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

I hope we/you guys find a solution for this. My 17 wasn't even nearly that old to get replaced.

Like I already said, I haven't had any issues with Windows10 until I tried to get back to the previous Nvidia driver and installed Precission X.

By the way, is there a way to get a CD out of the DVD drive without power? Mine is a Dl-8A4SH and was in the stock AW 17 R1.

 

Being how mine bricked with only a couple programs installed then that narrows the list significantly if that were the case. It's either Precision X, HWiNFO, or one/multiple of those 4-5 Windows updates. The only thing besides those are the drivers that you are suppose to install on a fresh machine like wireless adapter, chipset, usb etc.


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I think we come to the conclusion that windows 10 install OR windows 10 prep files download and install (not install the whole OS) which installs the vulnerability.

So those with 10 installed or had them download and install in the background opened the vulnerability which then puts you in the same boat as the rest being your now at risk of triggering.. you already had precission x so you had the trigger so to speak waiting in line.

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optical drives usually have some kinda manual release mechanism for any media inside. for that ull most probably have to take the drive out of the machine first.

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Never tried but can you not rapidly press eject while pressing the power button?

Did you have UEFI Or UEFI and legacy? Those two should allow you too boot with an external monitor and flash with l2c in linux

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Found it, thanks

 

I'm pretty sure Precision X is only a trigger, other programs may be doing the same thing. If we can find the specific windows updates that actually allow the trigger to do something bad, that might get us a little further in understanding the root cause.

 

OK, I killed off the nasty Windows 8.1 pure UEFI feces, restored my Windows 7 image, booted into Safe Mode and renamed EVGA Precision X folder to block it from loading at Windows logon. Uninstalled EVGA Precision X and no bricked LCD so far. Sure is nice to have the sweet Windows 7 performance back again... the sucky Windows 8.1 physics performance was driving me nuts. Back to dual-booting Windows 7 and Mint Linux in Legacy BIOS mode. Life is good... let's hope no EDID corruption occurs tomorrow.

I'll try to answer all three of your questions the easiest way possible. The bullet points do not correspond with the sequence of questions you presented, but I think they will cover all of the bases.

• I am running with essentially no Windows Updates installed (which has been my normal practice for a couple of years now)
• I NEVER install ALL Windows Updates... EVER... and, sure as hell won't be considering any Windows 10 readiness updates
• Precision X has been removed, and since doing so the LCD has not bricked again with 327.23, 344.75, 345.20, 355.98
• I still have severe 780M SLI power throttling with any GeForce driver newer than 345.20
  (405MHz core, 400MHz memory clocks with "Pwr" GPU-Z PerfCap Reason)

See what I posted here regarding EDID corruption/LCD bricking and Precision X... Windows 10 is what caused it... no ifs, ands, or buts. At this point, Precision X was merely causing me additional problems on account of whatever damage susceptibility Windows 10 created. The vulnerability created by Windows 10 has not been fixed and that's why I can no longer use Precision X.

 

Indeed,

I think we are a long way from that But i can only imagine theres a very small amount of softwares that trigure. Mr. Fox found evga precission and many could relate to that and now know they can avoid a brick.. maybe theres like only 1 more software left to cover 100% of the lcd bricks?

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The easiest fix, maybe not the best, would probably be just to turn to Red Team and pop in a 290x or something.

@Mr. Fox- I remembered I have a 6970 that I could ship you for testing that theory too. Where was my brain a couple weeks ago when you asked for an AMD card?


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Now that my LCD is not bricking, I think I'll stick with the Jolly Green Giant. I've not ready to downgrade to AMD crap at this point. Aside from having extremely horrible past experiences with failure-prone AMD MXM cards, the R9 M290X is a massive performance downgrade from 780M. However, if the LCD bricking problem resurfaces, I will certainly send you a PM to see about that. And, thank you for offering. I appreciate it a lot.

And, yes... that would be the easiest solution (although the Windows 10 damage would still be present as a latent defect). I sincerely wish AMD would release a reliable MXM GPU that matches or exceeds 780M performance and reliability, which a ton of overclocking headroom. I have a difficult time taking them seriously, so I'm not very optimistic that it will happen any time in the near future. They have found their groove in low-buck mediocrity in the notebook space. But, even the desktop Fury GPU seems to suck at overclocking, which is very sad.

