Dell Studio 1749 8 Beeps

[superbuckler88]

I've had my Dell Studio 1749 for at least 6 years now, and while using it yesterday the screen flickered on and off several times and then froze, forcing me to turn it off. When i went to turn it back on the screen did not turn on, and the laptop repeats 8 beeps over and over.

I've googled and tried all sort of things, holding D while booting, removing RAM, cmos batt etc and still nothing. I'd try replacing the screen as ive been told the 8 beeps mean screen failure, but when i try to plug it into an external monitor the screen is black apart from white dots and a flashing underscore at the top right (see attached photo)

Will changing the screen work or is it my graphics card?

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[webworkings]

Try this...

1. Turn the laptop off (not sleep or hibernate but off).
2. Connect an external monitor to the laptop.
3. Turn on the external monitor.
4. Turn on the laptop.

NOTE: You may have to press an "external monitor" button. Could be the f4 button or a button with two monitors on it, for the external monitor to work.

If you can see fine on the external monitor, then your attached display, or the ribbon cable that connects it, are your problem.

If you can't see on the external monitor at all, or the problem occurs on the external monitor as well, then it is probably the graphics card/GPU that is the problem, which may require the motherboard be replaced.