G750JH screen replacement? [solved by RMA!]

[sakana]

I just purchased a G750JH and am experiencing the "vertical lines" problem with the matte screen.
Basically, the even and odd pixel columns have different brightness, which makes it look like there are vertical lines across the screen.

The same problem has been identified by various other users:
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?38346-Faint-vertical-lines-in-some-grey-shades-do-you-see-i...
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2109542
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/718849-asus-g750-officially-announced-143...

I guess it isn't an issue with some people, but for me it is extremely distracting and has been causing physical irritation, so I was thinking of trying to get the screen switched out via ASUS's RMA process (so as not to void the warranty).

I believe there is a 120hz glossy display this is also used for certain versions of the G750JH; does anyone know whether this screen has the same vertical lines issue?

Also, has anyone else had success with this sort of RMA before? This is clearly a problem inherent to the display's engineering rather than an actual "defect" or software issue, so I am kind of worried that they would just replace the display with the same model, which won't solve anything.

If this doesn't work, I'll probably return it to the store...

BTW I already tried the other recommended solutions like updating the graphics drivers, uninstalling Asus Splendid, etc without any luck. This is clearly a hardware issue!


EDIT:

After sending my laptop in for an RMA, they replaced the AUO B173HW02 V1 with a Chi Mei NT173HGE.
The vertical lines problem was resolved and there were no other obvious display issues.
For anyone else with the exact same screen model and problem (regular pattern of vertical lines across the screen), I would recommend sending it in asking for a screen replacement with a different model.

[Pierre990429]

I too have a G750JH (French Windows 8 and Keyboard) with AUO 219D (B173HW02 V1) screen.


Sakana, I have tried TWO different glossy screens (LG LP173WF1 C1 and 12), and it was WORSE.
With the other screens I got HORIZONTAL lines, and more visible (not only in dark areas).
Some other guys have also done this, and said the lines were gone. Not for me. Not for my G750JH.
So it can't be the screen.(and THAT'S WHY there is NO comment from ASUS about this)
It must be something linked to the G750 itself : motherboard, customised Geforce 780M (because it's not a "standard" MXM model).
I finally put the AUO screen back.

Many people just don't see these lines, because there are less sensitive to it and/or because they put a larger distance between their eyes and the screen. (lots of folks just say "I don't see it - nope, don't see it")
I wonder : often it's the G750JH users who complaint the most : maybe this phenomenon is worse with the Geforce 780M (than with the 770M).
It's certainly NOT an issue with your particular model because so man other people (like me) describe EXACTLY the same.
Also, the 780M is the only graphics card where the "official" ASUS driver is still the 311.83 version. (But I've tried the other drivers too : doesn't help)

It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get a JH with a 120Hz screen. I still don't know in which countries these "really" exist. Maybe it's a "further proof" that the JH has a problem ?

I have to stick with this now. But my next laptop WILL NOT be an ASUS. Waiting for Alienware's mobile Maxwell.

Last question : are we 100% sure these things don't happen with other brands, like Alienware ? (in this case it would point at the Geforce 700M itself)

[hmscott]

Pierre990429 wrote:
..
I have to stick with this now. But my next laptop WILL NOT be an ASUS.

To be fair, you haven't sent in your Asus G750JH for repair, and you have at least a 1 year warranty + I think in Europe you have 2 years? - we used to have 2 years too in the US, but I guess no longer.

Why suffer with the problem when you can RMA it to Asus?

[Pierre990429]

Why send it for repair, since it's "normal" for this model to have this lines issue ? I think 100% of these G750 are affected, but only a few people don't like it.

If I am wrong, HOW COME THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMMENT from ASUS here ?

[hmscott]

Pierre990429 wrote:
Why send it for repair, since it's "normal" for this model to have this lines issue ? I think 100% of these G750 are affected, but only a few people don't like it.

If I am wrong, HOW COME THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMMENT from ASUS here ?

There is "No Comment" from Asus on most things here. 🙂

I wouldn't read anything into Asus not commenting on your screen problem in the forum. This is a user support forum where we help each other out, and Asus is just here to moderate.

Also, I wouldn't call a screen that you can't live with "Normal", you need to get tough and get Asus to fix that problem for you.

Have you tried opening a Technical Inquiry and reporting the problem? Asus may even know a fix for it by now, enough time has passed since people have RMA'd their laptops with that problem and already gotten it fixed.

You could also request that they swap it with a 120hz model if they can't fix the problem with the AUO screen / support electronics.

Maybe this is a European G750 build problem? All the complaints are coming from European users (France, Germany, Czech), I don't think I have seen anyone in the US complain about the lines in the display problem? Sakana, are you in the US, or?

[hmscott]

sakana wrote:
I just purchased a G750JH and am experiencing the "vertical lines" problem with the matte screen.
Basically, the even and odd pixel columns have different brightness, which makes it look like there are vertical lines across the screen.

