Defiance III - Black Screen

[PureIsometric]

Hi,

I am hoping someone can help me with this painful issue I am dealing with regarding Defiance III.
Please not that I have tested every aspect of the issues below with full power connection and battery only connection.
I have also tried reinstalling windows and booting to Ubuntu live CD.

Specs:
Windows 10 - version 1803
Defiance Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Mobile Intel® HM175 Express Chipset
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti - 4.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1


BIOS: America Microtrend (AMI)
Motherboard: Clevo Model: P64_HK/HJ

Issue:
Nvidia 1050Ti is not detected by windows (Device Manager) and not detected when attempted to install the official Nvidia driver.
Errors:
"This NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of windows.
This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware"
Attempted Solution:
I am out of warranty so I ordered a new EDP Screen Cable (1N) - P640Hx for the laptop's IPS screen and nothing changed.

Issue:
Black Screen on windows
Cause:
This seems to be caused by installing the Intel VGA driver or when Windows auto update installs the driver.
Solution:
Removing the installed Intel Driver and disable the intel VGA driver in Device Manager. The screen seems to work fine with no GPU drivers installed.
Attempted Solution:
I am out of warranty so I ordered a new EDP Screen Cable (1N) - P640Hx for the laptop's IPS screen and nothing changed.

Question:
How do I find the BIOS so I can update it?
Has anyone else come across this blacks screen and GPU missing issues?

 

[ubuysa]

So it works with the Intel iGPU disabled and the default Windows drivers for the NVIDIA dGPU?
What happens if you disable the NVIDIA GPU? Will the Intel iGPU work then?

This does rather sound like a hardware issue to me and I very much doubt a BIOS update will solve it. IMO updating the BIOS without knowing that the update contains a fix isn't wise.

In your position I would call PCS and seek their help.

 

[Scott]

Are there any download options for the driver from your PCS account? Just thinking that there may be an incompatibility somewhere so would be worthwhile testing known softwares etc.

 

[PureIsometric]

So it works with the Intel iGPU disabled and the default Windows drivers for the NVIDIA dGPU?
What happens if you disable the NVIDIA GPU? Will the Intel iGPU work then?

This does rather sound like a hardware issue to me and I very much doubt a BIOS update will solve it. IMO updating the BIOS without knowing that the update contains a fix isn't wise.

In your position I would call PCS and seek their help.

Q: So it works with the Intel iGPU disabled and the default Windows drivers for the NVIDIA dGPU?
A: Yes, the screen works with iGPU disabled. NVIDIA dGPU does not show up on device manager and I cannot install any driver since it cannot detect NVIDIA dGPU. I also cannot use PCSPECIALIST VGA driver because it is split into 4 parts and during extraction it asks for 5th part which does not exist, none the less the official NVIDIA driver will not detect the dGPU .

Q: What happens if you disable the NVIDIA GPU? Will the Intel iGPU work then?
A: The NVIDIA dGPU is not detected by device manager meaning I do not have the option to enable or disable. This is the reason for my request for a BIOS update, hoping it will somehow for the NVIDIA chip back to life. The intel iGPU works with it being disabled meaning I am essentially running the laptop with no GPU? I can attach screenshots later.

Q: This does rather sound like a hardware issue to me and I very much doubt a BIOS update will solve it. IMO updating the BIOS without knowing that the update contains a fix isn't wise.
A: It is my last ditch attempt to make this laptop "Great Again". I have tried everything and it does sound like an hardware issue but I can't comprehend how it could have happened as the laptop is kept is good condition. I have had issues similar to this at work and a simple BIOS update fixes it.

Q: In your position I would call PCS and seek their help.
A: I have contacted PCS but unfortunately, I just keep getting asked to do things I have already done to the point of frustration.

 

[PureIsometric]

Are there any download options for the driver from your PCS account? Just thinking that there may be an incompatibility somewhere so would be worthwhile testing known softwares etc.

Q: Are there any download options for the driver from your PCS account?
A: Yes but unfortunately I am unable to unzip the files with being prompted regarding missing parts. I have used winrar and 7zip, I have also tried selecting the subsequent part using previous part files to no avail. If I can get a full zip file for the VGA driver from PCS it would be nice but I have contacted support and who ever I was in contact with did not seem to have any idea regarding the download VGA files.

 

[ubuysa]

In that case I rather suspect it's dead. I don't think you can replace either the CPU or GPU on that model(?) which means you might as well try a BIOS update....

 

[Oussebon]

Can you get an external monitor / HDMI TV working, and does it have any effect in terms of what drivers you can install. Admittedly a long shot...

 

[PureIsometric]

Can you get an external monitor / HDMI TV working, and does it have any effect in terms of what drivers you can install. Admittedly a long shot...

Q: Can you get an external monitor / HDMI TV working, and does it have any effect in terms of what drivers you can install.
A: Yes, with the Intel iGPU disabled monitor and laptop IPS screen works. When Intel iGPU is enabled and laptop rebooted, IPS screen is black but monitor works fine.

Please find attached screenshots.

 

[PureIsometric]

In that case I rather suspect it's dead. I don't think you can replace either the CPU or GPU on that model(?) which means you might as well try a BIOS update....

The question now is how do I get my hands on the correct BIOS. I have contacted PCS and I am waiting for a reply. They are reluctant to push the idea of a BIOS update, which is understandable but I am out of ideas.