m17x r2 laptop screen not detected

Greetings,:hi2:

I recently purchased a alienware m17x r2 off of a man from craigslist for $100. It would not start and the blue tip on the power connector would go out when plugged into the machine. After diagnosis I realized one of the 4870 video cards had gone bad. After removing the faulty card the computer booted right up.

but, the screen is blank. I attached a vga monitor to the output and configured the computer from there. once i got to windows I tried the monitor switch (windows + p), and the built in on the keyboard (fn + f6), this after installing all the drivers from the dell website. in display options in windows, and in device manager the monitor is not detected or listed. I opened up the computer, and checked the cable from the screen and to the motherboard, and it is firmly in place.

I loaded up starcraft 2 and it played fine on max settings for almost an hour.

So is this second videocard faulty as well? does anyone have any savvy tips or tricks?

also the touch pad does not function, but I may not be using the right drivers.

Thank you for any comments or suggestions!:thumbsup:

 

the touchpad is automatically disabled if ext. mouse is plugged in, so try wihout the mouse.

Well form what you are saying i'm leaning more towards the GPU, i've had similar issue with 5870M.

Can you put the other GPU to primary slot and tell us what it does?

 

Thank you for your reply

The computer will not receve power with just the other card, I could try putting it in and booting from the battery power..

the touch pad does nto work with the mouse unplugged, and the alienware command center crashes when i go to the touch pad settings.

I am going to open it up and check the cables in the back of the screen.. cause im stck at work with nothing to do atm.

I would like to meet up with someone who has a card i could stick in and try for a min. or maybe ill order a cheap (older) card for testing and then return it.

any suggestions?

Also i loaded every dell driver, but when I ran driver genius, it says im missing 10, but device manager only shows the accelometer as the only unknown device.

Thanks again

 

Looks like a loose cable inside to screen and Alien head power switch.

 

@maxslo - when you said you had a similar issue with the 5870m, did you mean with the monitor not being detected? could you explain a little more =D

@tron2 - what did you mean about the alien head power switch?

I opened up the back of the monitor and took a pic (attached) i honestly couldnt make heads or tails out of it from there. The alein head on the back of the monitor works fine, so does the 'aleinware' name at the base of the screen.




Also the wifi is not working.

is there a more proper place to get the drivers for this machine? i driver disk that came with the comp seems almost useless. and the dell.com drivers are not fully covering all the components.


Thank you for all your input.

 

DELL.com, under support. Enter the service tag and get them from there.

 

I've written all bout my problem in this thread.... http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...870m-works-external-display-only-m17x-r2.html

i rather stay far far away from 3rd party driver programs, imho the best way is to search directly from manufacturer.

If you want you can PM me, because i'm more often on my email, than here

 

@alienware-L - I used my express service code, downloaded all the drivers associated with my machine, but the touch pad, wifi and a few other components still do not function properly.

device manager only shows one device as unknown, after looking up the device code, i see its the accelometer. But still the touch pad, monitor and wifi do not function. I do not see the touch pad or wifi icon in the lower right corner next to the time and date.

I can get by without the touch pad (although it is annoying) but i really want to figure out why the screen is not coming on/ being detected and the wifi.

Thank you


(other than this it is an awesome machine. can;t wait to get it functioning properly!

 

Then the touchpad, Wifi and probably the screen need to be replaced. The drivers from there should be the ones that work. If you have any way to test a different WiFi card give it a try.

 

For the screen problem, i would first try a used GPU, because it will cost less than a screen assembly.

For touchpad do you see it in device manager?
If not, make sure that it is connected to the motherboard. (does the LED around the touchpad even turn on?)



For wireless, after installing the drivers, do you have 2 devices under network adapters? (excluding any "microsoft" crap)
If not, try reseating the Wifi Card, if it doesnt help, swap it with a working one, (if you have any spare at home it should work because Alienware doesnt whitelist our BIOS).

The Wifi and touchpad flat cable are marked in red , sorry for the quality, got the pic off the internet, because i cant take apart my lappy atm.

 

@maxslo - sweet thank you for the guide. I tried reseating the wifi card like you said and found it was burnt brown on the bottom. Makes sense why it would work. Stuck in a wifi chip from another computer i was working on and, as you suggested, it worked like a charm. So ill have to get a replacement, no big deal.


I am assuming the larger card to the left is the bluetooth, that card did not look burnt, but when trying to install the blue tooth drivers from dell they say the device is not detected.

Some more background on the issue. The guy i purchased the pc from gave little info other than is just stopped one day and turned off and would not come back on a year ago. I took out the hdd put in another comp and looked at his user profile history, he had not logged in since last october.
when i first opened it up a fan or two was unplugged. I after reading posts and seeing what this comp is doing, I think it might have had a huge over heat.
I misdiagnosed the original issue and went extreme, ordered a replacement motherboard and put it in to no avail. Thats when i started testing without the video cards after reading a suggestion from another thread here and got the pc running.

maybe the wifi chip burning up affected the touch pad components above it.

Thank you agan for the great tips

 

Yeah great tips in this thread. To op a full overhaul and thorough examination is required to ensure all components work. Looks like a combination of hardware faults. Full testing required.

 

No problem

What about the touchpad?
Did you also tried reseating the touchpad cable? its the one on the left (marked in red)
And does the cable look like it has a burn?

Not really using bluetooth, so cant help you there, but i guess it is faulty if it doesnt show in Device Manager after reseating.

