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

If some of our hypotheses are correct, then Windows 10 alters the sBIOS in such a way that these problems are capable of showing up. If he flashes sBIOS and vBIOS and does the same thing as before (installs Win 8.1 and the 353.83 drivers and uses them) and he DOES NOT get a screen issue, then we've confirmed it's Windows 10 modifying sBIOSes and that they are the direct culprit of all these issues, as nVidia drivers should have protection in place from being able to affect panels in this way (whether or not nVidia is at fault for coding the functionality into their drivers; the fact that the drivers normally cannot affect the hardware in such a manner due to sBIOS protection which is removed due to Win 10 means that if Win 10 never did such a thing, we wouldn't be in this predicament).

IF however, his screen breaks again, then in the words of Onslaught: "No one is safe!"

 

If I was in the situation of broken screen I would do exact thing which did the one who solved it completely (Mr. Fox):
1. Blind flash BIOS. Not usual BIOS update.
2. Reflash vBIOS.
3. Format partition and instal Windows7/8. Don't think that you need to do Secure erase.

 

It's good and also identical to the other SEC5448 versions so far (AW 18 versions, anyway).

Fine too and identical to the older revision LGD02DA (v0.2). If necessary then the v1.0 in the 7z archive will work for you.

There are 120Hz LVDS panels and without specification sheet it's hard to tell the difference:

Am not yet convinced eDP panels have been affected. Not until there's a good photo of its pcb or a spec. sheet.

 

If we want to rule out bios corruption due to 10:

1. cmos rest
2. read (v)bios to usb stick
3. compare to non-flashed (v)bios

These should be bit-for-bit identical ...

There's also EC and ME firmware to consider; the same considerations apply.

 

@mariussx dump sBIOS using FPT method (svl7)
.

Code:

fpt.exe -d BiosBackup.bin -bios

Developer drivers
NVIDIA's Windows driver version 355.78 (released 8-22-15) provides beta support for VR developers using Oculus 0.7 SDK.
It provides a bug fix for an intermittent issue found in the publicly released 355.60 Game Ready driver as well as solving an issue with incorrect display timings.

I said a possible starting point, not a fix...v344.80 HF desktop 980 blank screen bug (LG) fixed my R4 780M.


@t456
Block 0, 1 (04, FC).

Code:

00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 30 E4 C5 02 00 00 00 00 01 14 01 04 95 26 15 78 02 5F 35 A4 58 56 9E 26 0F 50 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 02 3A 80 18 71 38 2D 40 58 2C 45 00 7E D7 10 00 00 1B D4 9A 80 C8 73 38 24 41 30 20 35 00 7E D7 10 00 00 1B D4 9A 80 C8 73 38 A8 40 30 20 35 00 7E D7 10 00 00 1B D4 9A 80 C8 73 38 40 40 30 20 35 00 7E D7 10 00 00 1B 01 27 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FC

 

If it worked before, it should work again. I think on the 18 if the display were to fail, you can hook up an external display to fix things up?

 

Sorry, I did not mean you said it, it was nvidia's changelog, which suggested the drivers were fixed.

 

been trying to tell the alienware tech peeps about the issue on twitter.

https://twitter.com/AlienwareTech/status/638355179759386624

feel free to like, retweet, or just jump in to get the message across.

 

Not necessarily. That doesn't work on the Alienware 18 I have at all, but I had the BIOS set to Legacy mode also. It behaves exactly the same as the M18xR1/R2 with a messed up display attached to it. I am unsure if it would have worked with the BIOS set to UEFI (no Legacy support) as it did for @Daniel1983 or not. I am guessing that it probably would boot with an external display using GOP versus VGA boot, since that is the only way Maxwell GPUs will boot without 8 beeps installed the Alienware 18 and M18xR2. But, I cannot test it and have no plans to risk damaging a replacement LCD only to test the theory. The EDID still gets screwed up either way, rendering the LCD unusable, so having to connect a monitor to a laptop to use it is not a good option unless you already have it anchored to a desk all of the time anyway.

 

if ppl are on the AW17 R1 and you're daring enough to test win 10, i have an AUO 60hz panel that i have no need to use so i don't mind selling it for the cost of shipping the panel to your location.

