Alien Black Screen of death?

Whenever I turn on my laptop all I get is a black screen. It is an Alienware 51. I checked to make sure it wasn't set up to output to an external monitor, I replaced the battery and I tried whispering sweet nothings into the microphone. The power light comes on, but there is no display. Is there anything I am missing? Oh and its name is retardos415 if that helps at all. This computer will be the death of me.

 

A little more info might help. What model Alienware is little "retardos415"?

It sounds like it's not even posting. Do you get any image at all even before Windows boots up? What about sound effects? Do you hear the Windows start up sound?

Unplug it and take the battery out. Give it a minute or so and plug it in (no battery installed) try booting again.

Sacrifice a live chicken (the frozen ones don't work) while chanting "Fixa ma-dam computah!"

After that, call Alienware tech support. They can walk you through the more complex steps of reseating the video cable, etc.

 

sounds like you your RAM is bad. Please share what model your using

 

tacomenace21,
I assume a notebook can boot and post with RAM removed as you can in a desktop, correct?

If so removing the RAM and testing that way might be another bit of troubleshooting to try.

 

yes thats one thing to another thing to try is to hook it up the a external monitor see if it works with that.

 

Well hooking it up to an external monitor still gave me a black screen.

Retardos415 is an Area 51 M7700.

No, no sounds at all except the "wrrr" of the processor and/or fans.

I didn't have a chicken so I used a parakeet and still got no love.

I haven't tried it without the RAM.... Before I crack it open and take that out is there anything else I can try? If it worked before, how could the RAM slowly go bad over a period of time? Before it stopped coming on, the monitor had a nasty habit of getting stuck in "hibernation" mode. hmmm. Maybe it is the RAM. I will try it, but any other suggestions would be welcomed.

 

Well the RAM idea really didn't seem to do anything. But, it was worth a shot.

 

Sorry about the Parakeet... :blush

I'd give a quick call to Alienware at that point. It's free and they are quick to pick up the phone. Just don't tell them about the parakeet.

 

ihatemyalienware,

If you haven't called TS already let me know; I can get someone to help you out. E-mail me at [email protected].

 

Thanks Steve. I will shoot you an e-mail right now.

 

here is the thing if the monitor isn't bad the only 3 things that I can think of that are bad
1. Your CPU is toast
2. Your RAM is bad.
3. Your GPU is bad.

 

dude, get a mod to change your name... that is a bit harsh.

also: yep this is classic not-posting. you have a cooked mobo.

 

did you ever get this sorted as i've got the same bloody problem!!

 

Hi bimbles and welcome to the forum.
as previously mentioned could you give us your model and spec.
im not sure if steve is still with AW but you could try sending an pm / email to AW Armando or AW James who are our regular visitors to the forum.

Alienware Armando

Alienware James

 

Hi Bimbles,

Please send me a PM with your account number and we will be glad to assist you on this matter.

Thank you.

 

I'm having almost the same issue, could someone please contact me to help me out?