is my 860m with the 120hz screen
So..
I know the 120Hz screen and EDP cable work
I know the pc boots in uefi in peg mode
I know the motherboard is ok and probably the cpu. (I might swap my old 4710mq just to check)

I checked the chip on 980m card, it looks legit!?!?!...I havent got a schematic and cant find one so I cant check any components on the board, but everything looks ok. Probably its just a dud card.


Only thing left that I can think to try is bios and vbios settings.

If the 860m had more than 2Gig of RAM Id just stick with that. Oh well

 

Ok an update Power Rangers!
I never got the LTN173HT02-D02 to work with 980m card.
On a hope and prayer i bought a N173HHE-G32 from aliexpress.
Works great!

Some light modding to the old frame and bezel and its in business...seems a little dark, but im still adjusting.

Not sure what the deal is with LTN173HT02....edid? All i know is it worked with 860m but not 980m. No error beeps. Same edp cable, maybe just a bad connector.

 

So no dead pixels?

Share the link. I'm going after one as well but dont want to have Receivers experience with those.
I prefer non glossy screen so thats the one I want.
Mind you, when and if I get to that point, few dead pixels is something I'm pretty sure I could live with=)


Also, did you managed to save the lid lights and if you did how was that for you?

 

No dead pixels at all.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32855552096.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.12d870d027G8nW

My last screen sent from China was ok, but this one was packed REALLY well...styrofoam box, cardboard, bubble wrap and antistatic bag.
Not sure how long to get a new panel now, with new year and coronavirus

I still need to change mounting a bit, I cannot close top all way without compressing screen. I thought i could get away from cutting right side hinge, but It is required I think. Lights will be kept.

Oh..this new screen is a bit dark. I cannot get brightness up to where i like it. (but I used to be a welder and my eyesight is a bit screwy anyway)

 

Hey, I've also read and followed @MogRules guide and learned a lot from the posts. I have a similar issue with the older AW R1 Ranger.
I can't seem to post my question anywhere but here so here it goes...

My 120hz screen I just installed locks me out of the bios and won't display anything. I'm running old XP (please, please don't question why) and so not in Full UEFI but CSM as I also run Win 10 in dual boot.
As soon as I swap back to the 60hz screen everything is fine. The 120hz screen does however work on another SSD with only Win 10 installed in full UEFI. Why is this?

-Using an 880m card and also tried a 760m card with the same issue.
My only guess is to flash the bios to an A14 unlocked Bios.

Please point me in the right direction. It would be hugely appreciated!
Been struggling for a few weeks here.

 

Sorry brother please clarify for me...
you have LTN173HT02-D02 screen?
"locks you out of bios"?...just a blank screen with no error beeps you mean?

well..I had and still have A14+ unlocked BIOS..it was UEFI...still had a blank screen (but no error beeps)...booted to windows 8.1 64bit as far as I could tell.

That you system boots with win10 on UEFI stumps hell out of me....I was thinking it was screen EDID...I never got it to work with 980m card. only 860m worked.

 

Yes I have the correct (D02) screen. I only want to use a 780m or 880m. There are no beeps just a blank screen and no Bios. It loads Bios and boots into Win 10 ok in Full UEFI but It was shutting down after a few minutes probably because I didn't have the correct GPU driver.
It always would reboot fine though and do the same thing.

 

ok...sounds like my issue.

Mine works on exact same machine/setup with N173HHE-G32 screen.
Hence i thought it was a screen issue not a bios issue.

 

I will try what Clamibot says about doing a BIOS reset as soon as I get some time to look into this more..

Thanks for now

 

Riding the wave here, since I'm struggling with my own Ranger - how does one change UEFI boot settings? All I get is IPv4 and IPv6 options under UEFI, no drive options, nothing. To be honest, before now I have never used UEFI (except for my Alpha, but never messed with it thus far), do I need to adjust the boot sector in Win10 or something? I'm kinda lost here, And I'm having similar issues - on default 765M it works with 120Hz screen, put in anything else and all I get is 8 beeps. Any card, verified to work in other of my Alienwares, no luck.

 

https://www.diskpart.com/gpt-mbr/change-legacy-to-uefi-4348i.html

You could try this...at your own peril!

 

Thanks a lot. I'm gonna try it for the P4000M. First I'm gonna rip the default BIOS out for backup, in case of failure I wish to roll back. Thanks for the link!

