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Screen flickering revisited

post #1 of 16
10/22/03 at 3:36am
Thread Starter 
I loaded an old demo version of Unreal Tornament (ver 348 - ok don't laugh, its all I have right now to test out how good the game playing is - I must say I am impressed with the laptop's performance) and I noticed that after exiting the game my LCD backlight started to flicker.

What I did test however is using the game in a window rather than full screen mode.

Whilst I played the LCD backlight was fine as I could see the other windows perfectly without any flicker.

However as soon as I exit the game, something in the game cleanup code sends some info to the graphics card and just then the LCD begins to flicker.

I know my system is rock solid - no loose cables etc etc. Latest 3-T7 BIOS, Cat 3.6, DX9b. XPP with lastest patches.

Now we know that the LCD brightness can be adjusted by F9/F10. This implies the LCD backlighting is electronically controlled via some I/O port in the system.

I suspect that some of the games we are playing are somehow trying to reset the backlighting or otherwise screwing with our systems during the exit phase of the game.

This is a software issue - pure and simple. I will email Sager with my thoughts but others who have seen this effect might also like to list the games that exhibit this effect.
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post #2 of 16
10/22/03 at 8:35am
Thread Starter 
Now this is interesting. I changed the resolution of the demo game from default VGA to SXGA to match the res of the 8890. Played again (and again, and again ) - no flicker at exit of the game. You can still see the game do its clean up operations but the LCD backlight does not flicker anymore. Go figure.

I wonder anyone that has had the flickering screen what resolution where you playing at relative to the native resolution of the LCD?
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post #3 of 16
10/22/03 at 3:05pm
Same here.
Sometimes if the game crashes it happens.
I always run at 1280x1024.
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post #4 of 16
10/22/03 at 9:31pm
I have the same setup basically as you. same thing happens here. i always run at 1280x1024 and it happens. i also use 60hz on the game settings as well. i've tried multiple things, but to no avail.
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post #5 of 16
10/23/03 at 12:01am
Thread Starter 
I got this reply from Sager tech suport:
Quote:
Hi Stephen, we have noticed the screen flickering after the display mode change or screen resolution change. We are working on this issue with the manufacturer.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 12:15 AM
To: techsupport
Subject: RE: 463302 8890 bios


David on a different topic, I have noticed a problem to do with the LCD backlight starting to flicker after playing games.
It would seem that several other people have noticed this problem as evidenced from several threads on www.sagerforums.com.

My particular example is with Unreal Tornament (demo version 346).

What happens is that the game will start, work perfectly, then during game exit, the LCD backlight will start to flicker as the game tries to reset the graphics card settings.

Given that the LCD brightness is controlled by software via an I/O port (hence why F9/F10 can change LCD brightness) could there be some incompatibility in the way that the backlight controls are designed?

Regards,
Steve
aka "aussie"
www.sagerforums.com
At least they are working on it. I will keep you posted.
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post #6 of 16
10/23/03 at 8:15am
Well it sounds like hardware problem then.
I guess I will just have to live with it as there is no way I can send this back if they recall then or something.
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post #7 of 16
10/23/03 at 9:00am

Same Here..

This also Happens to my 8890.. I get a little annoyed at it when it flickers but hey the itself run very good.. but I aldo notice something else.:

When playing games like MOHAA any version, SpearHead, breakthrough.. When the game is loading there is a white line in the very bottom of the screen it goes away after a couple of minutes, but it is there during game loading after every mission, anyone seen this too?

I Haven't updated the Bios, but I read thing on this current BIOS that I don't want it to happen to my system so I guess unless this BIOS fixes my problems, including the flickering I will just wait.
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post #8 of 16
10/23/03 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Moezy
Well it sounds like hardware problem then.
I guess I will just have to live with it as there is no way I can send this back if they recall then or something.
No it is a software issue. What I suspect is going on is that the BIOS possibly maps out the control port for the LCD backlighting in such a way that games etc which reset graphics settings, affect the voltage setting.

