M1330 LED LCD Flicker: Intel Display Power Saving Technology at fault?

I have an M1330 with an LED LCD and the thing flickers when on battery at medium to low brightness settings. I have been searching everywhere for a fix and finally found it (after having Dell swap my LCD AND Motherboard).

The issue was driving me crazy because I had to wait for the Dell's technician to come over TWICE to fix the problem and it happens on both XP and Vista.

The fault seems to lie on Intel's Display Power Saving Technology (DPST) option. Basically if the option is turned on, when on Battery, the chip would try to do some optimization that for one reason or another completely messes up the LED backlight on the LCD. Sometimes its a small flicker here and there... sometimes its continuous... but always on low to mid brightness.

How do you turn it off?

1. On XP and Vista, right click on the desktop and in the context menu there should be Graphics Properties (On XP, its Graphics Options -> Graphics Properties). This should bring up the "Intel Graphics Accelerator" applet.

2. Select Display Settings and click on the Power Setting button.

3. You will see a window which has a Intel(R) Display Power Saving Technology checkbox.
If this is checked, you have two options:
- Uncheck it.
- or Move the slider closer to Maximum Quality until the problem goes away.


Now I have some questions for some of you. Since I installed XP and re-installed Vista. I no longer have Dell's factory installed settings. Those of you who DO have the original Vista install AND have the LED screen, can you check:
a) Is the Display Power Saving Technology available?
b) Is the checkbox checked?

 

this fix did not work for me. CMO LED screen. still flickering on lowest setting....

 

Pathens, in your instance Display Power Saving Technology is not checked and it still flickered?

Also does yours only happen when on battery power or all the time?

Is your OS the stock Vista that came with the laptop?

 

I started noticing this same flickering when I'm running on battery. Never happens at full brightness. I started getting this after I went into msconfig and disabled all the startup apps.

Alsong with that, the little popup info icons when adjusting volume no longer appear. I have a feeling this is some custom app that controlled display and integrated buttons.

I also don't have an Intel power setting - I'm running Vista Ultimate (not from Dell)

 

I was right - I re-installed Dell Quickset and I haven't noticed the screen flicker since...

 

No, I was wrong...this didn't help. Is anyone else experiencing this? On any other setting other than full brightness, the screen flickers (like rapid dimming down then dimming up) I think it's more when I move the laptop around or physicaly adjust the screen...hoping it's not a hardware thing.

 

mattm: I think I know what you mean and I'm more and more convinced it is due to the DPST.

In my case, the flicker doesn't happen ALL the time even in dimmer settings, it just seemed to happen randomly. What I noticed after hours of trying is that the flicker starts/ends when a new window is opened (ie. selecting the start menu/ opening IE) and what I believe is happening is that the "smart" DPST applet figures that the new window requires a higher contrast and starts kicking in its "magic".

Unfortunately for LED screens(?) this results in flickering.

So let me confirm a few things with you:

1) You said you don't have the Intel Power Setting - do you have the X3100 chipset or the Nvidia?

2) If you right click on the desktop and select Graphics Properties.. what do you get?

 

I have the 8400M GS and I notice something when the battery starts to get low, and I have no clue how to modify this setting. I actually don't mind it so much, as it only occurs when the machine has idled for a few minutes.

What happens is, as follows. After a few minutes of idle time, the screen dims to a lower brightness level than what I prefer it to be at. As soon as I move the mouse, it restores to the default brightness level (battery). I then crank it up a notch or two, depending on the lighting where I am.

Is that what you are describing or is it an actual flicker?

 

samuel, i believe what you are describing is just a regular kind of power-saving thing. if you dont use the laptop for a few mins it automatically dims the screen to save on battery consumption.

i believe the other flicker issue is different. though thats an off-the-top-of-my-head opinion as i havent actually receinevd my 1330 yet...

 

I'm running Vista Ultimate, Nvidia card, and when i click the desktop - all I have is "Personalize" & "Nvidia Control Panel"

I think mine is totally random - I've been trying to find a constant (like moving the screen and doing other things) and I still cant trigger it every time.

 

mattm: Since you're using the Nvidia card, my solution won't help you. I'm not sure if Nvidia utilizes the same "power saving" schemes as the Intel X3100 if it does, then maybe there's an option in the Nvidia Control Panel to turn it off?

 

Well, I'm back to running Ubuntu and I'm not experiencing the flickering anymore. Must have been something in the software. Either Vista Ultimate or some dell app I disabled by accident.

 

I just experienced some rapid flickering for the first time on my 1330. My flickering is similar to yours as I was on low battery about 15% remaining. I plugged in the a/c adapter and it slipped out so the battery was not charging. The screen starting rapid flickering like it was going to die. I checked the connection, plugged it right back in and the flickering stopped.