Immediate Help Requested

I'm on red alert here. I've had problems with my M15x ever since I replaced my old 240M card for a 5850 Mobility card. Since then, over the course of about 8 months I have encountered problems such as my touch-light-buttons becoming permanently useless. They don't light up, nor do they work without about 5 minutes of me pressing it and endless frustrations. About once a day the system will shut off entirely. Sometimes I will get a grey screen with horizontal lines across it and a wretched noise, then the system will simply shut down.

Some times I'll get a temporary black screen that tells me my drivers just stopped working, but it repaired itself. Now I just had a near-heart attack when I got a grey screen again, but it wouldn't turn back on. Actually, the system itself would turn on, the keyboard lights will light up, but the DISPLAY SHOWED BLACKNESS. It scared me, I tried turning it off and taking the battery out and that's where I am now. My system is on, seemingly working fine, but I'm tethered to my outlet with the battery removed. I'm afraid it's going to die soon again. I need help immediately, please!

Could it be that I've fried my battery? I literally never take my laptop anywhere, it's far too big and weighty. I need suggestions. Please, go all Doctor House on me, diagnose my problem!

 

Press your battery indicator light tab and see if it lights up; that will tell you about your battery.

 

I don't have a battery indicator light tab, because my light buttons don't work as described in the OP.

 

Its on the battery...

 

My apologies. It does indeed light up... But why would it not work until the battery was removed?

 

Possibly removing the battery was the same as doing the power drain trick; where you disconnect the power cord take out the battery hold the power button for 20 seconds then hook it back up.

 

It sounds troublesome, but not necessarily fatal. First, the touch panel. Check the small ribbon cable that connects the touch panel to the motherboard. It is fragile and can be easily torn, resulting in an erratic connection that acts much like you describe. The connector itself can be loosened, simply requiring that it be reseated. Those clips and connectors are so small and delicate that either situation can occur anytime the touch panel is removed. If damaged, the ribbon cable and/or touch panel can be replaced from online sources. The second issue, the sporadic corruption or loss of picture or screen quality could be either graphics card or monitor, but is most likely the card. I would remove the 5850M, clean the contact points (a pencil eraser and lens cloth or other soft cloth will often do wonders) and re-seat the card. You would be surprised how often that cures issues like this. Worse case, you'll need to replace the card. I have forgotten the routing of the monitor cable in the M15x, but consult the Service Manual and check the cable connections while you're inside. Button up and see what happens. If the problem persists, run the built-in Diagnostics (F12 at the boot screen) for additional guidance.

M15x Service Manual -- Alienware: Online Documentation