XPS 9550 + 4K panel screen flicker thread.

Tested at 19%, I think I wouldn't notice anything if nobody mentioned but I'm not sure, I'd need measurement gear to tell.
AFAIK people vary in sensitivity to PWM flicker, and these panels have relatively slow response times.

 

It's nothing to do with the way PWM works in the fact you can't tell it has switched to PWM to control the lower brightness (as detailed in a review of the laptop) but more to do with a series of single flickers that are blatantly obvious as the brightness will drop considerably during the flicker. It is nothing to do and has never been mentioned of xps2016's complaint of screen blanking, that is unrelated to this thread and is a driver crash taking place and should be in it's own thread.

To those late to the show this should clear things up, the thread was started when flicker was being mentioned in lots of threads so we all knew what it was about and a detailed explanation wasn't needed at the time.

Unfortunately due to Dell being and inept bunch of cockwombles this thread has gone for more than 3 goddam motherforklifting months without so much of a hint of a resolution!
Lies, lies and more lies about so called bios fixes.

 

The 1-2 sec black screen flicker came only after I updated the BIOS to v1.2.16. The brightness screen flicker is still here even I return to v1.2.10. It looks like a leftover from 1.2.16 which gives me these black screen flicker.
Actually, I didn't change to RAID. I remember that I was on AHCI some time ago and I don't know how it went to RAID lately. I wanted to switch back to AHCI but the PC is not booting. I will try with the safe booting and see if is working.

 

I am not surprised.
I had the Precision M4600, there was a hardware flaw with the Radeon M5950, Dell Mano said they were working on a fix, and coming soon.
In the end, no updates.
The fact is a hardware flaw because of the LCD panel in use, which prevented M5950 from going to low power mode. Dell just kept quiet all the way. Not even admitting the flaw and offering a replacement. My battery life was screwed for years and my GPU even died of heat stress. I skipped Dell and went Apple for a period. Luckily XPS15 works clean for me.

Michael Dell is a scummy guy imo.

 

Well I agree that the state of BIOS and drivers is abysmal ;(
I think I've noticed a few flickers at 19%, but it is hardly noticeable, waaay less than previously at 50%.

So rolling back to either last good known BIOS or last good known Intel video driver isn't working acceptably for you?

 

When a laptop costs this much the answer will be no to ANY fault.

 

Infinite Period !

 

I am waiting for something this sort of size, 4k panel, plenty of ram and SSD with at least a 1060 nvidia card for <£1500
I would have already taken the refund if I could buy an alternative.
Don't say buy a mac book :|

 

Then let's hope Dell will not fix this bloody flicker ...

 

Didi you notice MSI Stealth Pro GS63VR or ASUS ROG Strix GL502?
Slightly larger, but the cooling seems a bit more serious - though I'm not sure if packing so much W into such small packs is a good idea.
No idea about their state of BIOS and drivers...

 

TBH the service I had from Asus I won't buy again, the MSI with 4k screen is about £2000

 

Saw new BIOS, got excited. Saw this thread, died a little inside.

Thanks Dell.

 

You will stop getting excited about them as we all do after a while

 

Dell is acting as if the flicker does not exist. What about your tickets at Dell's support regarding this problem? Did they acknowledge the problem at least? Maybe they need a better proof, like a high-speed video of the display.

 

Todays emails.

Dell replied to mine having a hissy fit that the new BIOS did next to fek all

Mine

Dell

I am physically and mentally drained from working today so I don't have the enthusiasm to reply..[/quote][/quote]

 

GoNz0,

While you may not believe it, not long ago, US firms and their employees were quite proud of their trades.

 

One of my main reasons for getting this XPS was screen quality. I was getting regular eye strain headaches with the previous 720p HP laptop screen I was using when reading from it for many hours, even with Flux installed. I've stopped getting headaches since getting the XPS but I also find the screen very bright in comparison to the last laptop and have therefore set the brightness naturally quite low. I just checked and I had it set at 23% as default but just reset it to 20% and I can report no screen flicker using the older graphics driver.

 

No noticeable screen flicker with older driver for me also, but that driver has some corruption problems with several applications and I cannot use it.

 

Ok so here's my story about the screen flicker issue (9550: 4k, 512, 16GB)

Bought the laptop refurbished and had random lines on the display: Dell replaced the screen.
Issue resolved but the screen started flickering in the new BIOS (don't remember which one it was exactly). Dell didn't know what to do so i just rolled back to 1.2.0. Worked fine for about 3 months.

