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    8 Beeps White Screen - GPU or Motherboard

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by aggiechick, Jun 25, 2017.

  1. aggiechick

    aggiechick Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've been going bananas with 8 beeps and a white screen on my m17x R3. Here is what happened leading up the the problem:
    1. Computer had been really sluggish with freezing (CPU and memory utilization were very low, though). I discovered that I'd been running on integrated graphics instead of my dedicated GPU (GeForce GTX 580m). I tried to load an updated driver to the dGPU, and it said that the device wasn't found. I rebooted and went into settings via F2, and my dGPU wasn't found. So, I figured it was dead. At that point, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new Alienware 17 R4 instead of spending the $$ on a new dGPU for this old laptop.
    2. Being the brilliant person I am, I decided to install some components I had bought for the R3 before posting it to eBay with the faulty dGPU. I installed 32 Gig of RAM (not compatible with new machine), WiHD transmitter and cable/board, and bluetooth. This involved a pretty heavy tear down, including routing the WiHD cable into the screen. I used an anti static mat and wrist strap.
    3. I put it all back together and rebooted. This is when I first encountered white screen and 8 beeps.
    4. I removed the CMOS battery and did the discharge by holding down the power button for a minute while the laptop was unplugged and the battery was removed. This didn't work, and I tried multiple times.
    5. I ensured my new RAM was fully seated (though that issue should have been only 2 beeps) and cracked open the system again to ensure all cables were firmly seated. This didn't help.
    6. I plugged an external monitor into HDMI and got the same results, with the external monitor not doing anything at all and the laptop screen still displaying white.
    7. I removed the supposedly dead dGPU and tried to reboot hoping to ensure it would come up using only integrated GPU, and got the same white screen and 8 beeps.
    Am I down to a motherboard issue at this point? I was hoping it would be somewhat functional so that I could sell it and also have the chance to deactivate all of my software so that I can use it on the new system. I'm not worried about data, as I had already moved all of it to an external HDD.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2017
    aggiechick, Jun 25, 2017
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  2. aggiechick

    aggiechick Notebook Enthusiast

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    Also, I've been running BIOS A12 for years, and I haven't touched that.
     
    aggiechick, Jun 25, 2017
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  3. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    Could be motherboard or actual LCD fault.
     
    Raidriar, Jun 25, 2017
    #3