 

Negative perspiration.

 

And again, could anyone share any thoughts on flashing C01 screen with D01/02 EDID? Would it resolve the issue of working only in 60Hz and blacking out on 120Hz?

 

I just tried the BIOS reset twice and it didn’t work. Good idea though!

I’m putting the 60hz screen back in for the third time and going to do a bios flash for the unlocked A14. Then back will go the 120hz. Fingers crossed it works.

 

I can't do it right now, but maybe some settings in the eDP/display/graphics options in the unlocked bios? I'll try later too

 

Thanks MrMogwai.

So I’ve learned that it’s an A16 Bios. Now whether or not I should flash it..

Also, as it turns my settings were UEFI with legacy “In CSM”. I wonder if I should change it to pure legacy BIOS and swap in the 120hz now?

I’m going to look into which BIOS ver. is best first..

 

If you go legacy only it will work, it did on my 765M, but the 120Hz was no-go. Plus, when switching between UEFI and Legacy you need a new installation of Windows. There are some tools for that, but even though I used one I had no luck.

There is one bios on this forum, A16+ by InsydeH2O, but you'll have to search for it. It's unlocked and very decent

 

I’m setting up this system from scratch so I’m doing a fresh windows install anyway. I want everything in legacy.

I’m a bit confused.. it will work in full legacy but with or without the 120hz screen?

In other words, it’s impossible to use the 120hz screen with an MBR drive?

 

In my case no matter the UEFI or Legacy, it did only 60Hz, not 120. But mine was C01 revision, fairly proven in those threads to not do 120Hz for some reason.

Another thing - maybe try to run the video card mode in PCI only? In the option where you select PEG and SG in A16+ there is option for PCI only, maybe that will do the trick?

 

Sounds like a good plan but I'm having some trouble loading the .bin file when trying to flash to A16+. I've changed the default ST to match my systems in the hex editor but I'm not sure if I need to run a utility next or which commands to enter in Cprompt?

 

There was a fairly intuitive guide on the web somewhere. What utility are you using?

 

Just did some more testing with the BIOS, I was running PEG after all, when I switched to PCI all I got was black screen. Also broke the latch for the CMOS battery, so now it's stuck with a rolled piece of electrical tape

 

Ah damn that's rough :\ In my situation at least I have the D02 screen.

I want to use GSET but I'm having trouble fininding it. I went and got the Flash64W Dell utility but it can't run .bin files only .exe
Still trying other ways...

 

Food for thought - if you are able to open a default dell bios file with the exe editor, maybe copy A16 values and insert them with Flash64W?

 

Thanks for the info, I managed to use the command prompt instead - I didn't have all the proper files in C:

However, I get this error:

PDR Region does not exist.
GBE Region does not exist.

(Error 28: Protected Range Registers are currently set by BIOS, preventing flash access.
Please contact the target system BIOS vendor for an option to disable protected Range Registers).

There was something interesting I came across from MogRules post back from 2018 which "fingers crossed" there's a way around now being 2020. It reads..

"Did you get a bios update from Alienware within the last few months? The latest round of Bios's are protected meaning you can't go backwards anymore as they made changes to the micro code and don't want people rolling them back. Your stuck on the bios that you have."

Its sounding like this is my case although I have an OEM A16 and I'm not actually rolling back. No?

Maybe I'll need to wait for someone to develop the A17+

 

Just did a rollback flash to the stock A14 with no problems. -So I guess that debunks MogRules theory... ?

Regardless, I still get the same 28 Error now as before when I try to flash with the A16+

 

Odd. I went straight from A14 to A16+ InsydeH2O with no problems before, with a flasher, I'll check the software since I still have it somewhere on my external drive, will edit this post in a couple of minutes.

Edit: dayum, the bios file is missing, only the instructions, which I believe you have used:
fpt.exe -f bios.bin -bios
with reference of using the sleeping bug: place everyting in root of C:, put PC to sleep, wake it up, then flash. With running cmd in admin, of course.

 

Ya, that's exactly how I did it and still no luck

 

And I've had to do it again today, because I wanted to update my ST in the BIOS, during the update the same info was shown:

PDR Region does not exist.
GBE Region does not exist.

