Alienware 17 880m screen artifacts

Remember that you do not need the same cpu if you just want to rule it out as a possible culprit. An entry-level Celeron or Pentium will do and for a fraction of the cost. Cheapest seems this i3 at ~$50. Could sell it again after testing, too.

 

That is actually a really great idea. I'll see if i can find one locally (maybe borrow) otherwise i might have to go for that one.

Thanks alot!

 

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't it have to ba an approved CPU that would have come with the system? We already ran into trouble with people using screens that were not approved hardware ID's when trying to upgrade to the 120hz panels. If this CPU was never an option in the 17 it may just spit an error to him.

 

Hi @MogRules.
I believe (but stand to be corrected) that the CPU model relies on bios support. I think you only need to track down the same 'family'. My understanding is that this is the first number in the ID. 3xxx for example. The second numbers I am unsure of except that if the second number is a '9' then it's an extreme model and unlocked fully. The '8xx are partially unlocked.

@ ThisIsBrutus What is the current CPU?

 

@MickyD1234 It's a 4700MQ I believe.

 

T

That makes the i3 suggested earlier a real possibility. Looks like the lowest member of the 4xxxm family

 

I'm willing to wager $30 that the 880M is dying and the rest of the system is fine.

 

You might loose that one!

It is still there in the bios screens AND if the 880m GPU is removed. I'd have said the same at the start but it really looks like the GPU part of the CPU (or MB).

It also works fine on an HDMI connected TV - when the dell rep said that that would be the 880m working the HDMI connection.

 

this would probably the first recorded failure of an intel iGPU from sandy bridge till now if that's the case. probably display LVDS cable.

 

If you read back I comment how weird this all sounds! The display works fine over hdmi-in so panel and cable proved out OK. Any other ideas? All I can see now is some strange MB failure or the iGPU...

 

Perhaps reseating the display connector might help, maybe it is loose.

 

Yup he tried that. This problem is 'out-there' . The pixelation is consistent so I don't know if that is indicative of anything else specific?

 

Some sort of board failure then, maybe a trace or a short somewhere. Most peculiar.

 

Yeah that and the CPU are the only parts left. The hope was that an unlocked bios would allow the machine to be forced onto the NV card. No guarantee that would help but it might? Unable to find an unlocked bios for the AW R1 so now it's trial and error with new parts

Just a thought but I wonder if the iGPU uses dedicated memory (on the MB). One of those chips could have problems?

 

@Raidriar @MickyD1234

Sure is a weird problem.

I have 2 ram sticks and I tried removing them and inserting them seperately in the 2 slots I have available on the side of the motherboard that is easily available. Didn't make a difference but I didn't try the 2 on the other side of the mobo though.

 

If it was the system RAM I would expect to see the problem every time. I was thinking that there might be memory chips used by the on-board video. No help really as if they exist you won't be able to change them, but I wondered if that could produce the problem we are seeing.

Maybe search for a used CPU from an Alienware upgrader - check out the marketplace on this forum as well...

 

Again i'm really not inclined to think the intel hd 4600 failed.....it's never been recorded in history. Meanwhile motherboard failure is quite common.

 

Why do you need an unlocked bios? The 17R1 has a MUX switch, you can Fn+F5 and restart and you fully disable intel iGPU

 

That would have been useful to remember! My AW's have always been 120hz models.

Worth a easy try, just check device manager to confirm the intel gpu has gone.

I do remember this feature now you mention it but I thought it was for the opposite, to turn off the dGPU to extend battery life?

cheers!!

 

Fn+F5 and restart doesnt do anything. No changes in device manager either, still shows both the iGPU and dGPU.

Am i completely missing something here?

 

Any on-screen message? @ MahmoudDewy, any ideas?

 

Nope, nothing at all.

 

Might be homing in on this. Unplug from the mains and try again. I remember a message about reconfiguring the video when Fn+F5 was used - although on my machine it did nothing since the igpu was already disabled.

 

Unfortunately that's a no too. Nothing is happening.

 

I believe this is controlled by the EC. That is a device specific (in firmware) part of the bios. Might be worth just re- installing the latest bios from dell, it should also flash the EC. Grabbing straws now!

 

Does it say on the key ID/GFX? On my R4 it's on Fn+F7, just checked. Starting to look more like a MB issue

 

As I thought....faulty GPU. If he is unable to disable intel HD 4600 that means it is still passing all graphics work through the 880M. Maybe he should re-install OSD to check if he can switch GFX that way.

 

@MickyD1234 Yeah it says I/D GFX on the f5 key.

When this whole thing began I re-installed windows and the BIOS and it changed nothing.

I heard about the "EC" when fiddling with some fan profiles once, is there anything else I can do here?

@Raidriar

I don't think I have anything installed called OSD unless it's a part of Windows? Right now there is no Alienware-specific software on the laptop, if I need that for the fn-f5 combo to work that would explain a lot.

 

aw command center and aw osd is separate part

try go to dell website and see if you can locate driver download section, updating to new version might help

 

As it was mentioned before you need the OSD "On-Screen-Display Driver" to use the Fn+F5 shortcut

 

So. I downloaded the OSD and lo and behold the shortcut now works.

It doesnt solve the problem, but, something is happening since it is altering the artifacts slightly which is the first time this is happening.