Then, laptop randomly started freezing when moved.
Sent it to Dell they replaced the motherboard and updated the BIOS even when i told them not to because it cause screen flicker. Laptop came back and i couldn't move it at all without freezing it.

Talked to dell they said send it back and they replaced the motherboard again (at this point i was furious because how could they not test the system before sending it back? and then they updated the BIOS and see the screen flicker but don't roll back or try to fix it?)
When i got the laptop back the freezing issue was resolved but they updated the BIOS again to 1.2.14 and screen was flickering bad...

Talk to Dell again and said why isn't the screen flicker fixed and my keyboard space bad is squeaking now. Their reply was: "Our engineering team identified that the problem was with the keyboard shield which was causing the issue with screen flickering".

So i asked how is that possible that the keyboard cause the screen to flicker? and she did not even reply instead they started an onsite keyboard replacement request so the tech finally came and replaced the keyboard and the screen still flickers so he calls Dell and they want me to send it back but f*uck that they refuse to even accept that this issue is caused by the BIOS so there's no point in sending it back. Never again i'll buy a Dell product.

I'm running the BIOS 1.2.0 right now and the screen flickers like once in an hour i think or maybe its just my imagination but i really can't tell.

Update: Just got another email from Dell which states "A new version of motherboard and also a relative BIOS version would be released by December end which should fix the screen flickering issue".

Dell's response on this issue is always different. If they are releasing a new motherboard will they replace it on all XPSs out there? doesn't make sense. Mine is still under warranty so if they do come out with a new motherboard i'll have it replaced.

 

20% is just 75cd/m²
That is very dark.
Even in completely darkness I would suggest to use a higher value.

 

20% is bright enough for me in my living room at night with the side lights on, when the rooms dark I go down to 15% so it is the users personal choice depending on the environment.

As for the new motherboard I call ******** like when they said it for the 9530 to fix the coil whine. No board every came out just another manufacturing plant who changed from blue to green board with the exact revision as the last stamped on it.

 

I'm pretty sure they have no idea what's causing this or if they do they have no intention of spending money so they just refuse to accept that this is an issue.

 

Thanks for mentioning that. So, are you configured with the latest graphics driver and latest bios, but with the brightness turned up to minimise the flicker? Or is the a another solution I could possibly try?

 

What BIOS are you on?

I've also noticed that the lowest brightness setting in 1.2.0 is much lower than the lowest setting in 1.2.14/16. Could that be related to flicker? I notice flicker at all brightness levels in the latest BIOS. I always keep my brightness at 0% when at home and 0% in the latest BIOS is too much in the dark and hurts my eyes at night.
I haven't gone through the whole thread so maybe someone else mentioned this already.

 

I'm on 1.2.14/16 BIOS, still with the previous graphics driver atm.

BTW, I just read on another thread on here that this XPS uses PWM (which can apparently cause eye strain) but only when set below 25% brightness. I'll keep mine above 25% and see if I notice any difference.

 

As my brightness was set to match the ambient lighting in the room I had it set to match the same brightness of a 50 " TV about 10 foot way. So in order for me to set the brightness on the XPS to over 25% and still match the TV I have now changed the backlight setting on the TV from medium to high so they both match at 27% brightness on the XPS in order to avoid PWM. Got to be worth a try.

 

27% in a well lit room isn't much i think but for the past few days I've been writing code on my XPS in the dark at 0% for hours and didn't notice any eye strain.

 

Dell's initial fix was to remove the lowest brightness setting, they failed to fix it and simply made the screen brighter. twats.

 

So the consensus here is the 1.2.0 BIOS along with the current HD graphics driver as the lesser evil? At least for now? Yes?

 

Yup that's what i'm running and the flicker is non existent. I still feel like it flickers every now and then but that could just be my imagination...

 

Well, our 9550 fleet is running the latest BIOS with a older HD Graphic driver an the flicker is gone. And There are "50 shades of grey" if you Need to manage 50 devices

 

Which older version of the driver are you talking about? I've tried almost all version of the Intel HD drivers with the new BIOS and the flicker is still present.

 

The 4331 HD driver version did the job for now.

 

That's interesting because i tried BIOS 1.2.14 and 1.2.16 with that driver and i was still experiencing flickering on all brightness levels. Could you tell me what version of Nvidia driver are you using?

For me 1.2.0 works best with all Intel drivers except for the Current latest Nvidia driver which is giving me mouse lag on desktop.

