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

****************** WINDOWS 10 UPGRADE WARNING TO ALL ALIENWARE OWNERS ******************
(Please see post #2 for evolving details)​

Windows 10 has blown out the display panels from my M18xR1 and M18xR2 within 24 hours of installing Windows 10. 8 beeps, no backlight, no boot. So, first time I blew it off as a one-off coincidence. Hardware fails, right. OK, but the second time, I'm ready to go ballistic now. Don't know if it is the OS or the GeForce drivers, but I don't see how it can be a one-off coincidence twice within 24 hours.

Edit 8/2/2015 @ 1:29PM
OK, sad to report, the same thing has happened on the Alienware 18. It took less than two hours. Switched from Intel HD Graphics. Downloaded the Windows 10 driver from NVIDIA... no mods. Now I get 8 beeps, no backlight and no boot.

Here is the sequence of events:

• Installed Windows 10 on M18xR2 with GTX 780M SLI... everything seemed fine for about 24 hours, maybe slightly longer
• M18xR2 suddenly started 8 beeps, no boot after being turned off - 8 beep code indicates GPU, LVDS Cable or LCD issue - tested GPUs in M18xR1 and they where perfectly fine; replaced LVDS cable and no change
• Removed display from M18xR1, intalled on M18xR2 and everything is fine with M18xR2, installed screen from M18xR2 on M18xR1 and it started 8 beeps, no boot, confirming LCD failure
• I assumed it was just an ordinary hardware failure, was glad I could steal the LCD from the M18xR1 until I could purchase a replacement part... life was good (or so I thought)
• About 24 hours later, the second display is doing the same thing with the good display taken from the M18xR1 and the 8 beeps, no boot problem also surfaced with the second display after the system had been shut off
• Alienware 18 has GTX 780M SLI and Windows 7. I was not planning to upgrade the OS but I wanted to rule out any anomaly involving my M18xR2. So, I installed Windows 10 yesterday running on Intel Graphics and all is well... about 16 hours later (today) I switched over to GTX 780M SLI, installed NVIDIA GeForce drivers and about 1 hour later, maybe slightly more, Alienware 18 makes a click sound and turns off while web surfing. Pressed power button and now it has the same problem... 8 beeps, no boot.
• On all three machines there is no LCD backlight, but if I open and close the lid the backlight turns on
• Removing NVIDIA GPUs has no effect... display malfunctions the same on Intel HD Graphics once the LCD panel is messed up and the damage is already done (M18xR1 has only Intel HD Graphics, no GPUs, and has the same behavior with a bad display attached)
• On all three machines, if I boot with mini-DP or HDMI connected to an external monitor I get the vBIOS HWDIAG splash screen and Intel Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM but 8 beeps begins when system BIOS loads and attempts to begin output to LVDS port

Just so this doesn't get lost in another location:
Alienware 17 R1 980M - Windows 10 - 8 Beeps

I doubt they will do anything to help.

Please visit and participate in discussion here also: Windows 10 + GeForce Drivers are Killing Samsung and LG Notebook LCD Display Panels | GeForce Forum

 

***EVOLVING UPDATES WILL BE POSTED HERE***
Some people are coming here looking for help and answers. We cannot provide either one right now because we don't know why it is happening, but having to sift through unrelated discussions is not good for people looking for help. Short of reprogramming EDID information to the LCD EEPROM the display panels on the affected machines are ruined. Theoretically, it should be possible to fix them. From a practical perspective, it is beyond the skill set of most to attempt it, and buying a new display is the likely solution. Unfortunately, the problem may return and destroy the replacement display unless drastic measures are taken to eliminate the cause, which has been loosely identified as several of the latest GeForce drivers in combination with Windows 10 and/or fully updated Windows 10-ready systems.

Affected models identified:

• Clevo P377SM-A (Sager NP9377-S)
• Alienware 17 (R1 2013)
• Alienware 18 (2013)
• Alienware M17xR4
• Alienware M18xR1
• Alienware M18xR2

As of 8/17/2015 all reported LCD failures involve:

• Windows 10 Operating System
• NVIDIA GPUs (780M, 880M and 980M)
• 60Hz LVDS and 120Hz eDP Displays

It appears systems running UEFI without Legacy/CSM support may be able to boot from HDMI or mini-DP even when they experience 8-beeps and fail to POST using the native display.

