Alienware 17 R4 - Black screen on startup, can't fix

The problem:
Began when computer froze up while browsing the internet. Hard restarted, but after the Alienware logo appeared, the screen would remain black. The power button is illuminated, and the screen isn't completely off, just black. I did update BIOS last night, but restarted multiple times since without issue. Now there is an issue.

What I've tried:

• Re-install Windows (failed, can't even load into installation media. After booting into USB, the Windows logo briefly appears before cutting off into a black screen.
• Flashing BIOS to previous version (flashed successfully via USB, I think, but the black screen persists. Can't get into Windows or installation media.
• Re-seating RAM/swapping positions.
• Unplugging battery, disconnecting AC, holding power button for 30 seconds.

Is my laptop dead?? Thanks.

 

It's not dead if you can see stuff prior to entering windows.

First thing I would try is booting to Linux from USB and that will rule out a driver issue causing the black screen. Though bootable Windows drives should also do the same.

If it's not a SW issue then it might be the video adapter having an issue with something loading a driver. If the BIOS screen is showing and you're able to make changes then double check things in there and with BIOS updates there tends to be a push back to default settings that can make things appear to be broken until changed back. Every update I do tends to result in RST being enabled which causes the boot drive to not work properly. On newer systems it may enable EFI but, your system might be configured for Legacy.

 

Thanks for the reply. Just tried Linux live environment, same story - black screen.

I'm able to make changes in my BIOS no problem. Are there changes I should make? I'm not very good with computers and don't know what much of this means.

I tried disabling secure boot, should I change from UEFI to legacy?

 

Well, you mentioned several reboots without issues with Windows prior to the black screen so, that rules it out.

Black screen post-bios though leads me to think it might be the video card having an issue. The BIOS should have an option to use the iGPU instead of the dGPU and that might get you a functioning screen again. It's possible the BIOS might have changed something with the GPU when you updated it but, you said you flashed it back to the prior version which should have reverted the change.

 

Switched from RAID to AHCI and now when I boot into a Linux environment, GRUB actually appears and I'm able to interact with it. When I boot into the distro after GRUB, the black screen persists. Do you think that means anything significant, or just so happened to coincide with RAID being turned off?

I like the theory about the GPU. I tried looking everywhere for iGPU/dGPU option, but to no avail. Couldn't find them. I'll have to do more research on how to find those settings.

 

Well, that supports the BIOS defaulting after flashing idea.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/...top-does-not-detect-its-discrete-video-card-s
https://www.dell.com/community/Alie...-between-integrated-graphic-card/td-p/5634753
https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/m17-R3-iGPU-is-not-selectable/td-p/7806832

Looking through some options on the igpu/dgpu issue. Looks like some of the higher end models don't allow switching the output in the bios. A test to see if the card itself is the issue is to use an external video output like HDMI >> TV and if it works then it's not the card.

The fact you can get beyond BIOS to the GRUB menu means the igpu is working fine and the boot config seems to be detecting and invoking the dgpu, hence the black screen. If you modify the modeset options to i915 it will force the igpu to be used.

i915.modeset=0
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=345433

At some points I've used this to alter how things boot up when firmware changes don't quite work as expected to force an output to HDMI external. It keeps the kernel from trying to load the secondary GPU on boot. There are some other flags you can put into grub for different scenarios though as well.

Did you try the windows boot CD at all to see if things would act differently post AHCI toggling?

 

use external monitor or tv until problem solved ?
boot into safe mode to see if it's a driver issue.

 

not a display issue, monitors do nothing.
safe mode rarely works due to persistent black screen issue, but eventually booted it up twice. reinstalled all the drivers i could think of. no dice.

if its just a driver issue, why can't i boot into Windows Installation media or even a live linux environment?

 

Did you try to do the Alienware/Dell diagnostics? That could point you in the direction of the faulting hardware.