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gagecaudell
Tablet PC Trainee
13 Posts
My Tablet PCs: |
 Posted - Apr 13 2004 : 2:24:59 PM
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Hello everyone,
About a week ago I began noticing screen flickering when the brightness was set on its lowest setting or at least close to the lowest. Screen only flickers when I press firmly above the hinge (which I believe could be normal) and more importantly when I move it while holding it my hands (especially if I make contact on the back of the laptop). I hope that makes since. I have yet to notice it when I turn the brightness up to just under half brightness. This may have been occurring all along because I usually use it in laptop mode or if in tablet mode it is sitting on a table. Has anyone else noticed this problem.
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WNewquay
Buzz Team
4518 Posts
My Tablet PCs: |
Posted - Apr 13 2004 : 4:35:33 PM
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Gage,
Sorry to hear about your Tablet strangeness.
Sounds like a "physical" problem, and may be a harbinger of something more serious to come (connector loose, cable failure, or ...)
Maybe a call to Gateway support is in order. |
WN  - Tablet PC  |
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onetyme
Tablet PC Trainee
21 Posts
My Tablet PCs: |
Posted - Apr 13 2004 : 8:27:48 PM
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| Hey ... This system is a Wistron system and the issue you're having could be solved by a simple bios upgrade. I would check Gatweay's site because I know they released some bios files currently but I'm not sure if they posted for the M275. I had a similar problem with an M505 which is also made by Wistron and it fixed my problem. |
if you didn't see me coming -- you surely won't see me going |
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IamHim81
Tablet PC Trainee
37 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway M275 |
Posted - Apr 14 2004 : 1:13:34 PM
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Gage,
When LCD panels are constructed the have a sensitive edge where the wires go into the panel. If this edge is squeezed, the screen will flicker.
I hope this helps. |
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gagecaudell
Tablet PC Trainee
13 Posts
My Tablet PCs: |
Posted - Apr 15 2004 : 3:45:25 PM
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| Thanks for the input. I'm not to concerned about the edge of the panel because I figured that pressing on it could cause some flickering. I'm more concerned about the flickering when I'm holding the tablet and trying to write on it. Since it is not that bad I will probably wait and see if it gets worse and then send it into Gateway. I'll post if anything changes. |
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eightyfiv
Tablet PC Trainee
USA
42 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway M275XL |
Posted - Jul 23 2004 : 12:58:02 AM
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Sorry to revive an ancient thread, but I happened upon it while browsing through, and I have almost the exact same problem! From the very beginning, my M275 would sporadically flicker when in the lowest brightness setting. I can force it to flicker by squeezing anywhere along the lower edge of the screen, so long as it's at the very lowest brightness. I guess I'm not alone, then. Anyone know if this malady progresses any further, or if it's just a mild annoyance?
Thanks.
(...now, on to the real problem of the day... my digitizer is going insane!) |
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elomin
Tablet PC Trainee
USA
5 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway M275X |
Posted - Jul 23 2004 : 09:35:30 AM
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| I just got my m275x a few days and I noticed this problem right away. Mostly when adjusting the screen in laptop mode. It doesn't usually happen in tablet mode, unless I press on the hinge, which I don't normally do. I didn't think much of it since it went away on the other brightness settings. Good to know I'm not the only one. |
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gagecaudell
Tablet PC Trainee
13 Posts
My Tablet PCs: |
Posted - Jul 23 2004 : 8:41:06 PM
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eightyfiv,
My computer did get progressively worse and I had a tough time getting it fixed. In a nut shell we found out it was not the screen causing the problem but something with the motherboard, most likely the video card. I had to send my computer in twice, the first time they installed a new screen and it was unsuccessful and the second time they ended up giving me a new computer (I have the total protection plan and also bought my computer through our college's Gateway rep) and now it works fine. If you have any other questions let me now.
