If you completely reformat the hard drive and put on an older OS, is it still not working? I'm not talking about 1803, I'm talking about a known-good OS like Win7 or Win10/1511. I can't imagine that the VBIOS is updateable on the X220, that's an ancient machine (although I love mine also!) but I've heard tell about Intel fuckery of late.
Windows 10 build 1809 problem
Gurm Downgrading to 1511 LTSB was thr first thing I tried, same story here.
I have no idea what to do with it other than installing latest insider build and hoping they will fix it at some point.
I'm using ditherig now and it looks like it's functioning - the color banding is more visible, however it does not ease the eyestrain. After experience with Macbook i thought dithering was my problem and now I'm not so sure.
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zlhr I'm using ditherig now and it looks like it's functioning - the color banding is more visible, however it does not ease the eyestrain. After experience with Macbook i thought dithering was my problem and now I'm not so sure.
Well that is really depressing since that's my last hope personally. I have ruled out everything else on the radar both tech and health. If dithering removal doesn't solve it, and I have seen a few examples that make it a questionable solution where people claim no improvement, then I am screwed as I don't have the health to do anything but work on a computer. I'd happily go live on a beach with no tech but I cannot physically manage.
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zlhr What do you mean by "downgrading"? If you literally reformatted the machine, I just don't know what it could be. Are you using the newest Intel drivers? They are known bad - see the thread regarding them. It is INCREDIBLY unlikely that Windows 1809 somehow did something to the VBIOS on a random laptop.
zlhr You must have kept something. Video drivers, perhaps? Or it's "in your head", as in you need a day away from the system to reset your eyes. I just don't believe that the X220 firmware could have been updated by Windows. Simply not possible. The BIOS flasher for that machine is a misery, requires a reboot in DOS, etc.
zlhr The only thing I can imagine is that it literally BROKE the laptop. Tried to put it in some video mode that just blew it out. That laptop has an Intel 4xx series integrated graphics, which is on the cpu, and is pretty involatile. There's no VBIOS to update, AFAIK (JTL? Any idea?). Unless the i5/i7 chip has some registers which can be updated? I simply cannot fathom that something was permanently modified.
zlhr Sometimes symptoms persist even after downgrading. Its because the eyes are already irritated. Cut off any/all screen time for a day and then re-try. Worked for me - I gave it 1-2 days. Sorry its not scientific.
That would be very concerning. I realize it's a valid theory and I don't put it past MS, but that's extremely bad form. Updating firmware should not be something the OS can do. I kind of give it a pass on the Surface because MS wrote the firmware, but otherwise...
3 months later
Has anyone experienced the same problem?
Microsoft started rolling out this build last month, so some of you may already have it installed.
I've seen a few more laptops become unusable to me after 1809 update since then.
Still no idea what it does to turn devices bad permanently.
zlhr Microsoft started rolling out this build last month, so some of you may already have it installed.
I've seen a few more laptops become unusable to me after 1809 update since then.
Still no idea what it does to turn devices bad permanently.
Isn't this likely to be them including more recent GPU drivers from say Intel?
AgentX20 probably. But drivers shouldn't be updating firmware. I mean, it's possible they can, but I've never once seen an nVidia or AMD/ATI driver update the VBIOS. Ever. You always have to download a crazy tool to do that. I have also never seen a stand-alone Intel driver that did so. Again, always a low-level command-prompt boot-time tool. So I really don't know what is happening here. I don't discount people's experiences, but I have no idea what mechanism could be at play here.
Could be relation to the recent low level hardware security bugs that have been discovered
Seagull I can understand WHY they would do it but not HOW. You generally have to single-thread the CPU and do it in a DOS prompt, basically. Unless the VBIOS is exposed to a programming interface, which is hugely expensive and almost exclusively found on server-class hardware. I just don't see this even being possible, although apparently something is happening.
Microcode updates to the CPU are not permanent. What is a possibility however is the Intel ME (Management Engine) which is a second OS on the motherboard. The X220 is old enough that it's possible to rip out the ME. If you feel up to it, read up and give it a try. It's not a feature or service you will ever use.