It appears the limited number of Alienware 17" single GPU laptops with 120Hz eDP 3D-capable display may be exempt from issues. No reports of LCD failures with this configuration as of 8/9/2015.

It appears that using drivers older than 353.62 may help avoid this problem, but there is not enough information to suggest that doing so is actually safe. Some with affected models are using older drivers, including my 345.20 desktop driver mod, under Windows 10 and have not experienced this issue... yet.

Update #1 - 08/12/2015: Installing Windows 10 is just not a safe thing to do if you own one of the above machines. Huge risk with any NVIDIA GPU installed. If you're going to do this, proceed at your own risk and expect the worst from Windows 10. Spare yourself the heartache and stay with Windows 7 or 8. Based on my own experience, you can take comfort in knowing you are not missing anything special right now, since DX12 is meaningless at this time and the OS itself is actually not a very good product overall. See post quoted below.

UPDATE #2 - 08/12/2015

***ATTENTION***ATTENTION***ATTENTION***​

Alienware has asked me to post this request for information.

If you have an Alienware that has been affected by this 8 beep/no boot problem, even if you have already called them and have a ticket number, please send the following information to them ASAP. Even if you are out of warranty, please send the information for investigative purposes.

Email:

(this is a JPG - please do not re-post it in text format)

Email Subject Line: 8-Beep/No Boot Issue

Please provide:

• Your Contact Information
• Your Service Tag
• Your GPU info (whether stock or aftermarket)
• Your OS version at the time of failure
• Your driver version at the time of failure
• System BIOS version (if you know it)
• BIOS boot configuration at the time of failure (Legacy, UEFI with Legacy, UEFI, Secure Boot, etc. if you know how it was set up)

You may not receive a personal reply. For now they are looking to document the system configurations that are affected and identify any similarities. If you are still covered by warranty and have not requested a repair, you still need to do that independent of reporting these details to Mr. Hernandez.

This is the only information I have at this time.

Update #3 - 09/14/2015
Still no word from Micro$haft or NVIDIA about what is causing the problem. However, see this post for details on a potential fix.

 

i am using the latest driver so not sure if it's ok

 

So was I... the latest and "greatest" from NVIDIA.

 

I think that is an old article, before M$ released that wonderful prevent an unwanted download tool app. In any event, its sounds very troubling, maybe it would be safer to just go back to 8.1. I think updaters have a month to revert before they have to install OS.

 

I think I am going to go ahead and install Windows 10 on the Alienware 18 and see if the LCD on it gets destroyed like in did on my M18xR1 and M18xR2 display panels. Trying to decide whether or not to roll the dice on ruining a third 18" panel. This is really bad. What are the chances of this happening twice being a coincidence? Possible, I suppose, but not very likely.

 

If you do that and it blows then your down three pcs, and isn't Dell running low on replacement parts? Or, are those parts easy to obtain? Is your Cleo OK?

 

I have not installed it on my Clevo, thank God, and I am not going to now. I'm willing to risk it on the Alienware 18 to rule out the weird coincidence of it happening twice. Three times will remove any doubt. Windows 10 will no longer have a home under my roof if the 18 display gets burned out as well. I will definitely be removing Windows 10 before installing two replacement display panels on the M18xR1 and M18xR2. Luckily, I am dual-booting Windows 7, so I will just remove the drive Windows 10 is installed to and reformat it.

I got a PM from another person that appears to have the same issue. His Alienware M18xR2 has died with 8 beeps after installing Windows 10. I have asked him to post his experience in this thread.

Not knowing whether it is the OS or NVIDIA's Windows 10 drivers also has me concerned.

 

For those that haven't upgraded there is an updated dell management file on the windows update, perhaps that might avoid the hardware malarkey

 

Found some people on youtube talking about situation, and possible fixes:





This is not a new problem. People have been reporting it since earlier versions. Mr. Fox you have me reading the internet.

