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Issue with blank screen when booting m17xr3
Issue with blank screen when booting m17xr3. this has been going on for a while now...Laptop has been sitting in the back for almost 1.5 years now. Wife was on it playing wow all of a sudden screen goes white and then we restart it. all we would get is a all the lights and it posts but screen stays black the back light doesn't turn on..so we started to use the r2 for a while and never got the other to work. finally one day a year later i am tryin to figure out what the issue is i remove vid card put it back in i hit the power button sure enough the thing boots find reformat all the good stuff. install everything everything goes fine i stress test it fine. downloaded all windows updates video updates everything possible.no issues..playing wow again after a couple of days stress test let it rest bam black screen again no back light. take it out again and this time i hit the power button and the screen turns on but i get the 8 beeps no video card...i thought the r3's had on board video can anyone answer the question for me? i think its the 460m that took a<ADMIN NOTE: Profanity removed as per TOU>but spending 300 bucks i could just build myself a desktop and be done with it but i got this LT and paid a ton of money for it so i wanna see if anyone has idea's can't get into bios, cause it just will not light up with 460m card installed cause back light will not come on with it but without it the screen lights up and i get the beeps.
Alienware-Naomi
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Posted May 23rd, 2014 20:00
Hi!
According to the No Post Beep Codes, 8 beeps indicate an LCD failure. So, you should do as PhoenixBennu suggested and connect an external monitor to help identify if the problem is the Video Card or the LCD.
Please let us know what happens after you complete this test.
8 beeps at post IS officially listed as a LCD issue.
But in my experience ( I've repaired at least 200 R3, R4's) it can be the GPU, at least 75% of the time I get 8 beeps it's the video card, not the LCD. Especially on the R3, not a good model IMO.
PhoenixBennu
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Posted May 24th, 2014 20:00
As pointed out, the 8 beeps may mean one thing, but many times it can be either LCD or GPU. I had similar situations with prior 17 which was the GPU. However, it would be troubling to go put down the money on a replacement GPU and then wind up with it not working. If you do not want to go and buy from Dell, I might recommend calling local repair and computer shops and see if they have a 460m or similar you can test to see if it fixes the problem before you put the money down.
i would remove the vid card and the LCD would light up...but it would give me the 8 beeps...then i could swap to the external monitor but as soon as it plug gpu in it wouldn't even light up..after muliple times of removing it and putting it back in now the LCD wouldn't light at all.. and now i still get the 8 beeps either way..i think its really broke now.. if i can only find a really cheap 460m for like 50 or so bucks to try it out would be great but dell still sells them for a couple of hundred bucks...its insane.
Alienware-Naomi
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Posted May 29th, 2014 10:00
You can also check parts-people.com or ztronics.com for refurbished or used parts.
PhoenixBennu
2 Intern
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Posted May 23rd, 2014 12:00
There could be a few issues with this, but it definitely sounds as though the GPU is to blame.
In these cases, I always recommend testing an external monitor. The inverter may also be bad, and if that is the case, an external monitor would still work fine.
It is always weird how small malfunctions impact systems. I had an HP that my kids spilled soda on and the sound went out. It was going to cost too much to repair, even after trying to get it repaired by HP who told us that multiple things were shot on it, so we stored it to use for parts or something later. When we got it out months (if not over a year) later, it was working just fine.
So, I would recommend testing an alternate display. If that works, then test it with OCCT and see what shows.