Fixing screen issue(snow) of M17xr4 120Hz 680m

Suddenly it’s snowing on my laptop screen. I want to fix it but I’m not sure what to fix. The image is white washed out with flickering screen.
External monitors works fine. Even the HDMI feedback loop worked, but now also snows a little bit. The graphics card should be OK I suspect. But I have no clue what to test or where to look for a fix. Maybe the lcd panel needs replacement. But the FEEDBACK HDMI loop worked flawlessly at one point, but now starts to flicker a bit also. I suspect a cable issue but I’m sure where too look and how to test

 

If the screen still flickers or has issues on the HDMI output then its your GPU otherwise it is you laptop's screen or LVDS CABLE. but after reading this im quite sure its your GPU...only if you had 60HZ screen you could easily check your laptop's screen by removing the gpu and booting it up on IGPU ..but sadly on 120HZ display IGPU does not work

 

Tested some more

The snow is always there (Boot, Testing, Windows)

HDMI OUT: Surprisingly this works OK!
DisplayPort OUT to HDMI: OK-ish but some minor flickering
HDMI-IN: readable. Just half the snow when doing native
Native screen: lots's of snow and flickering, barely readable

Regardless of which external connection I use the native screen usually goes dark after a minute regardless of the display settings.

Does this mean that only the video card is defect. Or do I also have to change the LCD? or the motherboard?

 

please post some pictures for us to clearly see what the real problem is

 

The snow is worse when you see it flicker. But basically, besides randomly turning black, when it finally comes around this is what I see on screen.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqg23sbwo190fhd/20180307_121816.jpg

It's the same for bios/boot, not just windows

 

well i dont call this snow i call this ARTIFACTS which im sure is a GPU related issue...Try stressing your GPU with any benchmarking application and let me know ..

 

Used both Firestrike and Unigine Valley. They did not show any issues as long as I showed them through HDMI to my Samsung TV (apart from being not that fast). I did notice my laptop screen going dark unexpectedly, a lot apart from showing the artifacts. Esp when switching screens or going dualscreen. (I don't know if I should include a log for the testruns I did). For the rest the artifacts where the same.

Using the Displayport OUT with HDMI dongle(I don't have a displayport monitor) on my TV showed some flickering as well.

So my card still works on HDMI OUT but the rest has lots of artifacts

 

hmmm i see...well it could you LCD panel ...im now confused because i have never faced this type of issue even with a dying GPU...i remember 5870m in alienware m17x r2 ...it was at its last stages but never showed artifacts...all it used to do was make the screen go completely black and pressing the sleep button and turning it back on used to bring the display back but again for few seconds... so you need to take your laptop to a nearby well known technician to get it checked ...from what we have seen it can be your GPU or SCREEN..nothing else
P.S i have never experienced 120HZ display so i might sound like a stupid

 

It get's weirder still. After the tests and shutting down the laptop I let it rest for an hour. After firing it up again the artifacts have disappeared as suddenly as they had come. I'm typing this on the alienware laptop again. Alas,I still need to decide what to do with the laptop. It is becoming unreliable and might need some upgrade or fixes Esp. since I'm looking for some new equipment. I might just get a new one

 

It’s your VRAM on GPU. New GPU required. While you there get some more thermal pads.

 

Tested the VRAM with vmt and got no errors. The laptop is quite unstable, it was snowing this morning but now it's clear again.

My biggest question is if I should better abandon my current M17xr4 and buy a new laptop, ir should I go the "way of the modder" Just replacing my 680M seems a waste of money compared to e.e. installing a 1060