 

technically the laptops tested aren't supported only the 2013 - 2015 models are supported there's no reports (yet) of the AW17 R1, R2, or the AW18 R1 displaying the same result of busted screens.

 

I thought Mr. Fox mentioned his AW18 R1?

 

he (?) said that the M18XR1 and M18XR2 both have busted panels. They are now testing the AW18 R1 (2013). most of the links provided don't say that windows is actually breaking the display just issues with the nvidia drivers. Plus the asus guy using a TP and dated in May so it might be different.

 

Sorry, I keep mixing those up. I even get what model I have wrong.

 

I haven't heard of any cases where the AW17 or AW18 have been busted by an OS after only 24 hours. it might be a specific component(s) that's common to both the M18X R1 and R2.

 

I think you may not have understood what I posted. I get 8 beeps, no backlight, no boot... not a black screen. The first display burned out or died somehow. After some initial troubleshooting, I took the one off the M18xR1 and installed it on the M18xR2. Problem fixed for the R2. The display that came off of the R2 makes the M18xR1 fail to post, 8 beeps, no backlight exactly as it did on the M18xR2. Now the one that I swapped over to the M18xR2 is ruined. So, I need to replace two LCD panels. Both times this happened after shutting down the laptop. I also noticed that Windows 10 kept changing the scaling from 100 to 125% all by itself, and both of the displays were brighter under Windows 10 than Windows 7.

Not sure... we're going to find out what happens to the Alienware 18... if anything.

Now I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm going to even bother fixing the M18xR1 and R2 at this point. If I cannot run 980M SLI without throttling in the R2, cannot even boot with Maxwell in the R1, cannot overclock 780M SLI with NVIDIA drivers released after February because of idiotic throttling problems, and now Windows 10 burns out the LCD display panels, I might be better off just parting them out on eBay and using the money for something else.

 

did you do clear the CMOS just in case?

I am hoping it should be a non-issue with the AW17/18 cos i haven't heard any cases of those models breaking under similar circumstances.

It might be a good idea to update the IMEI firmware on the AW18 just in case.

 

Dam BJ - That's been a pretty expensive exercise so far, anyone tried an external monitor with a M18x R1/R2?

FYI - I have installed Windows 10 on two AW17's - All clean installs, no upgrades.

AW 17 No1 Specs:

i7 4910MQ
GTX880M
16GB 1600MHz Memory
120Hz 3D Display
512mSATA & 2 x 1TB SSD's

Before I upgraded to Windows 10, this laptops GPU was running at around 57 celcius idle, it reached 88 celcius during 3DMark Vantage AND 93 celcius AFTER 30MINS playing COD Advanced Warfare with maxed setting.
After Windows 10 upgrade and with new NVidia drivers v353.62 these are the temps I got:
Idle - 50 celcius
3DMark Vantage - 79 celius
COD Advanced Warfare - 80 celius
20% increase in 3DMark Vantage score

The other AW 17 was a different story.
Same specs except for display, GPU and hard drive.
This AW17 had normal display, AMD8970M (R9 M290X) and smaller HDD.
Temps before windows 10:
Idle - 48 Celcius
3DMark Vantage - 71 Celcius
COD Advanced Warfare - 73 Celcius
After Windows 10 install with new CCC v15.7.1
Idle - 58 celcius
3DMark Vantage - 82 celcius
COD advanced Warfare - 84 celcius.

If you take this info at face value then it looks like the drivers are the ones responsible for the current trouble

 

Yup, and blind flashed twice. When it happened the first time I thought that something went wrong with one or both of the 780M cards and identified the failure of the display as the cause through the process of elimination. Remember, taking the first damaged display off of the R2 and installing it on the R1, the problem followed the LCD to the other laptop. I also tried replacing the LVDS cable before swapping the panels out. So, without question the problem is damage to the LCD panels and not the laptop itself.

