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Does this sound like a video card problem or a screen going out problem?

post #1 of 21
1/12/06 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 
Okay so i have been having this problem for a couple of months. Every now and then when I have my computer on, my screen will start to flicker and go bright to dim. It does it when its connected to the power supply and when its on the battery as well. I have powerplay(ATI's drivers) not enabled so its not that. I dont know if the screen is going out or if its my video card. It doesnt matter what programs I have running it will still do that. From games to just a word doc.

Also Just today when tried to turn on my computer I could hear it start up but my screen was completely blank I had to hold the power button down and power it back up about 8 times before the screen kicked back on and I could see the Alienware logo when windows was starting. Do u have any idea what this could be?
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post #2 of 21
1/12/06 at 6:52pm
thats not a good sign dude. A couple of months ago that happened to me as well. It had the same symptoms and when I called them, first they gave me a thermal gel cuz they believed that my video card was just overheating, they told me to reseat my vid card, and reseated the lcd cable as well, but nothing worked. In the end, I was forced to return it to them and informed me that it was the lcd, and it gave out on me somehow. idk why. Call AW support and tell them what's wrong and they will fix it.
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post #3 of 21
1/12/06 at 9:35pm
Thread Starter 
thanks that was what I was afarid of. I dont want to send it back. I use it everyday at work ugh.....
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post #4 of 21
1/13/06 at 1:23am
Try using an external monitor.
If its the lcd, you should be able to use another screen.
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post #5 of 21
1/13/06 at 1:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by XoXoX
Try using an external monitor.
If its the lcd, you should be able to use another screen.
yeah, that would tell you if it was vid card or lcd.
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post #6 of 21
1/13/06 at 8:59am
Had a similar problem less a little more than a month ago. Thought my LCD took a dive as well. I called AW and we narrowed it down to a bad LCD inverter card, which they shipped to me and a local tech called to set up a time to replace it.

It took about 3 weeks to get the issue resolved total time but an external monitor worked fine so I wasnt completely dead in the water.

Good luck
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post #7 of 21
1/13/06 at 4:53pm
Thread Starter 
nice, but the problem is it doesnt happen all the time so its hard to do all that at the right moment. lol hmmmm
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post #8 of 21
1/13/06 at 5:01pm
I had a problem when i first got my laptop that caused the brightness to cycle through the brightness settings constantly. I think i fixed it with a BIOS flash...or maybe I just forced the brightness up all the way...I don't remember...

Sorry, that doesn't really help, but your prob kinda sounds like what happened to me.
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post #9 of 21
1/17/06 at 6:21pm
Thread Starter 
So LCD's like mine, they just dont go out after a few years do they? About how long are they suppose to last?
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post #10 of 21
1/17/06 at 6:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by blazehenryson
So LCD's like mine, they just dont go out after a few years do they? About how long are they suppose to last?
depends on how you treat them...
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post #11 of 21
1/17/06 at 7:22pm
Thread Starter 
well i clean mine, and when Im not using it 90% of the time I turn off my screen or my computer, so its not on 24/7
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post #12 of 21
1/17/06 at 7:49pm
I have started having a similar problem with my 766, it is intermittent but it seems to be a cable inside the LCD. When it goes dim I move the lid and i comes back. I figured I'll live with it for now and when it gets too bad I'll take it apart and try to fix it.

-Mark
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post #13 of 21
1/17/06 at 11:06pm
Thread Starter 
ahh yes thats what it is b/c when i moce my lid around too it does the same....
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post #14 of 21
5/9/06 at 12:09am
So did anyone fix this problem (specifically the 2 above) ???

Inverter card or cable ?

Mine was showing signs of this and it was really bad at this first start up today. I have to figure out WTF is the problem and fix it ASAP.

I noticed it only did it when the screen was in the 'viewable up' position....and when you moved it towards 'closed' it went back to normal.

Thanks
-Wayne
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post #15 of 21
5/10/06 at 6:28pm
I have the same issue with my 766 as well.. Any ideas on how to re-seat the LCD cable? I think thats the problem here.
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post #16 of 21
7/28/06 at 7:18pm

Have the same problem

When i turn on my notebook the only thing i get is a white screen. I can hear everything working, fans, hdd, etc.
I tried with a external monitor but nothing happens, the monitor doesnt get any data, do i have to make a key combination? Does the notebook sends the data automatically to the external monitor?
I also tried reseating the video card, the cpu fan and cpu aswell, i remove RAM but the only thing i didnt try was reseating the lcd cable because i dont know where it is hehehe.

So do u think this is a video card issue or motherboard?

Regards!

EvildrK
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post #17 of 21
8/1/06 at 2:06pm

ARGH !!! I'm gonna launch this thing....



PLEASE anyone....if you know how to correct this lcd cable or whatever it is that's causing this...PLEASE post up....I really don't want to launch this thing...then again...I can prolly ask one of the helo pilots to 'accidently' drop it in front of me from about 100 feet up......see if Aliens can fly....

I know SOMEONE out there knows....
Thanks a bunch..

Wayne
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post #18 of 21
8/1/06 at 2:59pm

something else

I want to add that my notebook doesnt boot, i can hear the hdd running but the led flashing light is turned off, this means the OS is not loading. And the alien eyes on the lid are turned off too.

So do u think that my video card is fried and thats why the BIOS is not booting up?

Regards!
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post #19 of 21
8/1/06 at 4:19pm
OK.....2 hours to completely disassemble this (for the first time ever with me taking a laptop apart)....and putting it back together (funny- no spare parts or screws).

Well....I dunno if I lodged something or what...but it seems to be good now.

So...I guess take the mofo apart til there's not really much else big to take off....be careful around the screen.....and I guess something will 'click' if you had the SAME problem as me.

I don't know if this will work for SIMILAR problems...but once you get the cooling fans and vid card out.....maybe the reinstall will cure it.

But for now, lets dance.....
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post #20 of 21
8/1/06 at 4:31pm

click?

what do u mean with the "CLICK"?
When my laptop stop responding I heard some sound like a click or plastic broken, dont know.

Did u have the same problem?
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