VAIO B1XP screen blinking

[psampa]

Two months ago I bought a Sony vaio B1XP and I am very pleased with it . However, there are two things that bother me and are related to the screen. The first is well known and concerns the backlight that is more bright at the bottom. The second (and more annoying) is that my screen from time to time suddenly blinks. There is no deterministic way to reproduce the problem. The blinking can occur while working with the laptop or when idle. That doesn't happend in a specific angle of the display , can happend in various angles. Two friends of mine that have the same laptop have noticed the problem also. Is this a general issue? Do you know a walkaround?

Thanks,
Petros

[lexios]

I am also from Greece and I have the same problem. I guess this is weird isn't it?

If you contact Sony please post the responce here please.

I will contact them too.

Regards

[JeAnDrE]

Hi!
I bought a Vaio VGN-B1XP in December 2004 here in Portugal and in fact I have noticed that the backlight is stronger at the bottom, and the screen blinks for a fraction of second sometimes!
Now I see that are more people people with the same problem.
I haven't contact Sony yet because I need my laptop to work and until now I could live with this little problem.
So, if you contact Sony, please post here if they were quick solving the problem, if that so, I will try to contact Sony when I get some vacations or something...

[AlanHudson]

I'd be interested too if anyone has any feedback from Sony. Seems to be a comparatively widespread problem.

[account1]

still here waiting for reply
i'll let you know....

[AlanHudson]

Thanks - good luck!

[psampa]

When I first posted my problem I haven't realized that it was so widespread. In any case, the fact that all the 3 laptops that we bought for the lab had the same behavior raised some suspicions. Now I see that there are many people that experience this issue (having in mind that this model is not yet very popular and that not all the b1 series owners are members of this forum) and I am starting to believe that sony knows the problem. My view is that is sony's obligation to recall the models and had them fixed (permanently , not as in the case of tygertyger post). The real problem is that my work depends on my laptop and I don't have the luxury to give it away for some weeks to get it repaired, especially when I know that there is no sign yet that sony knows what is wrong and how to fix it.
Let's wait for the reply from sony

[psampa]

Did anyone received any reply from sony?

[kee-lo_]

Yeah I am suprised by the amounts of posts to this problem, worrying isn't it?

Some people have had the same problems on the K series too.

[JeAnDrE]

Well, I have updated the drivers of the Display Adapter.
Intel is providing the most recent Driver Updates to the Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME at their Support Site.
Sony is also providing the same recent drivers at Sony Update website.
In the Vaio Update website the Intel Graphics Driver provided to the B1XP says that:
"This update resolves the following issues:
- Display sometimes flashes or get corrupted
- Unable to change refresh rate in dual-display mode"
I have downloaded and installed this update, and since then, I have not yet repaired in any Display Flash...
The solution could be this update.

The brighter backlight at the bottom of the display seems to be an hardware problem...

[AlanHudson]

That's interesting. I had already seen this driver update on the Vaio site:

"Intel Graphics Controller Driver Version 6.14.10.3879d for Microsoft Windows XP

This driver is to be installed on the VAIO notebooks listed below.

VGN-T1XP/L
VGN-T1XP/T

This update resolves the following issues:
- Display sometimes flashes or get corrupted
- Unable to change refresh rate in dual-display mode"

Is the B1XP the same as the T1XP? No problems following the update, JeAnDrE??

Edit: Totally different machines as I've just discovered.