Alienware m17x r3 backlight acting strangely (help URGENTLY needed)

I really need help. My laptop's LED display backlight has been having problems lately. Often times the backlight to the screen turns off at random, sometimes it works for hours, sometimes for seconds, before turning off (i can see the lcd is working but i must hold a flashlight to see anything thats going on on the screen. the display is LED backlit so there's no inverter or such involved). I've played around with reseating the lcd cable several times. At first the backlight would fail to turn on at all, if it did it would only work for a few seconds. But i've noticed that if i push the lcd cable hard in the panel connector (perpendicular to the plane of the panel [specifically on the right side of the connector]) the backlight works for longer than otherwise. In the past i've tried replacing the lcd connector but unfortunately i was sent a completely defective cable (the backlight would fire up but all i would be able to see is a black screen with thin horizontal white lines across it, i do know however that the laptop was operating normally as i could hear regular diagnostics indicators if i booted up the laptop straight into diagnostics [by holding the fn key]). PS: once while running hardware diagnostics (while the backlight was working) the system indicated that the battery was reaching the end of its operating life, is it possible that this may be related? The problem occurs when the laptop is plugged in and when its on battery.

 

naw it sounds like you might need a new display assembly man. You've already ruled out the cable. I just hope its not the slot on the mobo that is broke. Mobo's aren't cheap.

 

Are you under warranty? If it happens with you are plugged in, you could have a short on your motherboard as well.

 

doubt its the mobo though- i mean for the first couple times that i was reseating the cable i'd reseat on both the mobo side and the panel side. more recently i've just left out the two screws that prevent the panel lid from sliding off, and whenever a dark (lets call it dark since the screen is still operating underneath) screen pops up i just put it to sleep, slide the panel off then push the cable downwards. I'm overseas until january so i won't be able to do anything about hardware replacement. Once i get back i'll try having a professional look at it and tell me whats up because this kind of issue is really wierd (note that the laptop has been pretty much decommissioned until last night when i found this trick, i'm happy that the laptop is useable but i'd still like a more permanent solution). I've always assumed its the cable because of this wieeeerd issue it used to have. Basically the laptop came stock with that little poptart called the 460m, needless to say that gpu is completely insufficient for a 1080p screen, let alone 3d playback. Anyways one day the laptops cooling system just stopped for no apparent reason, multiple overheats later the laptop started working again, but every time i moved the screen the laptop would straight up crash. After a few months i was able to move the screen without crashing so long as there were no active graphical applications (including youtube or video) or any mouse movement. After a few months i upgraded to a 675m (lost the 3d but i don't use it anyways) and the problem went away completely- it was as if the laptop was brand new. Now another couple months later this happens and i'm really being driven to the edge of my sanity with this.
Until i get back and find a technician, is there anyone who has seen something like this that found a fix? There doesn't seem to be any trigger to the shutoffs.

 

laptop's two years old with no warranty, but if i had a short fuse on my mobo wouldn't the screen fail to fire up completely? same assumption goes for the display issue. And if i indeed do have a bad fuse on it, i'd assume i could get it soldered at any repair shop for a quick fix, right?

 

I'm not an expert on displays so Idk man. I was gonna suggest maybe getting a new assembly on ebay possibly for cheap, but the only ones currently available are the crappy 900p panels.

 

unfortunately thats true, but if it does come down to it, does anybody know if i can plug in a 60hz 1080p display into this? i wouldn't mind saving a couple hundred at the cost of 3d since i can't really use it anyways (yes i know that the cables are different and plug into different slots on the mobo)

 

yea there really isn't a reason you shouldn't be able to.

 

Yes you can.

 

Thanks, i'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes once i see a technician.

 

well i just received my replacement cable and so far so good. I think this may be the last I see of this issue.

 

Yeah so during my vacation I found a temporary fix to the issue, if I would press down into the plane of the panel from the connector on the lcd (i removed two screws that held the back lid to the display assembly so that i can easily slip it on and off whenever needed) on the left side of the connector, the backlight would come to life and would stay on for hours or even days. After doing this many many times, I flashed a light on the connector and noticed that the left side had some damage to the plastic around the pins. I considered taking it in for repair until one time one of the pins on the connector fell out on the right side of the connector, (from what i can tell the left side feeds the backlight and the right side feeds the image) my backlight worked but there was no image onscreen. So I guess the screen's completely redundant now and I ended up caving in and buying a new 60hz 1080p display for 380 dollars .

It should arrive in a week and I just want to know is there anything else I need to know before popping this new screen into my system? This one has a 40-pin connector that's different from the 50-pin so I know which slot on the mobo it needs to be inserted into, but are there any BIOS settings that may need to be changed? Will there be any issue with the igpu since its always been disabled (due to my old screen being 120hz)?
Thanks in advance.