Green dots on screen

My 5 month old g73sw is starting to show problems. These annoying green dots over black background starts appearing everywhere. Moving my laptop especially on right part seems to rectify it. Did i fry my graphics card or something? Must I send it to Asus service center?

As im typing this, also noticed purple/pink dots too. gpu temp is at 49C

DO help me out here.

THanks

 

Possibly a loose or faulty display cable. See if it happens on an external monitor to rule out the GPU. If you see it on an external monitor too, try a different driver version.

 

alright. its gone for now though. when it happens again ill try hooking it up to my tv. thanks.


checked and those dots are not appearing on the external display. does that mean my card is ok?

 

Yep - you've isolated the problem to the LVDS cable or the laptop display. Most likely the former, since you report manipulating the laptop makes the dots disappear.

If you have the motivation and ability to disassemble the laptop to reseat the cable to the motherboard, you may be able to resolve the issue.

 

oh hell yes i have the motivation. I rather I do it then rma-ing it for minor problems. Do you know where I can find a guide for these things?

 

BTOtech.com | G73Jh & G73Jw & G73Sw Disassembly Take Apart G73 g73jw service manual - YouTube is a disassembly guide video for the G73 Series laptops.

Be aware, there is no guarrantee reseating the cable connector will resolve your issue. The cable itself may be faulty or if there is an electrical short causing the problem, it could be frustrating to find...

 

aite thanks. Ill be careful and give it a go. If it does not work, ill sent it over later this afternoon

 

I get this issue too but it only happens within 1 minute after starting up the laptop, and it is usually fixed after the screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds, followed by a "Nvidia display driver failed but Windows was able to recover" message on the bottom right. It's been happening ever since I got the laptop 5 months ago, but it only happens maybe only 1 out of 5 start ups.

Let me know if reseating the cable works and if it does, I might give it a go, too!

 

1) Is this happening to you only when you resume from Sleep or Hibernate, or does it also occur on a normal boot?

2) What model# ASUS laptop do you own?

3) What version video driver are you currently running?

The error message you received indicates your laptop experienced a Timeout Delay and Recovery (TDR) error. The NVIDIA driver failed to respond for 2 seconds, so Windows 7 reset it, rather than throwing a BSOD. These TDR errors can result from multiple causes, such as a bad driver, bad memory, or bad power supply.

If I was in your situation, knowing only the information you provided above, I would attempt to uninstall the current NVIDIA driver from Control Panel, reboot into Safe Mode and run Driver Sweeper to remove any NVIDIA driver remnants (if they exist), and possibly run CCleaner to clean up the registry.

I would then install the NVIDIA 285.64 WHQL driver from Safe Mode, reboot, and attempt to reproduce your TDR error.

Alternatively, you could install the stock NVIDIA 268.37 driver OR perform an ASUS Factory Restore (by pressing F9 at the ASUS splash screen and choosing Option 1 to restore Windows to the 1st partition only). This will overwrite all data in that OS partition, so be sure to backup any files you wish to save from that location.

I would attempt these software fixes before disassembling your laptop to fix this issue.

 

dstrakele - thanks a lot for your time and help. This issue happens from both sleep and normal boot. I have the G74SX-XC1, and I'm currently running 295.73.

I initially thought it could be the drivers but actually, the green dots were there from the moment I turned on the laptop out of the box. I've tried a few iterations of the drivers but they all have the same issue. I did uninstall the driver, reboot in safe mode, and install the new drivers (this is what I typically do), however, I never did try to run Driver Sweeper or CCleaner before - so those are tempting solutions I'll give a shot later. It certainly sounds like you are right - that Windows reset the NVIDIA kernel instead of giving me a BSOD, which is obviously the preferred route.

Regarding the power supply - the green dots appear whether I have the laptop on AC power or on battery, it doesn't matter.

Your suggestions of possible causes are all very interesting. Actually, I wouldn't mind sending in the laptop for an RMA but considering ASUS's terrible success rate, I was a bit hesitant.

I agree with you - the more I think about this, the less likely I am starting to believe that it's a bad LVDS cable because if the cable is bad, wouldn't this be occurring throughout all laptop activity, far after bootup?

I think I am lucky in that these green dots (which actually flicker at random places) only appear within the first several seconds before Windows resets the NVIDIA display kernel and after a reset, this issue never comes back again until the next startup. Only once, out of maybe a couple hundred times, did Windows actually had to reset the kernel *twice* after startup. Thank goodness no BSODs, though!

 

does this look like your problem ? sounds like the issue I am having

 

If you do a Google search with keywords "green dots on screen", there are no lack of hits. Unfortunately, there IS a lack of resolution descriptions. The few that do exist involve reseating the video adapter and/or video cable on desktop systems, indicating this problem is more likely to be a hardware rather than software issue.

There are recommendations to install different video driver versions, but I could not find a single case to confirm such a resolution. I am currently running the NVIDIA 295.73 driver on my G74SX-A1 and do not experience flickering green dots on dark backgrounds, so I doubt the issue could be caused by this specific driver version.

Your issue appears different, @asusg53s. I recommend starting a new thread and providing as much detail as possible.

 

yeah sorry was in a hurry and just glanced over. I opened a new thread and hope someone has some insight. thx