# Black and white dots flickering



## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

I'm hoping someone can help me since I've already been at this for over 4 hours now. My computer suddenly is showing black and white dots flickering all over the screen, like confetti almost, and now I've even had a green line across my screen at one point. It started when I was playing sims 4 (which i've played many times before with no issue) and the game kept glitching and flashing lines all over in game. For about an hour after that I thought it was a game issue so I tried repairing the game, but that seemed to only make things worse. I tried lowering the game settings, repairing the game through origin, but nothing worked.

After trying a couple things the dots were not appearing not only in game but all over my laptop as well. I have now tried updating the display driver, uninstalling the display driver, and updating windows as well. The only thing that has temporarily fixed it , is using the laptop in safe mode.. someone please help because I'm losing my mind over this. I'll attach some photos or videos below.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Hello! Are they static dots or moving around?

I suspect the video card first.... What machine do you have? Please use the TSG System Information Tool to provide us with the basic information on your computer.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

Couriant said:


> Hello! Are they static dots or moving around?
> 
> I suspect the video card first.... What machine do you have? Please use the TSG System Information Tool to provide us with the basic information on your computer.


They are constantly moving around. I was going to post a video but it seems only photos can be posted.

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.9
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, Build 18362, Installed 20201009040555.000000-240
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4300M CPU @ 2.60GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3, CPU Count: 4
Total Physical RAM: 16 GB
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600, 1024 MB
Hard Drives: C: 233 GB (181 GB Free);
Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard 1993, ver KBC Version 16.3C, s/n PEBGU00WB1520N
System: Hewlett-Packard, ver HPQOEM - 1, s/n 5CG60934MV
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated

Thank you!!


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

OK! You have a HP ProBook 640 G1 Notebook, where the warranty is unfortunately expired....

Can you get the same issue with Safe Mode?

Try the hardware test (try both quick and extenstive) and see if you get any errors.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03467259


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

Couriant said:


> OK! You have a HP ProBook 640 G1 Notebook, where the warranty is unfortunately expired....
> 
> Can you get the same issue with Safe Mode?
> 
> ...


Everything appears to be functioning absolutely fine in safe mode. I'll run the tests and post the results, thank you again!


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

circuslife said:


> Everything appears to be functioning absolutely fine in safe mode. I'll run the tests and post the results, thank you again!


OK... then perhaps it's the video card drivers, or something in the background that is causing the interference.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

I ran the quick system test and everything came back fine, I'm currently running the extensive test and will update once it is finished.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

I just ran both the system fast test and the system extensive test and everything came back saying passed... but clearly something is wrong lol.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

circuslife said:


> I just ran both the system fast test and the system extensive test and everything came back saying passed... but clearly something is wrong lol.


also while I was running the tests there were a few moments where my screen glitched again.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

I have never seen that happen on random... if that was static, then that for sure would be a screen issue.

Perhaps disabling everything in MSConfig / Startup, reboot and see if that helps?


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

Couriant said:


> I have never seen that happen on random... if that was static, then that for sure would be a screen issue.
> 
> Perhaps disabling everything in MSConfig / Startup, reboot and see if that helps?


I'm sorry I'm not quite sure exactly what you mean. Should I change startup selection? It's currently on selective start up, should i change it to normal or diagnostic?


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Sorry I meant Task Manager. MSConfig is were you can disable services, but you may inadvertently turn off your network card... like i did lol


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

So you’re saying to disable everything on start up? These are the only things enabled.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

Couriant said:


> Sorry I meant Task Manager. MSConfig is were you can disable services, but you may inadvertently turn off your network card... like i did lol


Wanted to update that if I take a screenshot, the dots do appear in the actual screenshot itself.

Also just realized that I never mentioned that I was playing sims for a few hours and then got a low battery notification on my laptop that automatically minimized the game. I immediately plugged my laptop in and clicked to bring the game back up and that was when this all began.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

After charging your battery to full power, remove the AC and restart and see if it works without issue.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

Couriant said:


> After charging your battery to full power, remove the AC and restart and see if it works without issue.


unfortunately it's still doing the same thing


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## FusionTecg (Nov 22, 2019)

This is likely unrelated, but those characters can sometimes appear when RAM was going bad. I dont suspect it is because it happened with that action, but is it possible your laptop has diagnostics in it or you can run a memory test?


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

FusionTecg said:


> This is likely unrelated, but those characters can sometimes appear when RAM was going bad. I dont suspect it is because it happened with that action, but is it possible your laptop has diagnostics in it or you can run a memory test?


running a memory test now, but I think when I did the hardware diagnostic it checked? however it could have been something different.

This was after I ran the quick hardware test. I'll update after the memory diagnostic tool is finished running!


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

I believe it has something to do with video /graphics because I tried to play the sims in safe mode (to see how it would go since everything else in safe mode is working perfectly fine) and I received this error when I started the sims, which I’ve never received before. 

Or is that simply because it was in safe mode?? 

I’ve already tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers and checking to see if it needed an update.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

The screenshot having the same problem means it's probably a Windows/Driver issue rather than hardware, this is consistent with it working ok in safe mode where only a generic driver is used. Try installing the Graphics driver from the HP website for that computer.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

Actually it could be a graphics or memory problem but the screenshot means it happens before the screen itself and it's connection cable.


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

I ran a memory test and everything came back fine. 

I was able to bring it to a friends house and connect it to another display and the dots did show up on the other monitor as well.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

So we are looking at the video card or the drivers. The question now is which one.. the AMD (Dedicatd) or the Intel (intergrated)...

When you uninstalled the device in Device Manager, did it give you the option to remove the drivers too?

AMD Video Drivers - Sept. 5, 2019

Intel Video Drivers - June 19, 2020


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## circuslife (Oct 9, 2020)

Couriant said:


> So we are looking at the video card or the drivers. The question now is which one.. the AMD (Dedicatd) or the Intel (intergrated)...
> 
> When you uninstalled the device in Device Manager, did it give you the option to remove the drivers too?
> 
> ...


I'm sorry I'm not quite sure what you mean? It gives me the option to update, disable or uninstall.

Also what is the video card? I'm not seeing that listed anywhere.

Thank you again!


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

Look under Display Adapters in Device Manager.


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