But the bios update went without a hitch.
Are you sure you put it to sleep and awaken it, and use -f command? Sorry for being disrespectful, but all avenues need to be checked. An issue here is somewhere in small detail, let's be thorough. Retrace your steps and see what happens

 

Also, would it be possible for you to extract the EDID from your screen? I'm going to try and force it on my 120Hz screen either with standard software or with an Eeprom flasher, just for kicks, maybe this will solve my issue

 

Interesting. When I'm doing it, It goes into hibernate I guess so I have to re-log back in. Assuming that's what sleep is right? In power settings in Win 10 it does't specifically say (sleep mode) I don't think. Just hibernate.

I can try grabbing the EDID from my screen but that means I have to put the 120hz back in. I wan't to try it first in pure legacy not CSM which may or may not work. Then I'd have to swap in the 60hz again if it doesn't work. Then back with the 120hz again in Full UEFI which I know works. Its a bit of time so after work I could try. I work about 60hrs a week so pls be patient lol.

 

No worries, bruv, got all the time in the world
Btw, medical services or what branch of the industry keeps you 60h out working?

 

Its a combination of automotive, residential metal work and yes medical. Although I'm not sure how closely related the medical work is to the COVID-19 outbreak.

I see your from Poland -that's my homeland also. (Bydgoscz & Poznan).

Anyway, back to the topic here..

So I wanted to flash with just the A14+ but couldn't find the spot to change the ST like in the A16+. I am going to do some more reading this weekend about the Error when trying with the A16+ and if still no luck I'll just start doing the swaps again

 

Update:

I got around to swapping the 120hz screen back in with full legacy (no csm) using the 880m and now the screen flickers a lot. I press F2 to get into the bios and it still flickers like crazy but no beeping sounds. I can however make out whats displayed to some degree and colors look sharp and crisp although it keeps disappearing and going black. Do I need to get a 780m card?

 

Flickers as in the image keeps disappearing for fraction of a second like a differently abled refresh rate, or like for a second every other second?

I would suggest digging deep into bios settings, there is an option to change resolution andd so on (at least in 16+), maybe it keeps doing some weird Switchable Graphics Samba? Try switching to PEG if you're not there yet.

Have you read my PM? I've sent you an instruction on how to possibly override your bios update issues.

 

It flickered a lot to the point where you could just barely make it through changing a setting and pressing F10 to save and exit. Highly possible it was a wrong refresh rate or something. Anyhow, after a few reboots it eventually went to a black screen with periodic white-like flickers. Not healthy I thought so what I did was swap back in the 60hz, still in full legacy, installed XP 32bit and everything worked again. Then I changed to FULL UEFI and installed Win 10 64bit on a spare SSD. Then I re-swapped the 120hz screen and everything works good. This is still using the 880m the entire time. However, Soon as I install an NVIDIA driver, Everything goes black and all I can do is access the BIOS. I really think I need an unlocked BIOS. Either the A14+ or A16+ and try to follow the instructions in your PM. It may take a while before I get around to it tho....

Also, I can't do the sleepbug because the option in power settings of Win10 is missing. Its going to take a proper GPU driver install to fix that. -None of which have been working so far that I've tried. Will do a hunt for some older versions asap.

-There is an interesting thread I've been reading about the chaos caused by Win 10 for 60hz screens & 120hz screens that is of paramount importance it seems too:

*** Windows 10 + NVIDIA WHQL Drivers are Killing Alienware and Clevo LCD Panels ***

In the meantime, I could try extracting the EDID for you using the generic Win 10 GPU driver... How could I do that?

 

No need for the EDID anymore, thanks, but the screen appears to be fine, it seems that the LVDS port is fried. I tried it on another machine and it's working
Have you installed all the default Alienware drivers? With Win10 you should be able to get proper sleep control. Or maybe it's switched off in bios, check your settings. I always install Alienware Command Center as soon as possible, maybe that one can do something for you?

EDIT: hold on, wasn't the 880M supported in that system?

 

How do you know if you have the bad drivers?

 

The 880m was NOT supported natively. Which now leads me to think I need to try the 120hz screen again with a 780m. It's recommended to use sub 353.62 drivers although not written in stone.

I put back the 60hz screen and successfully installed the gpu driver from nvidia's site and got my sleep option back. Using the same exact steps, now with the sleepbug, it still won't flash to the A16+. Same 28 error.

I will look into doing an emergency bios recovery as mentioned.