Help needed Alienware 17 R1 Strange issue

My alienware 17 R1 with 780m has strange issue. Its screen started to display distorted color and lining in some color . When i connected to external display everything works fine. My first thought was LCD or cable is defective but when i connected another laptop through hdmi in display works fine. I can't understand whether my LCD gone bad or motherboard or graphic card. My graphic card has no performance difference when i play something on external monitor. hdmi in works through graphic card or integrated ? kindly suggest me what i do. I could see this issue in BIOS and windows as well as.

 

Some questions to help troubleshoot, basically we need to figure out if it is a hardware or software problem.

1. Do you have the 120Hz screen?
2. Are the color distortions constant or only in some games/programs?
3. Do you overclock?
4. Do you have the stock vBIOS?
5. Are there any color distortions/lines in the BIOS?
6. What OS do you have?

 

Do you have the 120Hz screen?
No it 60hz Full hd Matte screen
Are the color distortions constant or only in some games/programs?
Color distortion is constant everywhere . External display is working perfectly. In same way hdmi in working perfectly.
Do you overclock?
Actually i don't know i received this as gift few month back from my friend. I have recently booted first time and found this issue.My friend might tried or overclocked it (I tried to contact him but could not contact him). Its processor is 4700MQ
Do you have the stock vBIOS?
I think its stock. How would i check that
Are there any color distortions/lines in the BIOS?
I see distortion /lines in bios too.
What OS do you have?
I have windows 8.1 pro.


I removed graphic card and booted without it and problem was still there. I tried fn-F5 Gpu switch too but no success.

 

I believe that after what you said it is either the connector or the screen. Your GPU is fine

 

I can't understand if there any screen or connector issue. Why hdmi in from any other computer give perfect display. Any one know how hdmi in of alienware 17 R1 works?

 

The problem isn't in the hdmi port ... It's either in your screen cable or the internal motherboard connector so HDMI IN should work just fine since it should bypass the intel GPU that is connected directly to the screen

I dunno if this theory is 100% true but someone may chime in and give us more details

 

I'm leaning towards it being the display cable or the iGPU/CPU. If the screen looks fine with HDMI in then it clearly isn't the panel that is defective. Can you open up the laptop and make sure your ribbon cable for the screen is securely attached? It's kind of a hassle to tear it down to that point but they are fairly straight forward to take apart and reassemble.

I'm not 100% on how the HDMI IN works. The port is soldered on the motherboard I think, which means it should be connecting over the same cable from the motherboard to the display. Can anyone confirm or deny that?

 

I tried to resettle my LVDS cable but it has no effect . Cables and connectors seems perfect. All pre boot dell diagnosis tells every thing is OK.

 

Alright let's recap:

1. Visual distortions are present in BIOS. This means it is a hardware problem, not software/Windows/drivers.
2. Distortions are not present when using HDMI in or HDMI out.
3. Because distortions are not present using HDMI in, the LCD panel is not damaged.
4. With the 60Hz screen, all video is sent through the iGPU in the CPU even when rendered with the dGPU.
5. Removal of dGPU does not remove distortions.

I'm not sure what the problem could be. It seems like it could be the iGPU but with the HDMI out working I think that is unlikely. Do you have the lastest BIOS installed (A14) and if you do try resetting it to factory settings. The only reason I suggest that is because there are overclocking options that might be enabled in the BIOS that can mess with the iGPU.

Do you have a warranty on the notebook? It might be best to contact Dell and see what they have to say.

 

I have latest BIOS is A14 . I tried to restore default bios setting but has no effect. Actually my warranty is expired and worst part is i am in south asia now where there is very limited Dell support and they don't deal alienware. Only option left for me is import parts and do myself but i am confused where to start as LCD, Cable , dGPU , motherboard everything seems fine.

 

That sucks to hear. I'm not sure what the issue could be but I suspect either the motherboard or CPU. I guess you could try to find another 4xxx CPU to swap into it and see if that changes it, do you know anyone IRL that would let you borrow their CPU to see if that changes anything?

 

I will try to find some CPU here since its difficult to find . Will reply if found and what was results but i am also waiting for what other people think and suggest more what i have to do. If especially anyone faced this issue and got resolved by some way.

But again connecting through external display has no problem at all . I currently playing games on external display with no performance and or any lag. Do any one knew anything other on motherboard interfere with built in display.

 

I found schematic diagram from internet . Since Hdmi in and Hmdi out are both working fine. Processor might be Ok and in same way dGPU also as shown in picture what do you have view?

 

That seems plausible. Replacement motherboards can be found for ~$250 on eBay.

 

I found here some motherboard whose part no is GR0H2 but my motherboard part no is 41W46 . What difference between these two part no. Will that work for with my alienware or not ? although they are both of alienware 17 R1.

 

The description says "Genuine Laptop Motherboard for Dell Alienware 17 R1 compatible with GR0H2 / 5RW0M / 41W46 / 2XJJ7" so it is compatible with yours.

 

Does any one knew difference between these four sku?

 

I might be wrong but I think it's just different batch numbers or Dell's internal part number scheme that may have changed over the life of the product.

 

Buying GR0H2 instead of 41W46 will work or not with my notebook or not? I mean if i switch this board i might not have to change I/O board or any other thing. It am buying where is a non return policy so have to think before buying

 

The replacement board will work with any of the models they have listed, so yes it will work with yours because you have a 41W46. The seller says to contact them with your service tag if you want to verify compatibility.

 

Is there any way i myself check as well with the service tag?

 

Well you know your board is a 41W46, or an Alienware 17 R1 motherboard. The replacement board may be a 41W46 or one of the other three. Any of the boards, no matter what the number, will be fully compatible with any Alienware 17 R1.

The only thing they will do with your service tag is look it up on Dell's website to make sure it is an Alienware 17 R1.

 

i have noted another thing. Once i have restarted my notebook and went to bios through pressing F2 key. This happen only one time that there was very no color distortion or it was very minimal that it would not be noticeable in bios. I booted in windows there are distortion was same sort of distortion everywhere as before. Going back bios have same distortion.
Only thing i did a repeated press of F2.

 

Any luck with a work through on this issue by chance? I am currently having the same issue with another one of my systems.

 

I have got another motherboard from a friend but when i put that motherboard . Alienwareware lights and logo turn on with lights but system give me 7 beeps. but when same processor used on old motherboard distortion problem occurs .
What should i assume that motherboard from my friend is bad or something other else. This motherboard although is of same system but different part no. what you suggest. Any way to blind updating flash in this system.