screen flickering? - Blu-ray Forum

3DinAK · 03-11-2014, 01:19 AM

My laptop is at sony getting fixed. It's been over a month. Anyways I sent it in as the screen would flicker. didn't matter if I was surfing the web or watching a movie. Sony claims it's because of the optical and hard drive. To me it just doesn't seem like those 2 things would be the reason why the screen woulf flicker. And when the laptop went into sleep mode and came out, the screen would turn black every couple seconds.

chip75 · 03-11-2014, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DinAK

My laptop is at sony getting fixed. It's been over a month. Anyways I sent it in as the screen would flicker. didn't matter if I was surfing the web or watching a movie. Sony claims it's because of the optical and hard drive. To me it just doesn't seem like those 2 things would be the reason why the screen woulf flicker. And when the laptop went into sleep mode and came out, the screen would turn black every couple seconds.

I guess technically you could remove the optical drive and the hard drive from the unit, run the laptop with Zorin from an external drive or USB stick and see if it still flickers.

My guess it will still flicker!

It would properly take a couple of hours to replace the drive and the HDD (if you had to back the drive up) so I can't see why they're taking so long. Sometimes the connections between the motherboard and the monitor can deteriorate, as the lid gets opened and closed so often or the screen might be failing (or the power going to it is intermittent). They should list the fault on the repair sheet when you get it back.

3DinAK · 03-11-2014, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip75

I guess technically you could remove the optical drive and the hard drive from the unit, run the laptop with Zorin from an external drive or USB stick and see if it still flickers.

My guess it will still flicker!

It would properly take a couple of hours to replace the drive and the HDD (if you had to back the drive up) so I can't see why they're taking so long. Sometimes the connections between the motherboard and the monitor can deteriorate, as the lid gets opened and closed so often or the screen might be failing (or the power going to it is intermittent). They should list the fault on the repair sheet when you get it back.

That's what I thought. I told them that too. It's taking way to long as the techs and warranty people haven't got in touch with each other. In the mean time my warranty will expire. They told me the estimate will be 1200 bucks.
Thanks for the response.

chip75 · 03-11-2014, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DinAK

They told me the estimate will be 1200 bucks.

That sounds like an awful lot of money!

onyxbfly · 03-11-2014, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip75

I guess technically you could remove the optical drive and the hard drive from the unit, run the laptop with Zorin from an external drive or USB stick and see if it still flickers.

My guess it will still flicker!

It would properly take a couple of hours to replace the drive and the HDD (if you had to back the drive up) so I can't see why they're taking so long. Sometimes the connections between the motherboard and the monitor can deteriorate, as the lid gets opened and closed so often or the screen might be failing (or the power going to it is intermittent). They should list the fault on the repair sheet when you get it back.

I agree with Chip75. Once they pull the optical drive and HDD they should move on.

There are not a lot of moving parts involved in this equation. I'm not sure where the disconnect is. Not wanting to assume but since you said your laptop is at Sony I assume its a Sony laptop.

When they accepted your laptop they already ran the serial number prior to accepting it. Your warranty is determined via the serial number.

If your laptop was under warranty when they accepted it then it will remain under warranty while its being repaired.

There are 3 possible suspects:

Motherboard
Screen
Interface between screen and mother board. i.e cable etc.

Todays technicians are not testing the circuitry in cables these days. They swap them and move on to the next part. Depending on how busy they were before they received your laptop would determine how long it would take to get to it etc.

But seriously though you should have your laptop back within a week of them receiving it.

One thing I can say is that no service center will back up your data for you unless you request it. Be prepared to come out of pocket for it though.

That $1200 quote is ridiculous. If they say you have to pay for it. I'd suggest buy a new laptop!!!!

chip75 · 03-11-2014, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onyxbfly

That $1200 quote is ridiculous. If they say you have to pay for it. I'd suggest buy a new laptop!!!!