EDIT: I would like to know if AUO panels will fail along with the LG and Samsung panels. so buzz me if you want to give it a try and i'll send the panel.

 

@Mr. Fox , would you reckon updating NVIDIA drivers to be safe? I am using a non-updated windows 8.1 at the moment and as MGSV tpp comes out in a few hours, I feel like I have no other choice.
@ssj92 , don't know. I am really tempted to give windows 10 another shot since my first use of it was mainly positive. I had encountered a couple of issues in the technical preview but the final build was close to flawless. How long have your AW18s been rocking the official windows 10 for?

 

I'd rather not speculate whether it would be safe or not. I can tell you that I would not do so at this point. Until the cause is pinpointed and fixed, I'm not changing anything that might risk corrupting the EDID on my working LCD panels. My gut feeling is Windows 10 is more at fault for the damage than GeForce drivers are, but the fact that AMD systems appear to be unaffected raises serious doubts in my mind whether using the newest GeForce drivers can actually be viewed as safe.

 

Got it @Mr. Fox plus an 880m should be more than enough to get the job done.

 

Ran across this, related?

BIOS corruption early on from Insider Preview 10130; still happening - new posts in this thread since Windows 10 release:

08-08-2015, 04:10 AM
"Indeed, we have had some system's in repair with corrupted bios's due to the upgrade of Windows 10. The new uefi bios is accessible during the installation of Windows 10 and can be corrupted without a option to recover the bios.
Also there are problems with settings concerning the active partition, resulting in non bootable systems. In fact I have windows program's to read out bios settings live, with the ability to change settings. Corrupting the modern bios is a peace of cake. "

08-23-2015, 01:22 PM
"Hey. Did you ever fix your gigabyte mobo? I have the same issue. I fixed it before and ended up doing a fresh install, wich worked. However, now I can't activate windows. Now I'm back to trying the upgrade instead of fresh install. Same corrupt bios happened again. What did you end up going?"

Windows 10 10130 update corrupted my BIOS, what should I do?
http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...pdate-corrupted-my-bios-what-should-i-do.html

More:

Windows 10 update resulted in corrupt BIOS, computer is now left unbootable.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...s/c5dad174-e4c7-4cf6-94ff-6d82b03dec2c?auth=1

Breaking News!!!!!...Windows 10 License activation is erasing computers Bios
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2920636/pg1?disclaimer=1

"Windows 10 free License Activation, only allows windows to run on the same hardware, so in every boot it Checks bios to see if the hardware is the same.

But apparently Windows 10 is actually writing to the Bios, killing or crippling many computers."

Lots more:

https://www.google.com/search?num=5...10.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..7.3.268.wDD02J0N-H0

 

It's like the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first. Even if Windows 10, or a fully updated Windows 7/8.1 system ready for Windows 10, is directly to blame for this, if it only happens to systems with an NVIDIA GPU and certain GeForce driver versions, where does one point the finger, LOL? And, nobody can answer this question right now, because nobody knows what the triggering mechanism is.

 

Wow, that is really interesting and downright evil, not to mention nuts. That may explain the really bizarre behavior I observed installing Windows 10 on my Clevo 570WM, where every time Windows 10 setup would require a reboot my system would restart with the BIOS setup open to the main screen. I also had it happen randomly when Windows 10 seemed to not like my CPU overclock settings. This is a very disturbing possibility if you stop and think about it. It is one of the reasons I decided to get rid of Windows 10 on my Clevo. It was making me very uncomfortable seeing that behavior. I wonder if @Prema knows of any similar reports. I would hate to see @johnksss or @Kpaxx end up with a messed up P570WM... or actually anyone for that matter. I don't want to go off-topic with this, but it certainly makes the notion of Windows 10 having the unfortunate ability to write bogus EDID info to the LCD EEPROM not seem nearly as far fetched if it is also corrupting the UEFI system BIOS on some motherboards. That's very nasty, indeed.

 

i wonder if the drivers are safe to use on win 8.1?

 

Take a look in my new tread... http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-the-display-will-not-wake-up-turn-on.780879/

 

so latest drivers for 8.1 still ok?

