8 Beeps, black screen with 980m on Ranger

I bought a ranger that the owner couldn't fix, and after resetting the NVRAM several times and fiddling around with the memory, I installed a 980m and finally got the screen working, It is black but powered with 8 beeps.

I had 2 beeps beforehand until I isolated 1 dimm and kept it in and 5 beeps and no screen power with the original 880m and an M290x.

Does this mean I should get a new motherboard?

 

If you have a 120 Hz screen, 8 Beeps with 980m means that the bios is set to Legacy boot and not UEFI. If you can't boot it with an old GPU to change the bios settings, then a new mobo is in order. Check if you have a friend with an old GPU that you can borrow to change your settings.

 

I don't think that the screen I currently have installed is 120hz but I will try my old 460m, if that doesn't work I'll get a new motherboard.

Thanks for your help!

 

Does your laptop have unlocked bios ?

 

I was in the exact same situation when upgrading from 680m to 1060. My 680m had died, no power no lights. So couldn’t change the settings required for 1060. So 8 beeps with 1060, completely dead with my short circuit 680m. I had to source another gpu just to be able to boot. I think I bought a quadro k1000m which is equivalent to a gtx 660m, because it was the only gpu which shipped along and supported the 3D 120hz display. Booted with the quadro, flashed bios and changed required settings, now it works with 1060.

I am pretty sure you need to change settings and it will work. Good luck with your laptop!

 

I agree. If Op doesn't have unlocked bios , he would need to get a compatible GPU and do what you did.

 

I tried it with the 460m and there was still no lights and no boot, any suggestions for other GPUs to try?

 

Mobo is definitely dead. I got one to sell to you .. lol ..

 

Cant you dump your bios, change the default settings on the dump with AMI BCP, save, reflash the dump and just boot with the correct settings?

If you have an Arduino/rPI/a cheapo SPI programmer you can do that with some ease.

 

I am afraid that would point towards a dead motherboard.

 

I think I have the equipment to do that but I am unfamiliar with the procedure, this is for the motherboard right? How would you go about it? I have several other laptop motherboards (not 17 r1) and am quite interested as to how this would work.

Yeah especially seeing as there are no AlienFX lights.

 

Has anyone actually used a 460m on the ranger? Not sure if it would be compatible.

If he has the LVDS (which seems to be the case iirc) then he can reset NVRAM with no GPU and intel HD will drive the panel.

If not then yeah the motherboard might be an issue, or the cable.

 

You need a SOIC-8 clip, but I prefer to remove the flash memory that holds the BIOS bin, then, you do a full dump using a programmer, open the dump with AMIBCP 4.something or maybe AMIBCP 5(assuming it is an AMI BIOS, if its an Insyde you will need to ask some BIOS guru how to mod the default settings), you go over to the necessary settings and in the collum that says default, you change the settings into the needed ones to make it bootable with image, save the bios, program the new bios into the chip, solder(if you removed it) it back, and then do a clear CMOS procedure and it should boot right up.

EDIT: Err, its a Phoenix BIOS, no idea about those ones

 

AW 17 Ranger is a little finicky. One day mine was working fine, next I got 8 beeps, tried reseating cmos battery, and bridging cmos on the mobo - but no luck. Ended up replacing mobo and fired right up. You only need a philips screw driver. It’s a bit of a bear if you’ve never done it before, but it’s not that hard, just time consuming. Placing parts in sandwich bags and labeling them helps.

 

Alright so I installed a new motherboard and the 980m from the M15x, first two boots were 8 beeps of death but I got the backlight on the LCD working, after that it posted with an external monitor connected but only on the internal screen and booted to windows, after shutting it down the GPU fan is only spinning on boot and thus letting the GPU get very hot.

Now it is not booting at all, just taking a while before starting the 8 Beeps


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