HP Pavilion 15-bc5xxx screen flickering and glitching

[Sveech1]

Hello,

As the title suggests I have a flicker and display glitch issue on my laptop (bc500nv is the exact model). I've had the laptop for a couple months and it at first started with 1 small flash upon boot-up so I didn't think much of it. In the past couple weeks it has become a huge issue though.

Whenever I boot the laptop from shutdown, reboot, or upon waking it from sleep the screen (about 90% of the time) will flash from a little above the middle all the way to the bottom. While flashing, real-time updates on that part of the screen are not possible (such as moving my cursor in the area, windows notifications and so on). Also during the flashing windows sometimes leave a trail and the flickering is almost always accompanied by green and purple lines (1 pixel thickness) that run across the entire screen horizontally. Flicker sometimes also occurs at random or when watching a bright video for example (but during scenes where it gets darker the problem seems to subside slightly for some reason). Problem most of the time goes away after anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes (but might come back later as stated).

The laptop has always been either in a padded bag or on my desk so external damage is out of the question. I have already tried reinstalling all graphics drivers (Intel and Nvidia) and also reinstalling the display drivers, doing all HP updates and windows updates to no avail. I have also tried hooking it up to an external monitor while the display is flashing and the monitor had no signs of flashing flickering or colored lines. Also the HP diagnostics tool couldn't find any issue.

Any guidance will be greatly appreciated (as this is my only laptop and I'm a uni student in computer science) and I will be more than glad to produce any tests or info that might prove helpful.

Thanks again.

[Echo_Lake]

@Sveech1 

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.

• When was the last time it worked without these issues?
• Have you checked the display on an external monitor?

let’s try these steps to resolve the problem:

I recommend you attempt to access the BIOS screen by tapping on F10 while the computer is restarting, 

If the issue persists in the BIOS screen which is outside windows, it would confirm a hardware failure.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[Sveech1]

Hello,

The first time this happened was about a month ago (I've been trying fixes and searching forums ever since).

If I remember correctly the first time this happened I was listening to music (possibly using chrome in the background but nothing too intense) and while writing notes on my notepad I saw that the screen had just turned off (not sleep, just screen turning off after 15 mins of inactivity), because I obviously didn't want it to go to sleep because I was using it, I tapped one of the Function keys, most likely volume, and the screen did a couple full white flashes, I saw a couple of the lines. I rebooted it and never had the problem again for a little while. After that my problem is described in the first post.

I have checked the display on an external monitor indeed to see if it might be a hardware issue (like say the GPU) and I made sure to check *while* the laptop display was flickering. My external monitor was clear with no signs of flickering glitching or horizontal lines and the laptop display kept having the same issue for a little while (until stopping like normal).

I tried the fix with the BIOS and didn't get any flickering or lines but I don't know if the test is conclusive since the laptop had been running for a while (if it runs for a while and goes to sleep/shutdown for up to a few hours it usually doesn't glitch). If it is any help in finding my issue, I used to have this laptop in dual boot with Ubuntu using the GRUB boot-loader (the problem started quite a while after I had installed it so that is not the issue) but while on GRUB it either never glitched or only did it once or twice. I've since uninstalled Ubuntu (it was no use to me anymore), reverted to the default Windows Bootloader and I have seen the glitching right before booting to Windows (while the HP logo is showing on a black screen and the windows lock screen is not yet on the screen). Maybe that potentially means it is a problem with Windows somehow..?

I will keep trying the BIOS method but because of the nature of the issue I can only really try it a couple times a day in a conclusive manner, I will update you further when I have gone through a few cycles and report my findings.

In the meantime any other tests, recommendations or questions are very welcome. 

Thanks again and sorry for the long-winded post.

EDIT: I tried it this morning and it glitched in the BIOS screen as well the same way it has been glitching on Windows.

[Echo_Lake · Accepted solution]

@Sveech1

Thank you for posting back. 

I appreciate your efforts to try and resolve the issue. This sounds like a hardware related issue,

I would request you to reach out to our Support and our Support Engineers should be able to check the available service options in order to diagnose the computer physically. HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link:  www.hp.com/contacthp/​​​​​​​

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance. Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[Sveech1]

Will do!

Thank you very much.

[Echo_Lake]

@Sveech1

You're welcome!
 

Have a nice day ahead.

[Sveech1]

@Echo_Lake

I just checked and the service centers are quite far from where I live meaning I would have to pay for courier services and also be without a computer for quite a while (which could throw the entire semester under the bus)

Are there any other options?

In case it is a loose connection of the screen (since it sometimes responds to taps or movements the way a loose connection would) could I check and/or fix such connections without a warranty void? Or how far can I go into any kind of disassembly before it is a problem? (I have quite a bit of technical knowledge and experience with disassembly, repair and computer building).

Thanks

[Echo_Lake]

@Sveech1

Thank you for posting back. 

To get the answer to this question, HP does not recommend upgrading or downgrading hardware parts or software that is bundled with the product as It may affect the manufacturer's warranty and performance, however, you could change the configuration at your own discretion.

And also you can avail in-home service options in order to avoid the service center repair. 

[Sveech1]

@Echo_Lake

Hello,

I'm sorry so does that mean that I can check for loose connections without voiding my warranty?

If I had to change the display (obviously to the same model, no upgrades or downgrades) could I do that again without voiding?

Or will my warranty only allow me to check a connection and/or fix it without changing any (possibly defective) parts?

Thanks again

[Echo_Lake]

@Sveech1

Thank you for posting back. 

Yes! you can replace the display without damaging any internal parts. In the event of display replacement, any end-user damage will void the factory warranty.