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    AW18 No Post Black Screen Help - Dell wants to Depot

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by sachem87184, Nov 23, 2015.

  1. sachem87184

    sachem87184 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So I have a mid-2014 AW18 with a i7-4910mq, 2x 880m GTX, 16GB RAM (4x4GB) that won’t post or light the LCD up. When I press the power button the laptop will look like its starting, the lights on the keyboard, power button, etc will light up and the HDD will got solid like it's loading the OS.The problem is that I get no audio and the LCD won’t show any video or even power the backlight up.

    What I have tried:
    Hooking up a secondary monitor VIA mini DP
    Pulling HDDs
    Pulling HDDs, CMOS Battery, Battery, Memory
    Going the fix posted here to reset the BIOS (Pulling everything and letting the BIOs 2 beep for memory.)
    Pulling the secondary GPU
    Pulling the secondary and primary GPU

    Note:
    The Bios does do the 2 beeps when the memory is pulled.

    I have NBD onsite warranty from Dell, but their telling me they want to depot it and sent me a box. Definitely not something I'd like to do. Do I have other options?
     
    sachem87184, Nov 23, 2015
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  2. sachem87184

    sachem87184 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Update:

    I pulled the connector on the LCD with 1 stick of memory in it to see if I'd get 8 beeps. But I got nothing. Seems likes a motherboard problem to me.

    Also, if I change the memory amount the laptop will restart itself after about 30 seconds. Same result of a black screen though.
     
    sachem87184, Nov 23, 2015
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  3. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    You have the right to refuse the depot.
     
    Zero989, Nov 23, 2015
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    sachem87184 likes this.
  4. sachem87184

    sachem87184 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I did not know that. I'll keep it in mind for next time.

    Thankfully with Mr. Foxes instructions about resetting the BIOS I was able to get it back to functional levels.

    I removed all of the ram and powered it on.
    During that time I got the 2 beeps, pause, 2 beeps, repeat.
    I waited until the machine powered itself off (20+ beeps) and then I quickly added a stick of ram.
    When it powered itself back on I repeatedly got 5 beeps in a row.
    I powered the laptop off then back on.

    At that time my screen regained its life and I was back in operation.


    Again, Thanks Mr. Fox!!!
     
    sachem87184, Nov 23, 2015
    #4
    Papusan and inasense like this.