Question Dell XPS 13 screen flickering

[starwarsgamer5001]

I have a Dell XPS 13 laptop. I believe its the 13 9350. Purchased sometime in 2016. Specs are
Intel 6100U with integrated graphics.
128 GB ssd, I have to replace it about 6 months ago when it went out.
Ram 4GB

I used my laptop this morning. No problems. Open it up tonight and the screen is flickering like mad. It will go black sometimes and sometimes locks up. Tried restating, updating graphics driver and bios. Still flickers. Also did a virus scan (avg free) and scanned with malwarebytes all scans negative.

Suggestions? I hoping not to have to but I'm thinking a full drive wipe and reinstall?

 

[1LiquidPC]

Does this occur outside the OS? Any recent changes? Have an XPS 13 9365 myself.

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

In bios too. Not as bad though. Which leads me to believe hardware not software. Haven't dropped it or anything though. Just popped off the bottom cover. Nothing looks amiss, checked connections and pulled batter to drain power and try again. Not sure the cpu fan is running but HW monitor shows temps at 50C

Maybe the screen cables got pinched? Nothing wrong as far as I can see up the back which isn't far.

 

[1LiquidPC]

OK. Given that it's seen in UEFI as well, I would agree that it does seem to be hardware related. Files relating to the OS or drivers aren't going to cause you to see issues in the UEFI. I have seen freezes, corruption in the UEFI before relatively recently, but it turned out to be from Ryzen 2200G's shared resources w/ RAM to run the iGPU. Needed more voltage. This isn't going to help in your situation though. You've already checked the cables and various connections and there was no fall or drop, so that eliminates that. Being your is the larger XPS 13 vs. convertible, does it have removable RAM? Even if not, have you tried running memtest86?

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

Ran memtest twice. No issues. However, doing some digging on google has led me to believe a motherboard replacement is the only solution. My ram is built-in, so it would make sense if ram was the cause.

Any idea how easy of job it would be to replace the mobo on one of these? I'd have to swap the cpu and everything else given one with a cpu would cost me as much as new laptop.

Worst part is looks like I might have to spend my Ryzen 3000 money on a new laptop....

 

[1LiquidPC]

The CPU is likely a BGA type that is soldered onto the board itself just like the RAM, not socket type. It's likely not overly difficult, as I've done before in a notebook, but still need to be careful with cables and connectors.

 

[starwarsgamer5001]

Thanks, I guess the questions is do I want to put 200+ into a 3 year old laptop. Looks like some of the boards online have the cpu but nothing else. So I am handy enough to replace it if I go that route.