m18x r2 video problems please help

Hi im a new alienware owner. i found this computer on ebay and turned out the person that one the bid backed out and i was able to buy it at my bid price.. anyway ill try and be as detailed as i can.. when powering on... the laptop pervides me with a white screen.. i have to hook up external monitor and press fn+f6 to switch monitors for a picture to persent its self... now when i have the external monitor hooked up i get into bios. it shows that my integrated intel graphics isnt detected... reading some forums around that is to be expected sence i am running on dual cards. help me

 

Welcome to NBR.

With your external monitor hooked up, you mentioned that you can get into the BIOS. Can you also get into Windows?

If your laptop works normally with your external monitor hooked up, then I'd say that your display has an issue.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the M18x only shows the GPU you are currently running on.

 

Unfortunately the laptop came without a hard drive or ribbon cable. I have purchased and am waiting for them to arrive middle of next week however I do have a bootable disk and was able to book into Linux desktop. Also I noticed that my bios is version A03 and the latest update is A10 I believe. Also when I run the lcd self test it stays white. The whole time.

 

Ok. You're going to need to look for a new LCD. It looks like there are M18x LCDs on eBay that are the whole LCD/lid/inverter combination. Gonna cost you about $200 though.

This isn't a 100% bet though. There could be other issues, but aside of the stuff above, you're going to need a new motherboard.

Another thought. Have you tried re-seating the inverter cable where it connects to the motherboard?

Did the seller tell you that the LCD didn't work?

 

So regardless I need a new motherboard? I have it apart checking the wires now. I'm going to pull the lcd out and check there connections too. Could it be that one of the two gpu is bad? It has dual nvidia gtx 675m 's in it and something interesting I just found. One of the gpu to motherboard bolts I'd missing and one of the heat sink to gpu bolts is missing. Also looks like someone used an excessive amount of thermal paste on it. I will post picture as soon as I figure out how to.

 

whats your thoughts on refurbished motherboards? is it worth looking for one? i took the laptop all the way apart and checked the wires along with the lcd assembly. got it all put back together and still same issue. i wish i had another lcd screen i could test on it with out having to spend 200.00 just to find out its the motherboard not the screen.. i wish i had money to spend like that.. any input on another possibility would be amazing..

 

No you Don't need a new mobo regardless. Refurbished motherboards are fine in my opinion provided they have at least a 1 month warranty.

Bad GPU would be unlikely seeing as the external screen works and you can boot to linux desktop, those missing screens are far from ideal though. you can probably get away with missing the gpu to mobo bolt but the heatsink screw is needed.

I would just get the screen and try it, worst case if its not the screen you can always sell the screen to one of the poor souls who bricked theirs with windows 10. At the end of the day you need to try something and I think the screen is most likely.

 

Right. I probably could have worded my post a bit better.

Like Kenny said, you'll only need a new motherboard if you get a new screen and nothing changes.

You'll be glad when you get it up and running. The M18x is still a very powerful laptop. Especially the R2, as it can take the 980M.

 

So I got all my parts in the mail. Replacement 330w psu new hdd drives and caddy. And cable. Got Windows 8.1 installed. All drivers downloaded and installed. Everything seems to be working perfectly except for the lcd. So I'm almost positive it is the led screen. Mobo is fine

 

Make sure to keep us updated, and good luck.

 

Question though. I don't think I got the webcam drivers installed? And I haven't really had a chance to look on the web further then the dell drivers page. Any help would be appreciated

 

If you get lucky, it might just be a bad or even just badly seated LVDS cable and not the display itself, as those like to break. First, try to reseat the LVDS cable on the motherboard and the display and see if that helps before you buy any expensive parts.

As for the integrated graphics not being detected, that's normal when the dedicated video cards are selected on the M18x-R2. The laptop doesn't have Optimus or the likes, so only either the Intel Graphics or the dedicated ones can be active at a time. If you switch to Intel Graphics, the dedicated cards won't be detected in the BIOS.

 

I tried reseating everything still didn't work. Web cam is part of the same cable it works fine ordered a new lcd got it installed and can't bring my self to hit the power button. Lol any help would be appreciated

 

It works. Everything works