[SOLVED] Latitude E7470 Black Screening and Freezing

bradenterpstra01

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Mar 22, 2020
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2
515
I have a Dell Latitude E7470 (Service Tag: FLL4GC2) that is periodically black screening and freezing. Does not appear to be from movement of the screen or laptop nor software related. Just spontaneous. Starts with lines going across the screen and the computer freezing with the audio glitching out. Requires hard reset for functionality to return. I am guessing it is a loose ribbon cable, motherboard issue, or problem with Windows and/or drivers. Any other ideas or suggestions for narrowing down the problem.
 
Solution
Wish i saw that video earlier and heard about "pressing" causing it.

Its either A: LCD problem or B: LCD cable problem


First remove power cable and battery then press 5sec power button to discharge and you can disassembly. Look disassembly videos from youtube for your model.
Also manual seems to have good info : https://www.dell.com/support/manual...58e006-8ad2-4251-ae2e-6736e4c541fc&lang=en-us

You dont have to remove the cable, just reseat the main connector, dont worry about the webcam cable which goes top of the screen

First take the cable off from connector and put it back (both sides, motherboard and LCD)
1. Download Display Driver Uninstaller (google it), put that to desktop, then download video driver from here : https://www.dell.com/support/home/u...g/0-cEtPWUd5TDZHUUp0ajVockZaODBWZz090/drivers
Just select your operating system and download Intel UHD Graphics Driver, put that to desktop
Then Boot into safe mode (google how), after getting into safe mode plug off your internet cable and disable wifi, Open DDU and select GPU then select Intel, after that press clean and restart (recommended) wait until it finishes, it will reboot automatically. When you get into normal windows do not plug in internet yet, now install the Intel UHD driver you got earlier. After installation finished reboot.

Test in between if you still freeze, if yes then continue:

2. Go to same link i provided earlier, now select bios from operating system drop menu, download the latest version 1.22.8 , Check that your battery has atleast 50% charge and your power cable need to be plugged in, now turn off antivirus until next boot, close all apps and after that continue with the bios update. It will reboot automatically after finishing. After reboot test if you still get freezing.

EDIT: if you still get freezing after this and you have intel m.2 storage then swap it and do clean install to new drive / or if you have 2nd storage use that only, just physically remove the intel m2
 

bradenterpstra01

Prominent
Mar 22, 2020
22
2
515
1. Download Display Driver Uninstaller (google it), put that to desktop, then download video driver from here : https://www.dell.com/support/home/u...g/0-cEtPWUd5TDZHUUp0ajVockZaODBWZz090/drivers
Just select your operating system and download Intel UHD Graphics Driver, put that to desktop
Then Boot into safe mode (google how), after getting into safe mode plug off your internet cable and disable wifi, Open DDU and select GPU then select Intel, after that press clean and restart (recommended) wait until it finishes, it will reboot automatically. When you get into normal windows do not plug in internet yet, now install the Intel UHD driver you got earlier. After installation finished reboot.

Test in between if you still freeze, if yes then continue:

2. Go to same link i provided earlier, now select bios from operating system drop menu, download the latest version 1.22.8 , Check that your battery has atleast 50% charge and your power cable need to be plugged in, now turn off antivirus until next boot, close all apps and after that continue with the bios update. It will reboot automatically after finishing. After reboot test if you still get freezing.

EDIT: if you still get freezing after this and you have intel m.2 storage then swap it and do clean install to new drive / or if you have 2nd storage use that only, just physically remove the intel m2
Thanks. Is there an issue with Intel m.2's that can cause this?
 

bradenterpstra01

Prominent
Mar 22, 2020
22
2
515
1. Download Display Driver Uninstaller (google it), put that to desktop, then download video driver from here : https://www.dell.com/support/home/u...g/0-cEtPWUd5TDZHUUp0ajVockZaODBWZz090/drivers
Just select your operating system and download Intel UHD Graphics Driver, put that to desktop
Then Boot into safe mode (google how), after getting into safe mode plug off your internet cable and disable wifi, Open DDU and select GPU then select Intel, after that press clean and restart (recommended) wait until it finishes, it will reboot automatically. When you get into normal windows do not plug in internet yet, now install the Intel UHD driver you got earlier. After installation finished reboot.

Test in between if you still freeze, if yes then continue:

2. Go to same link i provided earlier, now select bios from operating system drop menu, download the latest version 1.22.8 , Check that your battery has atleast 50% charge and your power cable need to be plugged in, now turn off antivirus until next boot, close all apps and after that continue with the bios update. It will reboot automatically after finishing. After reboot test if you still get freezing.

EDIT: if you still get freezing after this and you have intel m.2 storage then swap it and do clean install to new drive / or if you have 2nd storage use that only, just physically remove the intel m2

I tried your solutions except replacing the m.2.

Here is a video of the problem. Whenever she presses on the back around the middle, it glitches. I'm assuming it is an issue with the display cable which looks to be located near there. Ideas?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XYy8fRBld0rpSkEX8kCsYD9e-p_pe53B/view?usp=sharing
 
Wish i saw that video earlier and heard about "pressing" causing it.

Its either A: LCD problem or B: LCD cable problem


First remove power cable and battery then press 5sec power button to discharge and you can disassembly. Look disassembly videos from youtube for your model.
Also manual seems to have good info : https://www.dell.com/support/manual...58e006-8ad2-4251-ae2e-6736e4c541fc&lang=en-us

You dont have to remove the cable, just reseat the main connector, dont worry about the webcam cable which goes top of the screen

First take the cable off from connector and put it back (both sides, motherboard and LCD)
 
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Solution
What resolution is your monitor? Just trying to figure out if you need cable (most likely) do you need 2 channel eDP cable. Some laptops have 1 channel edp cable which cant output FHD resolution

Cable is cheap, around 10$ shipped worldwide.
 
Last edited:

bradenterpstra01

Prominent
Mar 22, 2020
22
2
515
Wish i saw that video earlier and heard about "pressing" causing it.

Its either A: LCD problem or B: LCD cable problem


First remove power cable and battery then press 5sec power button to discharge and you can disassembly. Look disassembly videos from youtube for your model.
Also manual seems to have good info : https://www.dell.com/support/manual...58e006-8ad2-4251-ae2e-6736e4c541fc&lang=en-us

You dont have to remove the cable, just reseat the main connector, dont worry about the webcam cable which goes top of the screen

First take the cable off from connector and put it back (both sides, motherboard and LCD)
Will attempt this. Thanks!
 
I have a Dell Latitude E7470 (Service Tag: FLL4GC2) that is periodically black screening and freezing. Does not appear to be from movement of the screen or laptop nor software related. Just spontaneous. Starts with lines going across the screen and the computer freezing with the audio glitching out. Requires hard reset for functionality to return. I am guessing it is a loose ribbon cable, motherboard issue, or problem with Windows and/or drivers. Any other ideas or suggestions for narrowing down the problem.

7470 may still be in warranty, did you check with Dell? Also those models have an almost 100% battery failure rate, did you check if the battery is swollen? 7470 may be one of the worst models Dell has had for reliability in the last 10 years.