Computer doesn't boot past blank/black screen

Was watching a TV show in fullscreen with VLC player. Suddenly, screen goes white and the computer freezes. Ctrl+Alt+Del, Win+Tab etc don't do anything, so I manually power the computer down. Now, when I restart it, it won't boot past a blank/black screen. it doesn't even get to the BIOS splash screen or boot option screen, so I can't do a system recovery from disk or load a linux distro to offload my files. System is an Alienware m15x running Windows 7 64bit Pro, installed late December and regularly updated. Had a bluescreen earlier today (nvlkkm.ddl or something, i think), set the system back to last good savepoint to restart it from there.

Any idea what's broken and how I can fix it?

 

Unplug it, remove the battery and press the power button for 30secs. That should reset the EC in case it was the problem. Try powering it back on after that.

 

That was the first thing I tried, yeah. Also tried connecting an external monitor JIC it was a problem with the display, but no luck.

 

Whizzo, if you press F2 can you get to the BIOS ?
Does your machine have a CMOS reset pinhole?
This might also be worth a try
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...nel-off-reset-cmos-battery-void-warranty.html

 

remove the cmos battery for a minute and see if that helps.

 

Update: Let computer sit without battery or AC attached while I took a nap. Attempted to "empty" it of static electricity again, then connected AC and immediately hammered F2 per JOSEA's post. lo and behold, it booted to BIOS and then to Windows from there. Windows seemed stable for a few minutes, then started exhibiting repeated GPU driver failures - screen freezes, flashes a bit, "Nvidia GPU driver has recovered from a failure", etc.

Figuring the GPU driver was a bit faulty, I uninstalled it, intending to first run MSE sweep, then CCleaner, and finally reinstall the GPU driver. Sadly, system now exhibits the same behaviour as originally - black screen on boot, no POST or BIOS.

Will be letting it sit again for a while and then attempt to boot it again.

 

Okay, system booted again. GPU driver is still uninstalled, so it loaded with the default Windows driver. I fired up MSSE to sweep, but after a few minutes, the screen went all white again and the machine froze up.

Restarted again, and immediately switched from the Nvidia GPU to the Intel integrated chip. Could it be that the physical Nvidia GPU is damaged/broken?

 

It sure sounds like a hardware issue, I had a somewhat similar issue with my G73 (ATI card not switchable) in win 7 when I was messing with very low clocks in VBIOS, but I am fairly sure this is not your issue since you have switchable..

 

No, I haven't been messing with the clocks at all. However, the GPU has been running for over 3.5 years at high temperatures (approaching 90°C). Maybe it's just "burnt out"?

Currently running MSSE sweep in Integrated mode, will then attempt to reinstall the Nvidia GPU driver.

 

That same thing happened to my 8600m gt. I was playing a game and suddenly it just goes ploop. Black screen, nothing more. So I assume its dead.

Unless someone can guide me through a process to fix it.

 

sounds like your GPU is dying. Can mustar up the power to turn on after full cooldowns for a while adn then just gives out again.

It's sad to say sometimes but I think it's gone and it's time for a new gpu/laptop

 

I assume you mean "nvlddmkm.dll". Nvlddmkm is a kernel mode display driver for your Nvidia chip. A faulty chip would be a good assumption if the nature of this error message constantly appears. One of the job of your kernel is to interface with your physical hardware so I would say its a fair guess the GPU is defective.

However capacitors in motherboards can fail due to bad power source, thermal wear and tear, or from improper handling.

The fact that you can sometimes boot into Windows and sometimes not and the fact you cannot access BIOS along with that would indicate that you have a power issue, not a GPU issue. You said in a post above that you "immediately switched from the Nvidia GPU to the Intel integrated chip" but the problem still persists. Sounds a lot like a power issue, but that is my best guess.

Having the capacitors tested...thats another thing. Good luck on your quest.

 

I think halladayrules may got a point here.

I fried a very old Nvidia Ge force 440 64Ram on my HP pavilion a while ago, however, the computer was still booting up without problems, even thus I couldn't see a thing, basically a mix of white and grey colours on my LCD beside a burn smell coming from the ventilation system.

Yet, I was able to boot windows and go into the BIOS settings with no issues.

 

GTX 8800m's are known to have solder issues. Sounds like unfortunately your turn at the wheel with the issue. You could try the rebake of the main board but that usually is a temporary fix........................