Here is 2 pictures to show you the comparison:


https://ibb.co/hHJmqa - 880m
https://ibb.co/mmUgOv - Intel GPU

Something is happening. It might be hard to tell from the pictures but if I have to describe it, the 880m artifacts are kinda "blooming" where on the other hand the iGPU artifacts looks like it's lines/stripes.

I don't know if this means anything or is relevant at all, but the changes are consistant when I change between the two.

 

I'm stumped, and that burns!

Just to recap, T

There in bios screens
There if 880m is removed.
Not there on external HDMI.
Not there on HDMI-In (same resolution as set in win).
FN-F5 changes the corruption but not remove it.
Panel cable re-seated - still there.

Think that is the relevant points!
Just one thing, but I think it's going to be the same. Start a game in both modes and see what happens. Note: I believe the Fn-F5 resets on a reboot to default so be aware. I am also interested in if both GPU's appear in device manager after activating?

Still looking like MB or the CPU but either is a dice roll .

 

@MickyD1234

I know what you mean. Obviously my main objective is to get it working again, but at this point im just pretty damn curious as to what is going on :-D

Both GPU's do not appear in the device manager after activating, the intel one dissapears completely.

So, i fired up some Overwatch and took a few screenshots:


http://ibb.co/mHtGOv - 880m
http://ibb.co/eKNMqa - iGPU

From these pictures the 880m looks considerably worse, but, with the 880m the artifacts are very "static" and doesnt change much, but with the iGPU they are "pulsating" and changes quite a bit.

Also a not so noticable thing unless you really look for it - The colors seem way more trippy on the 880m, but the quality of the image is also alot better/sharper, where on the other hand it is very blurry on the iGPU. It's alot easier to see IRL but notice the screens on the wall on the left side of the picture, as well as maybe the picture of the hero in the bottom left.

Edit: Just want to clarify that when i wrote iGPU I meant iGPU and the 880m, while when i wrote 880m i mean with the iGPU disabled.

 

You still can't borrow a CPU or edp cable from someone to chalk these off the possible reasons?

 

I'm currently working overseas so I have a pretty limitited network of friends, and none of them are into computers.

I've been paying a visit to a few local PC repair shops but no luck so far, but the search continues.

 

i remember when i installed a dell pulled HD5870m in my old asus rog g73jh it used to give this type of display..exactly of this type..and what i did was that i downgraded the GPU BIOS to an older version and that did the trick and the display was back to normal..but in your case it is something different..you are getting these strange colors and graphics on both gpu's...so thats really weird

 

!!!UPDATE!!!

The PC was left in dGPU mode only (the fn+f5 shortcut), and I went afk to go to the store.

Came back and it was in sleep mode, fired it back up and there are NO artifacts.



Im afraid to do anything now but I realise no matter what this is probably temporary. What do I do?

 

have you try to run the game that was causing artifact earlier?

 

@Mobius 1

In case you havent read the entire thread (I really don't blame you).
The game wasnt 'causing' any artifacts. There were artifacts all the time from the BIOS, to google chrome to games.

But yes I have, and that's working great as well.

 

Ah

 

Jeez, I pop out and all this happens! So it is working in d-gpu mode right now? Wake from sleep does re-initialise the display. E.G. On my machine a video driver sometimes leaves me with a blank screen. Close the lid and re-open and display is back. The nearest thing to your sit.

It's not like heat fixed it since it went to sleep. All you can do is see if it is reproducible, assuming that a full restart puts the problem back. Then you have a working machine until you can get home to track down a cheap CPU.

OR you just use sleep to keep it usable. It may be that it comes back anyway?

 

@MickyD1234

According to the device manager only the 880m is active (and the intel gpu completely gone), and as far as I can tell there are nothing different now compared to when before this happened.

First thing I did was turn off everything that would cause the computer to turn off/sleep in the power settings, for now I'm too much of a chicken to dare to try reproduce this since I'm kinda out of options if it comes back.

I'll have to do the inevitable restart soon I guess

 

Yup, understand that! I'll wait on your next update, this will not defeat us!

 

I'll be back!

 

Then definitely it is the iGPU ... Just keep it disabled completely and move on with your life

 

@MahmoudDewy

It kinda looks like it yes. The interesting thing here is that switching the iGPU off didn't initially make any difference over the first many tries.

Then I just left it to sit, came home and woke it up from sleep and voilá, nothing wrong with it.

 

You can also try with hibernation ... If it works ... You can just replace the shutdown behavior with hibernation and you are permanently safe

 

Yeah that is on my to-do-list as well, but as you can see above right now I'm too scared to try to play with it.

It's been powered on since yesterday though and so far no problem.


Is there any way to keep the iGPU disabled for good? The way I understand it when using the fn+f5 it resets when rebooting.

 

That's why I was trying to find an unlocked bios.

When you're ready start with just putting it to sleep and wake up. If that works then you have a method that will keep the FN+F5 active. I have a feeling that it was the wake-from-sleep that triggered the fix and hopefully reproducable?

Good luck...

 

It shouldn't be reseting when you reboot. If you useed switchable graphics to run on JUST the 880m then the iGPU should not be coming on at all. I ran on dedicated mode for a long time and never used or saw the iGPU as does my work friend who has been running without iGPU for years. Once you disable it , the iGPU shouldn't come back on until you either switch them again or the 880m disapears forcing the iGPU to go active.