***EVOLVING UPDATES WILL BE POSTED HERE***

Some people are coming here looking for help and answers. We cannot provide either one right now because we don't know why it is happening, but having to sift through unrelated discussions is not good for people looking for help. Short of reprogramming EDID information to the LCD EEPROM the display panels on the affected machines are ruined. Theoretically, it should be possible to fix them. From a practical perspective, it is beyond the skill set of most to attempt it, and buying a new display is the likely solution. Unfortunately, the problem may return and destroy the replacement display unless drastic measures are taken to eliminate the cause, which has been loosely identified as several of the latest GeForce drivers in combination with Windows 10 and/or fully updated Windows 10-ready systems.



Affected models identified:

Clevo P377SM-A (Sager NP9377-S)

Alienware 17 (R1 2013)

Alienware 18 (2013)

Alienware M17xR4

Alienware M18xR1

Alienware M18xR2

As of 8/17/2015 all reported LCD failures involve:

Windows 10 Operating System

NVIDIA GPUs (780M, 880M and 980M)

60Hz LVDS and 120Hz eDP Displays

It appears systems running UEFI without Legacy/CSM support may be able to boot from HDMI or mini-DP even when they experience 8-beeps and fail to POST using the native display.



It appears the limited number of Alienware 17" single GPU laptops with 120Hz eDP 3D-capable display may be exempt from issues. No reports of LCD failures with this configuration as of 8/9/2015.

It appears that using drivers older than 353.62 may help avoid this problem, but there is not enough information to suggest that doing so is actually safe. Some with affected models are using older drivers, including my 345.20 desktop driver mod, under Windows 10 and have not experienced this issue... yet.

Update #1 - 08/12/2015: Installing Windows 10 is just not a safe thing to do if you own one of the above machines. Huge risk with any NVIDIA GPU installed. If you're going to do this, proceed at your own risk and expect the worst from Windows 10. Spare yourself the heartache and stay with Windows 7 or 8. Based on my own experience, you can take comfort in knowing you are not missing anything special right now, since DX12 is meaningless at this time and the OS itself is actually not a very good product overall. See post quoted below.



Arestavo said: ↑



I got a new screen in today and forced the iGPU in BIOS. Booted into 10 just fine and I used DDU to uninstall the previous Nvidia driver (353.62). I rebooted and downloaded 352.84 then enabled the discreet GPUs - rebooted into Windows 10 no driver verification mode and installed those drivers. Rebooted and everything was fine. Enabled SLI, everything seemed OK and even played GW2 for a minute. Rebooted the laptop - 8 beeps. @Mr. Fox - It may be specific to 353.62 with this problem and Windows 7. 8, 8.1, and 10 - but even earlier drivers for Windows 10 are bricking the LCD. Click to expand...

***ATTENTION***ATTENTION***ATTENTION*** ​

Alienware has asked me to post this request for information.



If you have an Alienware that has been affected by this 8 beep/no boot problem, even if you have already called them and have a ticket number, please send the following information to them ASAP. Even if you are out of warranty, please send the information for investigative purposes.



Email:

(this is a JPG - please do not re-post it in text format)

Email Subject Line: 8-Beep/No Boot Issue



Please provide:

Your Contact Information

Your Service Tag

Your GPU info (whether stock or aftermarket)

Your OS version at the time of failure

Your driver version at the time of failure

System BIOS version (if you know it)

BIOS boot configuration at the time of failure (Legacy, UEFI with Legacy, UEFI, Secure Boot, etc. if you know how it was set up)