GPU issues?

I've got this Dell Inspiron running an i5 with 6GB of RAM and an Nvidia GT 730 graphics card...
When I boot the laptop up, the image actually appears, but there isn't a single icon to be found on the desktop. Then, after a little while, the cursor starts jumping all over the place like it has a mind of its own, and eventually, the screen just flickers—it goes pitch black for a few seconds before finally coming back. I can't help but wonder if the graphics card has finally kicked the bucket, or if we're looking at a faulty display panel or perhaps a loose internal ribbon cable?
I can upload a video of the behavior later if that helps!

Look, man, that mouse stuttering? It doesn't sound like a faulty ribbon cable to me—and I'm pretty sure your GPU isn't the culprit either.

Honestly, my gut feeling is that your OS just completely tanked along with the drivers... everything went south at once. If I were you, I’d just wipe the slate clean and do a fresh install of the OS from scratch.

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Maybe try reinstalling your graphics drivers? It might also be worth doing a quick deep clean of the PC—you know, clearing out all that junk, running some scans for viruses or malware, just to be safe.

Hmm, but there’s this persistent issue where my screen keeps flickering every few seconds, almost like a glitching heartbeat

My money is on the inverter—the one tucked under the screen usually—being unstable or just plain dying.

But before we go tearing things apart, check if it's just a driver issue. I’d ask if you notice that flickering happening before the macOS loading screen even pops up...

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It’s one of those things that just starts happening right after you finish installing macOS

If a clean OS reinstall doesn't fix the issue—and assuming you're out of warranty at this point

Then you're really looking at two paths... one is hunting down a replacement GPU on eBay, though that’s a gamble since some of these builds are soldered shut, meaning you'd basically have to swap the whole motherboard just to get things running again.

Or, you know, you could just bite the bullet and look into buying a new laptop altogether.

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