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dwilson
Tablet PC Trainee
1 Posts
My Tablet PCs: |
Posted - Jan 02 2005 : 12:28:14 AM
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I just recieved my new m275 also and I only notice a flicker when i'm in the low light mode / the backlight is off. I tap my fingers on the back of the screen and can really notice it. However when the backlight is on I don't see any flickering at all.
Has any one heard if this is an issue with these or is normal for a tablet pc and or a fix for this? I ask because the last posts on this are getting dated.
Thanks
doug |
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eightyfiv
Tablet PC Trainee
USA
42 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway M275XL |
Posted - Jan 03 2005 : 4:19:26 PM
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I noticed that problem when my M275 was new (you can see my original post above), but here I am 6 months later, and the screen is fine. I think maybe the problem just went away. One caveat is that I sent the unit in 5 months ago to have the digitizer serviced, so they might've mucked around and accidentally fixed it them (they did muck around and *break* the built-in microphone, I know =P ).
So, that's my experience.
I have a hypothesis as to why this may occur. Backlights such as these are typically "cold cathode fluorescent tubes", which are driven by a strange little high voltage high frequency power supply (>1500V, >30kHz). It so happens that these power supplies are very "weak" in that their output can be dragged down by excessive capacitive loading. Just touch a large metal object to the appropriate spot, and the output will dim. So, I'm guessing that maybe there's a piece of metal shielding close to the power supply that, when pressed closely, drags down the power output. *shrugs*
--Micah
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jon_chew
Tablet PC Trainee
10 Posts
My Tablet PCs: GAteway M275
1.5 Ghz Centrino |
Posted - Jan 04 2005 : 10:52:06 PM
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HEY! the EXACT same thing happened to my m275 today!!!
i just receieved it as a replacement for my older m275 (with which i've never had this flickering problem)!
Today in my physics class, the prof was demonstrating a van der graff machine and i noticed the flickering. Do you think there's actually a way to solve it? |
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flibbertigibbet
Tablet PC Thinker
USA
104 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway m275x |
Posted - Jan 22 2005 : 12:02:10 PM
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I have started to notice flickering too. I dont have to squeeze the hinge, or anything, but the screen will flicker. Playing the tablet pool, from microsoft, it happened at least 4 times, I got annoyed so i stopped playing...
My colors on my screen seem to be going dim orsomthing too... even in the brightest mode I look at a white screen and it looks kinda yellowish.
I may open the thing to see if there is a cable loose.
-James |
james
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bpiltz
Tablet PC Intellectual
USA
525 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway m275xl |
Posted - Jan 28 2005 : 7:25:32 PM
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| I have noticed a flicker due to the power cable wiggling in the plug hole. It jumps rapidly from batt to AC power. The screen goes to lower brightness for batt and higher brightness for AC. I have to press the AC plug harder into the chasis to get a good connection. The tray icon flashes from batt icon to AC icon very rapidly. |
 
Brian Piltz
The GoBinder Bible Project - free inkable study Bible for your TPC
There are 2 types of people in the world:
Those that divide everything into 2 things; those that don't. |
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flibbertigibbet
Tablet PC Thinker
USA
104 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway m275x |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 02:46:27 AM
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| Sounds like something is in your hole. =) The flicker I notice happens even on bat power. Screen goes black for half a sec, hard to notice at first |
james
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flibbertigibbet
Tablet PC Thinker
USA
104 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway m275x |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 02:47:24 AM
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| Sounds like something is in your hole. =) The flicker I notice happens even on bat power. Screen goes black for half a sec, hard to notice at first |
james
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eightyfiv
Tablet PC Trainee
USA
42 Posts
My Tablet PCs: Gateway M275XL |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 8:02:56 PM
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bpiltz - Another possibility is that you have a cracked solder joint connecting the power connector to your motherboard. That is an unfortunately common failure mode for external connector jacks. It's easy to fix if you're handy with a soldering iron, you just re-flow the solder, though technically I'm sure it would void your warranty.
--Micah
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Screen Flickering 
