Possible to reset laptop without display?

Question

My Alienware 18 screen won't turn on. I've tried every single trouble shooting there is out there but no luck. I even bought new ram and the screen still won't turn on. External display doesn't work. There are no code beeps. I hear the laptop fans running. I even tried unplugging internal display cable to force it to use my external monitor. Still no luck. My last resort is to completely reset the laptop, but how can I do this with no display? I'm not worried about losing data because I store everything on an external drive. So I'm okay with a clean slate, if possible.

Can anyone help please?!

jtaimany · Accepted Answer

Thank you for your responses. But I did not get any beep codes. Beep codes repeat continuously. These were start-up beeps. And after a whole day of headaches I finally figured out my problem. I had to downgrade my GPU. Once I switched back to my original GPU, my screen turned on again. So strange though that I did not get a beep code for GPU error...

mattyb3 · Answer

Try this process that MrFox posted in the link below. You need to follow it exactly and apparently it will work without removing the CMOS battery

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-18-bios-a07.751794/page-4#post9646431

If the system detects that no display is connected then you will get an 8 beep code. I do not think there is a way around this.

A51-06 · Answer

If you get a 8 beep code, have you tried holding the power and D key when turning it on?

A51-06 · Answer

Oh. That's actually kind of weird how it doesn't give a proper beep code.

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Possible to reset laptop without display?

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