Black Screen of Death - 8 Beeps of Torture

Hi All,
Back again for part 2 of this tale, "The M17xr3 and Me"

Part 1

Now we find the old veteran laptop stuggle with it's next enemy. It all started 2 weeks ago while playing an old fav PC game. But only a few moments into the session, a blue screen of death was found. It mentioned a graphics adapter failed to rest.

After a re-boot, the 580m card could not be found in the device manager and would not kick in during the same gameplay as usual. Just the internal Intel3000HD onboard would, which is not playable (enjoyable) really.

After reading up on the issues here, updating drivers for the card, the bios (A14 or 12 I forget), and changing an advanced BIOS video adapter settig to PEG (?) - I saved setting and restarted to get the black screen of death, and the 8 beeps of torture. No POST, bios loading - nothing. Just 8 beeps over and over again....

Apparently this means an LCD or Video Adapter failure.I tried flashing the bios from a USB stick, with no sucess.

Facing defeat, I called Dell......

Having been now 2 years past warrenty, I was left with no support and told, they dont stock those parts anymore (you know the script). Basically I am on my own.

Funny enough, I just got a call from a dell tech guy on my cell asking if my issue was fixed, I said no and he said they are sending a tech to me. Honeslty cannot tell if its a scam or not because I can never tell with the accents and lack of social customs on the phone that some support folks have. Plus the dell tech said I am on my own.../shrug

Love to fix this myself, but with xmas soon here and 3 young ones at home, money is very tight.

Thats all for the part 2 intro chapter....looking forward to your contribution to the saga....

 

Do you have the 120Hz screen?

Your first mistake was getting another 580M. You basically just set yourself up for another failure. My recommendation: Bail. Jump ship. Get the hell off the 580M train and purchase yourself a GTX 680M. It will perform like two (2) 580M's and will not go down without a fight.

You may be stuck until you save up more money, but that's what you need to do.

 

+1 for J.Dre's post .

 

Firstly, I'm sorry for hijacking the thread here, I didn't want to start a new thread just for a small query. My apologies if I offended anyone.
Guys, I am basically in the same boat as OP. I'm using a 460M at the moment and have grown tired of it. I'll leave my saga of 580M and BsOD out of this post as it is too long and monotonous to type again.

I'm looking to upgrade my R3 one last time before she bites the dust. I am looking at 2920XM to replace my 2720QM. Is it worth the money? I am looking for gaming significance and future-proofing rather than benchmarking here.
Important query-which is the card I should go for. I've a 3D screen so AMD is not really an option. I've my eyes set on 780M but I could go with a 680M as well depending on what you guys suggest. Or should I go over the top and get an 880M instead but I do not know how compatible it is with my system really, haven't read these forums after my 580Ms gave up on me twice.
One more thing, do I need to buy a new heat sink as well. I'm currently using the heat sink that came with my 460M.
I am dying to play far cry and unity with the best possible graphics and hence the upgrades. Please advice guys. I would love to buy the parts right from a NBR member if it's is available as I had done with my 580.

I would love to restore my old lady one last time before she dies with honor. By the way, she packs a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO as the boot drive so she still has some grunt left.



Tapatalked from an iPhone 6...

 

The processor is worth it, but not as worthy as the 680M over the 460M. That performance boost is incredible. I don't think anyone has gotten the 780M to work with 3D on the M17x R3, but I could be wrong. Since you have the 3D screen, you will need to disable the iGPU (Integrated Graphics) for the 680M to work. 3D will not work.

 

You're right about 3D on the R3 but the iGPU is already bypassed in all 120hz models making upgrading easier - no bios messing required (except for the 980m which requires FULL UEFI boot).

780m has been used successfully in the R3 but sometimes the on-board sound causes issues although USB headsets work fine.

 

Thanks a lot for the info guys. You guys are brilliant. I've read countless post of yours in this forums and your guys are the first to respond to each and very query. Please know that it is truly appreciated.

I want to change the graphics card as soon as possible. Do you think buying 780M would be a mistake? I really want to future proof it for at least another year. If too much hassle, I'll stay with the 680M. My heart is still set on the 780M as I don't see too much of a price difference and I've been around these forums long around to fix any issues which may arise.

Will the old heat sink from my 460M still work well? As far as I know, over-heating causes major GPU throttling in nVidia cards. Please suggest a heat sink guys and a part number if possible.

My hands have started itching now, haven't really opened up my system for too long. Good times ahead I feel.


Tapatalked from an iPhone 6...