 

You have been a huge help to me since I got my M18x and have been an even bigger help to the community, so it's really the least I could do.

So without Precision X you haven't bricked again? I believe you also don't run Windows updates too if I remember correctly. If you aren't bricking with both of those precautions then I'd call it a huge victory. We might not know what the root cause of the cancer is but at least we make it benign.


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so win 10 - updates - precision x = safe?

not so sure about that. it's not that i don't trust people but with all the crap that win 10 is getting is makes me hard to want to switch.

 

Mr. Fox isn't running Windows 10, he's running Windows 7 (just prior to that Win8) with updates turned off and blocked, and he is also not installing PrecisionX.

Win10 ready updates (for Win7 and Win8) and PrecisionX both obviously allow whatever is corrupted on the Nvidia graphics card to surface and corrupt the LCD EDID.

It's cut and dry at this point, with the only remaining question being how to fix the corrupted Nvidia cards for those that want Windows updates and to use PrecisionX.

 

Who want the new trash from Micro$oft when you can see what can happen every time you be forced a new win update or even unwanted drivers ? Every month can you risk the same problems because of this new modern tiled junk Os. I don't want to deal with this every month. I use not normally download the win patches but in Win 10 you risk to get them anyway. https://na.alienwarearena.com/forum...ort-1/cpu-locking-to-0-4ghz-requiring-restart

 

The only problem is that eventually Micro$oft won't support Windows 7 or 8.1 after a while and it will be a huge security risk.
Has anyone done a fresh install of Windows 10 without Precision X and had it brick?


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Not mine, but several folks have chimed in that they have never installed EVGA's PrecisionX and their laptop's LCD screen bricked after installing Windows 10.

Windows 10 causes the vulnerability, that much is abundantly clear. PrecisionX is only ONE of the known triggers that allows the corruption on the Nvidia graphics card to corrupt the LCD EDID.

 

But those were most likely upgrades. I'm wondering about the fresh install because of the Windows 10 ready updates that killed our Laptops. Maybe the upgrade has something to do with whatever is bricking our systems.


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1. Windows 10 my be causing the vulnerability
2. nVidia driver may be causing the vulnerability but

the problem appears only on alienware's and clevo's.

There are so many laptops that run Windows 10 on nVidia and no single incident. Also SONY advised VAIO owners not to upgrade to Windows 10 until proper drivers are released.

On the other hand DELL rushed to update their webpage saying those systems that later got affected had been tested for Windows 10 compatibility.

So it is obvious DELL has also screwed up big time (either by allowing EDID to be written or by not testing their systems and issuing the statement above).
But the thing is even if they hadn't screwed up it is still their job to fix it for the simple fact that DELL is the manufacture.
Do not expect Microsoft or nVidia to fix our Alienwares.

 

If Windows XP was any indicator, it will be quite a while before MS stops supporting Win7. I don't think I will be using my M18x R2 at that point, or at least, I hope I wouldn't be and something suitable would have emerged as a worthy replacement.

 

I fresh installed and never ever used EVGA and got my screen bombarded

 

May be EDID corruption is caused/triggered by any GPU overclocking software, not only EVGA's one?

 

Im using afterburner for OSD and nvidia inspector for an actual OC and no problems for nearly 2 weeks

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Just a guess: in all the cases with corrupted EDID, did we have at least one that was running stock vBIOS?

 

Me

 

I've seen at least 2 folks say that their completely stock (video cards and BIOS/VBIOS too) system had this happen.

 

We need just find a way to read protect the screen EDID chip before install Windows 10 didn't we? Is there a way to do that? Sooner or later everyone will want to play the newer directX 12 games like the new Tomb Raider game coming and other exclusiver DX12 games but we'll need Windows 10 to do so...

 

gave my friend one of my m18x's and he installed windows 10 on it.....he reverted back to 8 or 7 but is he screwed? any way to check?

edit: he was running 675m SLI during the whole Win10 install phase....im about to give him my 780m SLI setup and want to know if that is potentially going to cause issues for the laptop or the cards...he is no longer on Win10 though

edit2: its an m18xR1

 

Most people that revert back seem to be fine. Just don't use Precision X.


