My work T480 was using build 1803 of Windows 10, with the original 2017 video driver which was working just fine for me. Yesterday it was updated to 1809, which I wasn't able to defer any further. I was worried about the 19x series, but I knew 1809 wasn't completely negatively reviewed here, so I checked out how it was today.

Well it's worse now. Before I had a nice flat stable image on my monitor, no issues at all. They also updated the video driver (and possibly the system bios, but I don't have a record of what the version number was beforehand). The new video driver version is 25.20.100.6472 which is from 2018. Now the image on the monitor doesn't appear as stable anymore, neither does text on it. So this definitely rules out the displayport-to-dvi adapter I have. I will need to give it a chance and see if I get used to it, because I remember when previously I had been moved to 1803 or some other earlier build I noticed the difference and didn't like it but it worked out. This one probably won't tho.

I wish they hadn't updated the video driver, now I don't know how much of the interference is from the OS build and how much is the video driver. A little pissed now, because if I don't get used to it it basically means the laptop is now just a telephone to be used just for meetings on MS Teams and to use Citrix the rest of the time (which isn't as bad as it sounds because the VPN tunnel is capped at 5 megabit but Citrix is not). However because in the past year they also changed Citrix scaling settings text is currently scaled with a blur but is otherwise stable. I can force it to native and make it sharp but it doesn't look like how it did before that server side change.

Given that it's June 2020 and I'm receiving 1809 which is October 2018 a year and a half later from release date, this laptop might never receive build 2004 or later because they tend to replace the hardware every 3 years.

To make it worse, they also monkeyed about with the bios settings as well. I can't go into the boot menu or change some settings (though I am not sure if I could before), there is a password now. I can't fault them too much because it's their property not mine, but I did want to do some testing with different builds and OSes to see how they all appeared on the same hardware and now I can't. 🙁

What I don't understand, and I don't think any of us do either, how is it possible that Microsoft, Intel, Lenovo, etc. with tens of thousands of employees between them, connected to an even vaster number of developers, engineers, etc. never noticed that it isn't as ideal as it might have been previously. Why is it only us that can see it? 🙁

    From a tech support perspective it makes sense to be on the latest software/drivers as you're running the same environment as the devs/sysadmin, but when we are clinging to driver/OS versions there are always going to be these problems in work, where most people have no control over the software on their machine.

    This is more of an issue with W10 than before because XP/7 (with exception to major service packs) was pretty much feature-complete from the start. I don't remember receiving 'creators updates' for XP back in the day 🙂. I started using NT4 in work in the early 00's then XP in various jobs all the way up to 2014!).

    Sunspark What I don't understand, and I don't think any of us do either, how is it possible that Microsoft, Intel, Lenovo, etc. with tens of thousands of employees between them, connected to an even vaster number of developers, engineers, etc. never noticed that it isn't as ideal as it might have been previously. Why is it only us that can see it?

    I'm just grateful that there are others with these issues, even if it's a very small group online. It's comforting for me to know that I'm not imagining it all and that technology has gone mad in the last decade. I have tried reaching out to communities on Reddit and the average user seems oblivious to any strain and I am then told to observe 20/20/20, check brightness etc etc. These recent posts are definitely suggesting to me this is all some simple on/off switch somewhere in software (VBIOS/Drivers/OS). W10 2004 was much more comfortable compared to 1909, so clearly there is something going on..

      Sunspark Why is it only us that can see it?

      That's the eternal questions - what is actually going on here and are the globals numbers so small that the issue will never be picked up by the devs? I actually feel that we need to ramp up our effort in this forum to start contacting developers in an organised and methodical way to try to make progress - I keep putting it off but 8 years down the line this issue should be non-existant.

      I feel your pain with the OS update - hopefully you'll get used to it, and if not perhaps they can roll it back for you on health grounds. You could also try disabling the graphics adapters in Device Manager if you have the privileges for that - in earlier builds reverting to the MS Basic Display Adapter had a positive effect so it might be worth a try?

        Assuming you don't have admin rights on the machine, so can't upgrade/downgrade your own drivers? I'd reach out to the IT department. I work in IT, and if a user reached out saying "hey Intel driver version <whatever> is giving me eyestrain, can we dial it back to <older> or upgrade it to <newer>?" I would shrug and allow it. I might ask them to use the newest instead of the oldest, but we've got at least one user (see Windows 10 1507 thread started today) who finds the latest Intel drivers better than older ones.

        The reason they updated it, by the way, (other than just "progress") is that starting in 2018 Microsoft had HUGE compatibility crash problems with updates. Due to incompatibilities during the update process, they began requiring that IT departments pre-upgrade the Intel drivers to a specific revision, or remove them entirely, or else the validator wouldn't allow the OS to install. After installation it's really not a problem.

        Get a diagnosis letter from your doctor indicated you suffer from migraines and eye strain due to computer settings. Contact your HR department and submit an ADA accommodation request for modifications to your computer system to alleviate your symptoms. They will likely give you a form and ask for the doctors note. Give them a copy of the note, and fill out the form.

        It is federal law that your employer must make reasonable accommodation to people with disabilities like yourself, if that disability interferes with a major life activity (working is a major life activity). Given that the previous setup was approved for use in the company, I don't see how they could claim it is not all of a sudden an unreasonable burden to reinstate it. IT departments desires to have everyone on the same driver version or to lock down admin access because they don't trust you don't trump your right to work pain free. And if I sound a little angry here it's because I am, I have been fighting overzealous IT departments for over a decade and am truly sick of their ridiculous excuses to refuse accommodation.

        If they do deny your request as representing an unreasonable burden you can retain counsel and sue them if you want to go down that path. I have sued 2 employers (ended up settling both cases), it is an expensive and time consuming process but can yield results. You have rights, don't waive them because some guy in IT tells you "I'm not going to do that for you because [insert ridiculous reason here, but it is usually "security"]. I can tell you from personal experience that arbitrators (in my case both were ex judges) don't buy that excuse.

        The reason they updated it, by the way, (other than just "progress")

        "Progress" is never an acceptable reason to submit someone to pain. Driver incompatibilities are never a reason to submit someone to pain. A computer operating system is never a reason to submit someone to pain. As someone who has been fighting IT departments for over 10 years it infuriates me to no end to hear IT administrators put their desires for IT over the medical needs of a person with a disability.

        If someone insisted on removing all the wheelchair ramps from a building because they weren't compatible with the new floor coverings, the world would be up in arms about it and tell them not to put in the new floor coverings. But when an IT department installs an upgrade that triggers a disability because something as insignificant as "Well, the version number is higher so it must be better!" no one bats an eye. It's morally repugnant.

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