Ok, so the mobo should be ok. Have you tried your old mobo if it is infact working?

And what is the status with the screen not working?

 

@maxslo

Yes i reseated the cable, on both ends. the cable looks fine, so does the blue tooth card.

Ordered a new intel wifi chip with built in bluetooth 4.0, so im ditching the old bluetooth 2.0 chip anyway (because im so immersed in bluetooth technology )
Newegg.com - Intel 7260HMW IEEE 802.11AC, dual-band, 2x2 Wi-Fi plus Bluetooth 4.0 Mini PCI Express combo Adapter - 867 Mbps+300Mbps - Internal - Wireless Adapters

After putting in the new motherboard and realizing it did not fix the issue, i put the original motherboard back into the computer. so everything is as i bought it. the board looks fine, just the wifi card burned up.



I am going to order a new video card, will the 660m fit with the 17x r2 heating assembly? I hoping the new videocard will correct the issue with the monitor.

as for the touch pad i am still at a loss. it looks clean and fine. but it was not being detected on either motherboard.

Thank you

Cheers

 

Sorry, i've been away for a while...

So which LEDs don't work exactly?
You still haven't told us if the touchpad shows up in device manager.
Looking at that error, i'd try reinstalling Dell driver, and if it doesnt work use driver directly from Synaptics, to see if that gets it working. Drivers | Synaptics
If it doesn't work, replace the palmrest/touchpad if it really bothers you

The GPU i'd go for 7970M if your budget allows it, otherwise a second hand 69X0M will be ok too.
I wouldn't really replace only the screen, better idea is to get entire screen assembly and just replace that.

Is the webcam properly connected? try reseating, and make sure it shows up in device manager.

Max

 

The Touch pad LEDs do not come on, and it is not seen in device manager.

I installed the drivers from your link and still nothing, it says the drivers are install correctly.

I will have to get a new assembly i think.

The intel wifi card I ordered did not work out well. The bluetooth worked fine, but for some reason it said driver not found for the wifi aspect. Tried downloading windows drivers and Intel drivers to no avail. I RMAd with newegg and now getting an a older intel centrino model that someone on the forums had used on their R2. Intel Ultimate N 633ANHMW Mini PCI Express Ultimate N 633ANHMW Wireless Adapter - OEM

and just replace the bluetooth card with a stock or an upgraded one. Still looking. All i can find is the Dell 370 PCIe cards

Webcam shows up in device manager but it is disabled when i boot up, after enabling I get the errors. I will try reseating again.


Ok, I took your advice and got the 7970m!! I lucked out and got a Clevo 7970m for $360 out of russia. Was installed on a laptop Clevo P370EM. Bios card 015.024.000.002.043595 (BR43595.003).

Not sure how long it will take to get but that will give me time to get the X bracket, thermal pads (or copper shims?), and IC diamond paste. :thumbsup:
If the card doesn't fix the screen issue i can always sell it for a profit if need be. Hopefully i dont have to get another assembly.

Reading a couple threads on the 7970m upgrade.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...nother-7970m-m17x-r2-installation-photos.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...rex-ultimate-installation-tweaking-guide.html

Any other advice will be great, ill be crawling this site for info.

To-Do:
wificard
bluetooth card
7970m
X bracket
thermal pads
IC diamond paste
Touch Pad Assembly


-Chad

 

The touchpad or the ribbon is faulty then, try replacing ribbon cable first, to avoid any unnecesarry costs

Wifi i'd go with Killer 1103 or Intel 6300, any of these 2 should work fine in M17x, about BT i don't know much

The webcam might have some kind of a fault, if reseating doesn't work try uninstalling it from Device Manager (also remove driver when asked) and let windows reinstall it, if it still doesnt work the Webcam is most likely faulty.

Well i'm pretty sure that new card will solve the screen issue and if it doesn't you can always sell it
Does the backlight come on on the builtin screen when you turn it on?

If you will need however i have entire working assembly including webcam collecting dust in a corner, that i can say goodbye to

If you need anything else let us know

Max

 

So, do you have any update on the topic?

 

Hey! sorry for the delay... ;D

I got the x bracket, thermal pads, IC diamond 24 carat (applied to CPU), new wifi card, still waiting on the video card and bluetooth. I got an ebay message this morning from the video card seller and he said it should be out for delivery today!! So i will have a fun thanks giving of dremeling down the heat sink and installing a 7970m!!!!

thank you for asking!! i know i t has been a slow go process.

Have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Good , let us know how it goes.

I'll be most likely be selling my bluetooth card, because i havent used it once in 3 years xD, better to get something out of it

 

the bluetooth that comes stock with the m17x r2 sells brand new for 8 bucks..

 

8 bucks shipped?

 

Something like that..

got the 7970m put in today.....

Screen runs perfect!

Still no web cam (oh well)

and touch pad still out too but this games like no bodies business. Great steam sales going on right now too. picked some ammo for the new toy.

 

Haha great to hear that , what was the GPU you had in previously?

Well, i guess i wont really get anything out of it xD

 

Hey all! So I kind of have the same problem, I just got a 580m that I am trying to put in my M17x R2 but I cant seem to get he right modified .inf drivers for the card. My question is that if I don't have the correct drivers for my card would that make the video no work on my laptop screen? (black screen but the "ALIENWARE" on the front and the head on the back are both lit up) Because it works fine on my external monitor other then the fact that it is not the correct resolution.