HP Pavilion - 15-au134tx: Screen splitting + flickering + vertical-lines recurring issue

[armalcolite]

Model: HP Pavilion - 15-au134tx

OS: Windows 10 Home Single Language (64-bit)

Additional Upgrades: None

Problem: I am facing a lot of issues with the display since the last 6-7 months. The screen abruptly splits into 5 halves and then starts flickering with colored vertical lines. This happens abruptly and sometimes it stays like that forever while sometimes it goes back to normal after a few minutes.

Full Video of the issue:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Xn7KYd2YpIbWH2oz9RrYIySkeoffJag7

Frames extracted from the video (to help understand better): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gQn7QmGXUh0gCRan7F0X6zLHb5WqSD7Y

Note:  In the last frame the video comes back to normal giving you an idea of what is happening.

Image of the issue:

 

Tried solutions (that did not work):

1. I got the laptop checked by 2 authorized service agents when it was under warranty. They updated the BIOS and ran disk checks. Honestly, they had no clue why is this happening. Since all the tests passed they said we cannot replace the hardware.

2. I already have the latest Windows 10 updates, NVIDIA drivers and HP drivers installed. I can share the version if needed

3. I also tried looking for logs of failure after I rebooted the windows but could not find anything. (I don't have much knowledge of how Windows stores the logs, any help would be appreciated)

I am really annoyed by this recurring issue and haven't found anything that explains what is causing this issue. I would appreciate any help in debugging it.

Thanks!

[armalcolite]

Update:

 I had a chat with an HP service personnel on phone, and after a long discussion, we concluded the following items:

1) This is a software issue as I am not facing this issue in Ubuntu (the system is in dual boot mode). Agent earlier insisted on submitting the laptop to the HP service center for further checks but since it's most likely not a hardware issue, that would simply waste more time.

2) Agent asked me to re-install the compatible version of the NVIDIA graphics driver. I double checked and found that I am using the latest NVIDIA driver (v.416.34 - Release Date 10/11/2018) supported by my graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 940MX) hence It would not help. I have already re-installed the driver several times when I was not getting expected FPS in a game. Also, the NVIDIA driver gets updated multiple times in a month, hence it already gets re-installed everytime an update is released.

3) The agent also insisted that since the laptop is out-of-warranty, you should submit it to the HP service center. To clarify, I do not plan on going to the service center as the technicians won't try to find the actual cause of the issue. They would work towards guessing the possible problems with the hardware and recommend replacing the hardware (Based on my experience with the last 2 HP complaints when the agents visited my home). I am looking for an HP agent with more expert software/debugging skills who can help me in identifying the actual problem (might be software/hardware and which module is responsible).

I believe we are still at square one. Any suggestion on how to proceed would help.

I will keep the post updated with any development hoping to get this issue resolved (at least with community's expertise and help).

Regards,

Pinkesh Badjatiya

[Jeet_singh]

@armalcolite,

Thank you for showing your interest in HP Support Forums. It is a great place to find the help you need, from other users, HP experts, and other support personnel. I see from your post you have exhausted all possible troubleshooting steps ans still having the issue. 

In this scenario, I'm sending out a Private message with the information you need to get this sorted,

Please check your Private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP Forums profile 

Next, to your profile Name, you should see a little blue envelope, please click on it 

Keep me posted,

that said, If the information I've provided was helpful, 

give us some reinforcement by clicking the solution and kudos buttons, 

that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Good Luck.

[armalcolite]

Update: It's been ~23 days since I first posted the issue and ~16 days since one of the HP personnel posted a response on my post. I haven't received any follow-up from the HP service team after my initial call (which was not helpful at all). This was expected. This was the reason why I was hoping the community would pitch in some ideas to debug this and always believed the service team were never planning to help me. I believe the HP team did the expected! (ignore the out-of-warranty device).

I would appreciate any other community member to suggest some ideas if they have.

[Echo_Lake]

@armalcolite

Thank you for posting back. 

I am sending you a private message. Please check the mailbox icon at the top-right corner of this screen.

I hope this helps resolve this issue completely.