8 beeps of hell - Alienware M17x R3

Hi guys,

I come here to find some advices and solutions.

I use an Alienware M17X R3 and recently, my laptop refused to boot (8 beeps error code) and stayed on a black screen.
My laptop is out of warranty since june 2013.


I tried differents things :

- Clear CMOS
- Energy clean (by pression Power 30sec without battery)
- FN /+ F12 combinaison
- BIOS default settings

Usually, after 10/15 tries, it works, and i can use my Alienware during 1 or 2 weeks without reboot and any freeze or bug appear.

But this time, it's impossible to see the Windows loading screen. Always those 5 five beeps first and 8.


I although tried to unplug/plug :

- LCD cable
- GPU
- RAM

All seems to be clean.
I precise that the thermal paste was changed 6 months ago. (for GPU & CPU)

How can you explain that it works sometimes, and that the laptop is totally stable when windows is load ?


Laptop specifictions :

- 3D Screen 120hz
- Nvidia GTX 560m
- Intel i7 -2860QM



I checked many topics on notebookreview and others sites, some poeple recommand to change the mobo or the GPU... But if i changed one of this component does it gonna crash again 3 months later ?
I guess it's a factory problem, many poeple speak about this bug if you check Google.

Thanks you in advance for your help.
Peace,

SamZouz.

 

8 beeps means LCD disconnect/failure but can also point to your GPU going bad. Also seen Alienware doing the 8 beeps with a soldered GPU, aka motherboard replacement.

 

Try taking the GPU out (with heatsink attached to save time), and see what happens. If it boots up fine doing that, then your video card is probably dead.

 

its got the 120hz screen so you can't do that

 

Ah I see. That sucks. Any way to rule out the GPU on 120hz screen? I had similar issues with my M17x R3 / GTX 580m, and that GPU used Fermi architecture like the GTX 560m. Pretty unreliable architecture from my experience.

 

Having the 120Hz/3D means Intel IGP is disabled (Intel IGP doesn't support 3D). I think the only way would be to test the GPU in another MXM machine. Fermi cards had issues with certain Nvidia drivers, at least that's what I've seen.

 

This, or try another card in your m17x R3.

 

Most likely scenario is a GPU failure i'm afraid!
You could replace the gpu or get your old one reballed by a professional - usually the solder attaching the chip to the card cracks in places causing a poor connection, you can test this theory by applying pressure to the top of the GPU heatsink and then seeing if it powers up ok - be aware though that the damage to the solder may be bad enough that the pressure wont make it work temporarily.