Video Works When HDMI Plugged In- Otherwise Sporadic

[icashootnstar]

Hi,
I have an XPS M1730 running Windows 7. Recently the screen would go black intermittently. As I used the computer, the instances would occur more frequently and last longer until it would just stay black and not come back up at all. I can see light if I look closely and cup my hands, but no image.
The perplexing part was that when I plugged a TV in via HDMI, the screen on the computer came up too… and stayed up after a couple of sputters! Dare I hope that this is software related and not too expensive to fix? I’ve been reading a bunch of terrible posts about fried video cards!

Thanks,
Shannon

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9500 @ 2.60GHz, x64 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 6
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3070 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT, 256 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 292356 MB, Free - 78462 MB; D: Total - 10239 MB, Free - 9977 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 0KX412
Antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials, Updated and Enabled

[Hockson]

Have you tried going into safe mode and then removing its graphics driver completely and let it boot without driver? How old is the video card anyway? Have you tried testing it in some other hardware? Have you tried removing and reseating it again? If there are any dust particles accumulated then try to remove it as well.

[icashootnstar]

I have started in safe mode and deleted the driver. Then downloaded and installed it again from the NVIDIA site as directed by Windows 7. The Dell Service tag is CL2WRH1. It’s an XPS M1730 I bought on 12/1/08, so it’s only about 3 years old.

There are two fans on the NVIDIA GeForce 8700M graphics card and they both seem to be turning just fine. I’m running SpeedFan and the temperature does get up to about 72. But, from what I’ve read, that is normal. (It looks like the HDMI is on the video card.)

Unfortunately, I don’t have another computer that I can switch it out with to test, nor do I have any other monitors.

[ApPy10]

It only sounds like the video card is dying. Or the video card slot could have been damaged when reseating the video card. What is the power supply that you have with you? Could you get into the hardware monitor in bios and check the readings, if anything is less or something. I definitely feel like you its your video card that is having trouble.