9850 Screen skitzing out

Well maybe not skitzing out or however you spell it, but anyway here's what happens, it's probably just a GFX issue:

Lately I've noticed that the screen will flicker a little bit and the colors will kinda be mixing up, like everything will go to a greenish tint or pinkish tint for only a half a second and then it goes back to normal. But today and yesterday, a weirder thing started happening. Sometimes the screen locks up and it kinda like burns out. It's hard to describe. Basically it get grainy and bright white, yellowy, green, and intensifies and then it goes away back to normal. I have sli. Does this mean my gfx cards are overheating? The flickering has only been happening for 2-3 weeks at most and the burn out is new. The lappy is just sitting on a hard flat desk (no cooler though) but it's in a fairly well open area, plus my house is always freezing. I got the comp when Sager started shipping. I think I may have updated video drivers once but it was far before this stuff happened.

This and the realtek scratching and 2 specks of i don't know what the hell it is, is behind my screen, are teh only problems I have.

 

Mine has been doing the same for a couple of weeks now. It's pretty bad when I first open it up and power it on. The screen flickers and the colors wash and fade.

To make it stop I just angle the screen in and out a couple of times.

I've read there was a problem with some other Sagers relating to the routing of the cable connecting the board to the screen getting pinched or twisted.

I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing this.

I just dont want to have to send it back for something so stupid. I'd rather just swap out a simple cable myself.

 

@Thisguyrighthere:
Your issue may be a pinched cable. You can try lifting up the keyboard (there are 3-4 latches above the keyboard that hold it in place. They can be released with a jeweller's flathead screwdriver) to check the cable routing.

 

@Yellowbelly:
How hot does the underside of the notebook (specifically over the GPUs) feel when the screen locks up and burns out? Does the system recover, like Thisguyrighthere's does, or do you have to force the power off and back on to recover?

It may be worth updating your GPU driver again (available at http://74.212.252.103/pages/notebooks/download.cfm?ProductType=9850), but if that does not fix it, please let us know.

 

Does this happen before you get into the operating system?

If so, the GPU is likely failing.

 

no it only happens when I'm inside. I checked the heat and it nothing seemed hot at all. maybe warm but definitely not hot. When the screen kinda brightens up and burns I guess, it does lock. I the mouse won't move but it recover after a couple seconds. It's only happened twice so far. First time I was running quake live fore the first time. Second, I was sitting on my desktop and did it for no reason. The mouse goes back to the position where I moved it after it kinda locked up. Other times it just kinda twitters and flickers around with colors for a second then quits. All of it recovers quickly without rebooting.

I haven't noticed any screen movement to fix it yet I haven't really tried. I have tried moving the screen around a little to see if I could get it to do that but nothing happens.

 

My thought is that it could be something as simple as a loosely-seated GPU (although that wouldn't explain why it only happens in Windows), but I'll not suggest reseating the GPUs unless you're comfortable with computer hardware. It's a fairly easy process, but if you're at all uncomfortable with the idea, it's best not to.

Let us know if reinstalling the driver does not help.

 

I looked it over a bit on my lunch break and didnt see any real clear signs of snaps or latches. Just some creases where there is obvious separation. I dont want to snap or crack anything so the more details the better if you can.

I've looked around for disassembly instructions but havent found anything.

 

I'm checking with Sager now to see if I can get those instructions for you. I'll post them up once I have them.

 

just had it happen again. I think it's getting worse. I just installed the new drivers too.

 

Sager tells me that the user's manual has instructions for removing the keyboard and the LED cover module on pages 6.8-6.9. The LCD cable runs beneath the LED cover module, rather than the keyboard, so this is where you would want to check for crimped cables.

If you don't see crimped cables and reseating the GPU doesn't help, it may need to be serviced.

 

Great, thanks a lot. I wont have time to get at it until tomorrow. I'll post an update when I get it done.

 

Hello there.

I finally purchased M98NU!!

I am running W7 pro 64-bit.
I downloaded drivers for W7 . Finger print reader did not work (it says need different windows built or somethink like that). Can anyone advice me where to get them? I also cannot make my touch sensitive buttons working. Even when I try any FN + key I dont see picture in upper left corner (switching WIFI/BT on/off, adjusting volume etc.) I used to see that picture on M860TU when using FN + keys.