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Hi ...running windows 8.1 installed precision x tonight ...BIG MISTAKE and after reboot 8 beeps , only will boot up with my tv plugged in hdmi port , but when in windows the monitor on the laptop come on , just initial boot screen problem and can not seem to get into the bios either ? please any help ...as I really can not lug a tv around with me

 

You have to install Linux on a new partition and run some software to write a fresh EDID to your screen. Definitely uninstall Precision X first though.


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Nevermind Precision X

 

followup question: if i just bought a used 980m does that mean it could somehow be infected with this crap? but im ok as long as i never installed win10 on this laptop?

 

have uninstalled already still the same , when actually in windows all is normal but at boot up nothing ...unless I have the tv in the hdmi port then all ok for it to start and when in windows I can un plug the hdmi , just checked EDID and its showing as corrupted so defo something to do with precision x as no issues until I installed that piece of crap

 

Their have been a couple 980m's that have been affected but the chances of that being one of like 3 are pretty slim.


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this 980m has never had windows 10 installed only windows 8.1, this is definitely an issue with precision x

 

how is that even possible that something would survive a vbios flash?

 

It might just be Windows 10 opening up a vulnerability that Precision X is able to mess with. I didn't have an issue till I installed Windows 10, then it bricked the second time on window 7 once I installed the couple of updates to make it Windows 10 ready. I would avoid Precision X like the plague though for sure.


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Yeah, I'm really gonna miss Tomb Raider

Lets see, to install Windows 10 I must agree to provide complete access to all my data and actions on my previously private PC, giving up the right to be told of such access, and get all those really cool bugs Windows 10 still has and will have for the next year, so I can play some crappy game that has micro transactions - so I can pay more $...

No thanks

 

Not me, two fresh installs on to different Alienware laptops and both bricked

Windows 7 is the current business OS, it will be a while before mirco$haft stop supporting it

Yes, mine were stock - GTX880M and GTX680M

I wouldn't be surprised to see micro$haft release a DX12 update for windows 7 after the free windows 10 upgrade deadline

Never had precision X installed, still bricked two laptops - I did have MSI afterburner installed in both though

 

Does MSI Afterburner support overclocking displays in newer versions? If yes, that's probably the culprit feature.

 

It really is as simple as that windows 10 creates the vulnerability BUT something needs to trigger it. All we know for now is EVGA Precission X is one of those triggers. The other is yet to be found.

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Ive been running After Burner for OSD in games while using Nvidia Inspector for the actual OC. Afterburner isnt a trigure

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As T456 pointed out. The AMD vbios are all the same size, our NVIDIA vbios can be a multitude of sizes.. point being because all the space isnt being used theres room for code to be stored, when we flash the VBIOS it doesnt write zeros to the available space therefor it could survive reflashes (assuming it is stored on the VBIOS)

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I've been using MSI afterburrner for years just to see my gpu clocks and temperature in-game and im still fine.

 

Which Evga version ? You said Newer used Win 10 but have you had updates for that crap on your laptop?

 

Dont forget, given you can connect to an external monitor you can flash the EDID back, as someone pointed out use Linux to delete precission X I suppose just deleting from Profram Files wil be good enough

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Sounds like it will need flashed. Get used to the idea. Even though you uninstalled what may have flipped the switch does not mean the switch is flipped back. You, manually, must fix the problem that occurred!

But, we have an opportunity here. Can you take screen images of device manager, copy and paste the edids from the registry (regedit), etc. The fact it puts the Nvidia audio, etc. In the display is VERY interesting. You are in a middle ground. You have the corruption, but still are doing more than most in Windows. Also, can you put the original edid in the registry and report back? If you need more step by step instructions on how to do this, just ask.

Edit: I don't think the registry entry will change anything from prior tests, but this is slightly modified from prior tests.

 

Hi Mr Fox , regarding Precision x I installed that yesterday and after reboot got the 8 beeps ..but I am running win 8.1 this EDID corruption happened as soon as I installed it , now I need to boot with another monitor plugged in , but when I get into windows I can unplug the hdmi cable and it runs ok on the laptop display ...can you please tell me how to reflash the EDID this is on an LG panel on an Alienware 17 R5 running 980m, in Aida 64 my monitor reports as being this-- Monitor Name NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device [NoDB] and Monitor ID NVIDIAV but in NVidias panel its reported as a Generic non -pnp monitor with all the refresh rates screwed ...please help as I can not lug a TV around just so I can use my laptop