My gut feeling is the damage was caused by NVIDIA's Windows 10 drivers rather than the OS, but I cannot prove anything. What I hope happens is that everything goes fine running the 18 on Intel HD Graphics for a few days and then switching to 780M SLI will fry the LCD after a day like it did with the M18xR2 twice. It would be almost impossible to argue that GeForce drivers were not to blame if it happens a third time. I don't know how the OS itself could cause it, but I suppose anything is possible. Maybe Windows 10 or the NVIDIA drivers caused damage by forcing the LCD panel to run outside of appropriate specs or something weird like that. I've never seen hardware damaged due to an OS upgrade before, but I guess there is a first time for everything.

 

well do a full test with the 780Ms active in the AW18 R1 and see if that can last longer cos this sounds so out there that i don't know if i should be worried or not. I could go out and buy it cos i can't be arsed to go through the upgrade process even though it's free. i wonder if the screen models are the same in both affected laptops?

as mentioned i hope it should not break and with the time i used it hasn't done anything nasty....that's obvious.

you really need to ditch that card man, it's horrid!

 

But how is that even possible? Now I'm really afraid to upgrade the OS on my M18X-R2.... Currently I'm using a external 120hz monitor in my notebook as the primary display not using the notebook's LED screen, maybe that could prevent the LED from burning up I hope.

I found a spare hd to test Windows10 OS in e-sata port via pendrive, but it could not activate it with my 8.1 keys so how can I use my old 8.1 keys inside Windows 10 to activate it correctly? I cant update directly because my 780Ms are incompatibles as Microsoft says.

 

i am wondering if there's other symptoms like high CPU usage or fans going nuts prior to the screen failing?

 

yes... identical

Nope, and both times I was just web browsing and reading email. Both times the problem surfaced after shutting the laptop off and powering it back on again. If I were a gambler, I would bet the Windows 10 GeForce drivers caused the damage.

 

i hope the AW18 is not the same and should be OK and that the panel is a different model.

EDIT: The prices on laptopscreen.com for the AW18 are lower than the M18XR1 and R2.

https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/Dell/ALIENWARE~M18X~R2/

That's a big dent.

 

I have asked @Rengsey R. H. Jr. to post his experience in this thread. He has an M18xR2 with Windows 10 that now fails to boot with 8 beeps.

 

OK, i am interested in seeing how the AW18 fairs and i think it'll do better.

 

Running everything stock prior to install (eg. bios, power supply) or all customised and modified?

Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

 

Oh hell no... of course not. No laptop or desktop in the world is worth owning if it's running stock.

But, at the time both displays failed, the GPUs were not overclocked and not doing any kind of work... unless you consider reading email in Outlook and browsing the threads here at NBR to be work for a GPU. Technically, they quit working after the system was turned off, but web surfing and reading email was what I was doing both times immediately before turning the machine off.

 

both are SLI though the Y50 you mentioned also suffered something similar but was only a single GPU setup.

 

My thought here would be the drivers. It is theoretically possible that they are overdriving brightness and this burns out the display. I noticed with mine the screen seems just a tab brighter than it did with Windows 7 drivers.

 

if that's the case then i would just put the brightness down.

 

It could be brightness or even refresh rate. thing is users may just be blind too it as the drivers will not report being out of spec.

 

It's a pity your on the other side of the world BJ. I have two M18x display's that have white light leaking from the sides so they are unfit to sell, but I'd give them to you for testing if you were closer.

I think the "panels" for the M18x and AW18 series are virtually identical except for the fact one has a frame and one is a bare panel, I'd even hesitate a guess one would work with the other if the right cable was used - This may prove a cheaper way for you to test it BJ than using a M18x assembly, if the bare panel works with the M18x cable that will save you heaps.

 

explain the refresh rate thing please cos i am not sure how that works.

 

Well , I have been bugging Mr. Fox for a solution the past 3-4 days to help revived my M18x R2 since the day it died ( 8 beeps ).

1) Free Windows 10 update
2) Left the house for a stroll
3) Came home , laptop was turnt off , so I power it on , then 8 beeps.
4) research the 8 beeps , and found out it was the LCD issue (amazed on a new LCD that I just bought went bad)
5) I swap back to the old LCD that was working fine also , and it still made the 8 beeps.
6) I did the power drain/cmos , came back with 5 beeps , then the 8 beeps came back.

