Lenovo Y50-Y70 Screen Flickering HARDWARE Fix (96% Fixed)

[nick name]

*Solution in fifth paragraph.*

**Results updated**

 

The Lenovo Y50-Y70 came out years ago and if you've searched for a solution to the screen flickering problem in the past then I'm sure you likely found the solution that had you reduce the speed of your CPU to stop the problem.  And yes -- this works, but you also lose performance.  Also, the most often found solution involves reducing the CPU speed through adjusting Maximum Processor State from 100% to something less in your Windows Performance Plan.  That solution should be ignored as it gimps the CPU much more than you need to when there are tools like Intel XTU and Throttlestop that exist.  Those tools allow you to manually reduce your speed just enough to stop/reduce the screen flickering and that can be dropping it as little as 400MHz all-core versus the 800MHz all-core reduction that adjusting Maximum Processor State would cause.

 

Another fix I found a while ago was a hardware fix that identified a problem with the grounding for the screen.  The screen cable is wrapped in what appears to be a silver colored, conductive tape with a bit of that tape spanning from the cable to a bit of the chassis.  I found a video where someone successfully re-attached that bit of tape to the chassis to improve the ground from the screen to the chassis and while that seemed to work for him -- it didn't really work for me.  For a few moments I thought that it had, but the screen flickering came back just as bad as it was before.  So I resorted back to reducing my CPU speed with Intel XTU.  

 

Having giving up on a hardware solution I just dealt with lower clock speeds.  That is until re-pasting the CPU/GPU had me looking under the hood again and remembering that the problem was a bad ground for the screen.  So then after one failed idea I finally realized a working solution.

 

So now the fix.  The super easy fix.  The fix I feel so stupid for not seeing and just now trying for the first time.  

 

*Solution* Move the screen cable from where it's originally at to on top of where the bottom panel gets screwed in.  Place it just out of the way of the screw hole so you can put the screw back in with the panel.  Put the bottom panel back on and now you have a better ground contact for the screen cable than the original solution.    

 

Side note: You probably noticed that I included "99 96%" in the title and I did so because I still get some screen blinking, but I haven't had any of the problematic flickering that makes the screen unusable.  I have been testing for around 6 hours now. The blinking I mentioned is with the CPU (Intel i7 - 4720HQ) overclocked to 3.5GHz ~ 3.6GHz all-core (previously that overclock would make the screen flicker so much it was basically all black).  With the CPU at its stock all-core speed (3.4GHz) -- I haven't notice it blink at all.  

 

If I notice the flickering start to return I will come back and update this post.  *fingers crossed*  After a couple days of usage I have found that there are times where the flickering returns.  It isn't the full on terrible flickering, but it is more than just the blinking.  Unfortunately it doesn't appear that there is an absolute cure for the poor design of the screen's grounding solution.  When the slight flickering returns I open and close the screen a few times and that stops the flickering again.    

 

My next post is going to be about how to get into the "advanced" BIOS for the Lenovo Y50-Y70 and some other Lenovo laptops.  It's the version of the BIOS that allows you to tinker with a whole mess of goodies not exposed normally.  

  

[SweetSweet]

I found a 100% fix, thank you for this post because it was what lead me to consider if it could be an interference issue caused by bad grounding. I bought some copper tape and attached the display cable to the metal bracket on the lid of the laptop, also connected to the hinge nut for good measure. My work was a bit sloppy and this pic was taken before I used a plastic spudger to push on the tape and secure it better, but this completely fixed it. CPU can turbo up to 3.8ghz and even under full load I'm getting no flickering at all. 

[nick name]

On 2/1/2022 at 3:09 PM, SweetSweet said:

I found a 100% fix, thank you for this post because it was what lead me to consider if it could be an interference issue caused by bad grounding. I bought some copper tape and attached the display cable to the metal bracket on the lid of the laptop, also connected to the hinge nut for good measure. My work was a bit sloppy and this pic was taken before I used a plastic spudger to push on the tape and secure it better, but this completely fixed it. CPU can turbo up to 3.8ghz and even under full load I'm getting no flickering at all. 

Well done!

 

I didn't know tape like that existed.  Could you link it for me please?  I'm also gonna search for it myself too.  

[Kazooo]

@SweetSweet I plan on doing this fix aswell what kind of copper tape is best? 1/4 inch? Also some say they arent conductive on glue side, will they still work?