Member Avatar for Megahalo

Rig

  • Manufacturer: Alienware Laptop
  • CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz w/ Hyper Threading
  • GFX Card: nVidia 7800 GTX
  • RAM: 1 GB

Problem

Well all of the sudden a few days ago I went to my computer (which I leave on) and the screen was black but the computer was still buzzing and the computer was still on. I thought rebooting would fix it but after I rebooted I head everything in my computer turning on yet the screen would not start. I tried plugging it into my TV with VGA support and nothing came up. I remember this had happened before but the only way it got fixed was sending it back to Alienware and getting a new GFX card installed. Knowing how bad Alienware's support is I do NOT want to send it back because the computer will be gone for 3 months and they're support is so crappy. Is there any way to fix/test my GFX card to see if that is really the problem?

  • 3 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 136 Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Megahalo
Member Avatar for SnowDog

It's booting up into Windows? Is that what you mean when you say you 'heard everything in [ your ] computer turning on'?

Everything points to the graphics card. You've already done all the tests you can (assuming the above is correct and the machine boots).

The next thing is to get another card and swap it. Can you do that? And what if you make it worse by breaking something? They're packed pretty tight in there.

Alienware's service isn't universally bad. If you listen to only the worst stories, any retailer sounds bad.

If the card is broken there's no magical way of fixing it. It needs replacing (or, testing and replacing, depending on how you look at it).

Member Avatar for lasher511

ur computer brightness/ contrast hasnt just been turned down?

Member Avatar for Megahalo

I had someone come and check it out. Motherboard is dead and the shitty 3 month warrenty for it is up too. So to fix it'll be about $1000 out of my pocket.

Member Avatar for lasher511

u can just buy a new one for that price. or u could always send it to me and see if theres anything i can do :P

Member Avatar for Megahalo

Hehe. No thx. My laptop cost $3500 though so yea while I could get a new one it wouldn't hold a fight against my old one.

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