When a flourescent tube flickers it is indicative of a too low voltage for the gas inside it to properly conduct (or it sometimes inidcates a stuffed heater element in the flouro but that is not the case here as the LCD's are new). The LCD brightness controls F9/F10 via the BIOS adjust the voltage level supplied by the mobo to the LCD. If you drop the voltage too far you will see the flicker.
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post #9 of 16
10/23/03 at 3:21pm
aussie,

I smell another BIOS update 'a comin.

BTW, I also get the short flickering after a resolution swap. I play Everquest, and when it returns to windows from the 640x480 login screen there is a noticable period of flickering, which lasts about 2 to 3 seconds, then all is well again.
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post #10 of 16
10/23/03 at 3:57pm
Quote:
Originally posted by aussie
No it is a software issue. What I suspect is going on is that the BIOS possibly maps out the control port for the LCD backlighting in such a way that games etc which reset graphics settings, affect the voltage setting.

When a flourescent tube flickers it is indicative of a too low voltage for the gas inside it to properly conduct (or it sometimes inidcates a stuffed heater element in the flouro but that is not the case here as the LCD's are new). The LCD brightness controls F9/F10 via the BIOS adjust the voltage level supplied by the mobo to the LCD. If you drop the voltage too far you will see the flicker.
Well software issue is fine by me because at least it can be fixed easy.
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post #11 of 16
10/23/03 at 10:09pm
Thread Starter 

More feedback from Sager.

You have to hand it to Sager, their tech support guys are at least recognise the issue (unlike some other larger manuf. who just deny everything).

Got this in reply to my next email:
Quote:
That is the exact what we found. The problem occurs when the application software such as a game changing resolution. If you open the display properties to change the resolution, you do not see the flicker. It looks the application software does not work with the display driver too well. I do not know which party will make change at this point.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 7:29 PM
To: techsupport
Subject: RE: 463302 8890 bios


This may also help:
The screen flicker only occurs when I ran the game at a screen resolution other than the native resolution of my LCD. I have the SXGA screen on my 8890, so when I ran the game at 1280 x 1024 and then exit - no flicker.
If I run the game at say 800 x 600 and then exit - the backlight flicker occurs.

Good luck finding a solution.

Regards,
Steve.
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post #12 of 16
10/24/03 at 5:14pm

temp fix

Well I got it to stop flickering after quiting my games (MOHAA).

What I did was the following:

1. I disable the Quick resolution feature in the advance properties.
2. Under Direct3d settings I Un-checked "Application Preference" on the custom section for both "Anti-Aliasing" and "Anisotropic Filtering" And Set the Radio Button to "Quality".
3. Did the same thing under "OpenGL".

My resolution is at 1280x1024.. so far it stop flikering after playing games. hope this helps at least till an update shows up.
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post #13 of 16
10/25/03 at 3:31am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for that JadeHawk, I will give it a try.

Edit: nope - still the same at least with UT. If I run at anything other than SXGA native even with your suggested settings, the screen starts to flicker after the game exits.
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post #14 of 16
10/26/03 at 6:17am

Forgot.

Also I decrease the setting in the BIOS from 128 to 64 MB for the AGP section.. I don't have UT to test..

Btw. I figure your screen resolution is always set to 1280x1024. and the problem "ONLY" happens when you play games like UT at other resolutions like 800x600 or 1600x1200.. Correct?

I will Try Playing my games at diferent resolution and get back with the results.
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post #15 of 16
10/26/03 at 6:22am

damn

Ok. problem came back but only If I played at resolutions below 1280x1024..


Gonna try to get my hands on UT and test higher res in it.. Now time to sleep..
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post #16 of 16
10/29/03 at 11:53pm

More info..

If you turn off "Scale image to panel size" in the advanced display options, it doesn't seem to happen anymore. Just FYI..
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