Alienware M17x R4 3 loud beeps coming when out of sleep or hibernation sometimes

This started less frequent to very frequent now. I keep my laptop in sleep mode most of the time. Now days when I open the lid it lights up for a second and i get three continues beeps and the system does not turn on. It just goes beep beep beep pause and another three beeps. If I force it off by holding the power button and restart everything is ok. I suspect this might be a memory issue, has any of you come across this problem ? if so how to fix it.

 

3 beep codes? Sounds like chipset failure

 

Run a diagnostic and see if your rig throws a code. If it does, call support and give them the error code and get the parts you need to fix the issue. If it doesn't throw a code, call support anyways and tell them about the issue. 3 beeps codes can be a number of problems (such as gpu issue or other hardware failure like the cpu and is a b**** to get replaced by dell, they would actually deny it and try to send you a motherboard instead). Get support to check it out.

 

it turns out i can't count properly. the number of beeps is 7 - CPU failure. but this happened only if i close the lid and open it again hence putting the pc to sleep and waking up. Today the same thing happened and i let it beep for a while. after that i turned it off and started up to get 8 beeps - LCD failure. What the heck is wrong with my Alienware..!!! now it just gives me 8 beeps and doesn't turn on!!

 

Motherboard is probably going insane. Do the PSA and see what error codes is throws out.

 

The problem might be with the HD 7970, is there anyway to disable it, please note currently I don't get a display.

 

Take it out of the system. That will disable it. If you don't have the integrated graphics disabled, then your R3 should boot fine...provided that's what was causing the beep code.

 

Like I said before, get tech support to check it out. Do not touch your mobo or anything else!!! If you do not have warranty, get it now! Never troubleshoot your device via any forums, always contact tech support. If it is something expensive like the CPU, they will ask you what you've done with it. God help your soul if you tell them you tinkered with it.

 

yeah you are right. but the problem is I'm at a country where there's no Dell presence. guess I'll have to keep it this way for 3 months till I get back. :-(

 

Opening your system to troubleshoot will not void the warranty, you just have to be very careful not to break anything. As radji is saying, if you suspect that the problem is the graphics card, take it out, test the system without, put it back in and test it again, here's a guide on how to remove the graphics card:

How to remove the graphics card on the M17x r4

Check out this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/679548-alienware-engineering-troubleshooting-guides.html

We post articles there very often, and the very first post is organized by platforms, if you click on the m17x r4, you will all the troubleshooting articles for your system as well as dis assembly guides.