Laptop crashed!!

[Slateman]

Ugh, ugh, and more ugh

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, I don't think its bad.

I have an Inspiron E1705 with some customization. Was doing pretty well until today.

Specs:

Core 2 duo T7200

1 GB DDR2

7900 GO

I was playing Assassin's Creed. I tried turning up the graphics a notch. It was playing fine, but I was getting some glitches, mainly the Spock hands. Anyway, I was playing with it this way for about an hour and all of the sudden I get the blue screen of death and a warning about Video Failure.

I try rebooting. I can hear my laptop spinning up, but the screen is blank. Then it turns off.

I leave it alone for a while. I come back, the light is blinking like its in hibernation mode. I hit the power button. The screen is blank, but I hear the Windows beeping sound it makes when it asks if I want to turn off my computer.

So, what do you guys think?

Is it possible that just the graphics card is gone and all I need is a new one? Or is it possible that it actually fried the connection on the motherboard and I'm screwed? Would the laptop even turn on if that happened?

Oh, and what's the best graphics card I can run?

[drums and skins]

What "windows beeping sound" was it? A system beep that you hear on startup (as in a POST beep confirmation) or some sound from within windows played through your stereo speakers (not the system speaker)?

If it is the graphics card, you're somewhat lucky that you have a system where you can replace it, but so far, I think you've overheated and damaged something. If it is spinning, it's probably not the processor, but it could be the GPU especially considering the situation of playing a game on a laptop.

As for what your possibilities are, you're fairly restricted to what you can do within a laptop. You can upgrade or simply replace the card with the same model. I wouldn't suggest doing this yourself since you had to ask about fixing the problem, but there is a possibility to replace it with a better card that requires some major work inside the case and possibly voiding your warranties. Replacing the Video Card of a Dell Inspiron E1705

P.S. - If you're going to game on a laptop, invest in a USB cooling pad. They're usually just about $30 and can prevent overheating crashes.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I agree with the above. I am an IT Professional by career and I would suggest rebooting into safe mode, deleting your display driver and rebooting. That should detect in case you went into a resolution your laptop couldn't handle.

[Slateman]

I agree with the above. I am an IT Professional by career and I would suggest rebooting into safe mode, deleting your display driver and rebooting. That should detect in case you went into a resolution your laptop couldn't handle.

I don't think you understand.

I can't see anything on the screen. Period. I know its turning on cus it goes from off to black. Kind of like when your TV fades out and there is that moment of black screen. There's still a faint glow. Thats what I got going on here.

I know its booting up into windows cus I can hear those stupid chimes that Windows plays when it starts. And I can bring up WMP and play the song that I closed it on last, simply because I've memorized where the icon is in the start menu.

But nothing is on the screen :doh:

[drums and skins]

I don't think you understand.

I can't see anything on the screen. Period. I know its turning on cus it goes from off to black. Kind of like when your TV fades out and there is that moment of black screen. There's still a faint glow. Thats what I got going on here.

I know its booting up into windows cus I can hear those stupid chimes that Windows plays when it starts. And I can bring up WMP and play the song that I closed it on last, simply because I've memorized where the icon is in the start menu.

But nothing is on the screen :doh:

Is your computer still under waranty? I don't think you'd hear any of the windows sounds if your graphics processor was fried. Well, I'm not sure really. I *think* the video card is needed to POST.

Right now I'm banking on that you have a faulty connection from the video card to the LCD or that your LCD has, well, failed. You could try opening it up and see if it got loose or if there is any damage on the data ribbon cable that connects the graphics unit to the LCD. Its unlikely this happened because those cables snap in pretty well, but i don't know how much abuse you hand that laptop when you game .

p.s. - MalcolmConnection -- Does your employer have any IT gigs open? I'm still looking for a job (graduated in December).

[slackermike]

If you have or know someone that has a monitor, you can try plugging the monitor into the laptop. If you get a picture, then I would guess that the problem is with the LCD screen. That's a quick test I do at work when an employee is having problems with their laptop display.

If you don't have access to a spare monitor, then try the following. One the computer has booted, take a small flashlight and shine it on the screen. If you can see your desktop, then you'll know it's a problem with the lcd display. If you still can not see the desktop, then you probably have an issue with the videocard/motherboard.

Hope that helps.