 

I'm getting unsure now so let me ask this straight, if you were looking to upgrade, which GPU would you buy for your R3? 680M or 780M?


Tapatalked from an iPhone 6...

 

If the 780M works, I would definitely get that. It has 4GB's of VRAM and more cores (performs about 20% better), ultimately lasting you longer. You will need IC Diamond thermal paste. That's what I use and it stays around 70C in games on the highest settings. :thumbsup:

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M 4GB DDR5 CLEVO N14E-GTX GTX780M Alienware m17x m18x
• New Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M 4GB DDR5 MXM 3.0 Type B for Clevo Alienware

The GTX 680M is $530~ (new) from various sellers. The 780M is only a bit more. If you don't have a triple-pipe heat sink already, you will want to purchase one.

Genuine OEM 0J9H7X Dell Alienware M17x r3 GPU Heatsink Complete J9H7X

Another member recently upgraded his 6970M to the 780M and loves it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/765253-m17xr3-6970m-oced-gtx-780m.html

 

I chose the 680m since I retained 3D in the R4 but I have been very happy with it. It takes all the punishment I throw at it and at around 25% O/C and an overvolt it barely ever hits 75c. On stock runs in the high 60's c. I took no care whatsoever with the paste or padding by buying the (680m) dell heatsink from them. Came with all the pads and paste pre-applied so I just screwed it together.

The 780m is going to be faster out-of-the-box and the only 'risk' is having to mess with the audio driver from what I have seen.

 

Yeah, I read about some audio issue with certain games, like COD. That's weird, lol.

 

Thanks guys. Again, appreciate it.

I've ordered a brand new 780M, a 2920XM and the heat sink Dre mentioned above. I've read all the instructions Dre provided countless times and I think I'm ready. I'm currently in Dubai for a few months so it might take a little while for me to get these parts but I'll let you guys know how it goes. I personally didn't want to lose the 3D but I'll take that over the performance gain. I might end up OCing both my CPU and GPU and let this beast run at its maximum potential until I upgrade to the newer models. Personally, I will never leave Alienware because of its warranty and the exchange policies and I'm hopeful they come out with a 980M based system pretty soon. I plan to use my R3 for another year and half and then go for the next best thing.

Thanks for all you swift replies guys. Cheers.


Tapatalked from an iPhone 6...

 

Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
Intel Core i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M
500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s

Trust me I did not want to let them put in another 580m, but I was out of warrenty and they SAID if this does not work out they will go with the ATI card. Guess that was a lie, because talking with them on the phone recently, they basically said go pound sand you are on your own.

If I can just get back into the bios and reset that setting off PEG setting and at least let me use the machine. But right now I cannot do anything to it. I removed the cmos and it still wont POST, just black screen with 5 beeps (I think). Tried th blind bios flash off a USB stick. Nothing...

Its not a good feeling knowing that your +$2000 machine is pretty dead.

 

shameless bump...

 

Have you tried removing the NV card altogether, remove the CMOS battery again and hold down the power button to drain it. Then try it. It will beep on starting as the time/date will be reset but it should then continue.

Good luck

 

Hey man,

I completely forgot to post. I've been there, so here is my experience.

If you messed up with the PEG settings on the unlocked BIOS, you're SOL. Apparently, if you put the wrong configuration on your BIOS it will mess up the firmware of the lcd panel, therefore giving you the 8 beeps of dead. You will require a new screen and you have to make sure that your motherboard BIOS settings have been reversed to factory settings.

I didn't fix mine, I sent it to the depot instead, however my recommendation is to get a display from ebay and before installing it, to do the following:

-Do a blind BIOS restore using the USB stick method that is floating around the forums.

-After the blind restore, do the following to delete all settings on the BIOS:

I sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I've been there too.

 

Its ok - just really sad about all this.

I have isolated the video card, ram, HD, all trying to get at least to the bios - with nothing. Have tried the blind bios flash (quite a few times) and nothing.

If it is the LCD, why cant I at least POST and use another monitor?

Either way, what an insane mess. I am so dissapointed on so many levels that changing that one setting in the bios will completley destroy your LCD screen and render your machine useless? I am in shock really. Esp when I read somewhere here that changing that setting would solve the issue with the card not being recognized in the device manager.

Ugh....just sad about this whole thing. You spend $2k+ on a machine that has issues from the start (580M), then this.... I am really disenfranchised with Alienware/Dell all together. I really expected my alienware to last more then 3 years with fewer issues.

Sorry for the gloomy comments.... but thank you kindly for all your time and help.