 

Thanks Fox. I was taking measures to upgrade to windows 10 on my m17x r4 3d with gtx 970m .
Il stay with windows 8.1 for now.
If anyone could find the name of the EEPROM chip, I could find a way to flash it.

 

Well, 5 days 14 hours and counting on 355.60

Win 8.1 Pro x64, no Win 10 prep updates installed. No problems so far. I'm thinking either eDP or Win 10 really is the culprit... I know the AW17 R1 uses eDP for their 120Hz screens but nobody has reported one of those blowing out yet, and as another user said, 120Hz LVDS panels seemingly existed years ago. I don't remember the AWs using the LG panels either... *sigh* I wish we had moar concrete info

If I so much as experience a single instance of my screen acting weirdly, not turning on, or the PC freezing, DDU and 353.06 is going RIGHT back on.

 

I've had it installed on all of the PCs since the second day it was released. However, like Mr. Fox said, I'd just wait a bit at this point to be safe.

 

Thats what i have been saying all along, that its not just Alienware. Its all computers with windows 10 and certain LCD's or screens. But, we all know, the QA for HP and DELL are pretty much as low end as it comes. This is why we see more lower end models being affected, steps being skipped at factory that could prevent this. It seems marginally only like 1% of people too. Or less.

 

Release 355.82 WHQL

Win10 fixed issues:


[Oculus Direct VR] Oculus screen stays blank when directmode.exe -present_test is run.[200133319]  [GTX 980 SLI, 1×3 Surround] Wrong refresh rates are listed in the NVIDIA Control Panel. [200132728]  [G-SYNC, SLI] Drastic tearing observed on 4K monitor when SLI enabled. [200132122] 
[SLI] Enable P2P on Intel Z170 platform. [200130340] 
[GTX 980 Ti, 1×2 Surround] Surround resolutions and their order are incorrect. [200126589]

Ours problem never solved?

 

They seem to be ignoring it, and hoping we forget that they broke probably $100k worth of laptops

 

Wow... Maybe having to RMA my laptop for the keyboard saved my panel... I thought it was weird how it always flickered when it booted up and the desktop was indeed brighter than it was in 8.1... What a disaster. Sorry all of you have to go through this!

 

Hey @Ethrem

So has anyone tested the latest NVIDIA drivers with win8.1?

Are you running the latest NVIDIA drivers too, if yes, how is it going?

 

Thanks, that's an eDP for certain. Added to and updated the ' correct edids archive':
dell panels, correct edids, v4.

Spoiler: dell panels, correct edids, v4

Code:

PnP id  notes   interf  panel nr.
------- -----   ------ --------------
LGD01CA         LVDS    LP173WD1-TLA1
LGD0226         LVDS    LP173WD1-TLC2
LGD0285         LVDS    LP173WF1-TLC1
LGD0289         LVDS    LP173WD1-TLA3
LGD02C5         eDP     LP173WF2-TPA1
LGD02DA !       LVDS    LP173WF1-TLB3
LGD02FC C       LVDS    LP173WF3-SLB2
LGD0343         LVDS    LP173WF1-TLB5
LGD0391         LVDS    LP173WD1-TLE1
LGD03FB         LVDS    LP173WF1-TL**
SDC3654         LVDS    LTN173KT03-W01
SDC4C48 !       LVDS    LTM184HL01
SEC314A         LVDS    LTN184HT03-001
SEC4A4B         LVDS    LTN184KT01-J01
SEC5044 !?A     LVDS?   LTN173HT01-301
SEC5044 !?A     eDP     LTN173HT02-P01
SEC5044 !?A     eDP?    LTN173HT02-T01
SEC5443         LVDS    LTN170CT08-D01
SEC5448 !       LVDS    LTN184HT02-S01
SEC544B B       LVDS    LTN173KT01-***
SEC544B BD      LVDS    LTN140KT**-***
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
!  = known bricked panels
!? = bricked, but unknown which one
*  = unknown part id
A  = highly suspect: multiple variants exist, do not flash without confirming interface + properties!
B  = multiple variants, flash the correct one!
C  = EliteBook 8**0w DreamColor, 10-bit, for fun ^^
D  = 14.0" version for M14x, just in case

If multiple edids exist for one PnP id; flash the most recent edid, unless indicated otherwise.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's still an issue that desperately needs solving:

• What was the 17.3" 120Hz Samsung panel that failed?

