Before I purchase a new MOBO... educated advice needed

Backstory: While pulling/swapping GPUs in my R4 I must have shorted something on the discrete PCIE slot through a possible static discharge (I did not notice any damage to MOBO with the naked eye); at least that is what I assume happened. The screen no longer displays the backlight when in Discrete Mode, laptop seems to work fine I just don’t get a backlight, thus forcing me to use a HDMI out to view the desktop externally. When Optimus or Enduro (I have tried my 980 and 7970, same results) is enabled everything works just fine, meaning I do receive a backlight on my LCD laptop screen and I don’t have to use HDMI out on a external monitor.
Please read my troubleshooting below.

1. Blind Flashed BIOS back to A05, then flashed backed to unlocked A11 -- issue remains
2. Reinstalled Win 8.1 and tried Win 7 fresh installs several times -- issue remains
3. Ran Dell hardware diagnostic check -- no issues detected
4. Ran several different drivers -- issue remains
5. reseated video cables -- issue remains
6. reset CMOS, power drained, etc -- issue remains

The fix should have occurred when I completely wiped both my drivers and blind flashed my bios back to factor stock A05, but it did not fix the issue, I have no other options to explore and it appears the issue I have is super rare and I just got really unlucky, if anyone has any further troubleshooting advice please post I am all ears as i need out of the box thinking here. If you think its the MOBO please state that and a reason why you think so, if not please provide a reason, thanks.

I'm 99% sure the MOBO has a short at this point.

 

Reserved....

 

This is very strange. If it was your PCIE slot then I could only assume that it will affect your gaming as well. Have you tried bencharking or gaming while in Enduro mode? Just trying to go through a process of elimination.

 

I would also go to say, if the card function perfectly it could be some kind of issue completely unrelated to the actual slot but some other connection to the display when the integrated graphics are cut out of the equation.

 

I believe Mr. Fox has the answer for this, it has something to do with the CMOS not actually being cleared. I would send him a PM.

 

Mike has already blind flashed and you cannot clear the CMOS more thoroughly than that. I think that there is a hardware problem of some kind, but not sure exactly what needs to be fixed. Might be worth trying a different CPU just for grins. Maybe something is goofed up with the Intel HD graphics chip. If it is a software/firmware problem, perhaps putting a different CPU in will "jolt" things enough to straighten it out. I'm leaning towards the mobo having a problem.

 

Dell Alienware M17XR4 M17x R4 Replacement Motherboard THTXT 0THTXT | eBay

Here's a motherboard at a decent price. Only a few hours left on the sale, though.

 

Yes it is really weird and makes no sense. i know both my GPUs work fine so it has to be something MOBO related or CPU related (ill test CPU tomorrow)

That is something i was also trying to figure out, but ultimately the integrated graphics is suppose to relay the signal to the MOBO telling it to turn on the Backlight when in discrete. In the BIOS the only option for the backlight is under the integrated options in the advanced tab...

We spent some time trying to troubleshoot it in the past

I was actually thinking of switching out the CPU since i have my old 3720 still sitting around. Ill give that a go since that would be the last thing that i could try and knowing that the only option for the backlight in BIOS is under the advanced tab within the integrated graphics option i assume that the CPU still has to tell the MOBO to switch on the backlight while running discrete.

 

I had my eyes on a few deals for the MOBO. I will be trying to switch out the CPU and see what happens... then pull that trigger on the MOBO.

 

OK so switching out CPUs did nothing, i guess it will be a new MOBO.

 

PM me if you're interested on a new MOBO. You can get one for under $300.