Help: Laptop display crashes, motherboard or graphics card?

[icecon]

While running VLC media player, the screen went black and then came back 3 times in short succession. After every time, I got a text bubble saying something along the lines of "display driver has recovered from an error." Then the fourth time the screen froze and then got a greenish then a reddish tinge. After waiting a bit, I shut down my computer (holding down the power button).

Now when I turn on my computer, nothing comes up on the screen. Nothing at all, not even BIOS. As far as I can tell from the light indicators the computer seems to turn on and start to run smoothly, but with no display.

Do I just need to reinstall the drivers for my (dedicated) graphics card or did it go bad? Plus, how do I reinstall the drivers without being able to see anything. Or is the fact that I'm not even getting BIOS mean that it's a motherboard issue?


Computer Specs:
Dell Inspiron 1420
Vista 32-bit
Dedicated Nvidia 8400M GS
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz

Also, one possible other cause: About a month ago, I upgraded from 2GB to 4GB of RAM (yes, i know I need to get 64-bit). I made sure the ram was exactly the same type and speed, the only difference was I got a slightly better CAS latency.

[glc]

Connect a standard monitor to the VGA jack to see if the problem is with the laptop screen or something else.

[icecon]

Ok, I tried that and nothing. Also, I was wrong it seems that the hard drive light turns on for only the first second or so.

Also, I forgot to mention that before I shut down I got a blue screen. But it was only up for a few seconds, so I didn't get a chance to get an error code or anything.

[jdeb]

I just got one of those back from Dell for one of my customers. It had six mirrored images (error messages as well) most of the time or just black. I hooked up a external monitor to it and was able to get in and back it up. I was going to fix it but I decided to do a little investigating on the web and found a technical blog from Dell (of course I cant find it now)They have issued a 1 year extended warranty for that model because of the video problem. You will want to call Dell immediately and they will keep you on the phone until they confirm the video is bad. They will send you a box and have it back in week. It is the video, trust me on this. They are having major problems with it and 4 other models. The fix I am told is solid and will last, we will see. Hope this helps, don't waste to much of your time... You could hook up a separate monitor to it I think the key combo is (control + f7 or fn) and go from there, they might ask you to do this when your on the phone.

[icecon]

lol thanks, so I just got off the phone with dell. Apparently, they're sending me a technician with a new motherboard. I saw on one of dell's forums that the graphics card is actually soldered on to the motherboard, so they probably have to replace the whole thing. I have "Dell Complete Care" and another year and a half of warranty, so I'm ballin'.

[glc]

This is a known problem, you aren't alone.

nVidia GPU failures in laptops - Prevention & Repair & Lawsuit Settlement FAQ

nVidia GPU failures in laptops - Prevention & Repair FAQ Some background Info: Basically, if you have an 8400M or 8600M in your laptop, there's a high probability for failure.