The ' eDP is at risk' derives from that single example, which was andrewsi2012's panel. It may have been one of the SEC5044's, at least one of which is eDP, but that same pnp id has different panels, 120Hz LVDS exists too and the R4 has both eDP and LVDS connectors.

@andrewsi2012 ,
If you still have that defective panel; pictures? Also, would like to fix one and make a guide, also for write-protecting the eeprom, soooo ...

SEC5044 panels so far:

Code:

Solo wing eDP
SDBmania  eDP
thegh0sts ?

 

Seems likely.

A lot of those reports are not very helpful; could be anything and many are fixed with a cmos reset. A corrupt bios (or edid) would not be revived by that. However, this thread holds interesting clues:

Dual bios to the rescue, eh?

Anyway ... if those reports are accurate and it really concerned ' BIOS checksum failed' then something wrote to non-nvram sectors on these three systems, breaking the checksum (similar to the edid's checksum). All nvidia systems, btw. Mind that ' CMOS/NVRAM checksum failure' happens too (and is far more common). These only concern nvram, so clearing cmos would solve that issue, but not an actual bios corruption.

Now, this wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened; Samsung laptop bug is not Linux specific:

Don't think it has merely 'filled the nvram', it may have written beyond that, otherwise a simple cmos reset would've unbricked them. The (v)bios compare pre-10 and a once-bricked post-10 could affirm or deny that.

One of the comments, dated 2013-02-09:

We can't dismiss the fact that all issues began after nvidia install ... and at least one non-10 system was affected. So applying Ockham's razor would mainly implicate nvidia (driver can write to bios's nvram, at least). Maybe 10 just happened to coincide with nvidia's crappy releases?

Was also thinking of the NSA, only for a different reason; their rootkits use SMM. Nvidia may use the same path, only failed to pay attention in class and &%(!-up the execution. That would also explain why Legacy Boot hasn't saved Mr. Fox's systems; SSM works happily on both.

Libreboot is getting more appealling every day ... shame about its supported platforms. AMD processors would be immune too ... now, where's that Athlon 1400 again?

 

SEC5044 panels so far:

Code:

j95       ?
Mr. Fox   eDP
Solo wing eDP
SDBmania  eDP
thegh0sts ?

I don't own any laptop with eDP or that SEC5044 panel. All of mine are LVDS. Hopefully @andrewsi2012 can provide photos showing his 120Hz screen is truly eDP. To my knowledge, all of the Alienware 17" notebooks with 120Hz display are exclusively eDP, and that is the only Alienware notebook motherboard that has both eDP and LVDS ports on the same PCB. All other models made, as far as I know, are LVDS.

 

It is rather disheartening to see the issue is spreading to other hardware vendors as well and nothing being effectively done to contain it.

Have you guys checked if you are using any common software that could play into causing this mess?

On a side note, that's a pretty sweet Firestrike score. Almost 1000 points Better than my Titan X-based desktop PC.

 

Yes, definitely. It's call Windows 10, and it's probably the worst form of trojan malware the world has ever seen. It not only harvests personal information, logs keystrokes and steals files, it also randomly kills laptop and desktop hardware, corrupts firmware and deprives its victims of the opportunity to make their own decisions about how their computer systems function. Fortunately, you have to make a conscientious decision to intentionally harm your system by installing it and the mess can be avoided by refusing to install the malware.

In that case, our Clevo P570WM are getting about 2,000 points more than your Titan X desktop. 17200 is around 1,000 points lower than expected running Windows 8.1
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5075905

 

I guess i'll have to try the new drivers on 8.1. i think it should be OK.

 

My R4 LGD02C5 50-pin eDP is not stock (M17xR3 120Hz)...unlike andrewsi2012's SEC5044 40-pin stock panel, both R3 & R4 motherboards have 50-pin eDP connectors.