It's just weird how it just happen. I gave up.

 

sounds like the board might be busted too.

 

If this happens to all "18" owners - I can smell a lawsuit in the wind.....

No Wait....That's right, I remember.

Did anyone read the "terms and cond" you have to box check before upgrading.
It says no one in the USA can sue, no class actions either.....
Makes you wonder huh.

 

Funny thing is that I have been using Windows 10 since the 29th and I haven't got any single issue with it. I just did the upgrade, installed Mr. Fox Desktop driver and done. I have been constantly using my M18x R2 every day.

Gaming, programming, rendering, doing benchmarks and many more things... So maybe Nvidia drivers? I just don't want to waste my time and bandwidth testing new drivers so I have been using the Mr. Fox desktop driver since he posted the thread here.

 

My lcd magically busted today on my 17 r1 after using windows 10 and the new nvidia drivers for not even a whole day. Installed at 3 dead at 10. Anyone have any ideas how to check if it's the screen that's busted and not something else


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

So you are telling me that if I keep using my R2 with SLI980M @ win10 I have chances to get my display or something else fried? Is this for real? if this is true (caused by win10 or nvidia's win 10 drivers) is just insane.

 

Hmmm...

My installation for my 18 was Windows 8.1 fresh install, zero drivers, and I upgraded to Win10 using the M$ app. So far I see no indication about what can cause this issue. I honestly don't care if my Alienware 18 screen dies, so if anyone has any theories go for it.

 

What is it doing? Can you describe the symptoms?

 

i wonder if older drivers like 353.38 hotfix will be OK cos i am using those in win 8 and they don't have issues.

 

That is plausible. Two things I observed were (a) screen was noticeably brighter; and, (b) Windows 10 kept changing my display scaling from 100% to 125%. I had to change it back to 100% several times. I assumed it was an OS bug, but it could be bugged NVIDIA drivers.

Mighty strange coincidence that both of us have 8 beeps with deal LCD panels after installing Windows 10, don't you think?

Did you have to mod the driver to get it installed under Windows 10, or did it survive the upgrade without reinstalling? I was going to try to use my older driver mod because of the 780M SLI throttling with newer drivers, but I got tied up with other things. I'm only guessing, but I think you are correct and had I used my own 344.75 or 345.20 modded pre-Windows 10 driver like you are now I might not have two dead LCD panels. I'm not able to point any fingers, but I believe that NVIDIA's Windows 10 drivers are what killed them.

 

that's why i am wondering if drivers like the 353.38 hotfix driver will be ok.

 

Im not really sure whats really going on though. I don't have a 3rd lcd to test lol. My system was running 680m GTX SLI. Both cards from my 18x are still working , as I have installed both of them in a m17x R2 , to see if they were recognized. So my cards are still working despite the 8 beeps , and it's either my LCDs are blown or the motherboard. I was running stock on everything on the m18x before the 8 beeps issue.

 

I don't know. Each LCD lasted less than 48 hours (maybe even less than 24, but I wasn't measuring the time). I'm stumped... but, I have a strong feeling that GeForce drivers caused it. The displays were brighter than normal under Windows 10 and Windows 10 kept changing my display scaling from 100% to 125%. I had to set it back to 100% several times. I only wish I had used my own modded Windows 7/8 drivers instead of NVIDIA's 'special' Windows 10 drivers.

I'm just so discouraged right now, I'm not even sure that I am going to buy replacement LCD panels. I cannot afford to spend a ton of money buying LCD panels to find out if they are going to burn out again. I've been battling the NVIDIA driver 780M SLI throttling problem for months, cannot use any drivers NVIDIA has released from March to present without throttling, and now this.

 

staying on 8.1 then.

 

My system is running Windows 10 perfectly. m18x R2 with 680m sli no problems. It's been a couple of days so far and no hiccup, bios beep posts, or lcd blowouts. Nvidia version 353.62 here. Maybe it's an isolated case?

 

can someone try with older drivers?