discrete graphics problem

hi all, im new to the forums so please excuse any idiocy i may have regarding my laptop!

My problem is that I can not enable discrete graphics, at all(i only know of the FN+F7 way). I have had my m17x for about a year, and this is the first time ive had this happen to me to where i couldnt fix it myself. to save troubles, i found a youtube video that describes exactly where im at-the only difference being is that im running windows 7, so his fix would not work for me...

YouTube - Alienware M17x Graphics Fix

I noticed the problem of coarse, after hitting the F1 key to load in integrated graphics (like he did) when my power went out and had to run on my battery. my device manager also has only "Display adapters>NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G", and i have also updated my video card drivers with nothing changing.

The way i had "fixed" this problem before was actually the green icon on the bottom right that when selected, allowed you to choose between discrete/integrated, but i no longer have it there.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

OK...so like I said im having the same situation as the video-only that since im running windows 7, changing it to hybrid wont work(says only works on vista, when i try to enable it, i get a black screen after i log on).

what ide like to know now, after a LOT of troubleshooting-how can i test and see if my video card even works anymore? i checked to see if it may have "vibrated lose" or anything, its connected-was really dusty, cleared off all the dust, still nothing.

is there anyway i could troubleshoot my video card to see if it even operates, or do i have to buy a new one, and hope that it wasnt a software issue, and the new card fixes it?

thanks again!