x230 display issue

[pictux]

Hi all,
i've recevied this x230 (type 2325-CJ0).
Case is quite good (a few scratches and the lcd bezel broken in 2 points) but i don't care it too much.
Big problem here is that the display after a while start flickering showing black and white bands (as you can see in the image)
Mouse and keyboard are inactive, i have to turn off the machine to make it usable again.

https://s12.postimg.org/juv6emyrh/P60906_230316_1.jpg

Can i fix this in any way?
Any tips?
Thanks!

[nitrocaster]

Does the same issue appear with an external display?

[pictux]

Hi and thanks for the reply!

Does the same issue appear with an external display?

I've checked and yes, same issue on external display....
Maybe the motherboard is defective?

[RealBlackStuff]

If both LCD and external screen show the same crap, then you'll need a new motherboard.

[kony]

I agree, it's a clear motherboard issue (or CPU's iGPU, though much less likely).

[StefanKo]

Doesn't matter, the CPU is soldered onto the mainboard and can not be exchanged without mainboard replacement anyway.

[pictux]

Thanks for the replies.
I'll search for a replacement.
M

[pictux]

Hi everybody,
i simply try removing one memory bank at time (there were 2 banks 4gb each), and found out that the problem was one of them.
So no need to change mobo
M

[RealBlackStuff]

Good find!
We usually forget that a lot of laptops have integrated graphics with shared memory, i.e. use the RAM modules.

[rjwilmsi]

Interesting. Did you run memtest86+ on the RAM to identify if a module reports as faulty? I've previously heard reported that some people have found RAM starts reporting errors after a few hours after it has been hot for a prolonged period. As you say the display issue only appears after a few hours, perhaps that could be related.

Though in my own RAM testing all but 1 of over 100 modules I'd estimate I've tested were either absolutely fine i.e. full pass of memtest86+ passed zero errors, or failed within seconds (machine wouldn't boot or caused memtest86+ to crash or raise errors within seconds of starting). The only one that wasn't like that had a single error at a single address, so I still use it with the Linux kernel told not to use that address (via grub settings).

In older ThinkPads there was an issue with the graphics that if you had internal graphics, two RAM modules and had a particular BIOS setting enabled (I think it was a virtualisation setting like VT-d or something though I can't find the link to the relevant Lenovo support page) then you could see graphics corruption issues, though not as severe as in your photo. Saw that personally on an X200s.