W520 flickering/flashing when discrete GPU activated

[Stvwndr219]

Hi Peter,

Just tried the steps listed, and have everything set at 60hz which is the native resolution of this LCD panel and the screen still flickers when the discrete GPU is activated. Any other ideas or should I just call Lenovo support?

[PeterTWJ]

Hi Stvwndr219

There are 2 more things I will try before calling back Tech Support.
1. Use Windows Update / ThinkVantage System Update and check for ThinkPad LCD update.

2. Use ThinkVantage Toolbox to scan and diagnose for any available hardware error.

Hope your problem could be resolved soon.

Have a nice day! 

Peter

W520 (4284-A99)

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Dolby Home Theater v4 ; IdeaPad Slate Tablet

[PeterTWJ]

@ Stvwndr219

Other than that, you could go to Start, Run, Services.msc and ensure Desktop Window Manager Session Manager is set to Automatic. In the past, I disabled it and it will causes flicker / weird effect when themes are being changed. That's all I could think of.

Have a nice day! 

Peter

W520 (4284-A99)

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Sound Enthusiast and Enhancement (Post comments, share mixes, etc.)

Dolby Home Theater v4 ; IdeaPad Slate Tablet

[Stvwndr219]

Hi Peter,

No updates were found as everything was at the latest update.

Thinkvantage toolbox scanned the available hardware and there were no issues. Can I assume that this is probably a hardware error now?

Thanks!
Stvwndr219

[denial]

The screen flickers only ONCE when you start the application and then all is OK?

Did you try to disable optimus in bios and set the gpu mode to discrete (nvidia) only??

Check what is the gpu frequency before you are starting the application, if it is the default 550 mhz or not (less).

I'm seeing flickering when the gpu overheats and starts throttling switching from normal 550 mhz to 200 mhz and also when switching back.

Is this normal or should i rma too?

[PeterTWJ]

@ Stvwndr219

I guess you would only be able to use the last resort now, contact Tech Support again.

@ denial

Is your W520 using Quadro 1000M or 2000M? What is the temperature before the GPU clock is drop from 550 to 200?

Have a nice day! 

Peter

W520 (4284-A99)

Does someone’s post help you? Give them kudos as a reward, as they will do better to improve | Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future

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Sound Enthusiast and Enhancement (Post comments, share mixes, etc.)

Dolby Home Theater v4 ; IdeaPad Slate Tablet

[denial]

quadro 2000m, drop temperature is about 90-92 oC

even running with tpfancontrol at mode 64 (~4300 fan rpm) and disabled cpu turbo boost doesn't help :/

my cpu is i7 2820 qm

[ColonelONeill]

This looks wrong... I've only seen my 2000M go up to 75C with a 20% overclock and fan at 64. My i7-2720QM goes up to 90C at most.