Some advice greatly appreciated...

Hi guys

This is a tech support question essentially, and i'm desperately looking for some advice about laptops to figre out what to do next.

I have an Alienware m9700i-r1 laptop (a.k.a. M9750), which is just over a year old. Unfortunately over christmas, the screen stopped working. Following the advice from a phone tech support line, we drained the power supply and restarted the laptop, but to no effect. I also attempted restarting the machine with an external monitor attached, but this also remains blank.

To describe the problem in more detail, the machine still sounds as though it is logging into windows. If i leave it to restart and press enter to get through the start your machine in safe mode dos bit (all with no screen) I eventually hear the windows start up theme, and an error message beep.
The screen is dead. Not just lit up with black, it is completely dead. Strangely, the alien eye LED lights on the back of the laptop which had previously gone out for a few months have now come back on, suggesting perhaps a loose connection?

I have just taken it back from a locally run repair shop, where they insist they have tested all components apart from the "motherboard, graphics card, and CPU" although im not sure what else this leaves! The machine remains blank.

I had thought of buying a replacement graphics card(s) as this felt to me like a graphics card problem, however the man at the shop insists that it could be any of the hardware parts listed above as not tested, and so this may be pointless.

Any suggestions? is it just dead and time to buy a new machine? if this is the case 1 year isnt a great lifespan for a £1000+ laptop... Im really just hoping someone might be able to suggest a way to find out exactly what the problem is being caused by.

 

well ...as per as with my own tech - experience it's not the graphic card cause if it does the machine won't be able to go that far and reach windows.it should just start the machine annd remain the same or trigger sound alarm (beep code ) for the Graphic Card.

what i doubt about is the screen connector or the place where it is connected on the mobo or a total LCD failure.

EDIT :if you say that you attached it to ext-monitor and still blank maybe this is for many reason:

1-the Graphic output head is damaged and this rarely happens
2-driver installation was not correct and to check this ..do you hear any sound (device connected sound of windows )when plug ext-monitor cable?

EDIT: note that some notebook doesn't automatically switch to external monitor unless you press some button on the keyboard (ie.FN+F# ) which # maybe any number.

hope this helps

 

Thanks for a swift reply Vipereyes.

I've been looking hard around the google-sphere in the last few hours trying to find people with my problem, and low and behold there seem to be a few of us, even one or two posts on this very forum- this one by ihatemyalienware seems to be virtually the same problem ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=245750).

It started after leaving the computer switched on over night, and as such usually this causes the maching to go into hibernate mode until touched the next morning, where upon the computer seemed to wake up, but the screen didn't. For this reason I would doubt that a driver is the problem, unless there was some kind of corruption while it was left on it's own.

When the trouble started, I managed to get it into windows (as denoted by the windows startup jingle) and then went to press the external monitor fn key. Unfortunately, i'm not sure which one this is. The alienware function keys are all icons, and it didnt come with a key in the manual as to which is which! I fiddled with all of them, but seemingly no effect.

The only other replies to similar problems to this suggest the notebook is simply fried, but i'm loathe to just give up when I can hear the thing boot up.

 

A couple things I'd try:

1. Boot up the laptop in a very bright environment, and look to see if you can see anything on the screen. Often, when a laptop screen goes "out," it's the backlight of the LCD screen that has died. If this is the case, you'll be able to somewhat see the normal screen if the environment is bright enough. If you can, the backlight is out, and the screen would need to be replaced.

2. Assuming you can't see anything at all, hook up to an external monitor like you did before. Wait for it to boot up, then hit the key combination that activates your external monitor. I'm not familiar with that model, but on most laptops, it's a FN-Key combo (on my M17x, for example, it's FN-F6.) Give it a few seconds between keypresses, because it takes a bit to actually switch.

If #2 gives you a good output to an external monitor and #1 gave no display whatsoever, then the ribbon cable leading to your laptop screen has probably been damaged. This is common with laptops, since you're constantly folding and unfolding that cable.

If #2 never gives you an output, including during the boot process (before you actually enter windows) then you more than likely have a problem with either your video card or motherboard (which on a laptop is often the same thing). In this case, it's almost always cheaper to replace the laptop than to fix it.

I should point out that another thing that can cause a similar problem is a corrupted operating system. I'm discounting that here, because I'm assuming you're watching it while it boots. A corrupted operating system may "shut off" the display, but it couldn't affect the initial boot display.

EDIT: I just read your last reply. If your computer is hibernating, it may be difficult to actually get it to shutdown, especially since Windows, by default, sets the power button action to "sleep". You can ensure your computer is OFF, not hybernating or sleeping, by holding down the power button for approximately 5 seconds. If your laptop is on, you'll see it immediately shut off. This is a hard shut-down, effectively crashing windows, so this is always a last resort, but if your computer is just having problems coming back from hybernation (or otherwise locked up beyond all hope), this is the way to force a shutdown. Of course, with a laptop, you can also unplug the A/C adapter and remove the battery for 10-15 seconds.

 

Thanks jt-3

Yes I ran through the restart techniques- they were the first thing suggested by the alienware technical support team.
Also what I think is critical is that i heard windows start up on one occaision. This implies the machine is switched on and is responsive surely. It would also mean there is less likelyhood of there being a hardware fault outside of the monitor or graphics card (or so i would imagine, not being an expert!).

I am just trying out your suggestions on using the external monitor.

Could anybody describe to me what the Fn icon for external monitor looks like? I've got no manual for them! I can see for example, Fn F3 looks like a laptop side on separated by a slash and a box inside another box, like a tv.
There is also Fn F5, which looks like a monitor screen with a line on the right and one on the bottom, ala a window with scroll bars on. Sry if this all sounds like gibberish!#


Edit: scratch that- i've managed to download a manual on my PC, continuing to try the Function buttons!

 

The Fn-F5 key you described sounds more like it refers to the touchpad. That one will probably turn the touchpad on and off..

The monitor key usually looks something like the following:


It sounds like Fn-F3 is the correct one for you.

 

If I remember correctly the manual is in digital format on alienwares website. Before the M15x came out I clearly remember looking at the manual online. The keys for monitor switching should be in there.

As vipereyes said if the graphics card is burnt out you should hear a series of beeps (3 for video I think) but thats not always the case.

I'm not familiar with your model does it have an integrated gpu and a discrete card? If so which gpu where you using when this happened? I think you can switch the gpu in the bios but If you cant see a bios screen I guess thats not much help.

 

Well i've left it on for a while and I can't even get it to windows at the moment! Don't you just love computers?

When i do (if i do) i will give the external monitor a shot. I have indeed found the manual online and the key combination is Fn F3 for the m9750 (for those of you interested!). Interestingly this Fn key cycles between "LCD only, CRT only, TV only, LCD/CRT simultaneously, and LCD/TV simultaneously." So I may have to press it a few times to get it to go through to a monitor.

My last hope is that this is indeed just a cable failure, but I think the laptop repair guys who looked at the thing would have thought of that.

Short of this I guess it will just have to be thrown out the window!

 

Oh here's a quick question- will the Function keys operate without windows? i.e. on startup?

 

Before you do that throw it in a box and fedex it me? Jk I'm sure you will get it fixed. Do you still have a warranty?

 

Now have the function keys responding- pressing the Fn wireless key turns the wireless light out, pressing the fn touchpad button turns the touchpad off. Unfortunately pressing the Fn external monitor button seems to have no effect on the external monitor hooked up. Looks like I may have come to the end of the line.

 

Needs a new gpu ....