I can't see an optical drive and a new HDD costing more than a few hundred dollars and these are items that can be installed quite easily. You can buy a new MacBook for the price they quoted!

ditcin · 03-11-2014, 05:01 PM

A IT company I know used Sony Vaios as their standard PCs for their techs and ran into the same problem (along with a bunch of other on SONY products). In the case of the flickering screen it turned out to be the video card. However, a friend of mine had one in which the hardrive also went.
Sony isn't what they used to be. Their quality had gone down hill. Also, their support for fixing their products located in Texas, literally on the Mexican boarder, is total garbage. The techs there are thieves. A desktop PC was sent for an video card problem and they wound up taking the hard drive out and replacing it, and doing nothing with the video card. The hard drive contained info that belonged to the IT company. When the unit was returned inside the box was a packing receipt for another store. The store was called and it turned out SONY was outsourcing repairs!!! The IT company mention stopped using SONY products due to problems with 4 laptops, two tablets, 2 phones, 2 TVs (one a 60in with gorilla glass on the front that was separating from the unit!) and, 3 desktop units.)
BTW - Sony is dropping the Vaio line of PC and their store won't be caring any PC soon.

brewtownska · 03-11-2014, 05:14 PM

With so many of the video card chips being soldered to the motherboards, typically if its a video issue, you need a full new motherboard. Unless you get lucky and that model has add-on space to put in a stand-alone graphics card. Then the motherboard may allow you to deactivate the on-board graphics on the motherboard.

onyxbfly · 03-11-2014, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip75

I can't see an optical drive and a new HDD costing more than a few hundred dollars and these are items that can be installed quite easily. You can buy a new MacBook for the price they quoted!

Exactly and I still fail to see how that would cause flickering......

onyxbfly · 03-11-2014, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewtownska

With so many of the video card chips being soldered to the motherboards, typically if its a video issue, you need a full new motherboard. Unless you get lucky and that model has add-on space to put in a stand-alone graphics card. Then the motherboard may allow you to deactivate the on-board graphics on the motherboard.

Everything is integrated, thats why i originally said its the screen, a cable or the motherboard. The only laptops I know of that have gpu's are bare bone units like MSI and some others.

onyxbfly · 03-11-2014, 05:48 PM

In retrospect a funky driver can cause some flickering. I failed to mention that as i thought that may have been the first thing that was checked.

3DinAK · 03-14-2014, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onyxbfly

But seriously though you should have your laptop back within a week of them receiving it.

One thing I can say is that no service center will back up your data for you unless you request it. Be prepared to come out of pocket for it though.

That $1200 quote is ridiculous. If they say you have to pay for it. I'd suggest buy a new laptop!!!!

What took so long was the warranty department getting the estimate from the techs. The tech department called me a month ago telling me the estimate. They finally approved it today.

I didn't have much on it. A few pictures and my kids minecraft.

The 1200 was what the extended warranty department has to pay. I'm actually surprised they decided to go that route. Was hoping to just get my money back as it's been a pain in the butt to deal with them.

Guess we'll see if this solves the flickering of the screen. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

chip75 · 03-14-2014, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DinAK

The 1200 was what the extended warranty department has to pay.

I'm surprised they agreed to pay that for a repair. I would have thought they said that the costs outweigh the price of the unit and offered to replace it.

onyxbfly · 03-14-2014, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip75

i'm surprised they agreed to pay that for a repair. I would have thought they said that the costs outweigh the price of the unit and offered to replace it.

+980432589734578934598

3DinAK · 04-04-2014, 09:03 AM

So I finally got my laptop back. And the screen still flickers. Crazy. After 1200 in repairs. I did call them back to let them know. Now waiting to hear back.

chip75 · 04-04-2014, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DinAK

So I finally got my laptop back. And the screen still flickers. Crazy. After 1200 in repairs. I did call them back to let them know. Now waiting to hear back.

That stinks mate. If you're insurance covers accidental repairs it would have been easier to throw your laptop out of the window ...

Did you get a list of what they replaced with the repair invoice?

onyxbfly · 04-05-2014, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DinAK

So I finally got my laptop back. And the screen still flickers. Crazy. After 1200 in repairs. I did call them back to let them know. Now waiting to hear back.