The same problem has been identified by various other users:
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?38346-Faint-vertical-lines-in-some-grey-shades-do-you-see-i...
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2109542
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/718849-asus-g750-officially-announced-143...

I guess it isn't an issue with some people, but for me it is extremely distracting and has been causing physical irritation, so I was thinking of trying to get the screen switched out via ASUS's RMA process (so as not to void the warranty).

I believe there is a 120hz glossy display this is also used for certain versions of the G750JH; does anyone know whether this screen has the same vertical lines issue?

Also, has anyone else had success with this sort of RMA before? This is clearly a problem inherent to the display's engineering rather than an actual "defect" or software issue, so I am kind of worried that they would just replace the display with the same model, which won't solve anything.

If this doesn't work, I'll probably return it to the store...

BTW I already tried the other recommended solutions like updating the graphics drivers, uninstalling Asus Splendid, etc without any luck. This is clearly a hardware issue!

sakana, are you running Windows 8 still, or have you updated to Windows 8.1? You can set the display magnification to 100% from the default setting of 125% in Windows 8 and before.

I also have a G750JH, and don't have the lines issue - with or without Splendid - Splendid color tuning doesn't do anything for me so I run without it. I still have the Asus Windows 8 + Windows 8.1 update build.

But another user who loaded Windows 8.1 from scratch when they got their G750JH, and didn't have the lines issue, said they got the lines issue when they tried installing Asus Splendid, and it didn't go away when they uninstalled Splendid! So they did another clean install and no longer have the lines issue. You might want to try that 🙂

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?41729-Bad-screen-is-somehow-software-related...&p=353676&vi...

Before doing a clean install of Windows 8.1, I would back up the Asus Recovery partitions with Asus Backtracker to a 16GB drive - it only makes at most a 20GB partition - I tried a 64GB drive. And, you could backup the RAID boot drive image to a backup disk with a program like Macrium Reflect, so you could restore your configuration should the Windows 8.1 clean install not change the screen problem.

Let us know what you find when moving to a clean install.

[Pierre990429]

Well, I didn't install 8.1 .

Concerning the display magnification : It wouldn't change anything for games, no ? (which are overriding most color profiles or such settings)

The idea that there are some "remnants" left in the registry or somewhere else after having uninstalled Splendid could be a hint. Could this be investigated ?
Could there be a "bad registry key" that screws up things ? How can we find that ? There can't be so many entries in the Nvidia registry directory, no ?

[hmscott]

Pierre990429 wrote:
Well, I didn't install 8.1 .
Concerning the display magnification : It wouldn't change anything for games, no ? (which are overriding most color profiles or such settings)
The idea that there are some "remnants" left in the registry or somewhere else after having uninstalled Splendid could be a hint. Could this be investigated ?
Could there be a "bad registry key" that screws up things ? How can we find that ? There can't be so many entries in the Nvidia registry directory, no ?
If it's this, I will humbly recognize that I was wrong.....

It isn't so much 8.1, as it is having a clean install where you don't install anything Asus - I think Splendid is what he thought did it, but then again, it might be a combination of stuff. Sometimes companies share dev libs/kits that rely on shared libraries that might not get uninstalled if another app from the same company is also running when you try to uninstall. The shared library causing the problem is kept because it is open.

You could try backing up your configuration, and then do a clean install of WIndows 8.1, to another drive if you like too - make sure to preserve your build/config before playing around too much - it is easy to get confused and blow away your boot drive if you aren't doing this often.

You could also do an install to an external USB / Thunderbolt drive and boot on that too.

Given all you have been through this seems like something worth trying.

[sakana]

Pierre990429, are you sure we are having the same issue?
Were the vertical lines you experienced uniform across the entire screen, or did they look more like glitchy artifacts?

For me, they are the former. The lines are fine, completely uniform, and appear the same across the entire screen regardless of the resolution, magnification, or background color.
To describe it, it looks like a detailed texture has been overlayed across the screen, which is probably why some people don't complain about it.
The lines even show up on the BIOS screen, so I think they are inherent to the screen itself and not related to bloatware or any Windows display settings.
Does everyone's displays have the same problem?

Pierre990429, before you switched to a glossy screen did you have the exact same issue that I am describing? The "horizontal lines" problem sounds more like a software settings or compatibility issue, but I'm not experiencing it so I can't really comment.


BTW, has anyone with the exact same issue as me tried replacing their screen (or RMA'ing it) with any success? This is the information I need!

[sakana]

For reference, I took a picture of the vertical lines phenomenon with my phone's camera.
This is a zoom-up of the "Mail" button in Win8 Metro. Can you see how the vertical lines are alternating between dark and light, while the horizontal lines are all uniform?

This is the same problem, right?