Please help me proud owners :-((

 

After doing the Win7 upgrade I had the same issues. Downloading and installing the updated drivers from Sager here solved them for me. I got my touch/lights working again and my fingerprint reader.

 

The service manual for the NP9850 is in my sig, should show you how to do almost everything you need.

 

Yesterday I got a chance to remove the cover and check out the cables.

I didnt see any obvious signs of crimping or twisting. Not sure exactly which cable(s) were related to video. A couple of them had worked themselves out of their respective tracks so I pressed them back in place.

I didnt go so far as to get behind the screen for lack of time.

After putting the cover back on and powering up the problem appeared to be gone.

Later that night I opened it up and was using it for about two hours problem free. Which is amazing considering the frequency of flickering previously had been every 30 seconds or so up to near perpetual flickering.

When I went to shut it down for the night I noticed the flicker and fade near the top of the screen as I closed the lid.

I feel like working those cables back into their tracks must have done something since I was able to go hours without the symptom but seeing the issue return makes me think I need to go back in for a more thorough look.

 

If you check behind the screen itself, be extremely careful. That's getting into the area where accidentally damaging something is very easy, but given how much better it performed, I agree with you that those wires being out of their tracks were a significant part of the issue, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that the more thorough look will nail the problem down for good.

 

Hi, I am experiencing the same problem. My screen freezes then fades to white for a second then it goes back to normal, this has happened both in and out of windows(w7). Also when I boot, I notice flashing lines randomly appearing across my screen. I don't know what to do. Can anyone please help me.

 

*Bumping* anyone please?

 

You could try popping off that led cover to check your cables. Seemed to work for me. At least in the short term anyway. The issue is creeping back up. Each day it's a little worse.

I cant quite figure out a permanent solution.

 

I'm quite a novice when it comes to opening laptops. I'm afraid that I might end up destroying it instead. I just contacted sager customer support and they're asking for a screenie of my problem. I can't seem to do a print screen of the problem because it will always capture a "proper" display, so I had to use a camera to do it. I hope its not a hardware issue, I live far far away from where I bought the lappy.

 

I understand your hesitance toward "opening it up" but it's really just two screws on either side of the back that allow the cover where the touch sensitive buttons and pretty lights are to simply and easily lift up. But if you really dont feel comfortable with it dont do it.

You cant catch a screen shot of it because if the connections are off the machine wont really know it. For all intents and purposes the machine doesnt think there's anything wrong. The signal being sent is still perfect but displaying the signal is broken. Like recording a song and playing it over a broken stereo. The song is fine. Send it to someone and they'll hear it as fine. It doenst help repair the stereo.

That was a long and pointless analogy.

The best way to get a shot would be with a separate camera. then you'll have glare and stuff to deal with unless you're a student of photography.

 

Problem is it doesn't happen enough for me to take a picture of it.

 

Any update on your screen?

There are a couple of folks over on the tech support forum at XoticPC having the same issue.

Mine seems to be worse than ever.

I'm going to try some things over the weekend if I have time to nail down whether the problem is with the cables/connection or the video cards.

 

I haven't been able to really take time to try and troubleshoot it yet but it hasn't been fixed yet. At the same time, it hasn't got any worse and I've actually been noticing it less so it's really inconsistent. It does seem like it has something to do with the screen because when I adjust it, it seems to be affected by movement but not all the time.

 

I actually looked under the hood but couldn't find any crimping in the wires and they appear to be in their slots

 

I had mine hooked up to an external monitor for a while and played games and wasted time on the internet and other things and the whole time I could see the screen on the laptop flickering and occasionally going gray but not once did I see any bad behavior on the external monitor so it's definitely not the video cards.

I really dont want to have to send it back.

No response yet from the XoticPC tech support on their help forum about the issue either.

 

Even if the wires do not appear to be crimped, that could still be the problem. Did you try bending them when you had the cover off (with the laptop/screen on of course...)?

 

That's something I didnt try. The power was off when I took the cover off.

I'll try it this weekend with the power on and see if I can pinpoint what force on what cable is causing the behavior.

 

Ok Ok.. I finally sent my laptop over to tech support and they said there was a scratch on the screen's surface. I wondering, how is it possible to scratch the screen's surface if there's this thick plastic casing covering it? I'm close to freaking out. I'm being charged 150$ for replacement. Has anyone solved this problem without having to replace the screen?