 

Errr ... you did have a SEC5044 as well, right? Or ... copy/pasted Solo wing's panel in order to re-arrange it correctly? Probably the latter, upon re-reading; will correct the list.

Sorry, misread that. Yours was SEC5448 (LTN184HT02-S01); adjusted .

@thegh0sts ,
With these two out, you're the last unknown; can you post your panel's edid? And perhaps check its actual model as well? Maybe it's listed in the shipping document?

Noticed some panels have their part nr. on the front as well as on the sticker itself. No idea if that's common, but it's certainly more convenient:

 

I just edited Solo wing's raw data (0x10), checksum was valid.

 

I have an Alienware 18 with 770ms in SLI and windows 10. I have not upgraded the driver to 355.60 driver and am still running 353.62. Should I upgrade? I'm so worried after reading all of this! So far everything seems to be running fine - I upgraded about 2 weeks ago but didnt update the NVIDIA driver, a couple games stopped working but the majority still do. Just don't want to update and brick my system as I know little about switching out displays and flashing Bios etc. Has anyone heard anything from Microsoft, Nvidia or Alienware (Dell)?

 

I still have the faulty panel, I'll dig it out and snap a few photos of the back.

From memory there was not a lot of info on the back, usually there are 3 or 4 stickers with different part and revision numbers on them, this panel only had 2 sticker with numbers (From memory) but I''ll check and get back.

 

@Mr. Fox or someone, if you have an unlocked BIOS, like I have A11 unlocked, can I flash A13 (not unlocked) directly using the file from Dell website? I shouldn't have any problems right?

Also does anyone know if the R4 will work with some i5 dual core Ivy bridge CPU? I'm thinking that if the machine can boot without a GPU inside and just use iGPU without drivers (I need to test this theory), I could keep my R4 as an emergency GPU vBIOS flashing machine.. Quite a mad idea but I'm considering it...

 

I don't know any reason you cannot. I've done unlocked to stock flashing many times and never any issues going upward in version numbers. I have no idea on the i5 question. No reason I can identify that it would not work perfectly, but I don't own anything except i7 CPUs and cannot say I have ever tried it.

 

there's instructions for that? this is what HWINFO says
SAMSUNG LTN173HT02P01

 

so this is my moninfo file. I was on Win 10 and run it for roughly 24 hours, then downgraded to 8.1.

 

As long as its the same socket then yes it will work.

But yuk - i5 in a M17xR4.

Like a ferrari with a speed limiter on it

You may not have all your RAM available, depending on how much you have

 

What program should I use to get the specs of my monitor?

@Glzmo , shouldn't your Titan x be getting way more than 17200 points? A Titan x should be getting around 19-20k easily with base boost clock. You do know that this is the graphics score and not overall score. I get a score of roughly 12000 but it really depends on the drivers more so than actual performance. 12000 is with the stock vbios so likely more with a custom one.

Can you keep me updated as I need to update drivers too? Have you used windows 10 before?

 

The start of the first sentence gave me a laugh, thank you. Then the sad reality. However, Microsoft is a little more devious to let you make a conscientious decision about upgrading. Automatic updates, you woke up and you were infected. Notify me and let me decide....guess what's ticked off for you in optional updates? Yes, that's right.
Abort! Abort! Been there, done that. Keep on your toes!

 

I don't know if it helps, but the AW17 R1's 120Hz panel seems to be a Samsung; got from another user in the P770ZM forum. He confirmed it is eDP as well (even though I was pretty sure, he included his mon info, so we can verify what panels are used where) http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3-owners-lounge.768770/page-289#post-10081357

 

Use ' MonInfo -> File -> Create INF':



The 'P01' in HWiNFO is interesting, btw; you have a different edid than any other posted so far.

It's fine and the older LGD02DA v0.2. It's in the 7z archive, but also the newer (and better) v1.0; flash that one if it becomes necessary.

Yes, it's eDP alright and probably the same edid as in the archive. Can't check; no raw data, but everything else matches.

 

oh ok, i have that app installed so i can just do a dump of the EDID when i am home.

 

hey, have you observed any issues with the driver yet!

 

There aren't any modded infs for it so I haven't tried.

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