m15 R1, blacked out, nothing on screen after restart

Hi @Ruki_97 welcome to this user to user discussion forum. This is not Dell Support. 

Prolonged forced shut down is not recommended, single press of power button and wait for system to shut down is best. 

The screen's backlight might have failed, looking at oblique angle in dark room should reveal very faint screen image. 

What was the outcome of HDMI connected to external monitor/TV, was there an image. 

If laptop lid moved back and forwards, does screen image reappear. 

Does run the LCD Built-in Self-Test work. 

Please click on Kudos to say thank you for response from user that is not employed by Dell. Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you. 

Thanks for replying crimsom.

When I connected it to a TV with HDMI, nothing appeared unfortunately.

And no, when the lid moved nothing happened either. And I couldn’t run the LCD self test either.

What I worry most is the fact that there is no error code blinking in the power button if the issue is hardware related.

Thanks for the recommendation crimsom.

I will try installing new boot drive and get back to you as soon as possible. Plus do I need to do anything related to BIOS as well?

If there is a motherboard failure then the diagnostic light would indicate so am I right?

Hi @Ruki_97  thank you for sharing update. 

POST diagnostics do not undertake a comprehensive test. Dell F12 ePSA Diagnostics does more hardware testing, but not everything. The best diagnostic is sat in front of the screen. 

BIOS provides drivers for screen to work and give splash window. 

It seems that the screen drivers were lost/corrupted during forced shut down. When screen does not work, recovery options are minimal. Reseating the RAM cards might be a fix. Installing a new OS(C:) boot drive is an option. 

If that does not work, motherboard failure becomes the suspected root cause. 

Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you. 

Okay. But without a display that too is impossible to do. Would it be fine if I reset BIOS by removing the CMOS battery and power draining? Will that be okay?

Hi @Ruki_97 thank you for sharing update. 

As speculated, Recover BIOS might get the screen working, so worth a try ? 

Not sure if deleting BIOS from CMOS again, will work, but worth a try. 

Hi @Ruki_97 thank you for sharing update. 

In the opening post is list of steps undertaken. The BIOS data was removed from on-board memory. If BIOS is not working, there will be no POST diagnostic warnings. BIOS provides drivers for screen to work and give splash window. When screen does not work, F2 and F12 menus are not available. Therefore boot order cannot be changed to say boot from USB as first option. 

Please try How to Recover the BIOS on a Dell Computer or Tablet | Dell US 

Hopefully the screen will start working and Recover BIOS will get laptop working again. 

Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you. 

Resolve No Power, No POST, No Boot or No Video issues with your Dell Computer | Dell US 

Sad to say crimsom. That didn't do the trick either. Any other suggestions?

Hi @Ruki_97  thank you for sharing update. 

Seemingly reseating the RAM cards did not work. If RAM is not detected the screen will not work. RAM cards are usually very reliable and its connection with motherboard can be impaired with accumulation of dust and/or abrupt movement of laptop. Please check RAM card connection to motherboard RAM card slots. 

Please remove both RAM cards and remove any dust from electrical connection using a lint free cloth (no water, no solvents). Avoid touching the copper connections. Check both RAM card slots using bright light, remove any dust from electrical connections using lint free cloth (no water, no solvents).

Insert one of the RAM cards in slot one, and power on. If screen does not work, power off. Insert the other RAM card in slot one and power on. If screen does not work, power off. Repeat for RAM slot two. 

Hopefully the screen is now working. Are both RAM cards and their slots good? 

Please share an update on progress, so that other users derive benefit from your experience. Thank you. 

Really thank you for the assistance crimsom. Really appreciate it.

Just did what you've mentioned as well. Both RAM cards and slots appear to be in proper condition. No dust, no damage marks, burn marks or anything at all.

Followed the procedure as you've instructed, but the issue persists.

Hi @Ruki_97  thank you for sharing update. 

Please disconnect all external devices and use bright light to examine all ports for foreign objects, broken electrical contacts, etc. 

Laptop without battery is designed to function as Desktop on ac adapter power. Please disconnect battery to see if your system functions as Desktop with screen working, if yes, replace battery.

If screen and its backlight still not working, the HDMI connection to external monitor test still says there is no GPU output signal, POST still fails to complete with diagnostics errors, please hold down the power-on button to see if reset laptop function gets screen to work. 

Not sure if m15 system allows keyboard key combination to toggle between CPU integrated graphics and GPU dedicated graphics, to get HDMI output signal to external monitor. I do not recall the key combination, more research needed. 

This issue is quite rare but it is most likely a graphics card issue. Your laptop has optimus which means that the Discrete GPU can be completely disabled to save power but still have the intel GPU on. Think of it like having the intel display whatever you’re doing and the nvidia process everything. So my assumption would be that your onboard intel GPU has failed and it needs a motherboard replacement.

but as one more test to see if the display turns on I recommend disconnecting battery and cmos, plus removing all the ram and removing the hard drive as well as any other storage media inside the laptop and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Then plug the battery in only and leave the cmos and everything else disconnected to see if it works.

no not really. My Alienware 15 r2 has optimus but I can’t switch to the 980m. It only processes the data and sends it to the intel gpu to display.

Also yeah that’s a good sign that indicates the ram isn’t detected. So insert one stick and tell me how it goes.