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When you notice screen abnormalities like flickering, distortion, clarity issues, fuzzy or blurry image, horizontal or vertical lines, color fade
etc., it is always a good practice to isolate the LCD (screen) by running the built-in self test (BIST).
How to invoke LCD BIST Test
1. Power off the Dell laptop PC.
2. Disconnect any peripherals connected to the PC. Connect only the AC adapter (charger) to the PC.
3. Make sure that the LCD (screen) is clean (no dust particles on the surface of the screen).
4. Press and hold D key and Power on the PC to enter LCD built-in self test (BIST) mode. Continue to hold the D key, until you see color
bars on the LCD (screen).
5. The screen will display multiple color bars and change colors on the entire screen to red, green and blue.
6. Carefully inspect the screen for abnormalities.
7. Press Esc key to exit.
NOTE:
Dell ePSA upon launch, initiates a LCD BIST first, expecting an user intervention confirm functionality of the
LCD.
Diagnostic LEDs
Instead of beep codes, errors are indicated via the bicolor Battery Charge/Status LED. A specific blink pattern is followed by flashing a
pattern of flashes in amber, followed by white. The pattern then repeats.
NOTE:
The diagnostic pattern will consist of a two-digit number being represented by a first group of LED blinks (1
through 9) in amber, followed by a 1.5 second pause with the LED off, and then a second group of LED blinks (1 through
9) in white. This is then followed by a three second pause, with the LED off, before repeating over again. Each LED blink
takes 1.5 seconds.
The system will not shutdown when displaying the Diagnostic Error Codes.
Diagnostic Error Codes will always supersede any other use of the LED. For instance, on Notebooks, battery codes for Low Battery or
Battery Failure situations will not be displayed when Diagnostic Error Codes are being displayed.
Table 13. Diagnostic LEDs
Blinking
Problem Description
Pattern
Amber White
2
1
CPU failure
2
2
System board failure (included BIOS corruption or ROM error)
2
3
No memory/ RAM detected
2
4
Memory/ RAM failure
2
5
Invalid memory installed
2
6
System board/ Chipset error
2
7
LCD failure
2
8
LCD Power rail failure
3
1
CMOS battery failure
3
2
PCI or Video card/ chip failure
3
3
BIOS Recovery Image not found
3
4
BIOS Recovery Image found but invalid
Suggested Resolution
Replace the system board
Flash latest BIOS version. If problem persists,
replace the system board.
Confirm that the memory module is installed
properly. If problem persists, replace the
memory module.
Replace the memory module.
Replace the memory module.
Replace the system board.
Replace the LCD module.
Replace the system board
Replace the RTS battery.
Replace the system board.
Flash latest BIOS version. If problem persists,
replace the system board.
Flash latest BIOS version. If problem persists,
replace the system board.
Troubleshooting
123
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