That's effin ridiculous! After $1200 in repairs you still have issues. I can't imagine why they just wouldn't send you a new laptop. How did they not test it before sending it out? Sorry to hear that.

onyxbfly · 04-05-2014, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip75

That stinks mate. If you're insurance covers accidental repairs it would have been easier to throw your laptop out of the window ...

Did you get a list of what they replaced with the repair invoice?

Best Laugh all day!!! Either that or driving over once or twice for good measure!

3DinAK · 05-08-2014, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onyxbfly

That's effin ridiculous! After $1200 in repairs you still have issues. I can't imagine why they just wouldn't send you a new laptop. How did they not test it before sending it out? Sorry to hear that.

It's crazy. I'm not sure how they tested before they sent it back. Maybe they just checked if the screen would work. But hey, I sent it back 3 weeks ago and last week when I checked on the update, they said it was the "lcd screen" that was the problem.

. I don't even want this laptop anymore. Anyone want to buy a laptop?

chip75 · 05-08-2014, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3DinAK

It's crazy. I'm not sure how they tested before they sent it back. Maybe they just checked if the screen would work. But hey, I sent it back 3 weeks ago and last week when I checked on the update, they said it was the "lcd screen" that was the problem.

. I don't even want this laptop anymore. Anyone want to buy a laptop?

It might be worth contacting them again and mentioning that the fault still hasn't been repaired.

03-11-2014, 01:19 AM	#1
3DinAK Special Member Member since:Sep 2010 Location:Alaska Home Theater Gallery:2 Blu-ray collection:338 DVD collection:11 Blu-ray reviews:4 Trading Score:1	screen flickering? My laptop is at sony getting fixed. It's been over a month. Anyways I sent it in as the screen would flicker. didn't matter if I was surfing the web or watching a movie. Sony claims it's because of the optical and hard drive. To me it just doesn't seem like those 2 things would be the reason why the screen woulf flicker. And when the laptop went into sleep mode and came out, the screen would turn black every couple seconds.

03-11-2014, 05:01 PM	#7
ditcin Power Member Member since:Apr 2011 Location:NY 4K collection:28 Blu-ray collection:597 Blu-ray reviews:1	A IT company I know used Sony Vaios as their standard PCs for their techs and ran into the same problem (along with a bunch of other on SONY products). In the case of the flickering screen it turned out to be the video card. However, a friend of mine had one in which the hardrive also went. Sony isn't what they used to be. Their quality had gone down hill. Also, their support for fixing their products located in Texas, literally on the Mexican boarder, is total garbage. The techs there are thieves. A desktop PC was sent for an video card problem and they wound up taking the hard drive out and replacing it, and doing nothing with the video card. The hard drive contained info that belonged to the IT company. When the unit was returned inside the box was a packing receipt for another store. The store was called and it turned out SONY was outsourcing repairs!!! The IT company mention stopped using SONY products due to problems with 4 laptops, two tablets, 2 phones, 2 TVs (one a 60in with gorilla glass on the front that was separating from the unit!) and, 3 desktop units.) BTW - Sony is dropping the Vaio line of PC and their store won't be caring any PC soon.

03-11-2014, 05:14 PM	#8
brewtownska Junior Member Member since:Jan 2013	With so many of the video card chips being soldered to the motherboards, typically if its a video issue, you need a full new motherboard. Unless you get lucky and that model has add-on space to put in a stand-alone graphics card. Then the motherboard may allow you to deactivate the on-board graphics on the motherboard.

03-11-2014, 05:48 PM	#11
onyxbfly Blu-ray Guru Member since:Feb 2009 Blu-ray collection:780 DVD collection:29 Trading Score:47	In retrospect a funky driver can cause some flickering. I failed to mention that as i thought that may have been the first thing that was checked.

04-04-2014, 09:03 AM	#15
3DinAK Special Member Member since:Sep 2010 Location:Alaska Home Theater Gallery:2 Blu-ray collection:338 DVD collection:11 Blu-ray reviews:4 Trading Score:1	So I finally got my laptop back. And the screen still flickers. Crazy. After 1200 in repairs. I did call them back to let them know. Now waiting to hear back.

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