M17x R3 black screen on startup but still backlight and other lights on

So ive got a m17x r3 i bought about a year and a half ago nvidia gtx 580m, i7 intel 2.3ghz, 16gig ram stock 2 500 gig solid state drives
everytime i turn it on now all i get is a black screen, started randomly with games that required the graphics card at first with skyrim, then happened to minecraft, tried to run a test with a third part software program and it froze up
now when it starts i get a blackscreen, no dos info loads at all anymore and gives me 5 beeps on startup if ive removed the battery and held the power button to clear it
tried re seting the ram on the bottom side (scared to attack the ones under the keyboard)
i do clean the comp often with cans of air
updated bios while problem was happening to graphics only
graphics card was updated aswell as vbios
what am i doing wrong, i fear a dead processor

also have put a new cmos battery in as thats what i see is 5 beeps on alienware laptop

 

5 beeps means a CMOS battery failure. Try these steps and let us know how it goes

5 Beeps after turning ON the Alienware Laptop system

Also, here are the rest of the beep codes for further reference.

 

Oh also had upgraded to non moded a12 from non moded a8
and i think it blind flashed a8 using tut i found forums but no joy

 

I tried to do that tut 5 times today, i will try again

 

Just tried to get it to post and it just stays black with the backliht on, wont restart

 

Also am no lnger getting beeps since replacing my battery, now just a black screen
also when i blind flashed the bios it went thru the beeps and restarted like normal but wouldent go any further

 

Hopefully I'm reading this wrong but I have read that going back from A12 to A08 via a blind flash will really mess the machine up?? Luis?

 

It could be the case, downgrading the BIOS may have bricked it. If that's a case I believe there was a guide around, but I haven't tried recovering from a bad flash yet so I wouldn't know if it works.

 

I followed the recovery guide with a12 blind flash but still no joy

 

i had a similar experience recently (my 6970 was dead) you need to blind flash with an a08 unlocked bios as this has the onboard graphics option enabled, i done this and found it quite easy took all of 5 minutes to do.
good luck

 

Ty, will have to try

 

Argh talking on tab is hard

 

So, ive done that now im siting at a black screen with the backlight on and the fan lightly going

 

Ok, i dont know how but can log into windows now but no sound and no video still, the t-pad is toggleable, but i cant fn + f6 to switch to onboard?
Should i just remove the gpu now that i know the a08 bois are working?, maybe its just not registering a problem with it

 

its fn+f7 to switch graphics.
what i done numerous times when i was faced with the black screen was a clean install.

 

A clean install would be great if i could see the bios to set the cd drive as first boot

 

Now im getting 8 beeps lol without gpu tellin me i got a lcd failure?

 

I'm guessing you have the 120hz 3D model? No IGpu connected in that model so it will do that...

 

you dont need to see the bios to set the cd drive as first boot hammer f12 at startup, however your case sounds worse than mine.
8 beeps is buggered graphics card. when i had the 8 beeps i done a usb flash of the bios, then once that was done with i rebooted and hit f12 got the machine to boot up selected cd drive and went from there, dell replaced my graphics card free of charge.

here is the link to my issue's
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/694996-m17x-r3-graphics-problem.html

 

so in the 120hz 3d there is no internal graphics on the processor? also got a pic, as when i was restarting randomly a screen came up (while on battery power) http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/Dragonlord3344/badlcd.jpg

 

It's there on the CPU but it can't drive a 120 Hz display at boot so the 120 Hz display is plugged into a different port that bypasses it

 

Ah, would a 60hz monitor in the vga or hdmi work without the graphics card in work?

 

A good question, possible, I haven't tried it or seen anyone that has. I would think the display mini-port has the best chance but give it a try if no one else says it's a non-runner...

 

Well if i plug into the hdmi is a no go and i dont have a monitor cable or id try the vga

 

So, i pluged in a vga and hooked it up to the tv, took out gpu. Now i can hit fn+f6 and get to see the first screen, but it starts beeping before the second screen so i cant get into the bios, any way to get around the beeps?, otherwise im stuck.

 

'fraid I'm stumped. You could try a mini-port adaptor but a lot of hassle if you don't have one and really grabbing at straws. 8 beep cycle?