 

4331 Intel video driver from Dell site (not Intel)

 

Yes that's what i meant. But what version Nvidia driver are you using?

Edit: I thought this post was by "sumsum", sorry for the confusion.

 

The latest available on the Dell Support page. I gruess the driver Date is 26 November 2015

 

Damn that's old. I'll try it and report back. Thanks

 

Correct

You are not imagining it, saem here, now and again but I can live with that until they fix it or an alternative popus up for £1500

Afraid it didn't do a thing for mine at 17% brightness.

I wonder if it is linked to the very very outdated nVidia driver that is bugger all use on a gaming laptop used for gaming!

 

I thought i was going crazy because i remember having no flicker on 1.2.0 but i guess it could also be related to the new Intel or Nvidia drivers.
I plan on installing the two drivers he mentioned tomorrow to see if it does anything. And i agree if i wanted to run an outdated Nvidia driver i wouldn't have bought a $2000 machine.

What do you think of the Razer Blade? i know its not around 1500~ but maybe a refurbished one with warranty?
If i had to buy again i'd go for the 1080p screen instead of the 4k. Coding on a 4k screen can be a nightmare as I've learned the hard way.

 

I found it overpriced but I can wait until the boxing day (week) sales to see what happens.
I like 4k, this panel beats the crap out my old Dell 2407wfp on my games rig for photo editing.

 

Took delivery of my laptop yesterday i7/32GB/1T(Toshiba)/4K and spent most of the day today and yesterday playing with it.

It shipped with

• BIOS - 1.2.12 - according to this forum I should have issue charging battery passed 60% but i dont have that problem either?
  
• Intel graphics driver - 20.19.15.4483, A07 (Dell)
• nVidia graphics driver - 10.18.13.5894, A03 (Dell)

​

I've been on 19% brightness all the time and I can't see any screen flicker at all. It either doesn't exist or my eyes can't perceive it.

I tried searching youtube videos on what users are experiencing but 99% of videos relate to the black screen cut out rather than flicker. The only one that might relate is the one below but its very hard to see. Maybe something at about 40 secs in. Is that how it manifests for you guys?

-
Anyway, if my eyesight is such that i can't detect it then all well and good.

I'm being prompted to update to latest BIOS 1.2.16 which I will do but before I do that I'd like to get my hands on 1.2.12 so I can roll back if need be. Dell only seems to list the latest so does anyone know where I might find previous releases?

 

Only version 1.2.13 had the charging issue not 1.2.12.
And i'm assuming 1.2.12 has Embedded Controller A11 which is the same as 1.2.0 (but not sure) that's why your screen isn't flickering.
My suggestion would be to stick with 1.2.12 and not update to 1.2.16 (If you can find 1.2.12 somewhere online then i guess you could just go back but do your research). I have the same flicker every once in a while as in your video.

 

Not sure if it helps to mention but I've been using the nVidia driver (not from Dell) version 21.21.13.7290 (Dated, 16/09/2016)

 

Welcome to the party Dan.

Old drivers are archived by dell here:

http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/xps-15-9550-laptop.html

 

Well that's confusing by Dell, but thanks.

Thanks Pressing for archive link, I've saved.

Seeing as 1.2.12 is not explicitly listed in the archive and that I can't perceive screen flicker and nor do I use the dock then I'm gonna stick right where I am.

 

Just to report back, even if it worked, I couldn't bare any longer the brightness at over 25% to prevent PWM being the possible cause, so I've gone back to the 1.2.0 BIOS with the latest HD graphics driver and thankfully no obvious flicker as of yet.

Hopefully Dell will pull their head out of their arse soon enough and sort the matter out.

Not sure if I'd be so keen to fork out for a top spec Dell again after this! (sad face).

 

Has everyone with this problem opened a support ticket?
If not pull said finger out of said arse and open one!
The more to complain the better chance in it being fixed.

 

I rang Dell Technical support, explained the problem and they've given me a ticket number. Although the email I have subsequently received seems to imply reverting back to 1.2.0 BIOS is an acceptable fix, as it says, "Since the issue is resolved now, I will be closing the case for now", adding that the case can be reopened within 7 days. So I will reply asking them to confirm whether or not Dell recommend reverting back to 1.2.0 as an acceptable fix.

 

I have made it very clear to dell that rolling back is not a fix as it reintroduces old problems, those being the whole point the BIOS was updated in the 1st place. Also 1.2.0 doesn't fix it it just helps with the frequency is appears. It will still flicker just moves to minutes not seconds between flicker.