Alienware video card

[cowens16]

A friend of mine asked me to work on his Alienware m9750 because its screen wouldn't come on. I could tell by the beeps (or lack thereof) it was never even getting into the POST. I opened it up, reseated the vid card and tada, it worked like a charm. A week or so later he called me again and it's doing the exact same thing. I opened it up, reseated the card again, but this time it's not fixing it. I've repeated the reseating several times to no avail. I also checked the memory by removing it one stick at a time, but it seems to be fine. Am I incorrect in diagnosing this as a bad vid card? I've found one to replace it on ebay but I don't want to drop $200 of his money until I'm absolutely certain that the vid card is the problem. Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,
Clint

 

[pcfixed]

why not get a realy cheap video card just to test with even like $10 one
to determin that, when you remove the graphic card does anything change like

fan turns faster or slowyer
extra beeeps
turns on then off
and so on...

 

[cowens16]

I haven't seen any (even terrible ones) for that cheap. But yes, the boot is different without the vid card inserted.