Elitebook 840 G3 - Screen Flickers and Blacks Out Randomly

[Murty72]

I have had this Elitebook 840 G3 about two weeks.  When I am using the laptop by itself, the screen flickers and goes black.  This occurs randomly and only lasts a few seconds (maybe about once or twice per hour).  When an additional monitor is attached directly to the laptop, either through the HP Displayport or the VGA port, then both screens flicker and the external monitor will actually go black for a few seconds at a time.  When docked in a slim docking station, the same problem occurs with monitors connected through the dock as with those directly connected.  

I first upgraded all the drivers using the HP Support Assistant.  Then the flickering still continued and I upgraded the drivers for the Intel HD Graphics 520 directly from Intel.  The system is currently on driver version 20.19.15.4483 dated 7/1/2016.  This laptop has an intel i5-6300U processor, 8G RAM, and is on Windows 10 Enterprise with all the latest updates applied.  I also upgraded the BIOS to the N75 V1.10. 

I do not think this is a hardware issue, because:

1) There are 2 others that work with me that also just received new 840 G3 notebooks that are having exactly the same problem

2) It happens when using the laptop alone, when using the laptop with monitors directly connected, and when using the laptop monitors connected through a slim dock

3) When the flickering occurs and the external monitors go black, the open windows on the screen do not move back to the laptop screen unless you unplug the monitor or the slimdock

4) And if you wait long enough (up to 10+ seconds), the flickering stops and all the screens appear normal again.

[Murty72]

So it would appear that this is a difficult problem, since I have no replies or suggestions.  

I was hopeful that upgrading all the drivers would fix the issue.  It did not.

Then I was even more hopeful that upgrading the BIOS, especially since V1.10 specifically said it was intended to correct the screen flickering issues, would correct the issue.  It did not.

So I am replying to my own post, in the hope that at least some activity might bring the post to the attention of someone who might have a suggestion.

I have one.  But unfortunately it is not appropriate for this particular forum.

[Oli_K]

I have the same problem here with a customer notebook. I just found this post, while in support chat with HP.

Complete reinstallation made the problem somehow less frequent (probably different drivers). But I also have the effect with and without the 2013 ultraslim dock and/or directly connected monitors.

Bios was  N75 Ver. 01.07 06/01/2016 > just updated to 1.10. I will keep updating, if it helped, since ist didn't with the original poster.

Update 2016.09.02: So far there has not been any flickering just with the notebook by itself. I just delivered the device back to the customer who will do further testing with the dock. I will update again.

[blaze2001]

Have been having the same issue. The PC seems ok when off the dock, once docked the laptops screen will flicker randomly and the external monitors will have problems where they will go black temporarily but power indicator remains on (blue) other cases the screens will go black and not recover and in a few seconds will turn off (LED orange).

I currently am using extended desktop mode across my three displays... laptop 1, v246hl Acer monitor 2 (as my main), v246hl Acer monitor 3. Have tried updating pc firmware, dock firmware and video driver.

Current driver is Intel HD Graphics driver 520 4/22/16 v. 20.19.15.4444 (from HP) which honestly seems to have made things worse in regards  to video.

I can usually restore the video by disconnected one of the monitors for a few seconds, then the connected monitor will turn back on (LED blue) and I can then reconnect my other monitor then I have to reconfigure my windows and icons. Other cases I will have to disconnect the laptop from the dock.

[PasiN]

I have the same issue after updating latest drivers from HP. Before that, I hadn't this issue because display driver were taken through win 10 enterprise installation. I needed to update to HP drivers because I was facing sleeping mode issue (laptop "dead" after starting from sleeping mode and screen looks weird).

[japeape]

Same problem but only with an external monitor at a High resolution. 1440P at 30hz is OK, but at the native 60hz (59hz on the laptop for some reason) the srceens turns black about every 10 mins or so for 1 or 2 seconds.

[japeape]

Crazy simple solution: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/External-Dual-Monitors-and-Lap...

[TV10]

I had the same issue on my 1040 G3 and was a docking station firmware problem.  See the related post:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Video-Display-and-Touch/Elitebook-1040-G3-External-Display-Fl...

[MessiZ]

I have the same issue only with 800 G3 with two monitors. I don't have this issue with HP Elitdesk 800 G4.  i tried all the troubleshooting and suggestion and non of them seems to work. updating the BIOS to latest version actually worsened black screen going more frequent than before.