M17x R3 - black screen when using discrete graphics (NOT a video card problem)

Hi guys, I have a big problem with my M17x r3. Here's my story:

I was watching some video on the net when suddenly my screen started to flicker and make some lines on the the screen like old VHS cassettes, if you know what I mean (horizontal lines, like a bad picture). I immediately turned off the pc. started the machine again and everything looked right until I reached the login/desktop screen, it was black. I though my 6970m was dead. I reinstalled the latest drivers in safe mode but it didn't help the screen was still black.
Then I managed to blindly switch to the integrated card(on the black desktop), and the screen appeared as normal, no problems at all. I switched back to the 6970m card, a the screen got black again.
Then I used a hdmi cable and connected the laptop to a tv screen (had it preconfigured to use Duplicate screen option) and the picture appeared on the tv, but on the laptop it was still black. So the card is not dead obviously.

While using the tv i opened a maximized program(firefox) and suddenly firefox apperead on the laptop screen too, but it was blinking very fast, and had the strange lines, it was not good. Minimized the program, and the screen went black again on the laptop.

So I dont know what to do, the screen works fine with the integrated card, so thats not the problem, the Radeon 6970m work fine on external displays, but not on the laptop screen. Any ideas?

 

How about giving Dell a call and explain the problem to them since you have warrenty.

 

I'm having this problem too on my other r3. Sound works, but the screen just goes black. Occasionally it'll also freeze on games.


I'm on 11.9 drivers.

 

i freakin love my stock Dell Drivers. PLayed BF3 and Crysis 2 and they work like a charm.

Give the Dell driver a go.

 

uh i cant really call Dell, I bought the laptop in the USA, but live in Bosnia, the telephone bill would be pretty big. I'm trying to find out if its a software problem, and if not, then i will send my laptop to a local service to see what they can do. I think it can be a hardware problem, maybe a connector between the led screen and the 6970 card if faulty, if that connector even exists. If not then i have to send the laptop to the nearest official alienware distributor, which is in germany :/

 

Maybe reseat the card, or remove it, power drain and re-install it back in may help you

 

how do I do a power drain, just leave the laptop to run out of battery or what?

I removed the card, and reinstalled it, but it didnt help.

ok found out how to do a power drain, but it didnt help.

What if I do windows reinstall? Would that change anything

 

Have you tryied to restore a previous version of Win or even to use Alienrespawn to bring it back as it was when you receive it?

 

I suggest a clean install of the Dell August 6970M drivers. Drivers and Downloads. Later reference drivers, particularly the 11.9's, sometimes encounter problems, including random black screens. The horizontal lines however are unusual in my experience.

 

I reinstalled windows twice, tried the resource disc drivers, tried the August drivers, nothing hepled. Its a hardware problem I think. I'll send the laptop to dell service.
My newest problem is that I bought the laptop in the USA with the 1-year basic warranty, but now I'm in Europe, and the US warranty may not be valid here :/

 

Hi guys, I need some advice. You can see in the first post what my problem is.
I sent the laptop to a service here in serbia, but they don't accept the warranty and have to pay for the replacement parts.
But the problem is they don't have any spare part's and want to order both a motherboard and a 6970m card, and I have to pay for both of them.

I know it cant be true that both parts got broken, and want to gamble now, to order just the motherboard or the 6970m card.

What do you think I should order?

To sum it all:
1)the radeon 6970m works fine on the external display, but when I switch to the laptop screen i get a black screen.

2)when I choose to maximise(go fullscreen) with lets say the chrome browser a get some picture on the laptop screen, but its blinking like crazy and has many black horizontal lines.

3)the intel integrated card work fine on both displays, so the lcd screen is not a problem.

 

See if you can buy it from Dell. Have them ship it to maybe some relative's place in the US.

Since you are still on warranty, you should get a big discount on the upgrade.

 

well I can order the parts on ebay, I saw that there is a new store that sells mxm graphics cards(eurocom its I think), I wanted to upgate the graphics anyway.
But if the graphic card is not broken, I still had to buy a new motherboard, which is 380e + taxes. pretty expensive .

 

Update: I bought an 6990m from ebay, installed it, but the screen is still black when I switch to discrete graphics! Now I have an spare 6970 card for sale. :/

Now the only thing that I didnt change is the motherboard, may it be that the motherboard is making all the trouble?

P.S is there a way to rename this thread?

 

PM me the new name you want.
By the way, selling is not allowed outside of NBR Marketplace.

 

My m17x is finally fixed. after 118 days of waiting and waiting.

The dell service in Serbia ordered a new motherboard, processor, and a 6970 card. They changed everything, just in case. I brought the laptop home, and decided to change 6970m card for a 6990 which I ordered earlier.
And then I noticed that they didn't apply thermal paste on the gpu, how incompetent can these guys be?
When I was buying this laptop, I thought that there was no way that I would have problems with the dell customer service, and what a mistake was that.

It's official, dell has the worst customer service in the Milky Way galaxy, but I will buy from an alienware laptop again, because its an awesome machine.

 

Thanks for the update. I had the exact same problem but I live in the US and was able to send the laptop to Dell. They just replaced the motherboard on mine and all is well now.